Category: Search Engine Optimization

How many types of “anchors” can you name? I can think of News Anchors who bring us the headlines on TV each day, those wall-anchor thingies that you hammer into a wall before hanging a heavy shelf, and of course my summer favorite – boat anchors. But the most valuable type of anchors for most small businesses is of course the anchor text that is used in the links on its web site.

What Is Anchor Text?

First, let’s be clear about what anchor text really is. Anchor text is the clickable part of a text link on a web page – it’s the text that is usually blue and underlined. As it turns out, the text you use in your link is hugely important to the search engines, especially to Google. The logic behind this is that if certain text is important enough to be used in a link, then that text MUST be something important, right? Well, apparently that’s what the search engine spiders think.

Choose Carefully

So it makes sense that you should choose the anchor text for your links very carefully, making sure to use your keywords and phrases as anchor text as much as you can. You may need to adjust your content a bit in order for the keywords to make sense as anchor text, but the benefits are typically worth it. Also, don’t waste the power of anchor text on generic terms like “click here” or “more.” Instead, be specific and descriptive with your anchor text, and weave in keywords and other meaningful text to take full advantage of the importance that the search engines place on anchor text.

For example, on the Five Sparrows web site we have a page that describes our web support & maintenance plans. (And yes, the link you just read is an example of anchor text, too!) Since this is a natural extension of new web site development, the first paragraph on that page has a link that takes users to our web site development services page. We used the anchor text “web site development” (which is also blue and underlined) because it not only describes the page where users will go if they click the link, it is also one of the keyword phrases that Five Sparrows targets on the page.

Hey Google, Listen Up

When you select text on your web page and turn it into a link, you are telling the search engines that the text is important. You’re giving Google a clue that the anchor text you selected is relevant to the content on your site, and that your site should be listed in the search results when users search for that text. You’re communicating with the search engines in a language they can understand!

So while boat anchors might be my personal summer-time favorite (well, the boat part anyway!), there’s not an anchor I can think of that has more impact on your small business marketing than the anchor text used in a web link. The search engines are paying close attention to the anchor text you choose for your links, so make sure that you are paying attention too.

You probably already know that in order to get good rankings in the search engines, your web site should incorporate SEO (Search Engine Optimization) elements to ensure that the pages can be read and indexed by the search engine spiders that visit your site. It can be confusing, though, since search engines are constantly updating their algorithms to provide better results to users, while weeding out the sites that are less relevant or violate the rules and “best practices” of SEO. By avoiding a few common SEO mistakes, you can protect your web site from dropping out of sight – or worse, being banned from the search engines altogether.

Here are some definite “don’ts” when optimizing your site for the search engines:

1.  DON’T use a Flash-based or Frames-based structure for your web site; these techniques are outdated and are basically invisible to the search engine spiders. Instead, use standards-based layouts that include CSS.

2.  DON’T use pre-canned templates to build your site; they limit your capability to incorporate SEO techniques and can also look like “duplicate content” to the search engines, since multiple sites have probably used the same code elsewhere on the web.

3.  DON’T put outbound links on your web site (like on a resources or links page) without using a “nofollow” attribute, unless the link is directly relevant to your business. Links that point to other sites that have little or nothing to do with yours can count as votes against you in the search engine algorithms.

4.  DON’T use temporary 302 redirects on your web site; instead always use 301 redirects if you must move your pages to another domain or location. 302 redirects can wipe out all the trust that has built up over time for your domain and cause your rankings to plummet.

5.  DON’T use image-based navigation elements on your web pages; images cannot be read by the search engines. Search engines need links in order to find the other pages on your site. Instead of an image-based system, use a text-based or CSS-based navigation system to make sure that the spiders have a clear, organized path to follow that leads them to every page of your site.

What’s the most important part of optimizing a web site to perform better in the search engines? If you’re like most people, you probably thought “keywords.” And that’s true, of course, as long as you include about a million other techniques and nuances when using keywords to optimize a web site! (Okay, maybe not a million…) But of all the strategies you can use to improve your search engine placements, using keywords effectively is the one that you want to get right.

In the Old Days
Using keywords used to be very simple; all you had to do was add the words that best described your business or web site content in the “keyword” meta tag in the HTML code of the site. Of course, people quickly found lots of ways to manipulate this, so the search engines began altering their search algorithms on a regular basis. The challenge for web site owners today is figuring out how to legitimately use keywords to get good search results, while competing with millions and millions of other web sites that are trying to do the same thing.

Choose Carefully
In order for your keywords to be effective, you must first choose the right keywords for your site, which requires some research. Doing this step is critical. Yet, if you are like many small businesses, you may have overlooked or skipped this step entirely. Why? Probably because you already have a good idea of what keywords you think your customers would use to find your business. However, what you think people will use to find your business is often quite different from what searchers actually use when they perform searches.

Once you have found the right keywords for your web site, there are some other basic keyword tips that you can use as well, such as:

• Optimizing for phrases - people don’t search using only single words, they search on phrases containing two, three, or more words. Watch your web stats to find out which phrases searchers are using to find your site, then make sure you optimize for those phrases.
• Using “follow-through” words on your landing pages to show visitors that they have come to the right place. For instance, if a visitor arrived at your page from searching on “bright yellow widgets,” make sure that those words appear in that order on your landing page.
• Measuring keyword densities – make sure you use your keywords enough to be helpful to the search engines, but not so much that it could be considered keyword-spamming.
• Using your keywords in titles and headings whenever possible.
• Including keywords in your ALT tags for graphics and images.
• Using keywords in your filenames, including image files.

Keywords are Key
There are several techniques you can use to improve you web site’s position in the search engines, but using keywords effectively is probably the most powerful tool in your optimization toolbox. Remember, you are competing with millions of other web sites, and they all want to come up in the top 10 results. Choose your keywords wisely, and use them intelligently throughout your entire site. In the end, getting the keywords right can make a world of difference in your search engine rankings, your web site traffic, and the overall success of your small business web site.

Most small businesses know how important it is for their web sites to be found in the search engines, especially Google, since it is responsible for around 60% of all search traffic on the web. One of the reasons Google is so popular is because it provides really good results when searchers look for information, products, and services on the web. So when something changes with Google and how it ranks web sites, people definitely pay attention!

If you follow your own web site statistics, you may have noticed some changes lately in your Google positions. Evidently, the Google index (where the web data is stored) is being refreshed on a daily basis now instead of every few weeks, which is causing web site rankings to fluctuate. This constant refreshing is being referred to as “Google Everflux,” and it’s beginning to cause quite a stir. This is good news for searchers, since it means Google can provide “fresher” search results that reflect the latest information available. However, it may not be such great news for small businesses struggling to get or keep good rankings in Google.

The basic principles for getting ranked in Google remain the same; you must build quality inbound links to your site and provide valuable content on your pages that gets updated regularly. But now that Google is constantly refreshing its index, you will most likely need to watch your rankings a little more closely and be prepared to take action when necessary. Some other tips that may be helpful to your rankings include:

• Social Bookmarking – Google has started paying attention to links that come from social bookmarking sites (such as Digg, Reddit, Technorati, etc.), so consider using these sites as a source of quality inbound links.
• New Inbound Links – Keep adding new inbound links to your site, since older links that are pointing to your site may be dropped as newer content is added to Google each day.
• Quality Content – Add new content to your site regularly, and make sure it is useful and valuable to your readers. Content such as informative articles and blog posts can help build credibility and establish you as an expert in your industry, which also helps your Google rankings.
• Keyword Research – Research the right keywords for your business, don’t just guess. Find the search terms that people actually search with, not just the terms that you think they would use in a search. And don’t forget to check out what your competitors are using for keywords, too.
• Don’t panic. It looks like Google Everflux will be with us for awhile, so a little bouncing around is to be expected. When monitoring your stats, watch for trends that develop over time, and make your adjustments according to what shows up in the data.

While it’s true that there are many different strategies that can be used to optimize a web site for search engine success, one of the most overlooked methods for improving search engine placements is building up your web site’s credibility. When you provide your visitors with lots of useful, relevant information on your web site, you create professional credibility and establish your expertise in your industry. When your web site is credible, people will naturally want to link to all of your good information, and your pages will likely be loaded with the keywords and phrases that matter most to your company as well. In other words, a credible web site has many of the elements that impress Google the most!

Brownie Points From Google
One of the ways you can help build your web site’s credibility is to create an online glossary for your site and link to it from the rest of your pages. Think about it – we know that Google gives you points for using your keywords in the text of your links, so why not pick up some extra points by linking your key terms to a glossary that further explains them? This is also extremely helpful to visitors who are on your site to learn about your company, products, and services as well.

Credibility Through Repetition
Let’s say, for example, your business sells insurance, and that each type of insurance that you sell has its own web page. Now imagine that some of your important keywords like “auto insurance,” “life insurance,” and “renters insurance” are linked directly to a glossary page that contains these keywords, plus a short description of each. In this example, you’ve used your keywords as links, and repeated the keywords on the glossary page as well as on the product pages. All of this contributes to the credibility of your web site as Google sees it.

Thinking Like a Spider
A glossary page is inherently loaded with specific words and phrases that are relevant to your business. When a search engine “spider” visits your glossary, it sees these words and phrases and also sees that they are cross-linked and used throughout your other web pages as well. So what’s a spider to think? It would probably think that your site is very important, relevant, and credible. And credible web sites can lead to more web site traffic, increased inbound links, and ultimately improve your search engine placements in Google. Now that’s impressive!

Ever wonder how your competitors get such good rankings in Google and other search engines, or why they always seem to come up ahead of your company for common search terms? Or worse yet, how do they get listed in the search results when your company doesn’t get listed at all?

The First Page
This can be very frustrating for small businesses, especially those that want to improve their search engine rankings or pull ahead of the competition.  Most small businesses know that being listed on the first page of the search results can mean more web site traffic, better name recognition and visibility, and most importantly – big increases in qualified leads and sales! 

The Year In Review
This is the perfect time of year to do a quick check-up on the competition, to see what they have been up to over the past year and where they stand now, especially when compared with your company.  For instance, you may want to know:

• Where do they currently rank in the major search engines for certain keywords?
• How many inbound links do they have that “point” to their web site?
• Where are the inbound links coming from? (so you can also get inbound links from these sites)
• What types of meta data are they using on their web pages, and what keywords are they targeting?
• How many of their web pages are currently indexed in the major search engines?

This type of information can help you define a strategy to improve your own search engine rankings based on what the competition is already doing and what is working for them.  It can also show you how far you have to go to catch up or surpass them in the search engine rankings.

More Links = Better Rankings
Other information that may be helpful to know is if your competitors have been sending out press releases during the year, if they have published any articles or white papers, or if they are regularly posting to a company blog. All of these marketing activities are great ways to produce inbound links, which in turn can improve a web site’s rankings in the search engines.

By reviewing the competition, you can also gain valuable insight into new industry shifts or trends, major customer wins and losses, new competing products, and even the online reputation of your competitors. 

Check ‘Em Out!
Of course, you must always stay within legal and ethical bounds when looking at competitor information, but there’s nothing wrong with checking out the competing information that your customers see in the marketplace everyday.  After all, just as you are checking out your competitors, they are probably checking out what you’ve been up to this year, too!

Just when you thought you had figured out how to optimize your web site for the search engines, Google has come along to shake things up again! Google’s Universal Search is a new, comprehensive approach to searching that gives users results not only from web pages, but also from blogs, images, video, news, and other “verticals” that Google uses in its search results.

So what does this mean for your web site? It means that you can no longer rely on simply optimizing the text and keywords on your web pages, you now must think in broader terms. Since Google’s search results now include “alternative” media, your small business should follow suit. Tactics such as RSS feeds, web “widgets” (small, web-based applications on your site), and social media strategies that incorporate Wikis, article syndication, and blogging are quickly becoming the new standards in search engine optimization.

Because Google’s new algorithm is giving precedence to verticals like video, press releases, blogs, images, and news, we will likely see this influence on the search engine results pages over the next few months.

For small businesses, this is a great opportunity to implement a variety of additional SEO strategies that will help your web site thrive in this new world of Universal Search. The key to optimizing your web site is the same as it’s always been – develop lots of great, relevant content and build inbound links. But with the launch of Universal Search, you now have many, many more verticals available in which to build great content.

Hopefully, your search marketing strategy is part of an overall marketing plan that involves regular testing and measuring.  It’s like eating vegetables when you’re a kid….you gotta do it because it’s good for you, even though it’s not your favorite part of dinner.  The same is true for monitoring your search engine positions – you gotta do it to know if customers can find your business in the search engines, and to know when to act or react to the changes that are bound to occur from time to time. 

Consider these numbers:

• More than 74% of all consumers check the web FIRST before they make a purchase (either online or in a brick-and-mortar store), so the importance of being on the web is pretty clear.
• Reports also show that more than 80% of all web traffic comes from search engines, because that’s where most people begin the research/buying process.

So if your business can’t be found in the search engines, how will people know about you? And if you don’t monitor your positions in the search engines, how will you know if you are on page 1 or page 1001, or if you show up at all?

Of course, there are many ways to help build your search engine rankings, like publishing lots of good quality content on your site, regularly updating your site’s content, sending out press releases on the web (for inbound links), listing your business in quality online web directories or on industry-related sites, optimizing your web pages for the search engines, plus many others.  If you are already doing these things but not monitoring your rankings, how will you know if your efforts are working?  

Optimizing your web site for the search engines is only part of the job; you must also track and monitor your search engine positions in order to have a healthy, well-balanced search engine strategy.  Because it is so important, you should include search engine monitoring as part of your regular marketing activity each month.  By keeping tabs on your positions, you can watch the effectiveness of your current search marketing strategies, and also take the steps necessary to stop any negative trends that could threaten your hard-earned rankings.  So go ahead and eat your vegetables, monitor your search engine positions, and maybe you can have some dessert.

Although there are millions and millions of web sites on the internet today, of course you want your site to be found when a potential customer searches for the products or services that you offer. After all, isn’t that one of the reasons you got a web site in the first place? 

But what are you doing to make sure that your web site isn’t lost in cyberspace? Can your site be found by people who are looking for what you have to offer? If the answer is no, here are some tips you can use to improve your web site’s chances of being found by the search engines:

1. Use Meta Data – Meta data is used behind the scenes, in the html code of your web pages.  Most search engines use at least some types of meta data, especially meta titles and descriptions.  Make sure that your web pages have the appropriate meta data included, and try to write unique meta tag information for each page of your web site.

2. Add a Robots.txt file – a Robots.txt file is a special file on a web site that acts like an invitation to the search engine spiders that visit your site.  In this file, you can specify the pages of your site that you want the spiders to crawl, and also specify the areas of your site that should be kept private, such as employee areas, non-public directories, or areas with duplicate content that could hurt your rankings or get your site banned altogether. 

3. Create Site Maps – One of the newer technologies available to business web sites is XML sitemaps, used by Google and other search engines to provide additional information about your web pages and to help control the discovery of the web pages and links on your site.  XML sitemaps can be created using the Google Sitemap Generator tool, a third-party tool, or can be created manually.

4. Submit to Online Directories – Submitting your web site to a variety of quality online directories is a good way to promote your business and also build inbound links to your web site.  You can submit your site to both paid and free directories, but make sure that they are either related to your industry or your location. Avoid the FFA (Free-for-All) directories that are too general, since these are considered “link farms” by most search engines and can get your site banned completely.

5. Optimize for Search Engines – Of course, there is no substitute for complete search engine optimization of your web site, which incorporates keywords and keyword phrases (among other things) to help your site get better search engine positioning.  This can be a more expensive option, but is ultimately the most successful and productive strategy for making sure your site can be found by users searching for what you have to offer.

6. Build High-Quality Inbound Links – One of the best ways to be found in the search engines is to have plenty of high-quality inbound links that point to your web site. Sending out press releases (using free web outlets to help keep costs down), syndicating your original articles on the web, and submitting your site to online directories are all great ways to build inbound links to your web site.

You’ve probably invested a lot of time and/or money in building a web site for your business, so protect your investment.  Make sure you’re doing everything you can to prevent your site from becoming lost in cyberspace!

A diamond might be “forever”, but your search engine rankings certainly are not! With advancing technology, algorithm updates, and new web sites appearing every day, it can be challenge to keep your web site visible on the search results pages. So if you’ve noticed your rankings aren’t what they used to be, here are some tips you can use to give them a boost:

1. Fresh Content
Search engine “spiders” love fresh content. Adding new content to your web site attracts search engine spiders (or “bots”) and gives them new material to add to their databases. Even small updates matter – adding new FAQs, press releases, product updates, or even pricing updates will trigger the search engine spiders to pay a visit to your site.

2. RSS Feeds
Speaking of fresh content (above), RSS feeds are a great way to keep fresh content flowing to your web site every day. If you haven’t heard of RSS feeds, these are “Really Simple Syndication” feeds from other web sites that you can display on your own web site, usually for free. RSS feeds can contain information on just about any topic of interest to your visitors. News feeds, current industry information, or relevant publications are all good candidates for RSS feed topics.

3. Directory Submission
One of the quickest ways to gain visibility on the web is to add your site to top-performing online directories. The benefits are two-fold; first, your business gets listed and is exposed to more web users, and two, directory listings also serve as “inbound links” that can help your web site rank better in the search engines.

4. Local Search
It’s often easier for your business to get good rankings in local search results since they are focused on a specific geographic area (instead of competing with all web sites across the entire web). You get a two-fold benefit here as well; your business is more visible to web users, and the local listings create inbound links that help your placement in the larger search engines.

5. Blog Posts
If you don’t already have a blog or use a blog, you really should consider giving it a try! Try visiting blogs that are relevant to your business or industry, or that you think your visitors would be interested in. You can add posts, pass along links, or even advertise on some blogs. Blogs are typically very niche-focused, so by participating in a blog you are interacting with other bloggers who are already pre-qualified!