If you’ve read any of our previous blogs, you’d find a common thread of internet SEO marketing diversity encouraged in the big picture and in everyday practices. In today’s blog post we’re going to focus on one of those practical SEO tips that can help improve your organic rankings. It’s called keyword clustering and the image below illustrates the difference between optimizing a keyword or a cluster of keywords.

In the early 90s search engines were basically directories focused on finding a specific search query, but today the complicated algorithms of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing no longer provide a directory service. The process is now touted as an answer engine. Simply optimizing a keyword is not as beneficial as optimizing a keyword cluster.

Keyword density percentages are still important for organic ranking results, but keyword clustering of rich content is an important SEO tactic. It’s like a keyword ad libs! Imagine a blank before and after your keyword and fill in those blanks with descriptive words relating to questions that your customers look for when searching for answer.

At SEO Services we conduct online reputation management for your website that appeals to search engines. Through various tactics like:

• Onpage optimization
• Blog posts
• Link building
• Directory submissions
• Social media marketing
• Article submissions

To view more information on SEO tactics visit our SEO Tactics YouTube Channel.

While SEO Services uses a wide variety of strategies to get your website at the top of Google and other search engines, there is value in monitoring your competitors. Not only can you learn about new tactics from your competitors, but you can also find weak spots in their marketing campaigns.

Learning from Competitors

The creative minds in your company or within your internet marketing agency may be bursting with ideas, but there’s another brainstorming team that is working on new ideas for their own products. Your competitors!

In a recent article published on adage.com the comparison between two leading luxury auto brands, BMW and Audi, is condensed down to an overall rating based on video strategy, online, social, magazine, mobile, and film sponsorship. The final rating given by the article’s author was in favor of Audi.

What we can learn from this fight between two auto giants is that the war is not won in a single marketing tactic, it’s about the diversity of strategies between the various forms of marketing. In the instance of the Audi/BMW article, the author concluded that Audi won the marketing battle because of their strength in an area where BMW is weak.

Exploiting Their Weak Spots

One of the most valuable places to dominate your competition is on Google and other search engines and it’s easy to see how you stack up in the organic search rankings. If a Google search puts your website below any of your competitors’ website then you’ve found your own weakness.

It’s not just organic rankings that can be a weakness, paid search results on search engines can also be a weakness. As with the Audi/BMW example, diversity in your marketing campaign is key to winning a competitive edge against your competitors. It’s important to stay informed.

Sources of Information

Thanks to the internet, the sources of information on your competitors’ strategies are basically instantanious. You can find their latest tactics using basic sources like their website or blog, but there are many alternate sources that can give even more information.

• Local press
• National press
• Industry publications and analysis reports
• Trademark databases
• RSS feeds
• Blogosphere
• Forums
• Social networks

Your clients are not just on Google, they are using social networks, watching videos, and reading press releases. If your company is missing out on any of these marketing avenues, then you are losing the battle for new business. At SEO Services we use a diverse collection of marketing strategies to help you compete on the internet and win.

If you want to get the very best out of your SEO marketing efforts, it is imperative that you have ONLY ONE HOMEPAGE.

I see this time and time again with new clients and all over the Internet… websites with multiple homepages addresses.  Besides skirting the duplicate content line, you are forcing the search engines to index multiple copies of your most important page.  To be clear… below are examples of multiple homepage url’s:

• http://yourdomain.com
• http://yourdomain.com/
• https://yourdomain.com
• http://www.yourdomain.com
• https://www.yourdomain.com
• http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html
• http://yourdomain.com/index.html
• http://www.yourdomain.com/index.php

Are you starting to get the picture? 

Notice the http or https, www or no www, / or no /, index.html or index.php.

What commonly happens when link building is other sites will link to anyone of your homepage url’s… and if your site gets a link to the index.html page, then it is the index.html page that receives all the benefit.  Then the search engine is forced to pick which homepage url is the strongest! 

If you want to rank well you need to be consistant. 

1. Pick one homepage address, and 301 redirect all other variations to that chosen homepage.  I always use http://www.yourdomain.com/. 
2. Put No Follow, No Index robot tags on all secure pages if you have them.  These are the https pages that are commonly used for ecommerce sites.  The https means the page is secure and are necessary when using secure certificates.
3. 301 redirect all non www pages to pages with the www in them.  If you prefer not to use the www pages then that is fine… but be consistent!
4. 301 redirect all index.html or index.php pages to your chosen homepage, and make sure you do not have any links on your site pointing to these pages anymore.
5. 301 redirect all pages that do not end in a / to pages that end in a /.  I know this seems insignificant… but a page with or without a slash are different pages.  Be consistent.

How do I 301 redirect these pages?

It is actually a pretty simple process for any web developer, programmer, or SEO.  I use Apache servers so this is all taken care of in the htaccess file of my sites.  I suggest consulting your web designer or a professional to do this for you.  It is well worth it.

When all is said and done… the search engines should have only one indexed/cached page of every page in your site.  Including the most important page of your site, the homepage. 

This is a huge ingredient of long term success on the Internet.

If you are serious in achieving high search engine rankings in any industry… YOU NEED YOUR OWN DEDICATED IP ADDRESS.

I have seen this time and time again, sites disappearing in the search engines for no other reason then for being on a shared ip address. Shared hosting companies can have hundreds, even thousands of websites on a single ip address, and if one of those sites is participating in spamming the Internet, IT IS THE IP ADDRESS THAT IS PENALIZED. And if you are on this ip address you will suffer too.

If you find that your search engines rankings suddenly drop dramatically, the first thing to be looked at is if you are on a shared ip address. It usally costs an extra $3-10 a month for your own ip address. Once you move your website to a dedicated ip address… you should see your rankings recover within 1-4 weeks.

• The most common reason an ip address will get banned/penalized is sending out unsolicited spam e-mail.

To recap… if you want to rank well in the search engines:

• Do not host your site on a free website hosting platform (this type of hosting can have thousands of sites on a single ip address).
• If you do pay for hosting… pay the extra $3-10 a month for your own dedicated ip address.
• If your ranking suddenly drop significantly… get your own dedicated ip address as the first plan of action.

Others will argue the importance of having a dedicated ip address, and if a penalty is even possible.  All I can say is that I have seen this on 3 separate occasions, and I have been able to bring all the sites back by getting the sites their own dedicated ip’s.

Hope this imformation will help others…

Brian

For many people search engine optimization and exactly what SEO services firms do is pretty much a black box. Explaining the search engine algorithms and the value of link building to a business owner is pretty much like beating my head against a wall. I think in simplest terms, SEO firms are like PR firms for the Internet.

Articles

Article marketing is a great way to help your website in the search engine rankings.  Although article marketing done by someone who does not understand SEO is like fishing in an empty lake. 

• Have an experienced English Speaking person write your articles!
• Carefully choose the keywords to target in your article.  This does not mean keyword density!  You must link back to your site in the “about the author” section using your keyword.
• Submit your articles to article submission sites… preferably manually. 
• 1-2 articles a month should be plenty.

Blog Reviews

There are many names for a blog review…  news article, blog post, pay per post, sponsored review, etc.  A blog review is a site owner of a blog website writing an honest review of your website and publishing it on his/her website.  This is generally not a free service and finding quality blog owners is not easy.

• Find relevant blog sites to write about your website.
• Make sure they link back to your website using the keywords you want.

Press Releases

Press releases are pretty expensive but worth it if done properly.  An seo submission to PR Web runs $200 and does not include spending the time to manually submit the release.  And your release needs to be well written by and English speaking person.  A submission to PR Web includes submissions to various other Press Release websites and is a great idea to do a few times a year.

• Make sure you are able to insert text links in your press release, preferably towards the very top of the release.  It breaks my heart to see so many people issue expensive releases and not link back to their sites using their keywords.
• Get help learning how to properly submit a press release online… it is not an easy process to do right.

I think the above examples are some things that business owners can grasp.  These are all permanent content creation and permanent links promoting your website.  Some of the other techniques used to promote sites like directory submissions, social bookmarking, paid links, and link exchanges is a whole other story.

The best kind of backlinks are without a doubt… one way back links from authority sites on indexed pages.

One Way Link

To get the most from a backlink… meaning an increase in search engine rankings, it is best that the link be one way.  This means that another site links to you, and you do not link back to that site.  Reciprocal links are highly devalued in the search engine algorithms, so much so that I would not even bother with a reciprocal link campaign (unless you are doing three way link exchanges).

Authority Site

Ways to identify whether a site is an authority site is whether it:

1. Has a high Page Rank on the homepage of the site (I would say PR 4 or above)

2. Ranks on the first pages of the search engines for it’s main keywords

While the above is a pretty loose definition of an authority site… it is definitely a definition of a site that is worth getting a link from.

Link on an Indexed Page

For a link to hold any value at all… it must be on a page indexed by the search engines!!  Always check to see if the page your link will be on is indexed in Google, Yahoo, and Bing.  If the page is not indexed in any of these search engines, the link is useless.  On the other hand, if the link page is indexed, the link will have value and help in your search engine rankings.

On a side note…  I would also avoid having links on pages that have the word “link” in the url (address).  I happen to believe that these pages are devalued by the engines and do not pass any value… or at the very least pass significantly less value.

Happy link building

While the Page Rank of most directories has dwindled, paid directory submissions still help with organic rankings, but only if certain conditions are met.

What to look for in a paid directory listing.

• The homepage has Page Rank – If the homepage of the directroy does not have any page rank, I would pass on the directory as it means one two things.  Either the site has been devalued by the search engines, or it has been banned.
• Submit to Directories that have a high homepage Page Rank.  The higher the Page Rank of the homepage the better indicitive that the site is an authority site.  Here is a good list of paid directories.
• In order to gain anything from a directory listing… the page that will have your link must be indexed by the search engines.  I personally check to see if the page I am submitting my site to is indexed by Google, Yahoo, and Bing.  If the page is not indexed on all three engines, I pass.

How to optimize your directory listings

• Submit to categories where you are not pushed to a second page.  Many directories are pretty full and if you get pushed to page 7 of  a category it is not a good thing. 
• Always try to get your keyword in the title of your site.  The title of you site is the text used to link to your website… and getting your keywords in this link is huge.  Many directories require you use your exact site name, and if you don’t have your keyword in your domain you are out of luck.  But try anyway.  Most directories will just edit your site name/title, or they won’t since they are busy.  Go for it though.

What tpe of listing should I buy?  Annually recurring, featured, or a one time fee?

• Well first off… don’t do the reciprical link option.  You don’t want to be linking back to the directories as you will lose the benefit of having a one way link!
• Pass on the featured listings.  The regular listings are on the same page and give the exact same link benefit.  If you are hoping to get traffic from these directories you will be disappointed. 
• Go with the one time fee listings.  Like the ShowTime Grill guy says “Set it and Forget it!”.  Always go with a permanent listings and plan on being in business for a long time on the web.

Some of my favorite directories:

• www.botw.org
• www.business.com
• www.joeant.com
• www.site-sift.com
• www.wowdirectory.com
• www.goguides.com
• www.incrawler.com
• www.qango.com

If you would like custom SEO Services let us know and we will be happy to provide a detailed quote.

Internet has become a part of life. These days, we do everything from communication to shopping, from gathering information to providing information about our business. If you are not ‘online’ you don’t exist. This trend has given way to a whole new venue where businesses can grow and operate.

There are millions of people who are running their business through the internet and are earning great profits from it. Now you must be wondering, why some websites are so popular, while a large number of websites stay in obscurity? Why do some websites pop up in the first few search engine results while others come in later pages?

The answer to this question is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. SEO means optimization of the content of a website in a way that it’s ranking in search engines rise. Search Engine Optimization involves using the right number of keywords and keywords that are in the right place in the content. This ensures that when those particular keywords are searched, the website is shown in the first few search results.

Naturally, the higher a website is shown in the search engine results list, the more traffic it will get. This is the main reason why some websites get more traffic and bigger profits than others. For example, suppose you run a travel website about tourism in London.  Just writing good content won’t be enough to get good traffic to it. You will have to make sure that the people who are trying to gather information about tourist activities in London get to see your website. For this, you will have to use the right keywords and key phrases in the content. This is what we call SEO.

Search Engine Optimization can be a tricky thing because you must know exactly the right keywords and phrases and put them in the right places. You must also know which keywords are searched most and which keywords will be beneficial for your website. In SEO, there is not a “one size fits all” rule. Each website is different and its optimization should be according to the specifics of that website. That’s why you must hire a professional SEO service to optimize your website.  

Why SEO Services?

SEO Services will use the right keywords to ensure better ranking for your website. A good SEO service will make sure that your website content includes the popular keywords which are searched frequently in the niche of your website.

A SEO service will increase visitors to your website by presenting your website when they are looking for products, services and information that your website provides. It will definitely increase your online business. This practice is known as SEO Marketing.

SEO Marketing is one of the best tools to promote any website because it solves the basic problem with any online venture. It solves the problem of getting enough exposure in the search engines. It doesn’t matter how much you try to publicize your website through other means of internet marketing unless and until you get your website optimized. Therefore, hiring SEO Services is a step in the right direction.

The best and the most effective method of SEO optimization is through organic SEO. This kind of optimization is perfect for people who are working with a limited budget, but still want to reach large audiences.

What is Organic SEO?

Organic SEO is search engine optimization in its truest form. These days, many search engines offer paid SEO services. This service allows a website owner to “buy” a few keywords and phrases of his choice. When those phrases are searched, his website is displayed in the top search results. In return, the website owner is required to pay a certain amount for every click to his website. This is known as pay per click optimization.

Organic SEO, on the other hand, has no such formalities. In this kind of SEO, the website is optimized by good and popular keywords and the rest is left to the search engines. No amount is paid to anyone. Organic SEO has many benefits such as:

• People trust organically optimized websites more
  Anyone can buy any keywords in the pay per click method, so potential site visitors cannot be sure of the legitimacy of their content. This is why people are more likely to trust the organically optimized websites in favor of pay per click optimized sites.

• It’s affordable
  Organic Seo is much more affordable than the pay per click method. One doesn’t have to keep making regular payments to search engines using this method. Plus, the pay per click method carries the risk of getting increased traffic, but potentially fewer sales, i.e., you can lure people to your website through this method but can’t force them to buy. This sometimes becomes a raw deal for website owners.

• Relevance
  Organically optimized websites ensure relevancy of the content. The search engines display these websites because of their content and not because they were told to pick them, so this relays a better image to internet users.

In short, organic SEO is the safest and best choice for website owners who want to create a good and substantial website that people can trust in the long term. This is also very good for those who want to increase traffic to their website without spending too much money.

If you want to get your website optimized, then you should contact an SEO service that provides guaranteed SEO for the website. This means, hire a service that has expertise in this field and that knows how to optimize in the best possible manner.

There are hundreds of websites on the internet which claim to give the best and guaranteed SEO services. You must make sure that you hire the best by checking their previous records, the testimonials and reviews on their website. This will give you an idea of their performance.

In the end, all I can say is that there is hardly any popular website that hasn’t been Search Engine Optimized. And if you want your website to be popular, you now know what to do.