Marketing on the Web Let No Good Phrase Go Un-clicked If you have read much on SEO, you know that page name, title, and content play a big roll in the optimizing you pages. However, there is a second phase of optimization that shouldn't be neglected. When you develop your content, you optimize you page for certain keywords or phrases. However, after launch it is important to follow up to see what phrases are driving people to your site. It's important to verify that your key phases are working and certain your...
MoreSearch Engine Optimization
Marketing on the Web explores Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how it can impact your web marketing efforts.
Keyword Optimization for Google
Ever wonder what Google is 'thinking?' It is important to know how Google views your site, because if Google has the wrong impression, you will get traffic with high bounce rates. High bounce rates equate to decreased search engine relevance. You need to know that relevant terms are being found so you can locate any 'offending phrases' and eliminate them from your pages. You can start with Google's Webmaster tools. If you haven't signed up for this, you should. It's free and can be very he...
MoreImproving Organic Results
The key to increasing site relevancy is to have relevant content. In a recent exercise for a client, I was looking for industry terms and phrases to use for a marketing campaign. I used Google's keyword tool that examines your site for relevant phrases and produces a list of grouped terms from which you might build a AdWords campaign. The problem was the terms that were produced didn't match the business. This is alarming as this disconnect has serious negative ramifications for the companies or...
MoreDirectories and Incoming Links
Perhaps the single most important thing that affects your web sites ranking is incoming links. However, it isn't as simple as just getting incoming links pointing to your site, the links need to come from credible sources. To boost relevancy, links surrounding text need to contain industry phrases and the link itself can give you a boost if the linked text contains a key phrase that you would like your site to be known for. See: URLs and Linking for SEO Before I start working on directory lis...
MoreMod Rewrite Rules for Uniform Spidering
I mention in my earlier post that you should choose to use www or not , but regardless, stick with it. Another issue that arises is that you can't always control how someone else will link to your site. While many will include www. others will not. To insure that all you links are cataloged in the search engines uniformly, you should implement a couple of rules in your .htaccess file. A rule to insure www is (or is not) always used. To Redirect mysite.com to www.mysite.com Options +FollowS...
MoreNever Delete or Rename a Page
Well, almost never... I talk about the importance of page names on my SEO page. The trick is to design your site so that your page names and content are tuned for the top phrases in your industry. But what happens if you inherit a poorly designed site, the content becomes obsolete, or a generic term like "MP3 player" is suddenly secondary to a more popular phrase like "iPod"? In those cases, you create new content and use a 301 redirect (moved) to ensure any traffic to the old page is redire...
MoreTo www or not to www, that is in the URL …
This article has been updated to address additional questions received on this topic. I am frequently asked about whether you should include the www or not when setting up your your websites' URL. While many of us are predisposed to typing the www, most of the time including the www is immaterial as typing either www.mywebsite.com or mywebsite.com will usually be directed to the same place. So which should you use and when? The answer is either, but not both and here are specific cases to co...
MoreURLs and Linking for SEO
I mention on my SEO page that having a descriptive URL is a good thing. In the example I say that www.huntsville-bike-parts.com is better than having www.bobsbikes.com. Why?? -- You know that incoming links (sites linking to yours) are very important, perhaps equally important is the phrase that links the URL. When you have a descriptive URL, this link and phrase association are one and the same. For example, here I have linked the phrase Search Engine Marketing to www.marketing-ontheweb....
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