SEO Essex

SEO Tips For Google PR and Google Site links

2009-04-22T04:58:00.000-07:00

One of the things to remember about Google PageRank is that it does contribute to relevancy in a number of ways, but it is only just one bit out of a huge range of influences. Did you know the Google PR number is somewhat out of date (usually by about 3 months) so what you see reflected in the bar does not always represent your current PR.

How high should your PR be in order to rank well?

That depends on your keyword phrase, the competitive volume for that phrase and for which industry you are using that phrase. Don't forget that Google themselves tell you there are "200 ranking signals" and PR is only just 1 influence.

Best advice is to have a PR of 4 or 5 and then stop obsessing over the PR factor.

Google PR is important primarily for in-coming links. The Google PR of the page itself does not have as much influence as it once had to for help in ranking for specific keyphrases. However, the PR of an in-coming key word phrase-relevant link does help with ranking for that specific keyphrase.

About Google site links:

What are they?

Sometimes when you do a search on Google for a phrase, you'll occasionally notice a collection of links which will appear below the result of a website.

Example: If you search for the phrase "Search Engine Workshops" on Google, what you see displayed in the search results is:

TITLE: Onsite search engine workshops taught by industry leaders Robin Nobles & John Alexander

SNIPPET
Onsite search engine workshops offer personalized SEO training and certification in search engine marketing strategies.

URL: searchengineworkshops.com - 42k

But then now note the additional Google site links that show up below the snippet
description that appear as follows:

View the 5-Day Agenda Our Partners
Register Now Start-Up Tools Arsenal
Workshop Dates Articles
Student's comments here
More results from searchengineworkshops.com »

Each of these are additional links are to main pages of the website.
Theses extra links are randomly and automatically chosen by Google.

Tips about sitelinks:

-Google seems to prefer links near the top of a web page.

-Sitelinks usually only appear for more general search phrases.
(in other words for phrases being searched)

-Sitelinks show up more often on brand related searches.

- Unpopular Keywords that are not searched too often don't get Sitelinks.

- Older Web sites seem to be awarded sitelinks more than newer sites.

-It also seems that your website has to get a certain volume of
clicks for the searched keyword.

Although theses extra links are randomly and automatically chosen by Google there is a place in Googles Webmaster tools where you can select which pages you prefer to be displayed. But there is no way to guarantee you'll get the site links as it is at Google's initiative.

SEO Keyword Research Q & A - Insights to SEO Accuracy

2009-04-22T03:48:00.000-07:00

Regardless of which keyword research tool is your favorite, they all have their own strengths and weaknesses and some of these recent questions and answers may help you get to the bottom of your keyword research challenges.

I'd like to start with a few of the most common questions that I get asked from the Free SEO Tip of the Day readers and then we can expand on things from there.

QUESTION:

Can you tell me how a phrase that has no competing pages can have such a low KEI like the one above.
I have found many phrases that have a low KEI and little or no competing pages.

"how to turn a photo into a scroll saw pattern" KEI 16.0 Competing pages 0

ANSWER:

Each keyword phrase performs differently against its own search landscape depending on the competitiveness of the industry. So, use KEI as a quick method to bring the best windows of opportunity to the top, but that's all. Then forget about KEI and start focusing on how competitive the phrase is and how useful the phrase is.

Can the phrases you are considering actually be used intelligently and relevantly in your content?

KEI is just a mathematical equation that you can use to quickly sort results so (which can save you hours of sifting.)
As a rule the higher the KEI, the easier your job will be.

QUESTION:

Does KEI give you a true indication of how competitive a specific keyword phrase is? Can I depend 100% on the KEI value as the best way to tell how competitive a phrase is?

ANSWER:

It is one way to help you sort results, but it is not the only way that should be considered.

How many results returned for a specific phrase is not a dead accurate number to determine how competitive a keyword phrase is for SEO. Results will vary from keyword phrase to keyword phrase AND depending on the specific industry and search landscape for that search industry.

QUESTION:

I have enjoyed reading your series of teachings on Wordtracker and especially appreciate the aspect of researching the user "search behaviors" as opposed to the traditional keyword research approach. From time to time though, I get stumped on finding certain keyword phrases because of Wordtrackers smaller sized data base that pulls from the Meta Crawlers such as Dogpile.

Is there anything I can do to replicate the keyword forensics aspect using some other tool?

ANSWER:

Not at this time, that I am aware of. Wordtracker still rules for "keyword forensics" or exploring the hidden user behavior that most people miss entirely.

Remember that the goal of keyword forensics goes beyond researching just the higher traffic related terms. Keyword forensics also helps you in finding those phrases that "tell a story" about the circumstances that exist in the users life that cause them to search the Internet in the way that they do.

Most of the time the challenge is in the way we think about "keyword research."

However, in cases where you really feel stumped, another very cool way to expand on those phrases (in certain cases) where you feel like Meta crawler results just don't meet the need, is to consider searching for your phrases from actual Google data (which currently has 67% of the market share.) There are inexpensive tools that will allow you to apply much more accuracy to that massive data from Google which will often reveal many more new phrases that you did not know even existed because they simply are not searched within Meta Crawler data. Watch this short video demonstrating SEO Sniper which is a powerful new tool by Michael Marshall that requires no monthly membership.
If you want to learn more about how this tool works check out this page

QUESTION:

Is Keyword Discovery is the best tool you recommend for researching keywords in other languages?

ANSWER:

Absolutely. Keyword Discovery is an excellent tool for keyword research in English plus Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and several other languages. Be aware of some of the powerful features that Keyword Discovery offers too.

The purpose of this article is not to say one is better than the other. But depending on your specific needs, you should be aware of all of the available options that there are out there and choose what works best for you. I highly recommend both of these tools and services to all SEO professionals and Webmasters who want access to great data. You can expect to see the introduction of many new exciting features from both of these tools in the future and
I will share more information on these subjects in the future too.

SEO Skills and SEM Skills with Reverse Engineering

2009-04-22T03:38:00.000-07:00

Has your web site recently changed position in the search engine rankings?

Are you noticing some rather unusual changes, that just don't make sense?
Do genuine SEO and SEM skills feel next to impossible to learn?
Have you spent thousands of dollars on SEO training by video and then found that sitting there watching videos has not really helped you with business?

This is something we hear about quite often, (unfortunately.) Too often it's after the fact.
Too often it's after your money has been spent.

Here is the truth about training for the purpose of building genuine SEO skills.

Video has some great uses.
I am not saying anything against video so don't get me wrong.

It sounds very appealing for someone to say they'll give you easy ways to learn or "lazy ways" to learn genuine SEO skills simply by just by watching a video, (usually at some ridiculously high monthly membership fee.)
So what's the problem then?

Why does SEO skills training by video not work very well?

Why is it that after paying thousands of dollars, do we hear from people who still don't seem to be grounded in even the simplest of basic diagnostic techniques and methods (let alone the latest advanced skills?)

Usually the focus is all on a claim to teach you some guarded "secrets of the master SEO engineers."

Think about it just for a minute...Here is why Video Training will never deliver the best skills to you:

To say that you are going to build SEO Mastery skills by sitting there, watching a video is the same as saying you are going to increase your muscle density by laying on the couch "watching the weight lifters work out" on the television.

Life just don't work that way.

Why is it that everyone is out to sell you some "hidden secret?"
Here's why...
It's because of the emotional appeal it has.

IF they can get you to believe it - they've got you hooked.
(I mean it does sound so appealing don't it?)

But realize that you'll never gain high performance skills by listening to some fast talking pitchman on a teleconference call. Don't get mesmerized by all the marketing hype. Have you recently noticed videos showing up promising to teach you about some "advanced SEO topic" only to find out by the end of the video, that they have taken 14 minutes of your time to try and disprove something or illustrate something that does NOT work?

Why on earth would someone create a video that teaches you something that don't work?
It's nothing new really. It's probably best described as "bottom feeding" for traffic.

In a nutshell, you create a video to try to stir up controversy or get people's emotions flared up over some topic. It's like the early days of Bulletin Board Systems. If you remember the earliest types of forums where people would flare off at each other and

So how does this build traffic?

Everyone comes running in to defend what they believe and argues and debates day after day. Who gains by this? Nobody did really. These tactics are still lame efforts and seldom at the end of it all do you find the author has really taught you anything useful or new.

You look back and see a list of posts over time of "this concept is wrong" and "that tactic is wrong" and "everything you are being told is wrong." But the one thing that is always lacking is the advice and insight on how to do something the correct way or the most accurate way that will deliver results that make a difference.

So you think, "okay maybe you right - maybe you've had bad experiences and know this already.

So then come the next Internet Marketing pitch that lands in your e-mail in box.
You think "Hmmm... why can't I learn to reverse engineer Google's algorithm like the sales pitch says I can?"

You think..."What the heck....All I have to do is just listen in on a teleconference phone call. It only costs a few hundred bucks" and so you say to yourself.. "I'll just bet there really is some secret way to reverse engineer the algorithm."

Now please listen up to what I'm going to tell you.

The truth to "reverse-engineering an algorithm."

If you believe that you can "reverse-engineer an algorithm" by learning some secrets (of the so called SEO engineers)
that is the first outright premise to immediately run in the opposite direction. It is not true.
Unfortunately though, if you believe that as a true concept...(after all it sounds impressive) they've got you hooked.

Notice I say IF you believe it is the truth, then you've bought into somebody's sales pitch and they'll get your money again for sure. But will anyone really give you some magical secret to "reverse-engineer an algorithm"?

The truth is - they can't.
They do not have it to give to you.
But why not?

"Reverse-engineer an algorithm" is truly impossible - that is a fact.
(Ask any genuine search engineering professional who has built a search engine from the ground up.)

To say you can reverse-engineer *anything* means you need to understand exactly how it works, so you can take it apart and then put it back exactly the way it goes together again. No one has that capability because no one is ever going to give you that recipe.

No one can give you that recipe. But furthermore and far more importantly you don't need that recipe.

People can promise the moon - but anyone saying that they can reverse-engineer an algorithm is talking through their hat.

Think about it this way...

What possible sense does it even make to even try "reverse-engineer an algorithm" even if you could?
It makes no logical sense at all to even try to "understand something" that is design to continually change so that you cannot understand it. The whole purpose of an algorithm is to keep constantly changing regularly.

But here is the good news:

Stop wasting all of your time - it is impossible to reverse engineer a search engine's algorithm.

It's impossible - because the search engines will never give you all the information you need
It's ludicrous to spend hours researching something that is designed to continually change
But the best news is you don't even need to reverse engineer anything to gain top visibility -
someone has given you the wrong information.

Let me say it again....

You don't need to reverse engineer "algorithms" to experience great traffic

Sometimes we forget that our time is the most precious commodity.

Are you tired of fooling with trying to stay attentive to some video training?
Are you tired of buying every new e-book that comes along?
Are you tired of so called SEO research that just don't seem to work for you?
Are you tired of "funnel marketers" who sell you a product and before you even finish with it they are selling you more and more things (you supposedly need to be successful.)

One of the most effective uses of video is to use it on a sales letter selling something. Very compelling.

But as a method of building genuine skills, you need to gain the advantages of "building your muscles" by reason of practice. You'll never build muscles by passively sitting there watching someone on a video.

If you would like to see genuine proof, that you can quickly gain the skills to turn things around, if you want to gain back any of the the ground that you've lost, then it's time to consider the differences between being a "watcher" and a "doer."

Don't get hooked in by marketers trying to sell you the next big SEO magic solution.
There is only one REAL magic - the magic of knowledge and the wisdom to apply it.

You honestly don't need that next wealth building miracle tool.
Stop and take a breath for a minute.