Original post is here
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The posts published in this blog are collected from different blogs or websites written by various famous bloggers/writers. I have just collected these posts only. These posts are not written by me. All collected posts are the great stuffs.
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All content provided/collected on this blog is for informational purposes only, it is not used for any commercial purpose. At the end of any post, the visitor can find the link of the original source.
Blog Disclaimer
At the end of any post, the visitor can find the link of the original source. These posts are only for further reference to review/study latter. It’s a request to all visitors; please go through the original post by clicking on the source given below/above of every post.
February 8, 2011
History-of-SEO
Original post is here
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Fix Important Search Engine Optimization Mistakes
When it comes to optimizing your web site for the search engines, search engine optimization, there are a lot of things that you can do that will hurt your search engine rankings. Many of these items are easily corrected, and some are not.
In fact, there are literally hundreds of different factors that come into play when it comes to search engine optimization. And add in new technologies and web sites such as social media web sites and there are even more search engine optimization factors. That said, let’s focus on some of the bigger search engine optimization mistakes that I run across every day when I am reviewing and auditing web sites for search engine optimization.
It only took a few minutes of brainstorming for me to come up with this list of search engine optimization mistakes. There are quite a bit more SEO mistakes on my search engine optimization audit list. Of course your web site may not suffer some of these search engine optimization maladies. But it is good to go through this SEO checklist of mistakes just to make sure.
Your website was entirely built in Flash.
One way to tell is to go to your web site’s home page. When you click a link or visit a web page on your web site, does the URL change? If you click a link and it goes to another page, such as domain.com/page.html then most likely your web site is not totally built in Flash. Flash can be embedded into html pages, so you may be okay–just make sure that you have other content on your web pages (lots of text) so that the search engines can read what your web page is about: search engines generally do not index and read Flash.
Duplicate Content
Having the same text or content on more than one web page is not recommended. The search engines only like to index one version: and they will typically not index multiple copies of the same text. So, if you have all sorts of duplicate content on your web site, it’s not likely going to be indexed and therefore your website is not going to rank as well as it could in the search engines. Duplicate content could be on your web site, but you could also be using content (text) from other web sites. In ecommerce situations, frequently web sites will use the default product descriptions from the manufacturers. That is not recommended, as several different web sites may be using the same content. Your content must be unique. In the hotel industry, it is common for a hotel description to be used more than once. Again, that is not recommended. Your best bet is to hire a writer to write unique content (or rewrite the content).
Not linking to your real home page
One common mistake I see over and over again is that a web site will not link to its real home page. Your web site’s real home page is at http://www.domain.com/ and not at http://www.domain.com/index.html. Index.html is actually a duplicate copy: and other web sites don’t link to http://www.domain.com/index.html they will link to http://www.domain.com/ (without the index.html). So, you need to be consistent–always link to the main version of your home page.
Splash Page as your home page
Splash pages are not recommended, in any situation. Splash pages don’t generally contain text content. Your web site is not a movie, and it does not need “opening credits”. Make your home page the best most important page on your web site. After all, other web sites link to it.
Not having Unique Title Tags
Every web page on your web site is unique. Make it that way. Your title tag describes what is on your web page and what people will find when they visit that web page. The title tag is used as part of the actual search result, so make sure that people will find the information they need and want to click from the search result to your web page.
Not having unique Meta Description tags
Just like the meta description tag, it must uniquely describe the content on the web page. Just like the title tag, the meta description is often used in the actual search result. Make it good enough for people to want to click on into your web site from a search result.
Not properly adding alt tags to images
Alt tags describe the content of images. Not only for accessibility purposes, the search engines use these as part of the search engine ranking factors. Make sure that every image on your web site has a proper alt tag.
No Robots.txt file
The robots.txt file will keep the search engines (most of them) out of certain parts of your web site. There is no reason for certain directories on your web site to be crawled. This is also helpful to keep the search engines from indexing certain duplicate copies of your web pages, such as the “print version” of a web page that may be a duplicate. The robots.txt file should also contain other information, like the location of the sitemap.xml file.
No sitemap file
If you particularly have a large web site or your web site frequently adds content then you should have a sitemap.xml file. It’s not required, but is helpful.
Not updating your website
Web sites, just like a loaf of bread, get stale if they aren’t updated on a regular basis. Your business is fluid, something is always happening, so your web site should reflect that. Even if you decide not to have a blog or other fluid content on your web site, you should at least publish a press release once a month. This will add content to your web site, and keeping it fresh (link to your latest press releases on the home page of your web site) will ultimately help search engine rankings.
Not getting new links to your website
Your web site should be getting at least a few new links every month. Even if you don’t actively seek these out, you should be getting more links, and even distributing a press release will help.
Improper use of internal anchor text
You have control of how you link to other web pages. The anchor text (the clickable link text) should accurately describe the content of the page that you’ll get to when you click a link. Don’t use “click here” and other nonsense anchor text in your links. If you are linking to the privacy policy page, then use the anchor text “privacy policy”.
No breadcrumb trail
A breadcrumb trail can add more links to your web site, especially if you are in a situation where your navigation is in images (they are image links).
Linking out to too many websites
Don’t make your web site what is called a “link farm”. Be careful who you link to, you are the “company you keep”. Link out to spam web sites and your web site could be considered to be spam. Too many outgoing links is tougher to maintain over time, as many web sites go down, are bought, or just don’t exist anymore. The should be more incoming links to your web pages than outgoing links on pages.
Not linking to trusted, authority websites
Your web site should link out to trusted, authority-type web sites in your niche or topic.
Keyword stuffing
If a keyword is not on your web page in the body copy, it should not appear in your title tag, meta description tag, or meta keywords tags. Don’t put keywords anywhere on your web page just to get search engine rankings. Create web pages for the website vistors, many people will not like your web page if you mention a keyword over and over and over again. It just doesn’t “read right”.
When linking to other pages on your website, some links redirect to other URLs.
You have control over all the internal links on your web site. If you move a page or remove a web page, you also need to fix the links on your web site that linked to that page.
No proper 404 errors on your website
If someone (or a search engine) requests a page that does not exist, your web site should deliver a proper 404 error.
Changing the entire site structure and not redirecting pages
If you update or redesign your web site, it is preferable to use the same URLs on pages. Sometimes that is not the case, especially when you switch to another content management system. If a page changes, then you need to set up a 301 Permanent Redirect to the new location.
Not viewing your 404 errors in your website stats
Don’t just rely on your web site stats if you are using a JavaScript-based web analytics package. There may be a lot of traffic going to a web page that doesn’t exist: or some other web site may be linking to a web page on your site that does not exist. You can easily recover that traffic or redirect that traffic to the proper page if you view your 404 errors. The only way to do that is to analyze your web site’s log files.
Not viewing your redirect errors in your website stats
Just like I mentioned with the 404 errors, your log files will give you information about your redirects. Analyze your log files and you’ll get a lot of good information that you can use to view redirects. Make sure they are set up properly and redirecting properly.
Not promoting your blog posts
Every blog post should be promoted on the social media web sites soon after they are posted. Getting links to your blog posts is a critical part of search engine optimization.
Not optimizing your blog properly
WordPress, for example, usually generates a lot of duplicate content out-of-the-box when it is installed. It’s important to optimize your blog posts (title tag, URLs, meta tags, etc.) and even the overall blog template (or theme) to make sure that each blog post can rank well in the search engines.
Not having search engine friendly URLs
Don’t use parameters in your URLs. Your URLs should accurately describe the content of the web page. Your privacy policy page should be privacypolicy.html or domain.com/privacy-policy/ rather than domain.com/125.html.
Owning multiple domain names and they all are mirrors of your main website.
You have one main web site. Pick one domain name and set up a 301 Permanent Redirect from ALL the others to your main web site’s home page.
These are only a few of the hundreds of common search engine optimization mistakes that I see every day over and over again. I perform a lot of search engine optimization audits on a regular basis, and I typically find myself cleaning up after poor web design, poor internal linking structures, and what I would call “typical” search engine optimization mistakes. Hopefully by viewing this list you have been able to find at least a few SEO mistakes that you can fix.
Read more here -
25 Important Search Engine Optimization Mistakes to Fix Right Now | Bill Hartzer
In fact, there are literally hundreds of different factors that come into play when it comes to search engine optimization. And add in new technologies and web sites such as social media web sites and there are even more search engine optimization factors. That said, let’s focus on some of the bigger search engine optimization mistakes that I run across every day when I am reviewing and auditing web sites for search engine optimization.
It only took a few minutes of brainstorming for me to come up with this list of search engine optimization mistakes. There are quite a bit more SEO mistakes on my search engine optimization audit list. Of course your web site may not suffer some of these search engine optimization maladies. But it is good to go through this SEO checklist of mistakes just to make sure.
Your website was entirely built in Flash.
One way to tell is to go to your web site’s home page. When you click a link or visit a web page on your web site, does the URL change? If you click a link and it goes to another page, such as domain.com/page.html then most likely your web site is not totally built in Flash. Flash can be embedded into html pages, so you may be okay–just make sure that you have other content on your web pages (lots of text) so that the search engines can read what your web page is about: search engines generally do not index and read Flash.
Duplicate Content
Having the same text or content on more than one web page is not recommended. The search engines only like to index one version: and they will typically not index multiple copies of the same text. So, if you have all sorts of duplicate content on your web site, it’s not likely going to be indexed and therefore your website is not going to rank as well as it could in the search engines. Duplicate content could be on your web site, but you could also be using content (text) from other web sites. In ecommerce situations, frequently web sites will use the default product descriptions from the manufacturers. That is not recommended, as several different web sites may be using the same content. Your content must be unique. In the hotel industry, it is common for a hotel description to be used more than once. Again, that is not recommended. Your best bet is to hire a writer to write unique content (or rewrite the content).
Not linking to your real home page
One common mistake I see over and over again is that a web site will not link to its real home page. Your web site’s real home page is at http://www.domain.com/ and not at http://www.domain.com/index.html. Index.html is actually a duplicate copy: and other web sites don’t link to http://www.domain.com/index.html they will link to http://www.domain.com/ (without the index.html). So, you need to be consistent–always link to the main version of your home page.
Splash Page as your home page
Splash pages are not recommended, in any situation. Splash pages don’t generally contain text content. Your web site is not a movie, and it does not need “opening credits”. Make your home page the best most important page on your web site. After all, other web sites link to it.
Not having Unique Title Tags
Every web page on your web site is unique. Make it that way. Your title tag describes what is on your web page and what people will find when they visit that web page. The title tag is used as part of the actual search result, so make sure that people will find the information they need and want to click from the search result to your web page.
Not having unique Meta Description tags
Just like the meta description tag, it must uniquely describe the content on the web page. Just like the title tag, the meta description is often used in the actual search result. Make it good enough for people to want to click on into your web site from a search result.
Not properly adding alt tags to images
Alt tags describe the content of images. Not only for accessibility purposes, the search engines use these as part of the search engine ranking factors. Make sure that every image on your web site has a proper alt tag.
No Robots.txt file
The robots.txt file will keep the search engines (most of them) out of certain parts of your web site. There is no reason for certain directories on your web site to be crawled. This is also helpful to keep the search engines from indexing certain duplicate copies of your web pages, such as the “print version” of a web page that may be a duplicate. The robots.txt file should also contain other information, like the location of the sitemap.xml file.
No sitemap file
If you particularly have a large web site or your web site frequently adds content then you should have a sitemap.xml file. It’s not required, but is helpful.
Not updating your website
Web sites, just like a loaf of bread, get stale if they aren’t updated on a regular basis. Your business is fluid, something is always happening, so your web site should reflect that. Even if you decide not to have a blog or other fluid content on your web site, you should at least publish a press release once a month. This will add content to your web site, and keeping it fresh (link to your latest press releases on the home page of your web site) will ultimately help search engine rankings.
Not getting new links to your website
Your web site should be getting at least a few new links every month. Even if you don’t actively seek these out, you should be getting more links, and even distributing a press release will help.
Improper use of internal anchor text
You have control of how you link to other web pages. The anchor text (the clickable link text) should accurately describe the content of the page that you’ll get to when you click a link. Don’t use “click here” and other nonsense anchor text in your links. If you are linking to the privacy policy page, then use the anchor text “privacy policy”.
No breadcrumb trail
A breadcrumb trail can add more links to your web site, especially if you are in a situation where your navigation is in images (they are image links).
Linking out to too many websites
Don’t make your web site what is called a “link farm”. Be careful who you link to, you are the “company you keep”. Link out to spam web sites and your web site could be considered to be spam. Too many outgoing links is tougher to maintain over time, as many web sites go down, are bought, or just don’t exist anymore. The should be more incoming links to your web pages than outgoing links on pages.
Not linking to trusted, authority websites
Your web site should link out to trusted, authority-type web sites in your niche or topic.
Keyword stuffing
If a keyword is not on your web page in the body copy, it should not appear in your title tag, meta description tag, or meta keywords tags. Don’t put keywords anywhere on your web page just to get search engine rankings. Create web pages for the website vistors, many people will not like your web page if you mention a keyword over and over and over again. It just doesn’t “read right”.
When linking to other pages on your website, some links redirect to other URLs.
You have control over all the internal links on your web site. If you move a page or remove a web page, you also need to fix the links on your web site that linked to that page.
No proper 404 errors on your website
If someone (or a search engine) requests a page that does not exist, your web site should deliver a proper 404 error.
Changing the entire site structure and not redirecting pages
If you update or redesign your web site, it is preferable to use the same URLs on pages. Sometimes that is not the case, especially when you switch to another content management system. If a page changes, then you need to set up a 301 Permanent Redirect to the new location.
Not viewing your 404 errors in your website stats
Don’t just rely on your web site stats if you are using a JavaScript-based web analytics package. There may be a lot of traffic going to a web page that doesn’t exist: or some other web site may be linking to a web page on your site that does not exist. You can easily recover that traffic or redirect that traffic to the proper page if you view your 404 errors. The only way to do that is to analyze your web site’s log files.
Not viewing your redirect errors in your website stats
Just like I mentioned with the 404 errors, your log files will give you information about your redirects. Analyze your log files and you’ll get a lot of good information that you can use to view redirects. Make sure they are set up properly and redirecting properly.
Not promoting your blog posts
Every blog post should be promoted on the social media web sites soon after they are posted. Getting links to your blog posts is a critical part of search engine optimization.
Not optimizing your blog properly
WordPress, for example, usually generates a lot of duplicate content out-of-the-box when it is installed. It’s important to optimize your blog posts (title tag, URLs, meta tags, etc.) and even the overall blog template (or theme) to make sure that each blog post can rank well in the search engines.
Not having search engine friendly URLs
Don’t use parameters in your URLs. Your URLs should accurately describe the content of the web page. Your privacy policy page should be privacypolicy.html or domain.com/privacy-policy/ rather than domain.com/125.html.
Owning multiple domain names and they all are mirrors of your main website.
You have one main web site. Pick one domain name and set up a 301 Permanent Redirect from ALL the others to your main web site’s home page.
These are only a few of the hundreds of common search engine optimization mistakes that I see every day over and over again. I perform a lot of search engine optimization audits on a regular basis, and I typically find myself cleaning up after poor web design, poor internal linking structures, and what I would call “typical” search engine optimization mistakes. Hopefully by viewing this list you have been able to find at least a few SEO mistakes that you can fix.
Read more here -
25 Important Search Engine Optimization Mistakes to Fix Right Now | Bill Hartzer
Optimize On-Site Videos
There are some steps that you can follow to get your videos indexed in Google's Universal search results. In order for your site to rank in Universal Search Results, you need to host the video on your site (maximize your exposure and still keep them on YouTube as well).
Once the videos are hosted on your rockin' website, you're ready to begin on-site video optimization.
Video Site-map
Like a regular site-map, the video site-map helps search engines to properly index your videos. Each URL entry must contain the following information:
Once the videos are hosted on your rockin' website, you're ready to begin on-site video optimization.
Video Site-map
Like a regular site-map, the video site-map helps search engines to properly index your videos. Each URL entry must contain the following information:- Title
- Description
- Play page URL
- Thumbnail URL
- Raw video file location and/or the player URL (SWF)
Title of the Video
Using your keyword list, create an optimized video title. For example, "How to Roast a Turkey" is better than 'Turkey Done Real Good' (although I am somewhat partial to the latter).Surrounding Text
The text that surrounds the video can be a strong indicator for what is contained within the video, so ensure that you take the time to provide some relevant content for the video. For example, using the example above (How to Roast a Turkey) you can provide some background info on selecting and roasting a turkey.URL Structure
Optimize the URL so that it uses keywords from your keyword list. Use dashes instead of underscores as search engines view underscores as a hard character. For example, mens_pants is read as 'mens underscore pants' while using a dash (mens-pants) reads as 'mens pants'.File Names
Take the time to properly optimize your file names using your keyword list (assuming you already have a keyword list). This also helps search engines to identify and index your videos properly.Embed Links to Your Site
And last but certainly not least, embed a link in the video so that when someone posts your amazing videos on their thriving site, you've just earned yourself credit and a link back to your site.
February 7, 2011
Know About Mobile SEO
everyone switching to mobile sites and leaving their regular ‘ole sites behind (bit of an exaggeration, maybe). But marketers where wrong, and they’re buzzing about 2011 being THE year that mobile will change unlike we’ve ever seen before.
Remember a few blog posts ago, I had mentioned that the current US population is 311 million? Based on the information in the Nielson Media Universe Chart, that means 73% of us use mobile phones (that’s a lot of talking), and, 36% of us use the Internet from our phones.
It wouldn’t be fair to compare the number of mobile users that use the web on their phones to the past, because technology has changed so much over the past 10 years, including the introduction of the iPhone, Blackberry, Droid and other Smartphone’s. But, we do know that the total number of US mobile users in 2000 was 97 million… that’s an increase of 135% over the past 10 years!
Are you starting to see the need for your company to take advantage of mobile marketing and a mobile website? Before you jump in, these are 20 things I think you should know about mobile SEO…
If this list is intimidating to you or a bit overwhelming, it’s okay, just bookmark it and share it with your webmaster or ask the Bridgeline Digital Strategy Group for help. And remember, just like traditional SEO, mobile SEO is going to change on a monthly (if not daily) basis.
Remember a few blog posts ago, I had mentioned that the current US population is 311 million? Based on the information in the Nielson Media Universe Chart, that means 73% of us use mobile phones (that’s a lot of talking), and, 36% of us use the Internet from our phones.
It wouldn’t be fair to compare the number of mobile users that use the web on their phones to the past, because technology has changed so much over the past 10 years, including the introduction of the iPhone, Blackberry, Droid and other Smartphone’s. But, we do know that the total number of US mobile users in 2000 was 97 million… that’s an increase of 135% over the past 10 years!
Are you starting to see the need for your company to take advantage of mobile marketing and a mobile website? Before you jump in, these are 20 things I think you should know about mobile SEO…
- Avoid duplicate content by redirecting useragents to the correct site (mobile v. traditional) by creating a handheld.css and iPhone.css stylesheet
- iPhone users report seeing the same results that they’d see on their home computers
- Other Smartphone users report seeing different search results than normal search shows
- Click-through rate and bounce rate tend to be a major factor for ranking mobile sites – especially for local searches such as “best restaurant” and “coupons”
- The typical Smartphone only shows the first 3 search engine results; being #1 has never been so important
- Think of all the different mobile phones, your site needs to load fast on everyone of them
- Make sure the mobile site is easy to read and understand – give quick options to navigate your site
- Take advantage of Google Mobile Keyword Tool
- Traditional SEO issues are still very important – meta data, heading tags and alt tags (but keep it short)
- Simplicity is key – keep content short and brief, hide advertisements & get rid of excessive call-to-actions
- Avoid images as much as possible – they load slow and take up a lot of screen space
- Content should include the word “mobile”
- Call-to-actions can be as easy as a phone number and physical address
- Most phones will allow the user to call by simply pushing the phone number on your site, or locate your business in Google Maps by simply pushing the address
- Mobile is very personalized and geo-targeted – make sure Google Local and Bing Local are updated
- Submit a mobile sitemap to Google Webmaster and Bing Webmaster
- Update robots.txt
- Link between the normal site and mobile site – this will help search engines and users to switch between the normal site and mobile site easily
- Sign up for rating and review sites like Yelp and City Search
- Encourage reviews on the above mentioned sites and Google/Bing Local
If this list is intimidating to you or a bit overwhelming, it’s okay, just bookmark it and share it with your webmaster or ask the Bridgeline Digital Strategy Group for help. And remember, just like traditional SEO, mobile SEO is going to change on a monthly (if not daily) basis.
Excel with Pay Per Click Advertising
Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) is an effective way to market your web site quickly to online consumers. PPC advertising uses small text ads that are targeted to keywords or keyword phrases that people use when searching for a site on a search engine. Popular search engines that offer Pay Per Click advertising include Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and BING.
Pay Per Click Management Procedures:
1. The first step in setting up your pay per click advertising campaign is to review your website and extract your most vital keywords and keyword phrases. Next we take these keywords and perform a deep statistical analysis to ensure we are using the most popular as well as niche keywords for your pay per click advertising campaign. This will give us a strong and efficient keyword list with great performance that will produce higher traffic and conversions (sign-ups) on your site.
2. The next step involved in pay per click advertising is for us to implement conversion tracking code on to the necessary web pages on your site so you can see your true ROI (return on investment) and conversion statistics.
3. Once all of your keywords are generated and your conversion code is in place, we will write your PPC ads. These ads are custom written to include your most valuable keywords. We pay close attention to detail when writing these ads so they are optimized fully for the search networks. We will make them targeted and persuasive enough to gain the quality traffic that you need in order to get valuable conversions. We also write your pay per click ads to include your top level keywords so they are "optimized" for the network and get higher rankings because of it.
4. Your landing page is very important to search engines even when it comes to pay per click. We will review you current landing page and make suggestions to you in order to improve your amount of conversions. Many search networks also critique your landing page and will award you a lower "cost per click" and higher ad ranking if your landing page is content rich and optimized properly.
5. The final step is where we provide full pay per click management of your ads. After our initial keyword analysis and generation, conversion code implementation, custom ad writing, and landing page assessment, we will launch your ads! Once your ads are launched we will begin manually adjusting bid levels for each individual keyword. This requires us to login in to your account daily so we can view your ads' performance and adjust accordingly. Not only do we adjust your bid levels for each keyword but we will revise your ad content when necessary. We will also delete and add new keywords whenever needed.
6. We will send you bi-weekly reports of your pay per click advertising campaigns so you can see how well your ads are performing and if you are getting a good ROI. These reports will tell you exactly how many clicks your are getting, conversions and money spent.
- Eliminate “dead” or non-active keywords.
- Create less ads to increase your click-through rate %.
- Turn ads off during low performing times of the day. I.E. Turn off ads from midnight to 6:00am.
- Geographic targeting (city, state, region, country).
- Analyze and optimize website landing pages.
- Optimize ad copy.
- Take some ads off Google “content network” to avoid click fraud and un-targeted traffic.
- Lower bids on Yahoo content matching.
- Set some listings to lower than #1 position to save money.
- Utilize keyword matching options on Google: Broad, Phrase, Exact and Negative.
- Use image and video ads.
- Pick and choose websites to show ads on Google content network.
- Track conversion statistics and ROI.
- Use traffic/budget estimator on Google to predict spend and clicks.
- Daily monitoring of ad performance.
- Daily bid level adjustments.
Click here for more details -
Pay Per Click Advertising, Pay Per Click Management, PPC Advertising, PPC Management - ServerSideDesign.com
February 6, 2011
Google Boost - Grow Your Local Business
Google has revolutionized the way web users and web sites connect - making it not only relatively affordable for just about any business on the web to attract views (impressions), but also level the playing field against huge corporations in many ways. Besides Google AdWords, Google also has been innovating itself in many ways throughout the years - forging ahead with tools that further how people use technology – specifically smartphones.
Mobile search is growing in leaps and bounds and we are no longer talking about old style WAP internet style technology. Today's smartphones deliver the real live web right in the palm of your hands. To capitalize off this usage, Google has been offering great tools such as Google Maps for its users and Google Places for websites. Now Google will offer another new advertising product called Google Boost.
What is Google Boost & How Does it Work?
Google Boost is a new ad product that is based on location. With Google Boost, you can now target a specific audience for your website. Similar to AdWords, you can easily target the audience you are trying to attract with two types of keywords: The first type of keywords is verticals (ie: tire repair, tire service, fix a flat tire, etc). The second type of keyword you can target is a location based keyword such as: Friendswood, Pearland, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.
Signing Up for Google Boost
It should be noted that Google Boost is currently not available everywhere. Actually it is only available in three test markets: San Francisco, Houston and Chicago (with more cities likely rolling out in the near future). Creating Boost ads is quite simple. If you already have a Google Places account, you can visit your account and sign up for a campaign - or to learn more visit this link:
http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1040967
Management of Google Boost is like AdWords; it’s basically automatic. Simply set a budget and Google pretty much takes care of the placement of your ads and the frequency that they are seen by users. As far as your ad being viewed, when a user does a search for a local business that includes a location such as "tire repair Houston", the Boost ad appears in the sponsored links section usually above the map and above normal Google Map listings.
Google Vs. Facebook
Over the last year, Google Maps (and Google Places) have been growing in leaps and bounds. Google has shown its dedication to offering users high quality geo-location data pretty much no matter where they are in the US and the world. A lot of this innovation is actually due to the fact that Facebook is seen as a huge competitor and creating its own ad based geo location product called Facebook Places. Facebook Places is not live yet and the full details are not yet available, but it is safe to say that Google does not want to miss the boat on this geo location opportunity.
A Great Resource for SEM & SEO Professionals
Obviously, many SEO/SEM campaigns integrate organic search and PPC advertising. For those websites that are location based businesses- a business that primarily caters to a physical community, Google Boost is well worth checking out. Although not in all areas yet, it is still a great time to get ahead of the curve and analyze how this tool is helping clients that are currently or will be using it in the near future. As always, we'll keep you updated on any new announcements dealing with Google Boost as well as how this tool actually works in the wild.
Read the original post written by Roger Janik- the President and Founder of ServerSideDesign.com, here
Grow Your Local Business with Google Boost | Idea Cafe Blog
Mobile search is growing in leaps and bounds and we are no longer talking about old style WAP internet style technology. Today's smartphones deliver the real live web right in the palm of your hands. To capitalize off this usage, Google has been offering great tools such as Google Maps for its users and Google Places for websites. Now Google will offer another new advertising product called Google Boost.
What is Google Boost & How Does it Work?
Google Boost is a new ad product that is based on location. With Google Boost, you can now target a specific audience for your website. Similar to AdWords, you can easily target the audience you are trying to attract with two types of keywords: The first type of keywords is verticals (ie: tire repair, tire service, fix a flat tire, etc). The second type of keyword you can target is a location based keyword such as: Friendswood, Pearland, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.
Signing Up for Google Boost
It should be noted that Google Boost is currently not available everywhere. Actually it is only available in three test markets: San Francisco, Houston and Chicago (with more cities likely rolling out in the near future). Creating Boost ads is quite simple. If you already have a Google Places account, you can visit your account and sign up for a campaign - or to learn more visit this link:
http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1040967
Management of Google Boost is like AdWords; it’s basically automatic. Simply set a budget and Google pretty much takes care of the placement of your ads and the frequency that they are seen by users. As far as your ad being viewed, when a user does a search for a local business that includes a location such as "tire repair Houston", the Boost ad appears in the sponsored links section usually above the map and above normal Google Map listings.
Google Vs. Facebook
Over the last year, Google Maps (and Google Places) have been growing in leaps and bounds. Google has shown its dedication to offering users high quality geo-location data pretty much no matter where they are in the US and the world. A lot of this innovation is actually due to the fact that Facebook is seen as a huge competitor and creating its own ad based geo location product called Facebook Places. Facebook Places is not live yet and the full details are not yet available, but it is safe to say that Google does not want to miss the boat on this geo location opportunity.
A Great Resource for SEM & SEO Professionals
Obviously, many SEO/SEM campaigns integrate organic search and PPC advertising. For those websites that are location based businesses- a business that primarily caters to a physical community, Google Boost is well worth checking out. Although not in all areas yet, it is still a great time to get ahead of the curve and analyze how this tool is helping clients that are currently or will be using it in the near future. As always, we'll keep you updated on any new announcements dealing with Google Boost as well as how this tool actually works in the wild.
Read the original post written by Roger Janik- the President and Founder of ServerSideDesign.com, here
Grow Your Local Business with Google Boost | Idea Cafe Blog
What’s A 404 Error Page?
What’s A 404 Error Page?
A 404 is a standard response code from a web server that indicates that the client (web browser) was able to communicate with the server, but the server could not find what was requested due to any number of reasons including:- A mistyped URL
- A user error with copy/paste
- Broken or truncated links on web pages or in an email message
- Files that have been moved or deleted
Some hosting companies actually supply you with their own 404 error pages so that it’s not left up to your web browser. These can often confuse visitors since they’re created using your hosting company’s website layout and not your own. They’re also no more useful than the default 404 shown by web browsers, so I definitely don’t recommend leaving these in place.
Instead of just serving up the default browser error or using a page supplied by your web host, it’s considered a best practice to create your own custom 404 error page. For detailed instructions on configuring your website to display custom 404 pages, check your server or web hosting company’s documentation. You should still make sure that your web server returns a 404 status code to visitors and crawlers so that search engines don’t accidentally index your custom 404 page.
Creating Custom 404 Error Pages
Since a 404 error page can be a standard HTML page (or whatever language the rest of your pages use), you can customize it just about any way you want. Some suggestions for creating a great 404 error page that keeps visitors on your site by helping them find the page(s) they’re looking for:- Tell visitors clearly that the page they’re looking for can’t be found. Be descriptive and helpful.
- Make sure your 404 page uses the same look and feel (including navigation) as the rest of your site.
- Add links to your most popular articles or posts, and always include a link to your site’s home page.
- Consider providing a way for users to report a broken link to you or your webmaster from the 404 page.
- Use the Enhance 404 widget to embed a search box on your custom 404 page and provide users with suggestions.
- Another useful tool is the Change of Address tool that tells Google about the pages that have moved.
- If a page has been renamed/moved, always 301 (permanently) redirect to the new page name or location.
- One last tip worth noting…if possible, be creative with your 404 page.
Read the original post here -
On-Site SEO | Vertical Measures
February 1, 2011
Mobile SEO – The Search Results and Conversions Differ on Mobile
In recent times there have been a SEO few posts and different opinions on the CTR and Conversion performance between mobile phones and desktop devices. Would users search and convert on their mobile phones as they would on a desktop?
While everyone agrees that the numbers of mobile searches are rapidly increasing, some are of the opinion that there is a little need to have a separate mobile site (as apps might become the chosen solution) and that there are little differences between mobile and desktop search results. Others believe that mobile and desktop search results are quite different and that there is a need for a separate mobile site or mobile formatted content.
I believe that you should start thinking about having a separate mobile version of your site if you haven’t done so already, however this only applies for certain sites and business. For example, banks could have a mobile version for only certain parts of their sites (such as online/ mobile banking and key contact information for example, ATMs, branches, support numbers, support chat etc), but there is no really need for them to have a mobile version for the entire site. Similarly if you are a B2B business, do you really need a mobile site? The need of a mobile site for mobile searches can vary from industry to industry. Sites that offers news content, entertainment (video, music and restaurants) for example, will most likely convert better and have higher CTR on mobile then a site that offers financial services or B2B.
Users can choose the option to have the mobile formatted view:
When I search for restaurants, ranking results are clearly different between a desktop and a mobile:
Local Search Results are higher in the rankings, pushing top2 and 3 sites down. In addition Local Search results differ from mobile to my desktop.
Read the original post here -
BruceClay - Mobile SEO – How can Search Results and Conversions differ on mobile
While everyone agrees that the numbers of mobile searches are rapidly increasing, some are of the opinion that there is a little need to have a separate mobile site (as apps might become the chosen solution) and that there are little differences between mobile and desktop search results. Others believe that mobile and desktop search results are quite different and that there is a need for a separate mobile site or mobile formatted content.
I believe that you should start thinking about having a separate mobile version of your site if you haven’t done so already, however this only applies for certain sites and business. For example, banks could have a mobile version for only certain parts of their sites (such as online/ mobile banking and key contact information for example, ATMs, branches, support numbers, support chat etc), but there is no really need for them to have a mobile version for the entire site. Similarly if you are a B2B business, do you really need a mobile site? The need of a mobile site for mobile searches can vary from industry to industry. Sites that offers news content, entertainment (video, music and restaurants) for example, will most likely convert better and have higher CTR on mobile then a site that offers financial services or B2B.
Are mobile search results & CTR different to desktop search?
Below is a snapshot of the ranking and CTR results for mobile and desktop versions of the site with content around Queensland flood related terms.
Desktop/Web search queries and CTR
Mobile search queries and CTR
It’s clearly evident that mobile results and CTR differ. The site average position in the Google Web SERPs for the keyword “brisbane floods” is 6.1, while on mobile (smartphones) is 15. Also noticeable is the difference between CTR for the keywords “quensland floods” and “qld floods” on the web (5% and 1%) compared to mobile. In fact CTR for the term “queensland floods” is 24%, almost 5 times higher than the CTR for desktop. Similarly the “qld floods” has a CTR of 13%, 13 times higher than the CTR for the desktop site.What if you don’t implement a mobile version of your website?
Your site might be transcoded by Google to be rendered on mobile handsets. Pages that are transcoded usually closely resemble the ‘text-only’ version of the page that Google has on its cached version. The result is not that great. See example below:Users can choose the option to have the mobile formatted view:
Mobile formatted option on a mobile browser
Transcoded page
The conversion rate for these transcoded pages may not be as high as an optimized mobile experience as you will not be able to control the look and feel of the website. You can prevent transcoding by adding the tag on your site.Can location affect search results on mobile or desktop search?
Yes, location can affect search results on a desktop and on a mobile. Google attempts to automatically detect your location in a different way from desktop and mobile. On a desktop, Google relies on a default location based on IP address or on the location set in the My Location feature from the Google Toolbar. Google allows you to manually set a location that will be saved in a browser cookie on your specific computer and internet browser. See graph below:
Google allows you to change your default location
On mobile Google can use Cell ID to automatically detect a location using Google’s cell tower database. Most new phone platforms support cell ID, however some devices need the proper API enabled to allow cell ID location detection. Location can also be detected according to GPS signals and WiFI connections. In both cases, a phone must support GPS or WiFi and have them enabled.When I search for restaurants, ranking results are clearly different between a desktop and a mobile:
Desktop SERP’s for the keyword “restaurants”
6 Mobile SERP’s for the keyword “restaurants”
Local Search Results are higher in the rankings, pushing top2 and 3 sites down. In addition Local Search results differ from mobile to my desktop.
Do I need a separate domain for my mobile site?
Matt Cutts on recent videos on mobile websites (embed VIDEO in page if possible), suggests that having a m.domain is the current best practice. While it’s almost certain that having a .mobi version of a site is not ideal, another option is to create handheld stylesheets to format the content and maintain the same URL structure.Is this the year of mobile SEO?
Eric Schmidt said: “2011 is all about mobile” so this is a good start. Eric mentioned that Google will be involved in three important projects which will include:- Network speeds: Schmidt wants to see superfast mobile networks and anticipates “8-to-10- megabit networks” running at “roughly 10 times what we have today.”
- Mobile payments: Google is doing trials with near-field communications (NFC) and local business window decals in Portland. This will clearly push M-Commerce and the need for e-commerce sites to improve their mobile online presence.
- Cheap handsets: Schmidt said that soon “Android will beat the iPhone; there’s almost no way for Apple to match Android in the cheap smartphone category”
Read the original post here -
BruceClay - Mobile SEO – How can Search Results and Conversions differ on mobile
