Another Google Update

Yet another algorithm update was put into effect by Google recently as they have decided that page layouts are now an important factor in whether or not your website is a good match for their traffic.  The general concept behind this change is that Google was getting too much feedback from users complaining that when they go to a certain website, they were having difficulties finding the actual content of the site, because the site was just so overloaded with banner ads.

This is an experience that I can say I have experienced several times while searching for information online, even though I consider myself to be incredibly internet savvy and aware of what pretty much any type of website is just at first glance.  The official article on the subject can be read here at Google’s webmaster blog.

Google says that the...

Keyword Research With Social Media

If you run your own site, you have probably done some extensive keyword research. After all, keywords are the fundamental resource to drive targeted traffic to your site so that you have a large number of visitors complete whatever desired action it is that you want them to complete. As the internet continues to expand, the value of social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn are becoming more evident by the day. You may already have integrated your website with these types of sites. Now it’s time to optimize each social media site page with your keywords.

While most of these types of sites vary in function and purpose, they all have some similar and basic designs that you can optimize for your keywords. Here are a few tips:

• Optimize all photo and video files with your keywords. Just like when you are doing your on-site SEO practices, you will want to name each of your files with the keyword you...

Modern Age SEO

As search engines, and technology in general, become more sophisticated, it is important to remain 5 steps ahead in your search engine optimization efforts. Thin content and spammy looking links are no longer going to cut it if you have a project that you expect to run for a long period of time. If Google had its way, they would slaughter SEO. In reality, it is no longer SEO vs. Google. You need to be able to give The Big G what that want these days if you plan on seeing rankings that are worth anything. Involve the following areas in your optimization strategy in order to stay relevant.

Local SEO

Try to optimize your sites locally and globally. You want to be able to rank your website locally, even if it is not for a local business. The macro niches and keywords are pretty much as saturated as they can be at this point. So, you either have to put on your boxing gloves and fight corporate America for broad rankings OR you can focus on micro...

Writing Content for Search

So, you are now a proud website owner. You have a fantastic product, service, or information that you would like to promote all over the internet. You know your website provides a ton of value to the world and you want to share it with just about anyone that you can. However, you have noticed that you are not ranking on the first page of the SERPs for ANY of the keywords you are targeting. What gives? You see you have some quality back links pointed at your site from relevant sites in your industry, so why aren’t you ranking? It could be that you need to create better content.

Great content has two objectives; engage the user with entertaining and valuable information, and meet the search engine optimization best practice guidelines to give the search engines what they are looking for in a site. On the user side of things, you are going to want to provide value in the content by answering any and all questions the reader may have...