Google Ranking Factors, The Good and the Bad. There are lots of opinions on how Google actually ranks your web site in the search result pages — take a closer look at what matters and why.
Category Archives: search marketing
Google Ranking Factors, The Good and the Bad. There are lots of opinions on how Google actually ranks your web site in the search result pages — take a closer look at what matters and why.
Blogs are great for updating content quickly, creating a site community, and they even make search engines happy. Unfortunately, many site owners mis-use or under-utilize their blogs so here are 50 tips to boost your blogs performance.
Think all links are created equal? Not so. Some links deliver a lot more in the way of information and prestige when it comes to search engine rankings and visitor retention. Learn which links work best for you, your customers and your marketing budget.
I was fortunate enough to be a guest for the first time on The Alternative hosted by Jim Hedger and Dave Davies and we explored the who, what, why, where and when of building tools and the purposes of link bait. We also let the cat out of the bag about a few tools we’ll be releasing shortly. Feel free to check it out and enjoy. Also in on the session was Jeff Quipp from Search Engine People who’s also running a very exciting contest (with a $1,000 prize) that I’m encourage everyone to participate in!
While the free tools that Google provides are seen as questionable at best in the “don’t be evil” debate (about Google’s ultimate intentions and uses for the data). One thing is definitely clear, webmasters appreciate the added insight into the goings on of their site, enjoy the interface provided into their data and ultimately, Google’s tools and their integration of them (namely Google Analytics and Google AdWords) is definitely *convenient*. Some oldies some newies, but all relevant; Google Analytics steps up with:
All of these are extremely handy especially when you have the ability to track the results on your own to make sure everything is kept honest. I’m looking forward to a hands-on test drive. Check out the tour now.
Dan Thies over at SEO Research Labs has pointed out a remarkable video by Andy Edmonds. He and his team have used statistical analysis to study how the eye and brain process information while interacting with web sites!
First a definition:
“Foveal View” — The area of visible space where the user is best able to focus with maximum detail. The point here is that outside of the focal area the eye (and therefore the mind) is not perceiving color nor as much detail. Understanding this concept cascades into the takeaways that follow.
Now some highlights from Andy’s portion of the video + my two cents:
Heat mapping sites like the following are useful in understanding the result of the eye/brain interaction. Use the insight above to review your design and your heat map results to identify problem areas in your user interface design. Here are some popular tools:
Let’s not forget Google Analytics (Urchin) is useful when using the "Site Overlay" view in also seeing which anchors are most clicked in your site.
However, what we’ve long called “EBO” or Eyeball Optimization is explained masterfully by Andy — Well done!
Since I’m not sure how long that video will be in place so here’s the “permalink.”
Creating non-reciprocal, in-bound links to your site takes quality content that can be syndicated to several sites or, it can become hosted content on a single, high-ranking site — for a fee. You pay the site owner who displays your informational content with a prominent, non-reciprocal link back to your site. It’s a fast, low-cost means of getting your site identified as an authority site. And that authority designation is solid gold when it comes to search engine rankings.
The most desired action (MDA) is the reason you’re on-line and getting visitors to perform the MDA, regardless of what it is, takes some understanding of both site architecture and human nature. Improve the odds that the MDA is accomplished with these easy-to-implement tips.
A landing page has a specific purpose — to initiate the most desired action (MDA). Here’s how you can create landing pages that deliver the MDAs you’re looking for.
SEO spam is any tactic that attempts to corrupt or undermine a search engine’s result pages by inflating a site’s ranking. If you don’t know about SEO spam, you don’t know what could hurt you.