Links are a crucial part of attaining high search rankings, but you must be very careful about to whom you link. I'm going to help you develop a simple link strategy for your website that will help you decide which sites to link to so you're making your way up the search engine rankings and not accidentally hurling yourself backwards.
So the natural questions are:
Should I link to everyone I can find?
Should I allow everyone to link to me?
Should I get one of those "link to 2,000 site for $10" things?
The answer to all of the above is NO!
Develop A Link Strategy
We're going to do an easy-to-digest version of what a search engine optimizer would do if you were to hire one. There are many reasons for having your site professionally optimized which would take up articles in themselves. This is one of the attack strategies for determining optimum, quality links for your site.
Step 1 Where are your competitors linked?
Don't arbitrarily find random sites that you like and link to them. A little bit of research goes a long way. Start with your competitors. Type the keywords for your site into a search engine. You have them, right? This is the list of key word phrases that you want to score the number one position when someone types them in a search. Who appears in the top 10 positions? They're your direct competition that is doing something right or they wouldn't be coming up first. So let's look underneath and see how they got it to work and save you a year of work!
Go back to your search engine and type "link:http://www.competitorsite.com". Up will pop a long list of sites that have a direct link to your competitor. Do this for your top 10 competitors. Do you see any trends in those results? Do you see any similar sites, or perhaps directory listings? Take some notes. A spreadsheet or a few sheets of loose-leaf paper is helpful and analyze what you've uncovered. You should have a good solid list of links that are helping your competitors rank high!
Step 2 Search for similar themed sites.
Look at your keyword list again. Do these words appear more so on any of the pages you have listed so far? Narrow down your list to sites that have at least the same theme or related content to yours. Even your competition will have quite a few odd links.
If there are 300 links to a site that sells pumpkins, it's natural to have a car dealer or an airline in there too. Chances are they were so pleased with their pumpkin purchase that they added the site to their own web page. You can disregard these right away.
Take your list and look at the potential link site for similarities to your topic. If in the pumpkin market your competition links to a site that tells all about how to cook pumpkin seeds, see if you can find other sites that tell how to make pumpkin pie, make jack-o-lanterns AND cook pumpkin seeds. Make a list of these sites as potentially better ones.
Step 3 Look at the Google Page Rank
You can find a page's page rank by looking at your Google tool bar if you have it installed or by going to a site like http://www.top25web.com/pagerank.php. The actual importance of Google Page Rank to Google searches in particular seems to depend on whom you talk with. It shouldn't be the make or break, but it can help to choose between several similar sites if your unsure of which one to go with.
Page Rank is more of a relative scale of the number and quality of links to a site. The higher the rank, the higher the number. The lower, the worse. It's not unheard of for a link from a site with a Page Rank of 6 or 7 to boost up a low score by a couple numbers. This seems to, at least in Google's case, get a site indexed much faster. And the faster you're indexed, the faster you can start climbing.
Step 4 How many sites link to your selections so far and how good are they?
The more links a site has pointing to it, the more important it appears to be to the search engines. Say your looking at company ABC to put a link on their site to you. Let's first see how many sites link to company ABC. (Just as you looked at your competition). We know search engines place more weight on sites linked to you that have similar content. Now the big search databases seem to know what kind of content is on those linking pages.
Using the pumpkin model, if your potential target is teaming with 100 inbound links from gambling, girls, horses, moons, leprechauns and horoscopes then throw it in the trash pile fast, even if it has a Page Rank of 8 (very rare).
Find that site that has 10 links good, quality links to it. From a pumpkin farmer, a vegetable recipe blog, Halloween and Thanksgiving festivities, how the first settlers used the pumpkin to build houses, etc and has a Page Rank of 5. This is the better choice. Quality, related themes and content to your site and keywords outweighs quantity of random, useless links.
Step 5 Your final list
Don't think you can do this in an hour, or a day! It's quite a bit of work just to find good, potential targets. Here's a bonus… when you have your finished your first wave a link possibilities, here's great way to give it a solid foundation.
Find some relevant directories to list with. Directories of a given theme will have many, many similar links pointing to it. Directories are usually considered to have Authority. (It's not uncommon to have to pay a fee for the good ones anyway.) Try to find a directory of pumpkin farms and pumpkin recipes to build your other links upon.
Another bonus. Avoid this mistake at all costs! Do NOT link to Link Farms or Free for all sites or any sites that will give you 1000 links for $10. These are not directories, but collections of completely unrelated links that exist solely to try to boost search engines rankings. Search engines ban many of these sites. The consequences of being listed with a banned site could ban you, and then you're doomed. The only way to succeed is to build your links honestly and strategically with a plan and method.
Note: Search engines give more weight to one-way links rather than reciprocal links. i.e. links that link to your site without asking for one in return. The easiest way to get these is to buy them. This plan will work on all the different kinds of links you can get.
So now you have some potential sites to link to. In the next article learn how to phrase your link for maximum effectiveness. The sites to link with is only the first half… the quality of the words you use that make up the link's content called anchor text are just as crucial! Hint: using the same link in every web site is a very bad idea. See you soon!
Jan 15, 2008
Jan 10, 2008
Search engine optimization
How to Optimize your Blog for Google Search Listings
Search engine optimization begins by realizing that you don't want to optimize for the search engines (plural) - you really only want to optimize your blog for Google.
I have gleaned from my comments and emails that a few of you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by information overload. You just started a blog for the fun of it and in due course you started learning a bit about this and a bit about that and before you knew it you have opened Pandora's box. You all want to make money with your blog. You have found out that it isn't that easy. What's the biggest single hurdle everyone blogging faces?
How to Get Traffic.
Sure this is obvious but worth emphasizing - without traffic your blog is pointless and has no hope of making money.
Not just any traffic will do however. You need search engine traffic - Google's.
I am going to try and simplify things as much as possible. There is a lot to learn but most of it can be added later. There are a few basics that need to be applied right from day 1 and this is what I will concentrate on here.
Ranking Number 1 in Google
SEO boils down to two things.
1) On Page Search Optimization
2) Off Page Search Optimization
That's it - see simple.
On page optimization boils down to two things.
1) Blog Layout (URL, Blog Title, Description, Sidebar Headers and then all the crap thrown in to bugger up the blog's layout.)
2) Post Layout (Post Title, Post Header, Sub Headers, Post Content)
Off Page Optimization boils down to one thing.
1) Backlinks (Quality PR, site relevant, keyword relevant links)
I'll make this really simple. Let's pick a niche (a whole other can of worms not covered today). Let's say I want to rank well for the term "Search Engine Optimization".
Blog Layout
The ideal URL would be searchengineoptimization(dot)com.
My blog title would be "Search Engine Optimization".
My Sidebar would have SEO in the titles.
You are not likely to ever get the perfect URL but it is wise to make your keyword fit into it one way or another. It may be ugly but having it in the URL makes a difference when it comes to highly competitive niches.
You can rank well without it but the top spots usually go to sites who have the keyword in the URL. See below (click to enlarge).
If you ignore Wikipedia the top ranking sites use the keyword and the rest don't. You can tell a lot about how Google ranks a page - in this case it is assuming I want information about SEO more than I want to hire an SEO company. The listings show two information based sites on top and the SEO companies fill in the rest of the list. Wikipedia is number one because it is not monetized. Google almost always ranks a non-monetized site higher in the serps when all other factors are equal.
Regardless of the URL you must use your Main Keyword in your blog Title and variations of your main long tail keywords in your description. Ideally you want only keywords in the Title and as much as possible in the description. See how my Title and description is set up below.
If you can create sidebar titles with your keywords used prominently great but not critical.
That's all there is to optimizing your blog's layout. Really.
The Google bot crawls your page from the top left, down the left column, then top second column and ends at the lower right corner of your page. It is looking for information in the form of text or html. It doesn't read javascript or images without alt tags.
It only wants to know one thing - what your page is about as specifically as it can.
When the bot visits my page it reads in order; my URL, Blog Title, Blog Description and then the post title, Content header, content sub headers, the content using LSI which means it can tell if your main keyword is backed up with lots of relevant content (long tail keywords) in the actual post, links, comments, and then the rest of the crap on my page.
Nowhere between my URL and my comments does the bot run into a distraction - no HOME page link - no previous post links, no menus, no anything that doesn't scream what my blog is about. By the time it reaches my actual post, the bot reads "make money online" in my URL, my Blog Title and my Description. The bot knows exactly what my blog is about before it hits my post. This is SEO. Now humor me - read the first 3 things the bot sees on your blog. If it can't tell what your blog is about by the time it hits your post then you have a problem.
This is what the bot sees on most sites,
http://everythingabouteverything(dot)com
Welcome to Larry's Blog
Join with me as I post my thoughts on everything in the known universe.
How would you categorize this. If you can't do it neither can the bot and it will get filed under the search terms "Larry" "Blog" "Universe". Really.
Now the bot reaches Larry's post but not before it is sent off on a half dozen links pointing to Larry's favorite posts or an affiliate link or two - and recorded that the site might be about "home" "links" "contact us" and various other things - but no matter as it eventually reads Larry's post entitled "My Thoughts on Everything" and after reading the post the bot decides the post is about "Larry" and nothing much else. We won't know because it will never be found on the serp's.
If the bot has you categorized by the time it hits your post you are already outranking most of the people in your niche. You may be 750 in the serps but there are millions lower than that.
Post Layout
The post is a bonus. The bot has me indexed for my main keyword before reading my post. After reading the post the bot will have added a good many long tail terms to categorize my blog under as well. In todays post it will know that this post is specifically dealing with SEO. The post title and 1st paragraph took care of that. Go back and read it - you can't help but know what my post is about and neither can the bot. This is SEO.
Does your last post tell the bot what your post is about in one paragraph - specifically? If it doesn't you have a problem.
If it has to decipher a post with lots of keywords but none of them are highlighted in bold or used as a header or heaven forbid not used in the title then your guess is as good as mine as to what it will or will not index the post under. It will usually pick the keyword used the most - not necessarily the keyword you wanted.
The remainder of your post should concentrate on using as many related keywords as you can to your Post Title's Keyword. These are known as long tail keywords. Don't just repeat the main keyword.
Most blogs who know what they are doing pick a keyword for the post title and one longtail in the content. This is correct if you write short posts. I like writing epic posts (duh - no kidding) and the reason is because I can stuff tons of related content into a long post. The benefit is that I get indexed for a lot of terms this way without having to write a lot of posts. Either way is fine.
I have had people say to me that they don't want to write such contrived posts - they want to write naturally. If the post looks contrived maybe you aren't a very good writer. I've stuffed the crap out of this post - does it feel contrived to you or is it natural flowing?
Reading this post can you spot all the keywords I will be indexed for?
Let's see...
Search engine optimization
How to Get Traffic
Ranking Number 1 in Google
On Page Search Optimization
Off Page Search Optimization
Blog Layout
Post Layout
Backlinks
SEO
and then a bunch of other terms like Page Title, Post Title etc.
The more terms I get indexed for the more traffic I get. Simple. Really.
And that's all you need to know about Post Layout. Again... Really.
An aside...
Do you know how much flak I get for using a free blogspot.com blog?
"What could he know - he's using a free blog. Hahaha!"
I know this - they rank really well on Google's search index. Most people assume this is because Google owns blogspot.
Nope.
It's because the out of the box layout of most templates are perfectly optimized for Google. Remember the first three things the bot sees? This template makes it impossible to screw things up. Wordpress self hosted blogs can be optimized just as well as this one but that's not what happens. People want them to look pretty and end up screwing them up with one snazzy plug in after another. All the crap you add for your readers just confuses the issue for the bot.
If you want to make money online then you have to forget about readers. You aren't looking for readers (in most cases) you are only interested in traffic. This is niche marketing.
Before anyone asks - yes you can get a "pretty" wordpress blog ranking well in the serps. Absolutely. Optimized content and titles can overcome crappy layout but you may not outrank the perfectly optimized competitor. Less is more in SEO. The easier you make it for the bot to categorize your blog and your posts the better.
Keep it simple - everything on your site that doesn't scream out your keywords is just fluff and isn't necessary. One Exception - Always have an "About Us" or "Contact" section. This tells Google that your blog is likely a legit site. Splogs don't leave calling cards.
Everything I have just told you is exactly the way this blog is optimized. No secret tricks. Does it work? It may be ugly but there are only 10 other sites outranking me for the term "make money online" as I write this. You decide.
One more last thing... use your main keyword, in my case, search engine optimization , in your last sentence of each post. Just a little reminder for the bot as it heads off to read all the crap.
Thanks to grizzly for parts of this post on SEO
Search engine optimization begins by realizing that you don't want to optimize for the search engines (plural) - you really only want to optimize your blog for Google.
I have gleaned from my comments and emails that a few of you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by information overload. You just started a blog for the fun of it and in due course you started learning a bit about this and a bit about that and before you knew it you have opened Pandora's box. You all want to make money with your blog. You have found out that it isn't that easy. What's the biggest single hurdle everyone blogging faces?
How to Get Traffic.
Sure this is obvious but worth emphasizing - without traffic your blog is pointless and has no hope of making money.
Not just any traffic will do however. You need search engine traffic - Google's.
I am going to try and simplify things as much as possible. There is a lot to learn but most of it can be added later. There are a few basics that need to be applied right from day 1 and this is what I will concentrate on here.
Ranking Number 1 in Google
SEO boils down to two things.
1) On Page Search Optimization
2) Off Page Search Optimization
That's it - see simple.
On page optimization boils down to two things.
1) Blog Layout (URL, Blog Title, Description, Sidebar Headers and then all the crap thrown in to bugger up the blog's layout.)
2) Post Layout (Post Title, Post Header, Sub Headers, Post Content)
Off Page Optimization boils down to one thing.
1) Backlinks (Quality PR, site relevant, keyword relevant links)
I'll make this really simple. Let's pick a niche (a whole other can of worms not covered today). Let's say I want to rank well for the term "Search Engine Optimization".
Blog Layout
The ideal URL would be searchengineoptimization(dot)com.
My blog title would be "Search Engine Optimization".
My Sidebar would have SEO in the titles.
You are not likely to ever get the perfect URL but it is wise to make your keyword fit into it one way or another. It may be ugly but having it in the URL makes a difference when it comes to highly competitive niches.
You can rank well without it but the top spots usually go to sites who have the keyword in the URL. See below (click to enlarge).
If you ignore Wikipedia the top ranking sites use the keyword and the rest don't. You can tell a lot about how Google ranks a page - in this case it is assuming I want information about SEO more than I want to hire an SEO company. The listings show two information based sites on top and the SEO companies fill in the rest of the list. Wikipedia is number one because it is not monetized. Google almost always ranks a non-monetized site higher in the serps when all other factors are equal.
Regardless of the URL you must use your Main Keyword in your blog Title and variations of your main long tail keywords in your description. Ideally you want only keywords in the Title and as much as possible in the description. See how my Title and description is set up below.
If you can create sidebar titles with your keywords used prominently great but not critical.
That's all there is to optimizing your blog's layout. Really.
The Google bot crawls your page from the top left, down the left column, then top second column and ends at the lower right corner of your page. It is looking for information in the form of text or html. It doesn't read javascript or images without alt tags.
It only wants to know one thing - what your page is about as specifically as it can.
When the bot visits my page it reads in order; my URL, Blog Title, Blog Description and then the post title, Content header, content sub headers, the content using LSI which means it can tell if your main keyword is backed up with lots of relevant content (long tail keywords) in the actual post, links, comments, and then the rest of the crap on my page.
Nowhere between my URL and my comments does the bot run into a distraction - no HOME page link - no previous post links, no menus, no anything that doesn't scream what my blog is about. By the time it reaches my actual post, the bot reads "make money online" in my URL, my Blog Title and my Description. The bot knows exactly what my blog is about before it hits my post. This is SEO. Now humor me - read the first 3 things the bot sees on your blog. If it can't tell what your blog is about by the time it hits your post then you have a problem.
This is what the bot sees on most sites,
http://everythingabouteverything(dot)com
Welcome to Larry's Blog
Join with me as I post my thoughts on everything in the known universe.
How would you categorize this. If you can't do it neither can the bot and it will get filed under the search terms "Larry" "Blog" "Universe". Really.
Now the bot reaches Larry's post but not before it is sent off on a half dozen links pointing to Larry's favorite posts or an affiliate link or two - and recorded that the site might be about "home" "links" "contact us" and various other things - but no matter as it eventually reads Larry's post entitled "My Thoughts on Everything" and after reading the post the bot decides the post is about "Larry" and nothing much else. We won't know because it will never be found on the serp's.
If the bot has you categorized by the time it hits your post you are already outranking most of the people in your niche. You may be 750 in the serps but there are millions lower than that.
Post Layout
The post is a bonus. The bot has me indexed for my main keyword before reading my post. After reading the post the bot will have added a good many long tail terms to categorize my blog under as well. In todays post it will know that this post is specifically dealing with SEO. The post title and 1st paragraph took care of that. Go back and read it - you can't help but know what my post is about and neither can the bot. This is SEO.
Does your last post tell the bot what your post is about in one paragraph - specifically? If it doesn't you have a problem.
If it has to decipher a post with lots of keywords but none of them are highlighted in bold or used as a header or heaven forbid not used in the title then your guess is as good as mine as to what it will or will not index the post under. It will usually pick the keyword used the most - not necessarily the keyword you wanted.
The remainder of your post should concentrate on using as many related keywords as you can to your Post Title's Keyword. These are known as long tail keywords. Don't just repeat the main keyword.
Most blogs who know what they are doing pick a keyword for the post title and one longtail in the content. This is correct if you write short posts. I like writing epic posts (duh - no kidding) and the reason is because I can stuff tons of related content into a long post. The benefit is that I get indexed for a lot of terms this way without having to write a lot of posts. Either way is fine.
I have had people say to me that they don't want to write such contrived posts - they want to write naturally. If the post looks contrived maybe you aren't a very good writer. I've stuffed the crap out of this post - does it feel contrived to you or is it natural flowing?
Reading this post can you spot all the keywords I will be indexed for?
Let's see...
Search engine optimization
How to Get Traffic
Ranking Number 1 in Google
On Page Search Optimization
Off Page Search Optimization
Blog Layout
Post Layout
Backlinks
SEO
and then a bunch of other terms like Page Title, Post Title etc.
The more terms I get indexed for the more traffic I get. Simple. Really.
And that's all you need to know about Post Layout. Again... Really.
An aside...
Do you know how much flak I get for using a free blogspot.com blog?
"What could he know - he's using a free blog. Hahaha!"
I know this - they rank really well on Google's search index. Most people assume this is because Google owns blogspot.
Nope.
It's because the out of the box layout of most templates are perfectly optimized for Google. Remember the first three things the bot sees? This template makes it impossible to screw things up. Wordpress self hosted blogs can be optimized just as well as this one but that's not what happens. People want them to look pretty and end up screwing them up with one snazzy plug in after another. All the crap you add for your readers just confuses the issue for the bot.
If you want to make money online then you have to forget about readers. You aren't looking for readers (in most cases) you are only interested in traffic. This is niche marketing.
Before anyone asks - yes you can get a "pretty" wordpress blog ranking well in the serps. Absolutely. Optimized content and titles can overcome crappy layout but you may not outrank the perfectly optimized competitor. Less is more in SEO. The easier you make it for the bot to categorize your blog and your posts the better.
Keep it simple - everything on your site that doesn't scream out your keywords is just fluff and isn't necessary. One Exception - Always have an "About Us" or "Contact" section. This tells Google that your blog is likely a legit site. Splogs don't leave calling cards.
Everything I have just told you is exactly the way this blog is optimized. No secret tricks. Does it work? It may be ugly but there are only 10 other sites outranking me for the term "make money online" as I write this. You decide.
One more last thing... use your main keyword, in my case, search engine optimization , in your last sentence of each post. Just a little reminder for the bot as it heads off to read all the crap.
Thanks to grizzly for parts of this post on SEO
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