Understanding Behavioral Search and Ranking

Search Engines use a technique called behavioral search to customize a results page based on the users previous search behavior. Behavioral targeting tracks the searches you’ve run and adjusts new search results to include listings the search engine assumes will interest you. Behavioral targeting doesn’t replace all of the results you’d normally get with a regular search, but it may throw in a few extra ones it thinks would be useful to you.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your search results differ from another person’s search results – even when you both type the same query into the same search engine? This is a scenario that is becoming more and more common.

Search engines can individually customize search results based on the users:

• Recent search behavior
• Location
• Web History
• Demographic Information
• Community

The major search engines use more than just keyword rankings to determine the order of results. Remember, they’re trying to deliver the most relevant listings possible for every search. As a result, they’ve recently started taking this down to the individual-user level. With behavioral search and personalization, results revolve around users, not a single boiler plate algorithm.

Behavioral targeting particularly affects the paid results you see (that is ads or sponsored links that site owners have paid the search engine to display on results pages, based on keywords). For instance, if you run a search for [surfboards] followed by a search for [surfing], the search engine throws a few extra paid results for surf-related products at the top or sides of the page. (Note that this kind of advanced targeting costs advertisers a pretty penny; the surf sites might get charged double when a user clicks their behavioral-targeting-enhanced listing, compared to their standard pay-per-click rate.

IMPORTANT – The organic results (non-paid listings that display on results pages) also may show slightly different listings or listings in an altered order. Even if you’re not logged in, the data for your search history may influence your search engine results, compared to the search results you would see if you were a new user searching for [surfing]. Your previous search for [surfboards] influenced the search engine to assume [surfing] as in riding waves, rather than the actual accessory to ride those waves.

Thanks So Much For Reading!

~JAWS

Deep Linking = Great Search Engine Rankings!

Throughout my SEO Adventures I have talked about linking and
how it can help to boost your search engine rankings.

If you have a well optimized website, linking will be the
single most IMPORTANT factor that will affect your rankings.

Today I want to talk about deep linking.

If you don’t know what deep linking is, don’t worry – a
deep link is simply a link to a page on your website that
is NOT your home page. A deep link can be a link to your
blog, a blog post, a product page, or any other sub page on
your website.

Most people concentrate on getting links to their home page,
but if you can spend some time getting deep links too, this
will really help to improve your search engine rank and it
will increase traffic to other pages on your site.

Here are some ways that you can get deep links:

(1) Use social bookmarking services to bookmark internal
pages or blog posts on your website. Many bookmarking
services will provide you with a do follow link back to your
site and you can easily bookmark a page to multiple services
at the same time by using a service such as OnlyWire.com

(2) Link Internally (Hot Linking) within your site or blog – make sure you
have a good navigation system within your website. This can
include site menus and also linking back to internal pages
from your home page or from other pages and blog posts where
relevant.

(3) Include a deep link in your author resource box when
distributing articles. It is good to include 2 or 3 links in the
author resource box when distributing an article. I usually
include a link to my home page + one or two deep links to
internal pages on my website. If you’re only using your site URL,

you’re missing the chance to gain great back-links to your site.

(4) Use deep linking in your blog comments. When you leave a
comment on someone’s blog consider using a deep link rather
than your home page link. It may be appropriate here to leave
a link to your blog or a relevant blog post.

(5) Use deep links in forums. Most links allow you to embed
one or more links to your website in your forum signature..

You don’t have to link directly to your home page – you
could link to another relevant internal page on your website.
You could also include a link to a relevant page in a forum
post, but be careful not to spam.

(6) Paid Directory Submissions – some directories allow you
to include deep links. However, these are usually restricted
to paid submissions.

If you incorporate some of these techniques into your
overall link building campaign, this will help to make your
links look natural to the search engines AND boost the
overall traffic to your website.

Thanks For Reading!

~JAWS

STOP! Google’s Stop Words – Making Sure You Know When To Use Them

Google’s Search Engine is highly intelligent; its search algorithm is incredibly gifted in bringing back the most relevant answer and correct information for any question or query that is asked of it. With that said, there are certain common words that the Google Search Box ignores when someone conducts a search. Words such as “where” and “how”, as well as some certain single digits are just a few elements that Google has removed in streamlining their process of efficient search. It’s an official FAQ Google States, “these terms rarely help narrow a search and can slow search results.” Of course, the main reason such words are not indexed is because doing so would massively increase the Google index (at great computing costs and with limited user benefit).

These Stop Words include (but are not limited to) i, a, about, an, and, are, as, at, be, by, for, from, how, in, is, it, of, on, or, that, the, this, to, was, what, when, where, who, will, with.

Google is in fact so efficient at recognizing stop words that they take it a step further and are able to count stop words when used in a Brand Name, Title of a Song or Movie, etc. So, for example, a search for The Fixx will NOT be ignored and will be processed as is, returning results for the well-known 80s ‘New-Wave’ Band.

Bottom line, if a search engine had to scan EVERY single word in say 600,000 documents to find ALL mentions of the words you’re looking for, the process would take hours. The purpose of using an index and specifically ‘Stop Words’ gives Google the speed and efficiency to bring back your relevant search results in a snap so that you’re not having to wait years to get relative information.

Thanks for Reading>>>

~ JAWS

The Beautiful World of Video Optimization

In the world of video marketing, it is essential to tag your videos accordingly in order to make them easier to find in the search engines; something we SEO’s call ‘Video Optimization.’ This day in age everyone is looking at videos and uploading videos. Whether your video usage is for educational purposes or merely just for fun, proper video tagging will ensure that all your uploaded videos can easily be found both by the search engines and people who have searched them using certain keywords.

Keywords, Keywords, Keywords! Not only does crucial keyword research play an integral part in the world of internet marketing when people search for your products and services online, but keywords will also assist in the branding of your business. So, in regards to video optimization and video marketing to promote you business, I can’t tell you right now, it’s important to pin the right tags to your videos.

Online video optimization has been proven to increase the traffic to your website by offering the search engines another entry point to your website in addition to giving users something they can watch. Like I said before, people love videos, they love T.V., and they love media. Video optimization and search engine optimization are comparable in the fact that Meta tagging a website is similar to tagging videos. There are still Title and Description tags that need to be strategically created using keywords so that your video can easily be discovered through search engines and people typing in keywords looking to find you.

Speaking of Videos – Animoto.com Rocks, Check out this Cool Video!!!

http://vodpod.com/watch/4211297-search-marketing

Both the title and description are used by both the search engines and users to understand what the video is about. The title tag (the most heavily weighted tag by the Search Engines) of the video is used as the headline of the video that you have uploaded; Make it your number one priority to come up with a good one! Moreover, your title should also include keywords that are frequently searched within your particular industry vertical. When deciding on the fitting title, you should think of a title that will largely represent your video. The title itself should give the viewer an idea of the video that you have uploaded. Furthermore, the title shouldn’t be too long because it will get cut off and not show the entire headline when listed in the search results.

In addition to the title, another vital tag for the video would be the description tag. The description tag should be easy to understand, concise and clear. Just like the title, it should not be too lengthy or long-winded and contain your most highly trafficked and pertinent keywords for your business.

Also, don’t forget about the video tag. The video tag consists of single word phrases that are regularly searched by people looking for things on the internet. This is similar to keywords and is only a collective of single words while the keywords themselves refer to phrases that are typically used to search for videos.

With that being said, make sure that you use the right keywords that are directly related to the content of your video. Do not and I repeat DO NOT “stuff” your tags with keyword phrases that are unnecessary because it might not become search engine friendly anymore, getting you penalized by the search engines. An important component to take away from this whole conversation is to keep everything simple, be patient in waiting for the results – with the right due diligence you should see your ranks improve within the search engine indexes sooner than later.

Why Comply?

In the development stages of a website, one MUST brainstorm strategies when it comes to SEO and internet marketing. A site’s architecture and link building are two of the most well-known components that will be the most instrumental in achieving higher search engine rankings for your website online. In addition, the term “In-Compliance” comes up a lot, having an “SEO-Compliant” website or being “In-Compliance” with the major search engine algorithms.

So, what’s the deal with an SEO compliant website and what does that even mean?

In short, having an SEO compliant website will assist you in achieving anything you’ve ever desired from users looking for your website’s products and services on the internet. More traffic, increased leads and sales, and tons more business – You really get it ALL! I mean, who doesn’t want to make more $$$?

For the most part, a website that is compliant follows a specific set of rules set in place by the W3C, or the “World Wide Web Consortium.” These rules were originally put into place so that webmasters could make a more proficient website for the web, and in turn, help the user have a better experience using a website. However, there is so much more to being SEO Compliant than just merely following the rules of the W3C. The wording of your website is also very important and something you need to pay close attention to and not just for SEO purposes, but to also create ease for the reader so that they find it interesting, useful and valuable.

Taking that extra time in making sure your website is SEO compliant is something that speaks highly of how strategic you are as a webmaster or an SEO professional. To break it down for you; the better your search engine rankings, the better chances you’ll have of someone actually searching for the products or services you provide and the more likely your offerings will be bought by that person.

So why is SEO Compliance SO Important?

Google (which gets the majority of web visitors) has more than 200 different guidelines that a website must adhere to in order for it to be compliant with their Google Spiders, and to help with a website’s superior search engine rankings. Make sure your website is updated and improved frequently to make certain that the search engines are able to more smoothly examine the site in addition to infiltrating the deepest crevices of your website. Conversely, there are a large number of occurrences where a website may have some difficulties that may prevent the search engine spiders from maneuvering around the site. With that said, when your site becomes more SEO compliant, you’ll find that more people will have a good time hanging out at your site because it’s easier to use. In addition to this, you will also gain more page rank from the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Ultimately all of these dynamic factors will increase your traffic and rankings delivering you more traffic and business. What’s also great about SEO compliance is that not only are you more recognized by the search engines, but your website is also more user friendly to the web surfer.

Thanks For Reading!  The Adventure Continues>>>

The Real Recipe For Online Success…

If you think of all the search traffic on the internet, most of that traffic comes from the search engines. If someone wants to know the answer to a question or is in need of some product or service, they’ll most likely head straight to their favorite search engine and plug and play. Usually, what happens is that someone will type something they’re looking for into the search box and then be presented with a listing of results that closely match their specific query (question).

In the searching process, most folks don’t usually make it past the first page of the search results and even then, there’s even a small percentage that even make it to page 2 and so on of the search results – It’s just too time consuming and people don’t like waiting for things.

Is it even possible for the search engines to find you without optimizing your site? Definitely! But without giving them a helping hand by using SEO techniques, you’re website is most likely to be buried deep within the results pages and won’t ever be clicked on. In other words, it’s like swimming up a fast rushing river; it’s not necessarily impossible but it is very, very difficult.

Let’s get one thing straight – SEO is not difficult, but is time consuming. It’s also not some mysterious voodoo science that only a select few people know and is impossible to figure out. The bulk of SEO involves certain effective methods in order to ethically notify the search engines where you’re web site is located and what it’s all about. With that said, SEO is not just a one-time thing that you can expect great search engine rankings overnight; SEO is certainly not just something you can simply work at once and then you’re done with it. Search Engine Optimization is something that must be worked at continuously if the goal is to attain great search engine rankings. Your ultimate mission is to get as many eyeballs on your web page as possible. The first step is to focus on web pages themselves (On-Page – Architecture, Metas, Content, etc.), making sure your website is keyword rich (using highly searched phrases on your website that searchers are actually typing in to the search engines to find your business). The second phase is to concentrate on the Off-Page portion of SEO which involves, Link-Building, Blogging, Social Media, etc.

The Top Factors for On-Page SEO are:

1.)    Using important keywords within the titles of your web pages.
2.)    Using headlines (H1 and H2 Tags) that contain those same keywords within a heading on your page.
3.)    Writing great unique content that not only uses those same keywords, but that also uses related key-phrases within that content.
Create both an On-Page Navigational Site Map as well as an XML site map.

It’s important to let you know that the search engines rank each web page within your website differently. Your web site might contain of 100 pages and each of those individual pages will be ranked differently within the search engines. Each page will have its own set of targeted keywords, its own text and content, and its own links.

It’s also crucial to point out, that just because you do everything correctly on you web site with your targeting keywords, don’t expect to rank well instantly. SEO TAKES TIME. You must also work at getting traffic to those web pages via “off-page SEO” and this is where the Link-Building and other components come into play.

Bottom line, SEO is the best tool for marketing your website online. Working together and in tandem with the search engines will only consistently help in making your website rank well online. Effectively structuring your web pages so that the search engines understand what your site is about is crucial. This component in place will ultimately be most effective in driving the best traffic to your web site. This is why SEO is truly the key to business success online. Give the search engines what they want, while at the same time providing your site visitors with a phenomenal experience on your website. This is the recipe for getting users to link to you in addition to higher search engine rankings.

Getting Targeted Search Traffic

When it comes to DRIVING traffic to your website from visitors online, many would say this would be a precious commodity based on how targeted the traffic actually is. With so many business verticals being heavily competitive these days because of a down economy, success in not an option when it comes to driving the right traffic to my client’s websites.  Many online marketers dream of providing perfectly targeted traffic for their clients which in turn will drive a significant lift in business.   The ultimate goal is to get these visitors to request a quote, purchase your products and/or services and targeted traffic is really the only thing that’s going to make this happen.

If you’re not reaching a highly targeted audience, you can forget about being successful online.  For example, if you’re selling beer online and you’re receiving a huge amount of traffic to the website, but that traffic is unqualified, you are going to have a very tough time converting that traffic into sales.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the perfect way to drive your target audience to your website.  This is where great keyword research becomes highly valuable.  If the mantra in real estate is location, location, location – than in SEO-land, it’s keywords, keywords, keywords. The goal is finding out what people are actually typing into the search engines to find your business and then providing this audience with the answer or solution to their query.  This is where an SEO Company and SEO methodology can be of great value to a website’s success. If you are able to pin point what your target audiences’ needs are, then finding the search phrase or keywords they are using to find information – then and only then will you come away with the kind of targeted traffic you are searching for.  Never make the keyword or phrase too broad, try to make it as exact as possible by really depicting your niche product or service. If you happen to be using videos, blogs or any other methods to drive traffic to your website; utilizing the correct keyword text within those content tags of that content will work at associating those keywords with your website and indexing you higher in the search engines.

Keywords and rich content go hand-in-hand.  Once you’ve found your ideal keyword list, sprinkle those keywords within the content of your copy and insert within the content of your website. I can almost guarantee you marketing efforts will get a lot easier once this has been accomplished. With that being said, keyword research goes a long way in locating that target market that you’re not going to want to take for granted as it can cost you in the end. If I can leave you with anything, the most simple and basic of all SEO tactics to keep in mind is to keep the content on your website focused on your market audience while using the correct balance of tags that will drive the right visitors to your site. It’s really astounding what a couple of keywords can do in a video description, blog, article or site. You may not realize what a difference this makes in the world of online marketing, but it is so impactful at driving some of the best business to your website. Remember, success is our #1 mission – failure is NOT an option.

Google Loves It When You Play Nice…

In the world of SEO, the most common words I hear from website owners and even SEO professionals in my industry are the two words, “Battle” and “Manipulate.”  Many people feel they must constantly manipulate the search engines and struggle with rankings when battling their way to the top. You shouldn’t have to battle or manipulate the search engines or anybody for that matter. There shouldn’t be such a struggle-Period. Things should come natural and play their course and if you’re doing your job right, with enough time, you’ll have the search engine rankings you’ve been looking for.

My motto is to play nice with Google and “Go with the Flow.” I know everyone wants to be different and original, however in this case having style is one thing; going against the grain on what Google hints is working with their algorithm is another. Your rankings will only suffer in the end if you don’t play along with the Search Engines. The search engines encourage the use of ‘white hat’ SEO Techniques or ethical search engine optimization and companies who play nice are more likely to achieve the top positions in the search results. There is one important rationale as to why search engines encourage white hat SEO. Google and the search engines provide a service to the online community. Searchers visit a search engine when looking for something and in turn companies like Google are only looking to produce the most correct answer for every query initiated. If the results they deliver to the user aren’t of great quality, searchers will not return to the search engine in the future and eventually the search engine will fail. So bottom line, the quality and relevancy of the search results provided to the user is a crucial element for the search engines.

Businesses that have in house teams of search professionals in addition to those companies that outsource their marketing efforts better be cognoscente they’re running an ethical SEO campaign. The campaign must have fresh and relevant information noticeably exhibited within each web page. What this means is that visitors to a website will be able access imperative details rapidly and effortlessly and this is of great significance. Searchers will quickly scan a web page to find pertinent information and if they don’t find what they are looking for, they will then decide a website is worthless and go someplace else.

Those SEO Professionals utilizing white hat SEO techniques will always provide visitors with a website that can be explored easily and effectively. Internal linking, navigation tables and other linking techniques will be used internally within a sites structure to allow visitors to access information and assist them with their search. If a user is unable to find information appropriate to their needs, they will once again leave a website. Huge amounts of internet users like to explore a company website and their offerings before becoming a customer. Your goal should be to lead them by the hand, telling the visitor what you would like them to do on your site and allowing them quick access to information that is explained straightforwardly.

What’s cool about SEO white techniques is that business owners are able to use many different ways when interacting with their target audience. Ethical SEO helps businesses give their visitors better service and ultimately retains customer loyalty for many years to come. When looking into your in house marketing team or a professional SEO firm, make sure they’re utilizing white hat SEO methods so that when Google knocks at your door and asks if you can come and play, you’re willing and ready to become lifelong friends. Develop a useful relationship with the search engines. By meshing well with the types of elements the search engines respond well to, they will be eager to display your website more highly in its search results. By working together with Google and the search engines and offering the most relevant information for a product or service, you’ll have the opportunity to rank high for your marketing efforts bringing you TONS of targeted traffic, and with that comes TONS of new business.

Thanks For Reading!

The Adventure Continues>>>

The Infamous C -Word

Get Your C-Shape

Happy Monday, I hope that everyone’s week is off to a Rockin start! Though the beginning of the week is usually filled with hectic meetings, tasks and unfinished business carried over from last week.  I want to fill everyone’s day with a piece of Search Engine Optimization for websites that many folks forget or completely oversee.

It’s Called the C-Word or C-Shape within a website…

Within your page body, there are five important components from an SEO perspective that are most crucial in website’s architecture that Google and the Search Engines find very attractive: In addition to the <head> section and Metadata (which is of course #1) – things like breadcrumb trails, heading tags, body text, image alt tags, and internal linking / internal navigation bars will give you a leg up on the competition if you structure them correctly. I’ll  go into each of these components later in subsequent posts…

However,  for SEO and design purposes, the most important text blocks in your overall body generally appear in 3 vital areas of a website. #1 is nearest the top of a web page, #2 is nearest to the left of the page, and #3 is in the page footer. I refer to this as the infamous C-Word or C-Shape in a website. It is this simple structure within a website, that  if overlooked could cause much turbulence and loss of prominence for both your targeted keywords and your search engine rankings. These areas are the most important because of the way in which users are accustomed to reading a website, scanning through swiftly rather than reading in full, and in turn looking for key navigational areas along the way. The general consensus is that search engine algorithms attempt to simulate at least part of this type of user behavior. For example, if a page is very long, some search engine spiders grant extra weight to wording that is at the Top, Far Left, and at the Bottom. Even if the page is short, extra weight is assigned to words at the top ( a variant of the importance principle we have seen already). SO – Hint, Hint, if you have important keywords that you’re looking to target and your goal like many websites is to rank high on the search engines for those keywords, well guess what? Those keywords better be located in the C – Section of your website…

Thanks For Reading !

The Adventure Continues>>>

Search Engine Cornerstone: Keyword Insertion…

At this point you understand the challenge of getting your website ranked high in the search engines and how it requires search engine optimization (SEO). There is never just one “Quick-fix” or Silver Bullet for having great natural search rankings, and if your site is brand new – don’t expect a huge increase in web visitors over night. SEO is a very powerful way of marketing your business online and involves a variety of elements that must be tweaked and monitored throughout the continuous process of marketing your website online. Some of the most important, dynamite aspects of successful SEO are the inclusion of prominent and relevant keywords in the copy of your website. Other phenomenal components of great SEO is properly coding a website and having the ability to acquire the quality incoming links from other web sites to boost your website to TOP RANKS.  I’m going to discuss the basic and perhaps the simplest factor a website owner must tackle:

Keyword Insertion…

Let’s say in the small town of Isleton, California there are only two small cafes:  Levee Café and Muddy Waters Cafe.

Now, Levee Café’s website (if they even had one) would most likely have this type of content on their site’s home page: “Levee Café offers the best breakfast in town! Our husband and wife team of chef/waitress have been an Isleton and Delta favorite for 30 years. Our cafe serves up piping hot, all American breakfasts such as bacon and eggs, creative omelet’s, and a variety of specialty pancakes. For takeout orders, call Levee cafe today at xxx.xxx.xxxx.”

Muddy Waters Cafe would have this type of content on their site’s home page: “We have been in business for 30 years and offer the best breakfast in the area. Our restaurant is located next to the historic Bing Kong Tong building on the north side of town (for more information on historic downtown, click here). Call us today at xxx.xxx.xxxx.”

search engine marketing blog crawdad pic

Considering all SEO factors aside, the odds are pretty good that Levee Cafe is going to be ranked much higher in Google for search terms such as “Isleton cafe” or “breakfast in Isleton” (presumably these are the types of keywords that people in Isleton would search for). Because those particular keywords are contained within the content/copy on the page makes all the difference. On the flip side of the coin, Muddy Waters Cafe doesn’t contain any of the important keywords. So it’s unlikely it would appear in the search results using those search terms. It’s that simple. (Muddy Waters’ site would, however, very likely appear in the search results if someone searched for “Bing Kong Tong Historical Building”, merely because this keyword is on the site.)

In this situation, within the small town of Isleton, it’s possible that just a tiny bit of content rewriting on the Muddy Water’s site is all that is needed for it to eventually rank well. Muddy Waters just needs to incorporate the important keywords within the copy of their site.

However, in a larger area such as San Francisco, where there are hundreds of cafes, restaurants, and you name it – adding a few keywords to the website may not have that much of an effect.  There’s just simply too much competition. This is where some of those other highly valued SEO factors come into account. Now, keep in mind that there are specific rules to how this whole game is played. One thing to avoid is trying TOO HARD to “game” the system. Search engines are so intelligent these days and it is expected that website owners play by the rules (meaning in compliance with their algorithms). So, Onay – there will be NO stuffing your page full of your precious keywords, nor should you try to write despicably lengthy pages that duplicate the keywords over and over. Methods such as these can actually get your website penalized by the search engines. Be smart and do your homework, work with the search engines, not against them.

Keyword insertion is a must in SEO, it’s the simplest method there is and should be your first step in any SEO plan. It really should be automatic when creating the content for any website.

Thanks For Reading!

The Adventure Continues>>>