SEO Update: Long Tail Keywords ROCK!

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SEO Update: Long Tail Keywords ROCK!

As a follow-up to our blog post from March, here is an update to the SEO campaign for MCS, also posted at https://web20ranker.com/white-label-seo-campaigns/.

The website for Mortgage Contracting Services (MCS) – www.mcs360.com – is ranking at #1 on www.google.com for multiple keywords that are directly tied to their website.

AND

it is ranking in top 10 results for keywords that are not directly being promoted – longer tail keywords that are, of course, part of the content of the website.

Some examples (these searches were performed in www.google.com)

Fort Myers Abandoned Property Ordinance appears at #1

Hillsborough County Abandoned Property Ordinance appears at #5

Wilmer Texas Swimming Pool Ordinance appears at #1

San Francisco Vacant or Abandoned Building Registration Ordinance appears at #4

There are hundreds of such long tail keywords that are pulling up the MCS website in the top 10 search results on google.com! Their potential customers are now finding them not just through the targeted keywords, but also through such search terms.

This is SHEER POWER OF properly performed search engine optimization (SEO).

Arnima, a Florida SEO and Florida Web Design company, can catapult your website to the top of search engine results. Learn more on our website at www.arnima.com.

The Evolution of an SEO Specialist

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The Evolution of an SEO Specialist

Over the last 10 years or so, the role of a traditional SEO (search engine optimization) specialist has evolved to the point where the original sets of responsibilities no longer apply.

The role of an SEO specialist has transformed to that of a Web Presence Specialist; there is much more that has to be taken into consideration for a website to rank properly in search engine results. This is even more true over the last 3 years, or so.

What used to be a small set of responsibilities has grown to a fairly large and exhaustive list of tactical and strategic tasks.

From about 2004 to about 2009, our SEO specialists focused on 4 to 5 key areas as illustrated by the following graphic:

 

And now, in 2011, an SEO Specialist, rather a Web Presence Specialist, has to account for a whole lot more, as shown in this graphic:

 

For those in the SEO field, this represents a fundamental shift in the thought and implementation process. What used to be a (relatively) simple set of responsibilities has now grown to significantly larger set of tasks.  At Arnima, a Florida SEO company, we strive to continually keep on top of the evolution of search engine optimization and this allows us to continually adjust our SEO services to obtain the best results for our clients.

Please note that the actual list of tasks is much more exhaustive than what is displayed above. The above list is simplified to cover the essential elements of optimization from a macro perspective.

The Effect of Google’s Panda Update

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The Effects of Google's Panda Update

The latest update from Google is poised to transform the world of search engine optimization (SEO). With this update, Google’s search engine ranking algorithms will take into account not just the popularity of a website or web page, but will also take into consideration the overall user experience of that website or web page.

Using the technology of machine learning, search engine spiders will focus on more than just the quantifiable markers of a website’s popularity or relevance. Essentially, a website will now have to provide an overall positive user experience to gain and maintain top search engine rank.

Prior to this update, best SEO practices were focused on traditional techniques such as:
-increasing the number of inbound links using link building, directory submissions etc
-ongoing content optimization and keyword improvement
-regular updates to content, such as a blog

Sure, these things will still continue to matter but not as much as they did before. The Panda update has, more than anything, taken some of the power away from the purely technical SEO company and handed that to the human user!

A website or web page must now provide an overall experience that will satisfy a human end user:
-Is the design attractive?
-Is everything in the right place?
-Is what is being looked for easy to find?
-Is the content not only interesting but varied enough to be of real value?
-Will the content entice the user come back multiple times?
-Did the user give a vote of confidence to the website or web page?

The job of an SEO (Search Engine Optimizer) has transformed into that of a WPS – Web Presence Strategist – as the disciplines of web design and development and search engine optimization now converge. Whilst an SEO specialist could previously focus on solely the technical aspects of SEO, he or she now must include much more to get a website to rank well on Google.com.

SEO companies will start to deal with machines that learn which websites are liked better by human users. It will be important to focus on this human element in addition to continuing to work on the traditional elements of SEO. Social media is expected to play a critical part and the likes and dislikes of human users and this will surely have a serious impact on the search engine ranks of websites.

The bottom line is to provide maximum value for human users – attractive design, simple and easy navigation, great usability, uncluttered layouts and interesting – and relevant –  content. All of these will matter. The Panda update has ensured that new referrals will come to businesses in a much more organic way, i.e., via recommendations, Diggs, Facebook likes, Google +1s, etc. No longer will people just find a new business based only on its technical adherence to search engine optimization algorithm specs.

As a Florida SEO company, Arnima, is strategically positioned to assist you with making sure that your website continues to rank well by incorporating the essential aspects of the Panda update into your website marketing strategy whilst maintaining the traditional SEO technical elements.

How to Rank High on Bing

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How to Rank High on Bing

How to Rank High on Bing.com

Historically, Google has commanded the largest share of the search engine traffic market. However, that is now changing. Ever since Yahoo started serving up Bing results, it is worth focusing some SEO effort on Bing, especially if catering to US-based traffic. The latest figures from Experian’s Hitwse indicate that Bing’s overall search engine traffic share is creeping up into the 30% range. (Note that this includes both Bing.com and Yahoo).

Before Yahoo starting serving up Bing-powered search results, it may have been more practical to focus primarily on getting a high rank on Google since it commanded the largest share of the search traffic market; for some people focusing as much effort on the much smaller share of Yahoo and Bing (or MSN as it was known before) was often hard to justify. Furthermore, since the search algorithms for Bing and Yahoo are different from Google and can sometimes be in conflict with each other so Bing and Yahoo tended to get less attention.

Things are different now. It is time to take Bing more seriously.

Here are 3 simple tips that will help get websites to rank high on Bing. And since there is some overlap between SEO techniques that apply to Google and Bing, adding these techniques to properly executed SEO should help Google search results as well.

Exact (Keyword) Match Domain Names

Google will often give a higher rank if the search terms exactly match a domain name. Consider our own website, http://www.seo-company-florida.com. As of the writing of this article, it ranks at #1 on both Google and Bing for the search terms “seo company florida” and ranks at #2 on Bing for “seo florida”. This rank is helped by the exact match domain name. Do note that exact match domain names work best with .com, .net, or .org domains and less so for with domain extensions. If you are launching a new website, take the time to see of you can find a domain name (.com, .net or .org) that exactly matches your main search term(s).

Link Quality

Google may not give much (if any) value for the possibly “dirtier” links; Bing does not appear to penalize the “dirtiness” of links as much as Google does so link quality can be a bit lower than Google’s and one can get away with it. However, one needs to tread carefully in this area – it is always best to follow proper SEO techniques and go after links that are of as high quality as possible. Of course this depends on the website being optimized.

Inline Links

SEO for Google is heavily dependent on links. Links from articles, blogs, directories, videos, content pages and all other sources. Google just loves links. When it comes to Bing, things are a bit different. Bing, of course, loves links and places good value on all kinds of links but just not as much as Google. Bing is partial to what are known as “inline links”. So, what exactly are “inline links”? These are links that appear within the content of a web page and within the text of an article or a blog post or a web page. Bing simply does not assign as much value to links from directories, article and video syndication websites.

Consider this:
This is an editorial link that makes sense to the reader because it flows through the content of the paragraph and is contextually correct. Of course, the contextual correctness is not the important thing; it is the fact that the link appears inline within the content that is important. This could be the case with a comment on a blog post, or on a forum

So, to rank high on Bing, one needs to look for these so-called “inline” links. A side benefit will be that since Google simply loves links, the Google rank will also benefit.

Content, Content, Content

Content is and always will be king. In the eyes of the reader and for the search engine robots. Unique content (Google farmer update, anyone?) holds one of the main keys to high SEO rank. Google loves unique content and Bing loves it even more. It is possible to take a 1-page microsite with little content and get it to rank on page one on Google if there are enough backlinks and proper SEO is conducted. Bing prefers content rich websites and it typically does not like to rank sparsely contented websites or pages and tends to disregard the number of backlinks (unless they are inline links). And in order to get inline links, one needs content. Catch 22!

It is important to make sure that the content on a website is relevant and related. If a website ranks in top results served by Google, it is advisable to continue to add unique content pages and link to them from the home page so that the Bing bots can find this content.

We took the time to experiment with the above guidelines. The 3 things that worked well are (1) inline links (2) unique content and (3) exact match keyword domains. This is demonstrated by the rank of http://www.seo-company-florida.com for several search terms. As an added benefit, the above practices will also benefit Google rank. However, one needs to be sure to always follow proper and ethical SEO processes.

Arnima is a Florida SEO company that can help you rank high on Bing and also on Google and other search engines via our Search Engine Optimization Services.

Companies That Hide Behind their Websites

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Companies that Hide Behind Their Websites

One of my pet peeves revolves around companies that do not publish a phone number anywhere on their website. Instead, they rely on email, live chat, trouble ticket systems and these so-called user forums to interact with their prospective customers.  Basically, they hide behind their websites.

Now, since we are not a customer of any such company, we do not know whether they provide a contact number and we do now know how they handle post-sales support and customer management

We were recently researching shopping cart systems for one of our clients and we came across a particular shopping cart vendor – one of the 2 we had shortlisted – that did not provide a telephone number anywhere on their website! Our client is investing a not-so-insignificant amount of money in their website and in order to do them justice, we wanted to speak to the shopping cart vendor’s sales team. At that very moment. We wanted some questions answered so we could make a decision and get moving on the project. Just so you know, this vendor’s shopping cart license cost starts at over ten thousand dollars – per year! Despite that, they required us to submit a fill-in form to get pricing and support and other details.

We did not want to “fill-in” a contact form and we did not want to submit a ticket to their system and we most definitely did not want to post a question in their forum. We trolled their entire website and we still could not find a telephone number. We even went so far as to search for them on Facebook, LinkedIn and despite all of that, we still could not find a phone number. And trust us; if the information is on the Internet, we know how to find it!

In the end, this particular vendor lost our business (and will never get our business). Instead, we selected the next vendor – because they provided their contact details and we were able to get in touch with their sales team – immediately and get all our questions answered.

Given the intense competition and the sheer number of options available, is it not critical to allow your potential customer to contact you in as many ways as possible?

Do you know of any businesses that hide behind their websites?