Optimizing websites for Google is becoming harder and harder. It’s now not just a case of adding keywords into your various HTML tags, uploading your files and waiting for the results.

This type of optimization, commonly referred to as on-page optimization, will only ever be 20% effective at achieving rankings for keywords that are even mildly competitive. Those of us who aced maths in school will know this leaves us with 80% unaccounted for.
This 80% corresponds to off-page optimization. Off-page optimization is all to do with:
The amount of links pointing to your site and its pages
The actual linking text (anchor text) of these links
The quality of the pages which the links are on
On page optimization
On page optimization is what can be done on a website page to maximize its performance in term of ranking highly for target keywords used by a target audience and producing sufficient referrals and conversions:
1.Create effective Page Title to generate high-ranking effectiveness:
Combine keywords and relevant call to action in a readable fashion to drive ranking and click through rate. For example: Quality Power tools - Buy now and save - Brand Name(if not used in the domain name)
2.Influence your Snippet and Page Description: Snippet is excerpt from your page. It is shown under your page title in the search results page. Ensure first occurances of your major keywords come together that the snippet is a factual and relevant representation of your page
3.Make your body content relevant to the overall page topic/theme and target keywords: If I am optimising a Power Tools page I am expecting to drive the searchers searching for power tools to that page. So my important sections on that page such as headings, emphasized text, paragraphs, etc will need to have power tools keywords naturally used in the content.
4.Links: Make it easier for the end user and search engine to understand the flow of your website content.
A word of advice, write naturally for the end user not the search engine. Doing so will positively influence your relevance factor and ultimately improve your website ranking and conversion rate. Ask yourself what do your visitors need to know? And how can you help them get what they want?
Off page optimization
Off-page optimization is what can be done outside your website to positively influence the search engines ranking and page popularity for target keywords related to the on-page content and keywords in off-page direct-links
Search engines value links and attribute the highest page ranking factors to pages with many links from high-quality sites. In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages. It is not about quantity but quality of the websites linking to your website.

Do 301 redirects carry over PageRank?

Where appropriate, ranking signals will be transferred across 301 redirects (if the same page has moved from one URL to another). This may take some time, so you should probably leave the redirect in place as long as you have control over the URL.

How many 301 redirects are acceptable?

It’s ok to chain a few together. The HTTP 1.0 standard allows for a maximum of 5 redirects for a URL, so keep it minimal. Why do pages translated into different languages each have different rankings in their respective engines?

Google looks at content on a URL-by-URL basis, so even if you have translated top content from one language to another, Google might not treat it the same way as they would treat the original content. It’s also possible that the translated content is not as relevant as other original content in that language. Generally speaking, making sure that your content is as unique and compelling as possible for the users in that target market is the best thing to do.

Do backlinks from bad sites negatively affect my PageRank?

Those links might be positively affecting your PageRank (PageRank does not go down from “bad” links like those from adult sites). In general, you don’t have to worry about bad links like that which point to your site that aren’t under your control.

How often does your search algorithm change?

We change the algorithms all the time - last year we had over 450 changes.

Could sharing an IP address with a bad site get my site penalized?

The situations where it would matter are when the server is overloaded (can’t respond to your visitors) and when it’s incorrectly configured (not returning your site to your visitors). But otherwise that is no longer a concern.

Does Google have a problem with rank-checking software?

Rank-checking software is against Google’s Terms of Service and could result in blocking your IP address, and it doesn’t really help, especially when it comes to personalized or geotargeted results.

Spread the word: related/readit

Read the rest of this entry »

Are you looking for cost-effective ways to drive sales from blogs…?

Three Blog-Related Considerations

When using blogs to enhance your marketing, assess the full impact of the blogs, because they aren’t a one-shot promotion yielding immediate returns.

• Blogs require an ongoing investment. This point needs to be stressed, since blogs may be created by nonmarketing staff where there isn’t a management-reporting relationship. To help spread the workload, have several people work on entries. Use an editorial calendar to ensure timely coverage of relevant topics and to help employees schedule their time.
• Blogs can take time to have an impact on purchasing and search optimization. Unlike other online marketing formats where results are realized quickly, like e-mail or search advertising, the sales impact of blogs happens over an extended period.
• Blogs require transparency. As with any form of social media, this is critical and needs to be thought through before the blog is made public. Among the areas to consider are how negative customer comments will be handled.

Five Blog Metrics to Track

As with any marketing strategy, using a blog to enhance the purchase process must be monitored to ensure you’re achieving your goals. Remember, these metrics may take time to yield returns.

• Traffic and/or revenue. As with any Web site addition, measure the number of visitors. Once the blog has reached a critical mass of content, utilize other forms of marketing to help extend its reach. Where appropriate, track sales back to blog entries. Remember, customers may use blogs in the pre- or post-purchase phases, and more complex methods of assessing their sales impact maybe required.
• Internal expenses. As with any marketing program, track the associated costs. Since blogs may be an addition to one or more employees’ workload, determining costs may be a little tricky.
• Customer input. Monitor blog comments as well as input from other customer touch points to determine how consumers feel about your products and your blog. Circulate these comments internally to show customer engagement and give management a better understanding of customers’ perspective.
• Search rankings. Track search rankings for important keywords covered in your blog. Bear in mind that it can take time for the search rankings to build.
• Branding. Use surveys to monitor consumer perception of your brand and company across a variety of brand-related metrics before and after you’ve started blogging to calculate change in mind share.

Spread the word: related/readit