One-Word Rankings in SEO

Posted on FRIDAY - 13/09/2009

It's not uncommon in the SEO industry to advise potential customers to not go after the mythical and elusive "one-word phrase" when going about the site optimisation process. However, since many an SEO company has been giving this sage advice, has it actually got easier for websites to achieve sales through one-word keywords?

There have been reports of SEO services that are able to garner top rankings for clients using the one-word method within the past year or so. Yes, achieving a successful one-word ranking is very difficult to do and remains as such even to this day, but as long as everyone avoids it like the plague, then how can anyone truly know how hard it is to go after this goal?

There are Internet Marketing observers and experts who adamantly claim that a one-word phrase is impossible to convert, and that one-word ranking is an exercise in futility. But it is possible, even though it's a bit hard. Also, because not a lot of companies even bother doing it, these phrases can drive a huge amount of traffic to a given site (i.e., as much as 10,000 unique visitors daily). True, not all one-word phrases can be converted-but about 20% of them can.

Now, Google Analytics or WebTrends will usually inform site owners which phrase a person used in order to get to the webpage, but on a more granular level of detail, a custom-created site database capturing system will help SEO companies track all the pages visited and, for instance, can even tell if a person originally came to the site for the phrase "KVM" but ended up purchasing USB Cables instead. What's more, such details can even be saved on the database for future referencing.

In any case, the bottom line of this article is that SEO firms should not underestimate the power of the one-word phrase, even if more often than not they garner irrelevant traffic that wasn't originally targeted in the first place. As long as very few SEO companies go after these hidden gems, they present companies a golden opportunity to grab hold of top-notch SERP rankings.

The Value of Natural Linking in SEO

Posted on Wednesday - 19/09/2009

The SEO industry values link building a lot. An SEO company usually views this process as a method of developing relevant links to a site in an attempt to rank it for specific terms while also creating equity, trust, and value unto it. When it comes to Internet Marketing, having these natural links is a boon and blessing that should not be underestimated or overlooked.

Alas, more often than not, link building has been connected to questionable SEO services and practices such as link spamming or link purchasing. Old-school PR and marketing experts tend to take the higher road when it comes to their link building philosophy, which everyone else should emulate. To be true, link building should be seen more as a web presence and branding method than anything else. This recommendation serves as a particularly sound advice for Google SEO, since this search engine giant puts a great deal of emphasis on linkage. Yahoo and Bing, on the other hand, value link building a bit less, which is probably why their share of the search market is slightly lacking as well.

As the old saying goes, "Great things start from small beginnings." This means that if you add sufficient small things together, then they can someday grow into something substantial and worthwhile in the future. Of course, SEO companies should also be aware that Google search algorithms are encoded in such a way that spam-type links will ultimately do more harm than good to your overall SEO scheme; spam links have become so down-weighted nowadays that no possible SEO-related benefit can be gleaned from them.

A better approach to link building that doesn't involve Google penalties and the like is to develop content for a website that is of interest to other online users, thus attracting unsolicited and voluntary links from admirers, fans, and potential customers alike. It's quite useful to have diverse Internet content, so the role of blogs in this SEO approach cannot be emphasised enough.

Even though extra internal links within blogs are slightly less valuable than independent external links, they do add link value. Moreover, the RSS news ensures that the blog is regularly on the search engines' radar screen (i.e., robot crawlers) by feeding pings to them. Creating well-written blog posts is one of the best ways to go about link building and achieving search engine visibility.

The right SEO Services - Getting your keywords and Website right

Posted on Monday - 24/08/2009

Last year in a barbecue party, I met a businessman who ran a UK online loan business. When he found out, I was in the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) business, he didn't know quite what to make of me. He then explained that he had spent thousands of pounds on SEO services but he wasn't really that impressed with the amount of traffic and sales. Curious, I asked him whether the SEO services had improved his website's rankings. The answer was yes. Apparently after 9 months of his SEO campaign, the website was on the first page of Google for no les than 11 key phrases, but his sales had hardly gone up.

At that point I knew that the problem could only be one of two things. Either his website was not up to scratch, so people were losing interest after visiting it, or his keyword phrases were useless so nobody found it through search engines.

These are a typical and rather expensive mistakes people make. They spend thousands of pounds on marketing an utterly useless website or they spend their money on Keywords that the public sipmly don't search for.

As it happened my newly found friend at the barbecue was suffering from the latter. The website had decent content, had well laid out navigation and services were clearly listed and explained. The problem was that the key phrases were simply not widely searched for.

Looking bemused and somewhat annoyed, he then asked me for advice. Well it's clear I said. You need to ask your SEO service provider to change your keywords and replace them with keywords with enough search volume. There's no point in your website being on the first page of Google for a search term that noone searches for, I explained.

The penny finally dropped. My newly found friend had spent a large sum of money on keywords that nobody looked for. It's essential to carry out a thourough keyword research before embarking upon any SEO campaigns.

Last week, while shopping I bumped into my friend at the barbecue. He shook my hand firmly and thanked me for my advice. He then informed me that he had demanded from the SEO company to change all of his keywords and within 7 months he had 2 quality keywords on the first page of Google and 3 on page 2. Interestingly but not surprisingly his website was receiving 5 times more traffic on his 2 new key phrases than all of his 11 previous key phrases.

Things to consider when you're seeking SEO services

Posted on Friday - 22/05/2009

There are literally thousands of SEO companies offering a whole host of SEO services in the UK. SEO companies throughout the UK and other parts of the world are generally not regulated, therefore very it's important to use the right SEO company that offers the right type of SEO services. Using the wrong SEO company can have disastrous consequences for your online business. Your website may be sandboxed or even de-listed by search engines such as Google and Yahoo. A question that immediately comes to mind is; if the worst does happen and your website ends up being de-listed by Google. The answer is there's not much you can do about it unless you can prove the sudden disappearance of your website from search engine rankings was directly the result of action by your SEO company. If you do prove this and your SEO company is located half way around the world then there's not much that can be done legally. Therefore the best way is to use UK based companies that have a proven track record with solid testimonials. In our experience, SEO companies and individuals offering guaranteed organic results should be avoided. We have seen time and time again, websites being de-listed as a result of overzealous and at times reckless and unethical SEO practices by companies and individuals that had to take shortcuts.

SEO Services - The past, the present and the future

Posted on Tuesday - 02/06/2009

SEO Services are services offered by a SEO company to increase the amount of visits to a particular website. As an SEO companies web designers and copywriters develop a website using SEO Service techniques, it can increase the amount of visits to that site. SEO companies with their creative staff of copywriters and web designers provide SEO services as part of a company's broader Internet Marketing strategy.

While SEO Service techniques have certainly changed a great deal over the past few years, the concept behind SEO services has changed little.

SEO Service Development

Users use an Internet Service Provider to access the internet and a Search Engine to surf the web. Search Engines use a program called a spider to comb the vast realm of the internet compiling lists of content. The Search Engine then indexes this data according keywords and its relevancy to other links. SEO companies know how the spiders work and how linkbuilding works. SEO companies then use SEO Service techniques to place your website as close as possible to those looking for it.

SEO Service: Past

In the past, underhanded SEO Services were common. SEO Companies used "black hat" SEO Services. For example, the SEO services made the keywords the same colour as the background making them invisible to the reader but not to the spider. Copywriters and web designers working for SEO companies could design pages where a keyword like "Social Networking" appeared thousands of times for no legitimate reason. Therefore when you searched for "Social Networking", you didn't find a social networking website, instead your search result often resulted in finding an advertisement for something completely different. These SEO services provided the wrong results to consumers and those SEO Services methods which lead to false results were gradually rejected by Search Engines and most SEO companies. Today, search engines are very likely to sandbox or even de-list SEO companies that employ such methods. Serious SEO companies, copywriting and web designers are well advised to stay clear of such activities.

SEO Services: Present

We can call genuine SEO Service techniques "white hat" techniques. White hat SEO Services are talented SEO specialists, web designers and copywriting working together to improve your website's chances of being found by major search engines. Link building is one tool used by SEO services companies. Link building is a system of linking other similar websites to yours; this SEO service technique allows the spiders to find your website on your link partner websites. Finding the right sites and linking building them to yours requires a combination of technical know how and marketing skill only SEO service providers can offer. There is nothing illegal or unethical about link building with companies that are in the same sector as yours; think of it as two advertisers competing in the same magazine.

Genuine original content is also a powerful tool which could be used as an effective part of an effective SEO campaign. In recent months SEO companies are paying more attention to hiring copywriting in order to produce genuine and original blogs and articles.

SEO Services: Future

Therefore, most SEO companies are looking for the newest trend in SEO services. SEO Service experts agree on one thing; it's hard to tell. Some people in the SEO industry fear the popularity of pay per click advertising might cause the Search Engines to stop using their organic features altogether. Others believe the SEO Service market is tightening as the less experinced SEO companies catch up with the more established SEO companies. Unlike pay per click advertising, organic SEO services are not a instant which can instantly result in increased revenue. They cost less than PPC but require a more sustained effort and let's face it, there is no contradiction in having an effective organic SEO campaign alongside a proactive pay per click campaign.