Clash of the Titans: SEO vs. PPC, which is better?

As an SEO consultant we have come across this question several times: Which online marketing strategy is better for businesses: Search Engine Optimization or Pay per Click marketing?

A very simple answer would be: Depends on the end results you expect from your online marketing strategy. Let’s get down a bit more into the details to understand this dilemma.

When you purchase visitors or "clicks" from a search engine, this is called "pay-per-click" (PPC) search engine advertising (or PPCSE). One of the highest recognized PPCSE is Google Adwords. Pay-per-click search engine advertising allows you to quickly leverage search engine traffic by "bidding" (paying) for high-value keywords related to your product or service.

In the other corner we have "Organic" or "Natural" search engine optimization (SEO). Generally speaking, organic SEO consists of optimizing your web pages to enhance their position in the naturally occurring search results. Organic SEO consists of On-page and Off-page optimization.

Organic SEO as an internet marketing strategy requires patience, but the rewards when reaped are plentiful. Although organic optimization is not the first choice for many (depending on the brand and business model) organic search does have inherent benefits that are unparalleled by sponsored or paid advertising tactics. The benefits and results last for longer period.

As per the latest stats on marketing budget spent versus the results :

SEO drives 75%+ of all search traffic, yet garners less than 15% of marketing budgets for SEM campaigns. PPC receives less than 25% of all search traffic, yet earns 80%+ of SEM campaign budgets. Surprising?

One of the major reasons for quick adoption of PPC strategy is that it is very similar to traditional paid advertisement strategy and business owners can manage such campaign on their own. Whereas SEO requires a pre-requisite set of skills to ensure your website reaches the top rankings on search engine search through various on-site optimizations and off-site organic search engine optimization strategies.

Another reason why businesses, prefer PPC is that they have better control over the entire program and they know exactly how and where their dollar is spent and results for each dollar spent, can be seen through subsequent Ad words report. They also do not have to change their tactics each time the search engines change their algorithms, which can prove a real headache, especially for those who are only interested in quick, short term results. Organic SEO might seem like too much of work, with absolutely no guaranteed results for short term goal seekers.

While a PPC campaign can deliver leads with relative ease, it can be a big money drain and has no real longevity -- once you stop shelling out the cash, the website traffic goes away. SEO and link building require a lot more creative effort, but can have more sustainable results. It also allows a business to target a larger base of users, as most studies reveal that 75 - 80% of searchers click on organic listings as opposed to paid listings.

As time goes on, web surfers are less prone to clicking PPC links on the right side of Google’s results or in the top sponsored links section. Why? In the past web surfers didn’t understand the difference between sponsored and non-sponsored links. Now web surfers are much more net savvy. The result is that a growing number of web surfers will click on non-sponsored links on the first page of results because they think: if that site made it into the top ten without paying for it, they must really be the best sites.

Organic SEO is fine if you;

1. Have a product that you can dedicate 300-750 words to describe its value.


2. Can exhibit supporting materials images, references and materials that emphasize the products benefits.


3. If you can shroud it in essentially keywords consumers might use to find it in enough frequency, that it can leverage a high-ranking organic search result.
   
4. If you are patient enough for 2-6 months to hold out for long term sustainable results

If you have a product that has a high price point, where there is some wiggle room for how much you are willing to spend to keep the cost per sale within bounds, then by all means pay per click advertising is a viable solution.

At Analytix Solutions our SEO experts will suggest a marketing plan only after analyzing your goals and what results you expect from your online marketing. During tight credit crunch it is advisable to increase reliance on free organic SEO strategies rather than PPC. A hybrid plan (combination of SEO +PPC) is another alternative for those who seek quick results and suffer from very poor rankings, as SEO will ensure with time regular traffic builds for your site, while PPC will bring serious buyers to your site through banner ads, to get the ball rolling for your business. Once SEO tactics picks up, the budget spent on PPC can be minimized and then totally withdrawn, if required.

Beauty of search engine marketing lies in the Flexibility & Control it offers which is very difficult to achieve with traditional marketing tools. Finally, the selection of best online marketing strategy is obviously upto you....

Are you a reasonable SEO client?

There is lots of confusion when it comes to what should you expect from your search engine optimization program. Generally clients are disillusioned and dissatisfied when they have overblown expectations while hiring SEO services. This could happen when either the SEO Vendor has misrepresented what services they will offer in order to close the deal faster or when the clients are themselves not sure what goals they aim to achieve from their SEO exercise.

Understanding what reasonable expectations to have as an SEO client will help to resolve many such conflicts. Read below the factors that should be strictly considered in order to be termed as a reasonable or an understanding SEO client:

Increase in rankings: This is the basic result for every SEO plan. You need to select the relevant keywords you want top rankings and ask your SEO consultant to start cranking to bring it to top. But remember to check whether you chosen keywords are too highly competitive. If so, results will be slow in trickling down. If your site is brand new, again you need to give reasonable time to your SEO vendor. Ask your SEO expert to provide a basic research report on your sites current state, competition for your keywords and industry scenario before mapping out how soon you want to get that top 10 rankings.
Increase in traffic: This is another result which as a client you are justified to expect. The point to remember here is obsession with traffic can blindfold you to the real target. Increasing traffic with no noticeable change in output is useless. Emphasize on quality rather than quantity. Tell your vendor what type of traffic you want to visit your site and what action you expect those visiting your site to take. Be very explicit and clear in your goals from visitor. You can judge this by understanding the visitors surfing trends and the amount of time spent on your site.

Increase in conversion rate: This is most desirable result client should expect when hiring an expert SEO. Be sure to define how you measure conversion. Is it conversion when visitor fills your contact us form or inquiry form or is it when they subscribe to your newsletter or email or when they fill membership form or when they buy from your online portal? Define what conversion is for you and be sure you are on the same page with your SEO specialist when explaining this.

Increase in ROI: Last but not the least you can only continue with your SEO project if the return on investment is more than the cost. Every investment needs time to start giving returns. Be sure to give your SEO pro the time they need to get the program up and running.

SEO is gaining tremendous importance and scope with the current market crisis that has forced a lot of businesses to slash down their marketing budgets. SEO is a great alternative as it is quite cheap compared to spending large amount of dollars on advertising. The results are measurable compared to traditional marketing. But like any other marketing activity, remember to make relationship as a center of focus. You need to give support, co-operation and help required by your SEO vendors to help you get what you want. SEO plans fail when a client gets unreasonable, demands too much too soon, does not follow the changes recommended by SEO pro and pulls out too quickly before results can begin flowing.

How do I search your website? SEO Rules you cannot ignore.

Recently I was searching one of my friend’s Website on virtual consultancy service. I knew she had a site, but could not remember the web address nor could find her business card anywhere. All I had was her name. So I thought of searching Google for her website basis her name. Result = Nada! Determined to find her website, I searched basis ‘virtual consultant Boston’ & ‘virtual consultancy services Boston’. Again I could not find her business. Well if you are in the consultancy business, I think it’s kinda obvious that your name should link back to your website. Search keywords describing your service for the respective geographic area such as “virtual consultancy services Boston” should also shoot results of your website. But here nothing of the sort was happening. I finally had to go through all my old emails and find her contact information. Upon speaking to her, I pointed out how difficult it was searching for her business website online. To which she replied in not so many words “Well, my Web designer said that people have to pay to be on the top and I don’t really want to pay for that.”

I was baffled. So as per what her designer said, you can only be found, if someone knows your name or your business name? But cannot be found if someone is searching for a virtual consultant in Boston? Sounds ridiculous! Well as a small business owner you need to immediately wake up and smell the coffee! People who go online to search are generally looking for answers to their problems. Most won’t know your name or your business name. How do you ensure they find you before you competitor?


Organic Search Engine Optimization does not require you to pay the search engine owners to bring your site to the top rankings. What organic SEO does, is makes your website more search crawler/robot friendly and follows the white hat ethical SEO rules laid down by top search engines. Generally good search sites like Google keeps updating its algorithm to improve search results and a good SEO firm will update and follow such guidelines accordingly.

Some basic must-dos to make your website SEO friendly:

• Ensure your website coding is clean. Remove extra CSS and Javascript. Get your site W3C (www.w3c.org) validated to make it search friendly. There are 100% validated websites out there, so trust me it can be done!
  
  
• Spend some time right at the onset to do a thorough keyword research. Believe me this is the basic ABC of SEO. Look for keywords in programs like Keyword Discovery, Overture, WordTracker and website logs. You should know which keywords; users will use to do a search for you. Like I typed ‘virtual consultant Boston’ to search for my client’s website.
  
  
• Now that you know which keywords to optimize write your content them. Ensure to write SEO friendly content. Use 2 or max 3 keywords phrases per webpage. Don’t confuse the search crawler by using too many different types of keywords and diluting all. To understand more about keywords read my previous post about The Tango between Keywords & Search Engine Crawlers Part I & Part II
  
  
• Make sure to include the keyword phrase in the title, the alt tags, and the body of content. Bold it; use it in links, in H1 tags
  
  
• Start building relevant incoming links to your website. This is part of organic SEO, and ensures more number of relevant linking to your site, will make your site more popular with search bots. You can do this via article posting, forums, blogs, reciprocal linking, directory submissions etc. All this is very time consuming and tedious, but essential for your long term Search Engine Optimization strategy. Above all be patient. It takes time but following the above basic steps will work in winning the war and being found online.

Go and type your site’s preferred keywords on search engine. Can you find your business in the top 10 listings…. Nope? Then you definitely need to pull up your socks and take SEO help from experts.

Write to me at mark@analytixsolutions.net to discuss any further questions you might have about how to get your website SEO done.

How SEO can help you combat recession?

There is a severe economic downturn which cannot be denied. As small business owner it is very essential to be totally prepared to hold the fort and ride this downturn with effective strategies for survival and growth.

Besides following the commonly given away practical advises such as decreasing your debt, decreasing your expenses; increasing your savings and practicing frugality in your business and personal life I would advise to capitalize from your existing customers and convert maximum of prospects into customers. They can definitely ensure your survival. If you’re running a traditional set-up with not much of technology put to use, you surely need to open up that client directory you used to maintain few years back and start calling up them and promote your services with some healthy discounts.

If you own a good website, you should surely launch some good promotional offers that can help convert your prospects into business. You would also need a good marketing plan as whatever your blowout offer may be; it’s no use if you do not have sufficient website visitors to read about it.

Check out for Search Engine Optimization program. It’s the right antidote needed to get your internet marketing done within a small web marketing budget.

If you plan to pop-up any further question SEO related questions for me, like how, why, what, when, etc. here’s few further facts from me:

• With SEO, you can get your website placed on top rankings of major search engines. This gives your website better visibility, more number of visitors and an extended chance to reach out to your prospects before your competitors.
  
  
• SEO will help to turn your website into an online shop by increasing traffic and improving conversion rate. Hiring a professional SEO expert can deliver good results.
  
  
• Organic SEO is free of cost and delivers results for a longer period of time compared to any pay-per-click advertising options. Hire a SEO consultant to kick-off your organic SEO program and save on cost and time.
  
  
• Organic SEO is no rocket-science and you can find tons of net materials on do-it-yourself SEO practices. It’s not difficult to begin with, but the only constraint is that they take up lot of time. A SEO pro can in-turn help you save this time and even bring on board all the experiential tips and tricks that drive faster results compared to trial-and-error methods.

Internet marketing offers many avenues to know and reach your targeted customer instead of waiting for them to come to you. Be active, be found and make marketing the center of your activities to survive the recession besides following the conventional precautions.

Need help in deciding the best keywords for your site?

You would have often heard SEO Guru or SEO service providers asking “Which are the keywords you want to optimize for your search engine optimization?”

Keyword research is the backbone of a good SEO plan. If you select ineffective keywords or focus on wrong ones, your entire search engine strategy might go kaput, since you will not be attracting the right kind of audience to your website. It is all well and good to get to the top 5 or 10 ranking on Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other major search engines, but ask yourself this simple question “Is the traffic to your website converting into results you want?” If not, your SEO strategy is really not that effective.

The problem faced during selecting the right keywords is proximity to your own business. Since you are so close to your own business you might wrongly have a myopic view and you would unintentionally focus on keywords you want your audience to search, thinking it best describes your product/services. But usually it’s completely the other way around. You need to understand how your audience search for your product/services and be there to be found with those search words. Best way to combat this would be ask someone not related to your field to come up with words to search for your product and services. You will be amazed to see the results.

The average internet surfer out there is still using vague keywords or phrases to search answers to their problems. They will generally not be aware of technical jargons or typical terms you use to describe your product/services. It would be beneficial if the right blend of keywords are used that are most likely to attract your target audience.

Web users who commonly use search engine seem to fall into two categories. They either enter in one or two word searches, or then enter detailed (often too detailed) phrases. Monitoring your own search activities, particularly when you are frustrated with the results, may help to define how you can best optimize your own site to snare those search terms.

One of the best ideas is to ask your SEO agency to provide you a Keyword Traffic Analysis and Trend report that should aide your decision to choose the final keywords. The best SEO professionals are able to advise you on those keywords or key-phrases that users are likely to use and not based on what you would like them to use. They will also research your industry and competitors prior to kicking off your SEO strategy that would give you a much clear idea on the returns you can expect from your SEO program.

How is ‘WHITE HAT’ SEO different from ‘BLACK HAT’ SEO?

An organic SEO is used as a blanket term to describe the unpaid, algorithm-driven results of any particular search engine. However expert search engine optimization (SEO) company does not limit organic SEO to what shows up in the “natural” search engine results- they devise strategies and methodologies on how they would go about achieving such rankings.

Usually a SEO service company falls in either of these 2 categories:

• A "White Hat" search engine optimization company will focus on largely content-based approach and will not violate the terms of service of the major search engines. They are the people who carry some patience along with a concrete plan. They look at the long term picture and help develop a stronger base for the Website. White Hat SEO never needs to fear on getting the Website unduly banned by Search Engines as it’s all about ethically practicing the most recommended guidelines of Search Engines.
  
  
• A "Black Hat" search engine optimization company will use all underhanded tricks and tactics to ensure that they can show results within a short time. They often ignore the terms of service of the major search engines. The elevation of search rankings would often seem faked. So never go by those who guarantee you results in short time, as that’s a short term approach that can get your Website banned on all Search Engines.

How do these firms operate?

• Learning from engines vs. exploiting them
  
  A white hat SEO firm looks at long term goals and studies how search engine crawlers ranks some site higher than the others for a searched keyword. After understanding the rules they incorporate those in the site to be optimized. They work within the rules and since these rules have been made by search engines after studying optimizing search results to provide as close a result to what users are trying to search for. This is a longer route and takes time to set up. Whereas a black hat SEO firm only cares enough about rules to break it. They find loopholes in the algorithms set by search engines to fool them into ranking the site high. The problem here is even though your site is highly ranked initially, if the visitors don’t find what they want on your site, the entire purpose behind SEO fails. Once search engine catches black hat tactics the risk of temporary or permanent barring of site is high.
  
  
• Being an industry resource vs. being a shameless snake oil salesperson
  
  Another major difference in approach of white hat and black hat SEO firms is their approach to content. A white hat SEO organization will emphasize on a website that provides rich SEO content writing that can prove useful while browsing the site along with being a resource within their industry. Whereas the focus of a black hat operator would be ruthless use of keywords to thrust your product and services down the throat of a visitor along with wooing the search engine crawlers to give higher rankings by useless repetitions of chosen keywords. Such an approach will ultimately bomb down since the algorithms of search engine crawlers are updated regularly to avoid misuse through such technical loopholes.
  
  
• Attracting links vs. buying them
  
  Other difference is towards link building approach which is heavily relied upon for organic SEO. White hat service providers will always research and try to find what the major industry websites, forums, communities, discussion boards and blogs etc look for in a firm’s website to link to your site and built up incoming links. Whereas the black hat operators will buy links, farm links, indulge in reciprocal link schemes without focusing on enriching the site for long term benefits.

Internet Marketing Terms for Newbies - II

In continuation to the previous post where we have described important internet marketing terminologies; find few more terms that would be useful:

21. Guerilla marketing: Unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources.

22. Hit: Any one file downloaded from your site one time. A single page of a web site, viewed once, may generate 30 or more hits.

23. Home page: The main page of a Web site.

24. Hybrid model : A combination of two or more online marketing payment models

25. Impressions: I Instances of an online advertisement being displayed for any Web user.

26. Inbound link: A link from a site outside of your site.

27. Outbound link: A link to a site outside your site.

28. Interactive agency: An agency offering a mix of Web design /development, Internet advertising/marketing, or E-Business/E-Commerce consulting.

29. Invisible Web: The portion of the Web not indexed by search engines.

30. Keyword: A word used in a performing a search.

31. Keyword research: The search for keywords related to your Web site, and the analysis of which ones yield the highest return on investment (ROI).

32. Link popularity: The 'vote' provided to a page on your web site when another web site (or page within your web site) links to it. Search engines include these 'votes' in their ranking algorithms.

33. Navigation: Facilitating movement from one Web page to another Web page.

34. Pageview: Request to load a single web page. If I visit your web site and look at 2 pages that will count as 2 page views.

35. PPC: Pay Per Click marketing is a bid for top position in the sponsored search engine rankings. Higher bids have a better chance of a higher ranking, although there are other factors. One is advisable to set bids after careful research and analysis of keywords to optimum results.

36. PPL: Pay per lead (PPL) is an online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely based on qualifying leads.

37. PPS: Pay per sale (PPS) is an online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely based on qualifying sales.

38. RSS: It stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’ where in a type of text file delivers a list of headlines and content directly to feed readers and other software.

39. SEO: Search Engine Optimization is working to ensure your web site will get as high a ranking as possible in the unpaid search results in the major search engines.

40. Social Media: Usually refers to the many blogs, bookmarking sites and other sites that allow visitors to interact with each other and the web site owner.

41. Static web site: 'Static' refers to the fact that the page does not change.

42. URL: It stands for Universal Resource Locator. http://www.analytixsolutions.com/ is the URL of one page of this site.

43. Unique visitors: Individuals who have visited a Web site (or network) at least once during a fixed time frame.

44. Web Analytics: Taking traffic data and other information about your web site, analyzing it, and then providing insight. Note that a raw report is not analytics.

45. Web site usability: The ease with which visitors are able to use a Web site.

Internet Marketing Terms for Newbies - I

Internet marketing is peppered with its unique lingo and terminologies which can leave a new entrant baffled. Below are list of few important terms with brief explanation which can prove as a useful tool to understand Internet Marketing:

1. Above the fold: The section of a Web page that is visible without scrolling.
2. A-list bloggers: A-listers are all those writers who dominate the Technorati rankings. Getting a nod from one of such an authority can mean exponential growth in site traffic.
3. Affiliate marketing: To sell your product through other web sites or e-mail lists by paying the site or list owner for such sales. It is basically revenue sharing between online advertisers/merchants and online publishers/salespeople, whereby compensation is based on performance measures, typically in the form of sales, clicks, registrations, or a hybrid model.
4. Blog: Short for ‘web log’. It basically means posting (generally in reverse chronological order) short entries which can be personal or business related and allows visitors to post comment which is not usually possible on a website.
5. Banner ad: A horizontal graphical web advertisement that is measured in pixels.
6. Button ad: A graphical advertising unit, smaller than a banner ad.
7. Caching: The storage of Web files for later re-use at a point more quickly accessed by the end user.
8. Conversion rate: The number of sales, leads or other desired actions that occur on your web site, compared to the total number of visitors.
9. Cost-per-action (CPA): Online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely on qualifying actions such as sales or registrations.
10. Cost per click (CPC): The cost or cost-equivalent paid per click-through.
11. CPM: Cost per thousand impressions.
12. Customer acquisition cost: The cost associated with acquiring a new customer.
13. Domain name: The address of your web site, e.g. 'http://www.analytixsolutions.com/'.



14. Doorway domain: A domain used specifically to rank well in search engines for particular keywords, serving as an entry point through which visitors pass to the main domain.
15. Doorway page: A web page made specifically to rank well in search engines for particular keywords, serving as an entry point through which visitors pass to the main content.
16. Dynamic web site: A web site generated using a web application and a database. These sites will often change from one visit to the next, or one moment to the next.
17. Ezine: An electronic magazine, whether delivered via a Web site or an email newsletter.
18. Flash: An animation and interactive platform which allows very complex movement on a page. Generally used to distribute videos. YouTube uses Flash to distribute all video on the site. Completely flash based web sites are not advisable due to low search rankings.
19. Forum: An online community where visitors may read and post topics of common interest.
20. Frames: A structure that allows for the dividing of a Web page into two or more independent parts.

There are few more to go which will be shown in the next post.

Hire SEO experts

Analytix Solutions is an SEO Consultancy firm offering professional SEO services for those who wish tohire SEO consultants. In case you are looking to buy SEO services in MA, NH, RI, Boston or SEO services for entire New England region, Analytix is the right SEO promotional firm for you. Email to mark@analytixsolutions.net and qualify for free search engine optimization analysis for your web site.

Get the topmost search engine placement for your keywords by buying SEO services from Analytix SEO experts. Your internet marketing strategies requires our SEO specialists handling your SEO optimization for top search rankings. Analytix will build your SEO Website Traffic by submitting SEO articles on various SEO directories and SEO Forums. You do not require expensive SEO software or enroll yourself in any time consuming SEO tutorials or SEO courses or even read big fat SEO Books when you can get affordable SEO services very easily from SEO experts at our search engine ranking company offering SEO consultancy services. Get a customized SEO plan for your small business with regular SEO reports to check search engine rankings progress made on your keywords.

Email at mark@analytixsolutions.net with your queries to know more about our SEO solutions.

Do you need an SEO specialist?

Analytix Solutions based in MA, provides superior SEO services for your Website promotion and marketing. Our SEO pro can boost your Website rankings on all major search engines to top positions for your preferred keywords. Email us on mark@analytixsolutions.net to qualify for a free SEO analysis of your site.

Our SEO consultants help those who are looking to hire SEO services to help achieve Top Search Rankings. The Organic SEO Services provided by them includes SEO Copywriting and SEO Link Building for your Website Promotion along with other SEO Techniques. Analytix delivers affordable SEO and not purely cheap SEO Services for small and mid-sized businesses. We are an Ethical SEO Firm from Boston, servicing MA, NH, RI and other parts of New England.

Check out further about Analytix’s SEO expert tips on SEO blog which shares SEO tricks, SEO advices, SEO help and general information relating to SEO Website Marketing. Analytix’s SEO program can elevate your site to high search rankings for your preferred keywords through professional SEO campaigns.

Write to us at mark@analytixsolutions.net for further information.

Looking for a SEO Guru?

Analytix Solutions LLC is an SEO Provider based in MA, USA offering elite SEO services to small and medium businesses. SEO experts at Analytix are giving free analysis of websites so email your business details right away at mark@analytixsolutions.net.

Our SEO Company does expert SEO copywriting for website to increase their SEO rankings. We have SEO experts and consultants along with designers and programmers to rebuild SEO friendly website. Our SEO experts will provide strategic SEO marketing to boost search engine rankings for chosen keywords. Our Web SEO strategy gives an affordable small business SEO package which includes organic SEO services like SEO Link Building,Directory Posting, Article writing, blog postings and increasing website traffic through posting on various boosting forums. We also include inorganic SEO services like Pay per Click (PPC).

To know more about SEO pricing for various website promotion SEO strategies email at mark@analytixsolutions.net.

The Tango between Keywords & Search Engine Crawlers - Part II

The previous post gave a brief about how the keywords are picked by search engine crawlers. The next problem one might face is to decide ‘How many keywords should you target per page?’
Generally it’s advisable to have only 2 to 3 keywords stuffed in a single page otherwise the crawler will be unable make out any pattern. Too many keywords will confuse the crawlers as none will stand out and hence will not be picked out by them.

Let’s explain this better with an example.Suppose the content of your website looks something like this:

Text text text SEO services text text website design text text text
Marketing services text text text SEO text text website design
IT services text text text website text text design text text SEO text marketing
Financial services text text text text text website text text Information Techology



As you can notice when trying to stuff in too many keywords nothing will stand out and the crawlers will be unable to identify your main keyword. This will dilute the entire effectiveness of keywords you want to have a high ranking when searched.

The importance of keywords stuffing has reduced due to unnecessary manipulation and using keywords too indiscriminately rendering the text almost useless. Crawlers are now counting heavily on off-site factors to reduce the manipulations of on-site optimization.

After selecting your target keyword and framing the content, read it out loud once or twice, to check if it sounds forced and silly. This will prevent you from shoving keywords forcefully. In case it is a struggle to write a good content around your keywords hire a professional SEO content writer/copy writer to do a professional job. It’s a small investment when compared to the benefits you will reap.

Along with luring the crawlers to index your page, don’t lose focus of your target audience. You might be in the top ranks, but if viewers bounce off within first 10 seconds from your website you will be unable to achieve your online marketing goals.

The Tango between Keywords & Search Engine Crawlers –Part I

“SEO is the business of getting found, even if the users did not know that they were looking for you all along.“

The first basic step to any search engine optimization project is finding the right keywords. There are many misconceptions and confusions about the relation between search engine crawlers and keywords.

One of the common question is “How does a search engine recognize which word is the targeted keyword?” Those of you who believe that Google has a list of keywords provided to spiders that later come scavenging to your website hunting for it are wrong. Honestly folks, bots (i.e. Search engine crawlers or spiders) really cannot read in the literal sense. Crawlers don’t come to your website thinking “hey let me learn about SEO services today and let’s hope this website will give me all the information I need on SEO”. Crawlers can’t process information like humans. What they actually do is pick on patterns and flow of repetitive letters which forms a word in the text content of your website and selects one that’s repeated fairly often.

Let’s explain the above example of ‘SEO Services’ as a chosen keyword:
A search engine robot when crawls does not knows what a particular word is, but they observe which letters repeat most over and over and they file this information. This pattern might be complete gibberish, but patterns do stand out. A crawler skims and decides on keywords by filing the pattern shown below:

Text text text SEO services text text text
Text text SEO text text text text text Service
SEO Service text text text text text text text
Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text
Text Text Text SEO Text Text Text services

Upon further analysis the crawler can now filter the keywords from the rest of the text



Bingo! They now realize that ‘SEO Services’ is the keyword as it is repeated fairly often so it must mean something. Crawlers use this information to display your site for this particular keyword when searched by web users.

Next post will throw light on how many keywords should be optimized per page.

How to avoid damaging you GOOGLE SEARCH RANKINGS?

You will be flooded with tips and suggestions on how to optimize rankings on Google, but before embarking on Search Engine Optimization plan to improve your Google search rankings, be sure on what NOT to do.

• Excessive Keywords Placement:

Don’t go over-board with stuffing target phrases and keywords within your body text. Forceful stuffing of keywords everywhere just because you can do so is not going to improve rankings, in fact your content will look extremely silly and your rankings will deteriorate. Always employ a professional content writer who knows how to draft a smooth seamlessly flowing content naturally containing your targeted keywords without it coming across as amateurish or forced.

• Keyword Dilution:

Targeting too many unrelated keywords on a page might detract from main theme or objective of your website. It will confuse the search engine crawlers. It might also reduce the impact of your power (main) keywords which should be the main focus your efforts to improve your rankings. Be very careful during selection of relevant keywords to avoid costly mistakes.

• Duplication of Content:

Going over-board with duplicating content within the same page or pages and stealing content or images from other sites might land you in copyright violation and get your site banned. Be safe, be ethical! If you are eager to avoid duplication but are not sure of how you can confirm this for your website, simply put your URL details on www.copyscape.com that will provide the entire summary of content duplication instances done knowingly or unknowingly.

• Hidden Text:

Avoid short cut routes like placing hidden text which cannot be viewed by users. Hidden text are those which are hidden in invisible div layers or text on the same colored back ground (white text on a white background) or text located below the fold with vertical scrolling disabled. Whatever techniques adopted to insert such text, you can land in hot waters and it is definitely not recommended.

• Flash based websites:

Although flash websites are attractive eye-candies and will not land you into any trouble with search engine crawlers, it is still not going to do you any favors during search. Websites that are all flash have little or no content for search crawlers to scroll and digest thereby drastically reducing page rankings. If you still wish to go with the Flash theme, it is generally recommended to have dual versions, with HTML version for search engines to crawl and also for those visitors who might prefer HTML version while you can also keep your flash one. Also, double check that the flash files do not overweight the page size of your website leading to more downloads time.

• iFrames Site

iFrames has been banned by Google search engine crawlers as it cannot read the Frame content. Having a iFrame content is definitely going to do ‘no good’ for your site.

• Backdoor pages:

Creating multiple websites or pages with are nearly identical with slight differences in the content to try and fool Google in grabbing some rankings might seem easy but can again land your site into trouble. Such pages are created to go with pay per click campaigns, but can end up being detrimental if found out by Google. If your idea to creating multiple yet similar web pages is genuine and you want to avoid from being termed as back door pages, place a different content and have two way links function for those Web Pages.

• Cloaking:

The rule is very simple – NEVER EVER CLOAK. Cloaking is when you have a different content on display for search crawlers and a different one for human visitors. Google dislikes this and if caught your site is blacklisted.

Taking care of few simple rules while going ahead with your search optimization strategy can save you lot of heartburns later on. Always remember knowledge is power! So keep yourself constantly updated on Google rules and regulations for search and rankings.

The Hoopla over Web 2.0

Trying to understand web 2.0 can get complicated for those of you, who might arrive a bit late in the technology scene. Google search for web 2.0, shot back 483,000,000 results. Wading through Wikipedia and various other sites might leave you more befuddled with the sheer data overload and feeling defeated when asked to reply to the simple question “What is web 2.0?”


Well putting the technical definitions and jargons given by Mr. Tim O’Reilly (who coined this term first during Web 2.0 conference in 2004) aside, put simply web 2.0 is the improved second version or avtaar of World Wide Web Technology and the difference lies in the usage. The earlier technology was more focused on providing information while web 2.0 is more focused on interaction. Web 2.0 gives the control to user to upload or download and have active interaction through web technology devises. Web 2.0 has lead to a slew of new interactive marketing tools different from the traditional marketing approach. It emphasizes and encourages interaction and dialogues with your audience through tools such as blogging, online meetings & networking, video & podcasts, article & newsletters, wiki’s and syndication. The advantage goes to the small and medium sized businesses, as it gives them competitive edge against larger corporations that are run in an inflexible top down manner.

Although the Web 2.0 is still in its infancy, there has been talks and discussion about the future Web 3.0.

Web 3.0 will lead to more real life simulation experiences and new possibilities with artificial intelligence. Most of it is still hypothecation and suppositions.

The shift has been very subtle but definite from World Wide Web to Web 2.0 and these changes are bringing huge ramifications for marketers everywhere. Keeping yourself constantly updated with latest technology innovations is the only way to stay ahead and get the bigger piece of the game before its left redundant by further innovation and changes.

What should you consider while hiring a SEO service provider?

Search engine optimization is over a billion dollar industry and has occupied a prominent position on every Web marketer’s check list. The competition on the world wide web for any category of business now ranges from thousands to over millions of sites and it is imperative to reach mass audiences by featuring on top search rankings for every targeted keywords.

To those who are new on the internet marketing scene: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) explained in layman’s term means improving the ranking of your website on search engine browsers like Google, Yahoo, Ask, AOL etc through various SEO strategies. Example, you have an e-commerce website selling various handicrafts and specialized artifacts. What your SEO agency will do is it will first get your preferred keywords list and then use a combination of tricks and tips to elevate your site to top rankings of major search engines. This should significantly help to increase your Web traffic and give you an edge over your competitors.

As this is based more on smart strategies rather than any book knowledge, one should always depend on dedicated SEO service provider to get better and effective results. Also, this requires constant involvement and a check over the latest updates too.
Here’s your checklist prior to hiring a SEO service provider:

• Your SEO provider’s own site should be in top ranks for its preferred keywords (what use if they themselves do not have a successful SEO?)
  
• Don’t fall for false promises like ‘we can get your company in top 10 ranks in 30 days’ or ‘guaranteed results in one week’ as this is an organic exercise and takes some time. Also don’t forget that even though your vendor might be using any Black Hat strategies to make you happy within a short time, it’s your site that will get screwed up if found by the search engines.
• Know exactly what you are getting for the money you spend, ask for detailed step by step process and regular reports.
• In case you have doubts on any of the tactics adopted, clarify immediately and if not satisfied or you feel it will harm your business, walk away and hire someone else.
• If your SEO advises that you should use an automatic content generator it is time to walk away. Search engine rankings often depend upon well written and unique content, without this it will be hard to improve rankings.
• Study the link building strategy adopted by the SEO provider. Don’t let spammed links simply pile up on your link web-page.

Before I close here, here’s one serious advise in general. Please do not get impatient if your SEO service provider is not able to bring you on top rankings for all the keywords. Because if any of your targeted keywords are from the high-value keywords, the competition would be too stiff ranging to millions of sites too. So instead you can allow those high-value keywords to be targeted geographically as would significantly reduce the competition. You can also consider Pay-per-click campaign simultaneously along with the SEO for high-value keywords.