SEO Rule 2013: Steps to build you online visibility

As soon as we start building our online presence, we think of SEO. In 2013 for SEO the playing ground is the same, the SEO rules have been modified. While many of the websites dominating on the search engines were delisted, others which were not so search engine friendly suddenly found themselves ranking at the top.

Top search engine ranking is always the first choice of any website owner, as he knows that the top spot brings top visibility and drives traffic to their websites. But what goes on, in this year, is a bit different than what has been preached and practiced in the past years. Let’s take a look at the must do things that we need to do. One thing we must remember, top ranking does not guarantee business, it can bring traffic. Business owners need traffic that can convert into customers thus, building a website and optimizing it for the customers should be the intent.

Before plunging into the SEO pool, just wait and think what your customers are searching for. Studying their intent will help you to formulate customer driven approach in you SEO rather than building your SEO plan around the search engines. Customer intent based SEO will help in getting more qualified and ready to buy customers.

Content has been and will always remain to be the king. But dressing up the king for the users to see, study and digest, not for the search engines to index. If your content is creative, easily readable, is understood by the users and triggers the interested of the web visitor, you will have won half of the war.

Back Links – The important Off Page SEO stuff. Unseen by the web visitors but are liked by the search engines. Back links are important, but not all, just the relevant links that your site gets linked to, naturally. Don’t rush into buying links, you website could come into trouble and get delisted.

We have always looked at SEO as the tool for instant results. Our friends have always expected that their website would pop up instantly at the top of search engine ranking once the strategies are in place, WRONG. SEO is a long term process. You cannot get your website ranked in a day’s time, nor in a month’s time. There is a waiting period for your SEO strategy to mature and help your website to rank at the top of the search engine.

Keyword Rich Topics: Successful Blogging ideas

Keywords still do have a lot of game to play in the SEO. Every topic that we choose to write on can be keyword rich. It is up to the blogger, what is he aiming at and does he articulate his blog content to get the results out of his blogging efforts. With every blog post we get the chance to rank well. With keyword rich rick content and the keyword rich title your blog can get the visibility it deserves, only if you do it intelligently.

Every web page that goes up gives us the life time opportunity of the driving traffic to the website, get more relevant links and of generating more leads.

Deciding upon the relevant keywords

Keywords are there in front of you when you pick up a topic. Along with researching online through the search engines and selecting the main keyword, the use of Google keyword tool is quite helpful in letting you to make a decision. The Google Keyword tool gives you the insight of monthly local and global searches, volume of competition for the keywords.

Positioning your keywords to better SEO

Keywords in the blog title are important. The earlier the better. The search engines pick the first words and if these are the relevant keywords it is better for the visibility of the web page.

The trick to optimize the blog content

Put the main keywords in the opening sentences of the first paragraph of your blog post. Let the spiders begin their reading with the keywords. Repeating these keyword in the body of the blog post is a good idea, beware, the BOTs would penalize you if your keyword density is high.  The best thing is to use variations of the main keywords. Be cautious, the text must read well and must make sense to the web visitors.

Original content, the inroad to SEO

Content has always been central to every online marketing strategy. Previously we used to articulate search engine friendly content, with high keyword density to get into the eyes of the spiders. We used a lot of spinned content and did a lot of jugglery with the SEO techniques and made the optimized content qualify for high search engine ranking. This was good for the past. The present has more surprises for us.

Google, we are well aware is the number one leader of web traffic to our websites and to our other social marketing mediums including blogs, Facebook shares etc. We dependent a lot upon their ranking strategies and hence get affected with the slightest change in the ranking factors. Hence we need to keep one up with the changes that the Search giant does.

One thing that has remained a standard since the beginning is the content. Content rules the SEO horizon but you need to check your high ranking urge and not to play a foul game. Google is smart and smells the rat.

• The need of the day is the original web content, not spinned or taken from other web pages.
• We need to embed relevant keywords, not stuff them.
• The content must be informative and carry more value for the readers.
• The content must fulfill the intent of the readers
• Content of every page on the website must relate to the topic being discussion in the title or heading of the page

The get the strong hold and solid footing on the search engines our web conversation need to be web visitor focused. The rest will be easy to achieve as more people, more business prospects will like what is being told to them and would result in more social shares. The more liking by the web visitors would lead to the liking by the search engines and hence, more visitors and more back links would result.

Original, un-plagiarized, creative and intent based web content is the need of the day that could help in creating solid hold on the search engines.

Returning to the Basics of SEO

We do not need to peep back in the not so very distant past about what SEO held for us. We are in the 2013, the basics remain the same. Some tweaks in the algorithm has made things difficult for us in the search engine optimization but in a NUT shells the elements of SEO are not different as they were earlier. The angle or I can say the direction has changed. The flight is more serious or more web user directed. So what? This does not tell us that SEO is dead.

Let’s look at the changes that foster the notion that SEO is dead.

Keywords – keyword remain to hold the same importance, save for the fact that their usage i.e. the density of their keyword being used has changed. Now anything beyond 2% might run down into spam. Keyword, phrases and variation must be more intent driven rather than search engine BOTs driven.  The selection of keywords is now more dependents on its use, competition and how does these keyword match with the intent of the users, when they conduct a search.

Back Links are still important – The off page SEO element – The one way back link. We used to write and submit articles, we still do. We blog a lot and hence this efforts brings is back links. The slower process of search engine optimization which was speeded up the SEO experts who brought back links. Links farm thrived and hence the bottom line of the SEO was met.

Nothing has changed, importance of back links is still there. The change is that not just any link is acceptable. Your back links must come from the relevant website. If your website is about selling water and the back link comes from a pluming website, it won’t work. Natural link building matters now.

Web content – Don’t copy. This was the call earlier. This is the call of the day too. The content still holds the position of the king. It truly is. The change is that you have to put in more blood, more brains and create more interesting and informative articles. Intent driven content will bring more juice to your web pages.

SEO is alive, and lives very much on the search engines. We need to correct our website optimization methods and create sites and content that deliver value to the visitors.

Intent based search results – effects on SEO

Today the emphasis of SEO has shifted from search engine pleasing activities. The focus today of SEO is directed towards the web visitor. The activities logically must be aimed to attract the web user’s attention rather than attracting the robots. Our SEO activities must revolve around the and study of the web visitors search habits, their intent when they search i.e. whether they want to search for information or whether they are searching for buy the products.

Google analytics provide us with the insight and we can actually convert the analytics results into the table turning SEO theme, so that our optimization efforts are more user friendly alongside being search engine robots friendly.

What does a transactional search query mean? Search engine analytics tell us the users have conducted transactional search queries. This means that the numbers of users have arrived on our website through the search engines and they actually wanted to buy. They would have used the keywords or search words like price, deals, discounts and similar words and phrases. These are the people who have arrived at their buying decision and are just hunting for deals or price reduction if any that are available. If your website succeeds in conquering their buying position you can bag the customer

Instructional search query is the query is the query of the first step. Here the buyer wants to go through the learning curve. He wants to see the tutorial, or read a how to article. If he comes across your web content and find it interesting, he would definitely spend some time before moving on to the other site for more information.

People interested in reading reviews and comparing prices do the investigative search. These website visitors would have gone through their initial search and learnt the basics.

Search engine analytics results tell us about the intent of the web visitors and hence we can learn their search patterns and build our SEO strategy, thus focusing more on the web users rather than the search engine BOTs.

SEO – Internet marketing

SEO is one essential element of the internet marketing. We have placed too much emphases of search engine optimization, creating an Air that SEO alone would get you the online business that your business deserves. The hard facts are still to be understood. I had been working on the search engine optimization projects of some clients and had the chance of learning with working. While I did a lot for the websites and helped them gain to search engine ranking, I still got complaints that the clients are not the business they intended to receive from SEO.

My friend, SEO is one medium of the internet marketing. While search engine marketing demands more effort, there are other online marketing mediums that will help you to support your web marketing activities. SEO is one, very broad means of getting the visibility desired by the business entity.

Keyword research and the use of the search terms in SEO

One we target our audience and learn about their search habits (thanks to Google keyword research tool) we can actually come up with the search terms our target market would be using to search for the products and services we are offering. Hence, we need more insights and more knowledge about our targeted audience.

Content

One thing that remains central to every internet marketing activity, especially SEO is the content. We need to write the web copy, we need to build the marketing copy, we also need to create interesting posts on the other social marketing mediums, and hence words play their part. Our written scripts need to be original, intended to educate the web visitors and help them to learn. For sure this content will be optimized for the search engines, yet, these must be customer focused and not search engine focused. Search engine would be your customers; these would be the source of bringing customers to you. If our customers do not understand our written scripts and pass away, we would have wasted our time and our client’s money.

For sure visibility on the search engines brings recognition, bring in popularity, helps in positioning our web pages on the search engine and create a lot of buzz, but we need to backup our SEO activities by other search engine marketing activities like Blogging, Press Release Distribution, Social network marketing, You Tube Videos and Tweeting about our products and services.

SEO Tips for 2013

Hello again. 2013 is here, we are still sitting couched up in our chair staring at our computer screens to see what new SEO stuff is out from the Google’s office. We have seen people dread the time, when Google updates roll out and the shift, the major shift is seen in the website ranking. 2012 was full of suspense and so is the beginning of the 2013 in terms of SEO techniques.

I think things have gone simpler than before. No more heavy SEO techniques to be used. Be natural and get linked naturally with people.

Here are some tips for you to work on to get your SEO working.

Focus on Content – The fresh content that is original, crisp and that can deliver value for the time spent is the one that is liked by the search engine. It will help in creating more readerships, get you more links and help in increasing the social shares for the content that you have uploaded either in your website, in your blog, in forums, in the press releases etc. such content becomes the source of generating qualified web traffic to your website and hence, with the relevant links that you get, you can strengthen your authority, here on the web. Content had previously been and still is the KING.

Hard Core SEO Techniques – Out of the hard core SEO techniques we can maintain our On-Page elements like working with Meta Tags and building effective description tags. The web page content and the marketing messages are the keyword density requirements no longer exist. Naturally built content that could make sense to the website visitor is quite helpful for SEO.

Keyword Research – Keywords are very much there and are the source for SEO but relevance plays an important role. The target must be to use keywords that help in conversion, not to use the keywords so quench the hunger of the search engines.

Going social will help – Social Marketing mediums will help more in the off page SEO. Which means that Social share will help you getting more relevant links for other websites and hence perk up the ranking of your webpage.

Connect with People through Forum Participation

When we think SEO is not working, people are not viewing our web pages because our website is not ranking on the first page, we get discouraged. The red cell for website is the web traffic that could help our business breathe to life. We need to device other means of promoting our website and letting people know that our online business exists. Forums are the places that could make this happen. These are the places where we find interested group of web users conversing about the products and services.

How to connect with your target market?

If this is not a million dollar question, it is an important question that could lead you to successful online business. You need to study, you need to practice, and if you fumble you can walk again without the help of the walking stick.

Find your business niche forum – This is important. You need to knock the right door. If you bark up the wrong tree, you would waste your time. This is place where your target market would be hanging around. Beware; your competition would be there too. You need to step in. Simply sign up and start walking through the forum.

Create Discussions – To get involved you can start my commenting on the posts and join the conversation that people are already engaged in. This will show you presence. But what good your comments are if you fail to lead them to your website. Initially, you need to build trust, so quality commenting would help you to start the buzz. Once in you can start up a fresh topic, talk sense and do something creative and interesting. Encourage other participant to comment and take part in the discussion.

Answering to comments and responding to posts – While you have entered the forum arena do reply to posts, even if you think that the member is pulling your leg or being nasty or complaining, take this commenting as an opportunity to create goodwill and let the other members of the discussion group in particular know that you are serious and mean business.

Catastrophic SEO injuries

If you get injured here, you won’t get compensation for your SEO injury. You are getting inured knowingly and willingly if you are getting involved in unethical SEO practices. Today, the shift in the SEO techniques has forced injuries onto the high ranking websites. Think of smooth sailing, think of getting to the top with organic SEO practices and follow what Matt Cutts leads. If you are able to handle the fast changing SEO scenario you will save yourself and your website from catastrophic SEO injuries.

Duplicate Content – Fine, if you are unable to develop and write the web content for your web pages, get hold of an expert who can do the job for you. It is understood that not every web designer can be an expert writer or an expert author, but stealing someone else’s content is sin and Google makes you to pay for it. BOTs these days hunt for duplicate content and make sure that the website gets penalized for this act.

Un Natural Links – Links have been, always, the best way to anchor your hold on the search engines. But if these are brought or gather unnaturally your website might be in trouble. Organic or natural linking is taken well and is appreciated; else you might suffer a catastrophic SEO injury. Delisting is the penalty that you might have to pay.

Cloaking – Stay away from this form of Black hat technique. Deceiving the search engine has never been good. Before penguin too, this sort of SEO malpractice used to bring catastrophic injuries to the website, but now, it all the more difficult.

It is difficult to get top search engine ranking with the white hat SEO practices, yet the fruits of being original and honest are far sweeter than those we had tried to reap earlier through unethical SEO practices. Users deserve to get authentic sites that could provide value for their time spent and the search engines are well placed to provide them with the same. Save yourself, your time, money and effort and try to build ethical SEO strategy that could save you and your web presence from catastrophic SEO injuries.

Intent Based Search Results

We have been told time and again that the SEO is changing its colors. Ranking for the keywords is going to become difficult and we would see some high ranking site disappear soon. Google has time and again been telling us that they have built the search engine to help the web visitors to find what they are searching for and not the businessmen who want to show off their products, services and the information, which the web users are forced to see now. Google had been building the algorithm to display the results most needed and most suited for the web user’s intent. With the happier web users, Google will be merrier.

Google search results will display different search results. That means the BOTs will have to work harder and think more humanly. That is why artificially intelligent BOTs will be the focal point at the search giant’s labs. Things have started to change. There is much discussion about the intent based search results. There is a lot of hunger in the SEO arena for the information on the algo changes and how it would be possible for the SEO specialists to rank their websites and the client’s websites on the top of the search results.

Isn’t it time that long tail ends would take more weight as these would be closer to the web user’s intent.

SEO has now become more sophisticated. The SEO professionals need to put more of their intelligence, more thought and more time into their SEO strategies. Instead of thinking in terms of BOTs, it time to think in terms of humans. What would the web user think and what words would he use to conduct a search on Google. What are the terms he would use? Difficult to think for others, but that is how the search engines would be working. Search engine optimization, hence has become more challenging.