'Net Features : seo articles

Mechanics of SEO as Art & Science

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:30:00 GMT

For those who have followed traditional search engine optimization best practice guidelines over the years, Search Engine Academy co-founder and Website Magazine contributor John Alexander shares several key insights about the mechanics of SEO for business owners who are in highly competitive industries.

Read “Understanding the Mechanics of SEO as Both Art and Science” now.

Cross-Engine Keyword Richness Inquiry

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:03:00 GMT

The importance of keywords and phrases in domains, subdomain, folders, & page names

What impact do keywords in the domain have on placement in search engines? How about if they are in the subdomain or only in the page name? What if they are not there at all? Website Magazine looks at the top three search engines to determine if including keywords matters (and if so, where) in the fight for search result page real estate.

The search term we used to analyze the importance of search terms on placements was “Bakugan” – a Japanese anime TV series, popular children’s game/toy and movie. While not a immensely well-known term, the word “Bakugan” has a global monthly search volume on its own of five million with a low estimated cost per click (at Google). We’ve only looked at three pages (30 listings) of results on the most popular search engines (Google, Yahoo!, and Bing). What we learned (consider it the synopsis) is listed below.

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Name Your Folders (NOW) - Perhaps most interesting about this study was the seemingly great importance placed on using keywords in folder names by search engines. While Amazon listings were present for the search term used across all search engines, their naming conventions remains quite consistent – within folders. Google places the most weight on folder naming, followed by Bing and Yahoo!.

Don’t Worry About Naming Pages - Other surprises (at least to me) included a relatively low presence for listings that included keywords in the actual pages names. It was not uncommon for just one of the listings on each of the three pages of results to include a keyword in the actual page name. While it does not look like it would negatively influence rankings, organizing content by categories and thus naming folders appropriately might be the best bet.

Subdomains Carry SOME Weight – Starting the project I was a believer that subdomains would have a pretty substantial impact. I was not entirely wrong but not entirely right either. I believe it is safe to assume that setting up subdomains would serve a website well, should the keyword not be included in the domain, or should the platform you are working with not support customized page names. (Why that would be in this day and age I have no idea.) Based on this study, Yahoo! listings had the greatest number of subdomains in their SERPs.

Some SE’s Favor Keywords in Domains, Others Not So Much – The question of whether to purchase domain names that include competitive keywords receives a lot of attention (or has in the past). I think it is safe to assume that the keyword we used for this study, since it was an actual product name, lent itself to greater exposure for the official website, which may account for the good performance of listings with keywords in the URL. Beyond the first page, however, there was a modest presence of domain names with the keyword included – although it never went higher than one or two listings per SERP.

The following are the notes (and percentages) from the study:

Bing.com: On Bing’s first page, only the official site (bakugan.com) included the keyword in question within the domain. The official site also had one folder section appearing and two subdomains on the first page of results. Several universal search results appeared (Images and News) in the search results, but six of the domains (two of which were from Amazon) had the keyword in the page name.

Folder Naming: 50%
Page Naming: 10%
Keywords in Domain: 40%
No Keywords: 0%
Subdomain Naming: 0%

On the second page of results however, three domains had the keyword included in their formal domain name. Four of the results had the keyword in the page name, but three had no keyword in the URL whatsoever (although it was included in the page title – one of which was a YouTube result).

Folder Naming: 20%
Page Naming: 10%
Keywords in Domain: 40%
No Keywords: 20%
Subdomain Naming: 0%

The third page of results is where things seem to get interesting. While most of us probably will not go that deep on a regular search query, it does reflect the previous two pages in some respects. Two of the listings had the keyword in the domain name, three listings had the keyword in a subdomain (two of which were from the same subdomain), two had the keyword in the page name and three had no keyword in the URL at all (although again it was included in the page title).

Folder Naming: 20%
Page Naming: 0%
Keywords in Domain: 20%
No Keywords: 30%
Subdomain Naming: 30%

Yahoo.com: On the first page of Yahoo! results, three of the listings were from the official site (one as a subdomain and one as a named folder section), two listings were domains with the keyword in question included and two listings were named folder sections. One listing had the keyword in a page name and another had the keyword in the subdomain. The final listing included the keyword only the page title and nowhere else.

Folder Naming: 30%
Page Naming: 10%
Keywords in Domain: 30%
No Keywords: 10%
Subdomain Naming: 20%

On the second page of results, three listings included the keyword in the sudomain, two listings included the keyword in the URL (although one was marked with the MacAfee Dangerous Download warning), three of the listings had the keyword in their folder naming and two listings had the keyword in the page name.

Folder Naming: 30%
Page Naming: 20%
Keywords in Domain: 20%
No Keywords: 0%
Subdomain Naming: 30%

The third page of results was to me the most interesting again. Three results had no keyword in the URL at all, two had the keyword in the domain name, one listing had the keyword in the subdomain and just one had the keyword in the page name. Three had they keyword in the file name.

Folder Naming: 30%
Page Naming: 10%
Keywords in Domain: 20%
No Keywords: 30%
Subdomain Naming: 10%

Google.com: The most fascinating of our subjects (no surprise there) has got to be Google. Even on a first glance, Google’s results page are vastly different from the others. The first position was dedicated to news results and shopping and video results appeared just after the official site (which again has the keyword in the domain name and an indented listing). From there, just one other listing had the keyword in the domain name. Two listings had no keyword appearing in the URL whatsoever, one had the keyword in a page name, and four had the keyword in their folder names.

Folder Naming: 40%
Page Naming: 10%
Keywords in Domain: 30%
No Keywords: 20%
Subdomain Naming: 0%

The second page is also pure Google as two of the listings on the SERPs are videos (one from YouTube – no keywords - and another from a Veoh collection which had the keyword in the folder structure). Just one listing had the keyword within a sudomain, and just two listings had the keyword in the page name. Three listings had the keyword in the folder name and four did not have the keyword in the URL whatsoever.

Folder Naming: 30%
Page Naming: 20%
Keywords in Domain: 0%
No Keywords: 40%
Subdomain Naming: 10%

The third page of Google results is where things get back to normal – at least as it relates to results pages on other engines. Only one listing had a keyword in the actual domain and one listing had the keyword in the subdomain. Two listings had no keywords whatsoever but three listings had the keyword in the folder name. Three listings had keywords in the page names as well.

Folder Naming: 30%
Page Naming: 30%
Keywords in Domain: 10%
No Keywords: 20%
subdomain Naming: 10%

SEO for Questions and Answers

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:30:00 GMT

While you may struggle optimizing your site and its content for competitive rankings on search engines for popular keywords there remains a very good opportunity in optimizing for search query phrases that come in the "question" format.

Yesterday Ask.com released its list of the top question of 2009. According to the announcement, "More than 50 million people visit Ask each month, where they are three times more likely to enter their queries in the form of a question than on other search engines." As you might imagine (if you've got your thinking caps on), this presents a great starting point for an SEO project related to answering questions.

continues below...

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Look at a few of the questions on this list and you'll see what I mean. It's the "how," "what," "when," and "who" that consumers apparently use to find answers to their questions. Since you (hopefully) know the answers to questions related to the content of your site, therein lies the SEO opportunity. Just answer questions related to your product, service or niche - no matter how seemingly mindate - and you might be surprised at how well you'll rank.

I've listed a few sample questions below along with the start of each question.

Hopefully this will get your creative SEO mind working:

How much should....?
How much should you pay for SEO services?

How do I get...?
How do I get top rankings on Bing?

How many...?
How many blog posts should I write every day?

What is...?
What is asynchronous tracking?

What are...?
What are the best Internet tradeshows?

What can...?
What can I deduct on my business taxes?

What does...?
What does URL stand for?

When will...?
When will Google officially release its social search product?

Stay up to date on the latest Internet trends:
Request a professional subscription to Website Magazine,
the most popular print publication on Web success.

On-Page SEO and Alt Text: SERP Ranking Influencer?

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:41:00 GMT

The most important on-page ranking factors for placing competitively in search engine results pages (SERPs) include keyword use in the title tag, keywords in the domain (page names and folders too), keywords in the headline tags, within internal and external anchor text, within page copy, and yes ... keyword use in the alt text. While each of these factors is hotly contested in professional SEO circles, it's image alt text that has our attention today. You may be asking yourself, "What is this ... 2002 ... with the discussion of alt text?" And I might agree completely if it weren't for a recent spin I took on the SERPs of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Let's start by developing a definition of alt text. The alt attribute is used in HTML (and XHTML) documents to specify alternative text that is to be rendered when the element to which it is applied cannot be rendered. Over time, adding alternative text for images became a principle of Web accessibility. While alt text can be applied to media, applets or other non-text Web content (like entire areas of a Web page) the common understanding is alt text as related to images (and image optimization).

Why include alt text on images? While they do provide screen readers something to consume and aid those with visual disabilities, alt text provides a semantic meaning and description to images which can't be read by search engines. Did you get that? Search engines, despite being technological marvels of efficiency and productivity, are dumb and they need your help (the webmaster/SEO) to tell them what an image actually means. That presents an incredible opportunity to influence position on the SERPs from where I stand. Don't believe me - take a look at an example.

Today I searched for "Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread" - after a good experience over the Labor Day weekend. I concede that the examples below are only one sample but the results encouraged me to rethink the use of naming images (as an on-page SEO tactic) that appear within content. More on that below.

Of the top five results on Google, three out of five returns named an image on the ranked page with the alt text (or some slightly modified derivation of it) with "Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread": AllRecipes.com, AndreasRecipes.com, and ClosetCooking (on Blogger) all had alt text on their images. And the last one didn't even have any PageRank! RecipeZaar (which had an image but no alt text) and Cooks.com (its own search return list of related recipes) were the other two sites in the top five that were reviewed. Of the five final results on the first page, none had alt text.

Of the top five results on Yahoo!, three were identical to the top five on Google, but more importantly they (those with the alt text) were the ones that secured the first, second and third position. The next two results (position four and five respectively) did not have alt text on their images. Of the remaining listings, only one had alt text on its image.

Of the top five results on Bing, little had changed. AllRecipes and AndreasRecipes still topped the SERPs in the first and second position, but they were the only two of the top five that were using alt text. Consequently, of all the results that I encountered during this brief tour, Bing by far had the "spammiest" looking results.

So what’s the final verdict on alt text? While I do believe there are other more important factors in determining position (as outlined above) on the search results page, using alt text should be an important part of your on-page SEO – if only to be in-line with accessibility best practices. In the end, adding another layer of meaning onto your visual content can't hurt and by the looks of it, might just influence position if only for long-tail terms.

Creating Effective Press Releases for Power SEO

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:38:00 GMT

Press releases are an effective means to attract media attention, but it is also one of the most cost-effective munitions in the search engine optimization and marketing arsenal. With a solid grasp of the English language and some company and industry knowledge, the transition to being an effective SEO-PR master is easier than you might think.

The Many Benefits of an SEO-PR Strategy
If you’re not sending press releases through distribution services and directly to those you believe are the most influential in your industry, you should be.

Inexpensive: It’s costly to run display and search advertising campaigns and the amount of time it takes for traditional SEO can be immense. The expense of a press release, however, is limited to the time it takes to write it and then distribute it electronically. When the message is picked up by multiple outlets, the cost per impression simply cannot be beat.

Broader Reach (and Links): Perhaps the most noteworthy benefit in distributing press releases is that many Web publishers post them on their websites. In many cases, they do so verbatim from the original and, in some cases, include your original links. The result is that your message is seen by a broad group and influences search result rankings.

Expedited SEO: Nearly every search engine optimization agency I’ve come across in the past few months leverages press releases for their clients. Why? Fast indexing for one, but the ability to “control the content” means that you’ll be able to include the keyword rich content you want to rank for, ultimately influencing your site’s search ranking. Add a compelling title and your URL (with anchor text, of course) and you’ll see your release appear in the search engine results pages in short order and many times over – even for competitive terms.

Now that you’re sold on the benefits of SEO-PR, how do you construct an effective press release? Let’s look at a few best practices that make press releases such a powerful SEO strategy.

Get to the Point Quickly
Attention spans on the Web are decreasing. Unlike an article when you have an opportunity to “set-up” the story, in a press release it is essential to include the most important information right away – at the very beginning of the text.

The intent of a press release is to supply information to the media in hopes that traditional editorial gatekeepers will find it relevant enough to share with their audience. This is true for consumer-focused outlets and service providers, as well as for companies that follow a B2B model. Since search engines index content in a “top-down” fashion, get to the point quickly by including a synopsis (most services provide this feature for clients).

An effective press release is written clearly and uses concise text to announce news. Ask any editor: if they take the time to look at your material, it had better get to the point right away. Drawn-out leads written to “suggest” editorial featuring a certain company only irritate busy gatekeepers. With literally thousands of press releases received each week, there's no time to read 150 words before the main idea becomes clear. All that does is increase the chances of your e-mails being filtered into the abyss. Once that happens, it’s not likely you will be able to gain audience with that editor again through e-mail.

More Elements of a Good SEO-Friendly Press Release
There is no shortage of advice on how to create a press release, but little in the way of information on creating search engine friendly press releases.

Develop Compelling, Keyword-Rich Headlines
Well-written press-release headlines grab the attention of the user and include the most important facts to summarize the body content. Titles also influence how search engines determine relevance for user queries so include descriptive keywords (the ones you want to rank for), repeat them periodically throughout the body of the release and you’ll see you release indexed quickly.

Lead Readers With a Strong Lead
A concise lead paragraph should support the headline and incorporate as many of the key facts as possible. The lead should entice the editor to continue reading. Oftentimes, a good lead paragraph that conveys pertinent points will be picked up verbatim for publication placement.

Present Fact-Based Copy
Perhaps the most vital part of a press release is fact-based body copy. The body copy should include market positioning, key features and benefits to the end user. By including information that supports the release, editors and bloggers are more likely to use that data and the information you present in tandem. That means your company will be positioned with information that matters to people reading it.

Provide Contact Information
Another component critical to an effective press release is providing names, titles and contact information to identify the sender and another person who can intelligently discuss the content in detail. If possible, a direct quote from a company official that encapsulates the release should be included. For example, a release announcing a new executive vice president should identify the president to offer supporting statements. When introducing a new product, the director of engineering would be more appropriate.

Provide Background Information
The last element in an effective press release is a boilerplate paragraph about the company that describes its products and services, markets served and when it was founded. This should identify the full, proper name and location of its headquarters. If the company is publicly held, list the exchange, ticker symbol and the most recent annual revenue.

By supplying all of this information in a simple press release, editors will have ample resources to further research the company if they deem it editorially necessary. Consider the content within the press release you create to be a search-engine-optimized page on someone else’s site and you’ll master the art of SEO-PR.