Category — Search Engine Optimization Tips

Search engine optimization can be both easy and complex at the same. SEO experts all agree that good content and great links are the most important things for a page to rank. Of course you can do all kinds of on page optimization and off page back linking but there are some factors that are often missed when looking at the search engine optimzation efforts of a given webpage.

So then, here are some parameters – courtesy SEO Scribe – one of the best Search Engine Optimization services I have found on wordpress content optimization.

Overview

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving the traffic to a website from the organic or natural results of a search engine. SEO does not try to trick search engines. On the contrary, the goal of SEO is to provide information-rich content in a way that is naturally weighted by the search engines because it follows the “rules” of the search engines. Below are guidelines for optimizing content according to current SEO best practices.

Before you Begin

The first step to writing content that is search engine optimized is to determine the primary topic of the page. This will be your initial keyword or keyword phrase and should be the central theme for the content of the page. The more closely the page is related to the keyword phrase, the more relevant the page will be ranked by the search engine. The goal is to write a full page of content centered around one keyword phrase.

Content Title

When writing the title for the content, follow these basic guidelines:

• The title length should not exceed 72 characters. This will ensure the full title is visible in a search result, increasing the likelihood of a click-through.
• The title length should include at least 4 words.
• Include the keyword phrase in the title. This will increase the relevancy of your content for that keyword phrase. In addition, the title usually becomes the headline for the SERP, and including the keyword will increase the likelihood of a click-through.
• Include a Primary Keyword toward the beginning of your Title to increase the relevancy of the keyword within the search engines’ indexes.

Description

The description will generally be the “snippet” copy for the search result. Depending on the website that hosts your content, the description may also be used as a subhead for a press release, serve as the first paragraph of a web page or be the <meta> description − only seen on the SERP. When writing the description for the content, follow these basic guidelines:

• The description length should not exceed 165 characters. This will ensure the full description is visible in a search result.

• Include the keyword phrase in the description. This will increase the relevancy of your content for that keyword phrase.

• Include a Primary Keyword toward the beginning of your Description to increase the relevancy of the keyword within the search engines’ indexes.

Continue reading this “Top parameters to gauge your SEO score” »

Tracking your website metrics, your visitors, incoming searches, stats on visitor locations, bounce rates, goals completed etc. are increasingly important today. If you don’t know where your visitors come from, how long they stay and what they do on your website when they get there, how will you optimize your content and build your strategy? You cannot do effect Search Engine Optimization or Search Engine Marketing unless you know it’s working and the way to know that is to constantly analyze your traffic.
Below are the top 5 website traffic tracking tools that I personally have followed and used for a while. Please note that some are free whereas others are paid. As always, there are no affiliate links.

1. GetClicky – http://www.getclicky.com/

Some people prefer to use Google Analytics to track their site traffic. But I love Clicky. Clicky has no time lags and you can monitor your traffic in real time (as it enters and leaves your site) – yes – they have this Spy feature which is almost like magic. Tracks the visitor within seconds of them coming in and then shows you all the actions that the user is taking. This alone is worth making it to the top.

Based on the sheer amount of data, you can make changes to improve your visitor flow and increase conversions and clicks. The concept of Goals and Campaigns is kind of similar to Google Analytics

For one website, Clicky is free but if you want to add more than one website or go over a set amount of traffic, you will have to upgrade to the paid version. I know what you are saying, why pay for something when I can get Google Anlytics for free? – well – before you answer that question, try Clicky for free for one website and see if you don’t fall with it. Nothing has helped more users with their Search Engine Optimization and SEM campaigns and increase their goal of bringing more traffic to their websites than Clicky in my opinion.

2. Statcounter - http://www.statcounter.com/

This one is quite similar to Clicky but has a lot fewer options. Stat Counter is free and and it is a good solution for someone who wants to track more than one website and does not want to pay for a tracking solution. Stats Counter is generally preferred over Google Analytics by a lot of experts in the industry.

Has many options. Can display an odometer-style counter image (which is quite customizable), or can use a javascript include on every page to just generate analytics (also very userfriendly and customizable).

It is free, but ads on stats pages are perhaps a bit annoying.

3. Pretty Link Pro – http://www.prettylinkpro.com/

Pretty Link Pro is a Plugin for WordPress that will enable you to shrink, cloak, track, organize, share and test all of your links on your own domain and server. That pretty much sums up Pretty Link Pro. There is a free version available but in order to get full functionality – you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro version.

4. Google Analytics – http://www.googlecom/analytics

Obviously the giant Google has out smarted a lot of providers and changed this industry by providing so much for so free (free is better than cheap). Very good analytics, great user interface – uses a lot of Ajax and Flash – it is a good solution for a lot of people especially those who don’t want to pay and don’t want complex features like live tracking. There are problems with GA like sometimes it does not update as fast, harder to use the may features, harder to set up complex goals and campaigns but overall a top notch solution. Awesome solution for search engine optimization experts as well people trying to learn SEO. Also, one thing it offers is integration with adsense and adwords so you can track individual ad performance and returns.

5. Lyris HQ - http://www.lyris.com/solutions/lyris-hq/web-analytics/

Relatively newer entrant but has a very page overlay view. I especially like the feature where one can quickly spot unusual activity by comparing major differences in key performance indicators (KPI) and metrics. For example, a particular keyword may drive much more traffic this week than last week, this is a great feature.

Continue reading this “Top 10 site traffic and visitor tracking tools on the internet for 2010” »

The most effective kept secrets on the internet for generating backlinks and traffic. It’s really a wonder why more and more people don’t make use of article writing on a regular basis. There are hundreds of hundreds people who do submit a press release, but a number of them don’t do it right nor make use of the linking and exposure they might escape them.

Whatever your business model is, it is imperative to take press releases seriously. For small business seo as well as cost effective seo needs, doing regular press releases is a must.

Site #1: http://www.bignews.biz/ (PR 4, Alexa Rank 6908)

BigNews is a great web site. You could get your Anchored Backlink here. By submitting your news to BigNews, you will also get a chance to see your Press Release in Google News. This is due to the fact that BigNews can be syndicated by Google News in several categories. This will definitely help with your search engine optimization goals

Big News Press Release Service

BigNews is a PR 4 website. It has a pretty good internal linking structure, so that your backlink will enjoy the internal backlinks.

Site #2: http://www.transworldnews.com/ (PR 5, Alexa Rank 10685)

Transworld News Press Release Service

TransWorldNews is another great Press Release website that allows anchored backlinks. They have a great external syndication too. Good internal linking structure gives them a PR 5. Your Press Release stands to gain good exposure and back links from TransWorldNews.

Site #3: http://www.freepressrelease.com.au/ (PR 4, Alexa Rank 17994)

Free Press Release Service

Another PR 4 Press Release site is FreePressRelease Australia. It has good syndication as well. An added benefit is that if your website is hosted in a server located in Australia, you will see a sudden jump in ranking, simply because many Australian sites syndicate its news, which in turn, syndicate the backlinks together, so you can get many backlinks from Australian sites. The great PR means that has good potential to boost your page rank and provide you with what you need in terms of search engine optimization

Site #4: http://www.webnewswire.com/ (PR 5, Alexa Rank 24513)

Web News Wire Press Release Service

WebNewsWire is a very reputable Press Release wire. It also allows anchored backlink within the Press Release.

A PR 5 Press Release site it is very reputable and has one of the best external syndication in place. Another great site for generating backlinks and increasing your SEO score.

Site #5: http://www.pressexposure.com/ (PR 5, Alexa Rank 14453)

Press Exposure Press Release Service

Press Exposure is a PR 5 site. It is easy to submit a Press Release, has good internal linking and is very well syndicated externally.

Site #6: http://www.newsreleaser.com/ (PR 2, Alexa Rank 53453)

News Releaser Press Release Service

This site is a special. It does not look like a backlink is there, but when you move your mouse over, you will see it is actually a backlink. It is also well syndicated. It used to be a PR5 but has dropped to PR2 but is still quite powerful.

Site #7: http://www.healthprspider.com/ (PR 3, Alexa Rank 44947)

From the Press Release itself, it does not seem like a backlink. But when you click on view page source, you can see it is actually a backlink.

Health PR Spider

Continue reading this “Top 20 Press Release sites to generate traffic and backlinks from” »