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Top parameters to gauge your SEO score

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.

Body

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

  • The body length should be at least 300 words, ideally centered on one or two keyword phrase(s).

  • For keyword density, each keyword or keyword phrase should not represent more than 5.5% of the total words on the page. Otherwise, the search engine may consider the page to be keyword stuffing.

  • To give a keyword phrase additional emphasis, bold the first occurrence of the keyword phrase in the first paragraph of body. Including some content in a bulleted list is another way to add emphasis.

  • Include one hyperlink for every 120 words of body content spread out evenly down the page. For example, 500 words of content should include 5 hyperlinks with approximately each paragraph containing one hyperlink. Be sure not to “spam” or “keyword stuff” your content with a paragraph of keywords linked to the same web page over and over again.

  • Include a hyperlink at the beginning of the body in order to show prominence.

  • Ideally, hyperlinks should link to content that is relevant to the keywords, preferably to an interior page of your website, but when linking to another website, link to an interior page. In other words, do not link to a website’s home page if there is an interior page that is more relevant to the keyword phrase.

  • As an example, consider a relevant hyperlink to be included in content focused on “home medical supplies” is a link to an article about “The increasing need for home medical supplies” at http://www.timelymedicalnews.com/supply. Following are four acceptable ways to link to the article:

    1. “According to Timely Medical News, home medical supply needs have more than doubled since 2005.”

    2. “According to Timely Medical News, http://www.timelymedicalnews.com/supply, home medical supply needs have more than doubled since 2005.”

    3. “According to a new report, home medical supply needs have more than doubled since 2005.”

    4. “According to http://www.timelymedicalnews.com/supply, home medical supply needs have more than doubled since 2005.”

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

Flesch Reading Ease Score − one of the best-known and most popular readability indicators. The formula rates text on a 100-point scale based on the average number of syllables per word and words per sentence. The closer the score is to 100, the easier the content is to read; the closer the score to 0, the more difficult the content is to read. In general, a score below 30 is considered very difficult, and a score of 70 is estimated to be written at the eighth or ninth grade level. Research has indicated that a score of 70 is likely appropriate for adult readers. A score of 100 represents that the content is understood by readers with at least a fourth grade education.

Flesch Reading Ease Table
Style Flesch Reading Ease Score Average Sentence Length in Words Average Syllables per 100 Words Estimated School Grade Completed Estimated Percent of U.S. Adults
Very Easy 90-100 8 or fewer 123 or fewer 4th Grade 93
Easy 80-90 11 131 5th Grade 91
Fairly Easy 70-80 14 139 6th Grade 88
Standard 60-70 17 147 7th or 8th Grades 83
Fairly Difficult 50-60 21 155 Some High School 54
Difficult 30-50 25 167 High School or Some College 33
Very Difficult 0-30 29 or more 192 or more College 4.5

Adapted from Flesch, R. (1949). The art of readable writing. New York: Harper. p.149.

Keyword – a word (or combination of words) that describes the topic or subject of a piece of content. It is also a word or combination of words that are used in a search engine to search for a topic or subject.

Primary Keyword – designates the keyword(s) or keyword phrase(s) in a piece of content that are most likely to result in an organic search listing based on Scribe’s analysis of the content and the keyword usage.

Keyword Analysis – determines the keyword(s) or keyword phrase(s) in a piece of content based on popular search terms. It includes a report on the rank, prominence, frequency, density and search volume of the keyword(s)/keyword phrase(s), and provides related terms, along with their search volumes for comparison.

Related Keyword Tag – words or combinations of words added to a piece of content that describe the main topic(s) or subject(s) of a piece of content.

Keyword Rank – s that determines the value of keyword(s) or keyword phrase(s) in relationship to a piece of content and to each other. Keywords are ranked in descending order of importance as either Primary, Important, Significant, or Not Emphasized.

Keyword Density – the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase appears in a particular piece of content in relation to the total number of words in the content. It is usually represented as a percentage; the higher the number, the greater the density. Current SEO best practices suggest that a keyword’s density be less than 5% for one piece of content.

Keyword Frequency – the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase appears in a particular piece of content. It is usually represented as a whole number; the higher the number, the greater the keyword frequency.

Keyword Prominence –an algorithm that determines the value of a keyword or keyword phrase based on its relative placement within a particular piece of content. Prominence is rated as either Very Low, Low, Medium, High or Very High. The higher the prominence, the more favorable the keyword/keyword phrase is presumed to be weighted in the content by the search engine algorithm. You should strive to achieve a Prominence rating of high or very high for your Primary Keyword/keyword phrase for a page. However, all keywords/keyword phrases on a single page should not have a high or very high prominence rating to minimize the chance that search engines will consider you guilty of keyword stuffing or spamming.

Keyword Research – the act of exploring keywords. The process frequently involves reviewing search volumes of targeted keywords and alternative keywords to determine which keywords to include in content.

Keyword Stuffing (or keyword spamming) – adding an excessive number of keywords or keyword phrases to a web page or repeating a keyword or keyword phrase excessively on one page in place of relevant content. It is typically a technique used by those trying to “trick” the search engines into ranking a website in organic searches.

Trend – the approximate search volume of a keyword or keyword phrase over the past 12 months. Trend is helpful to identify seasonality of keywords that may have a low volume but are on the rise.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page) – the web page(s) containing hyperlinks to related content provided by a search engine in response to a search query. Usually, the results page returns both paid ads (sponsored links) and organic listings.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – the practice of improving the traffic to a website from the organic or natural results of a search engine.

SEO Best Practices (white hat SEO) – utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that align with the guidelines of the search engines’ ranking algorithms without the use of trickery. Examples of trickery include using hidden text, duplicating content, link farming and keyword spamming, to name a few.





July 30, 2010   3 Comments

50 free human moderated directories for submission

Submitting to web  directories is a essential element of each link building strategy and as you know – link building (also knows as off page SEO) is the most crucial element for your search engine positioning.


Apart from driving visitors to your internet site via direct recommendations, directories offer static, one particular way backlinks to your internet site, boosting your link popularity and improving your rankings on the major search engines. Search Engine optimization should include such submission to directories. So here are the best 50 human moderated directories that have quality directory listings.


Directory Name PR Alexa Rank
www.crazyleafdesign.com/webdirectory 4 12801
www.prolinkdirectory.com 5 13947
www.freewd.org NA 18898
www.freewebsitedirectory.com 3 19494
www.mygreencorner.com 3 19808
www.freedirectorysubmit.com 3 21450
www.lutonengineering.com 3 22303
www.domaining.in 4 23959
www.mydirectorylive.com 3 24318
http://linkbook.pcgraphicsolutions.com 3 24462
www.add2dir.info NA 25157
www.urlmoz.com 3 25422
www.gainweb.org 4 26130
www.showfreelinks.com 2 26721
www.addsitelink.com 2 26733
www.miriblack.com 2 26872
www.thalesdirectory.com 4 29343
http://directory.seoexecutive.com 0 29453
www.1abc.org 2 31762
www.alistdirectory.com NA 32634
www.the-free-directory.co.uk 3 34628
www.info.isearchclick.net 2 34701
www.babelea.org 2 39206
www.runfatcat.com 0 40720
http://linknom.com 3 40776
http://worldindexdirectory.com 2 41174
www.vccllc.com 4 41502
www.fat64.net 0 44300
http://tiptopdirectory.com 3 45959
www.synergy-directory.com 4 47543
www.mostca.com 2 48885
www.directoryfire.com 3 49455
www.ukshopspages.co.uk 2 50741
www.aokdirectory.com 3 50787
www.thegreatdirectory.org NA 50943
www.addnewlink.net 3 53596
www.placeyourlinks.com 0 54912
www.ukbusinesslisting.co.uk 0 57518
www.monsterlinkdirectory.com NA 57856
www.pr3plus.com 0 58217
http://bigwebdirectory.org 2 59162
www.a-directory.net 4 61517
www.submityourlink.com.ar 0 62063
www.list-your-website.com 0 63699
www.directmylink.com 3 64570
www.submission4u.com NA 65128
www.evilasio.org NA 65456
www.opendirectorys.com 3 66248
www.suggest-url.net 0 66677
www.eaproject.com NA 69259
www.addurlguide.com 3 73619
www.seoaura.com 3 77253
www.freeurldirectory.com NA 77459
www.smartdirectory.org 0 79394
www.linkvoyage.com NA 80699
www.nesler.info 1 82675
www.freelinkdirectory.ws NA 83904
www.linkpedia.net 0 84990
www.nexusdirectory.com 3 88375
www.freeinternetwebdirectory.com 5 90424
http://themissinglink.info NA 91167
www.portafolio.co.uk NA 91381
www.a2zld.com NA 95057
www.ereferences.org 0 96267
www.theaegissolutions.com 1 97814
www.hatlinks.com 2 108690
www.addsiteurls.com 2 109249
www.linkszoom.com 1 124572
www.linkskhoj.com 0 133697
www.samsdirectory.com 3 136109
www.superiordirectory.net 1 147161
www.addlinknow.com 0 150901
www.the-ten-commandments.org/directory NA 161241
www.afreelinkdirectory.com 1 165397
www.poweredbywp.com 5 170091
www.bubbleplex.com 2 173563
www.firmpay.com/directory 1 190786
http://allfreethings.com 3 194067
www.vividdesigns.ca NA 209604
www.10directory.com NA 215889
www.seeksharp.com 0 232764
www.viraldir.com 0 238590
www.wsxxw.com 0 246002
www.lowsterslinks.com 0 266985
www.widedir.com 2 269715
www.directorybusiness.org 2 271173
www.directorydump.com 4 280945
www.emillie.net 4 283612
www.narineland.com 0 330959
www.lihab.com 0 339576
www.m-s-n.org 0 373567
www.webolink.com 3 388865
http://republicapr.com 0 390273
www.linksdirectory.name 0 401127
www.urlamass.com 1 402147
www.freenetguide.info 0 430427
www.divewebb.com 1 441353
www.bmvg.info 2 441471
www.weblistingdir.com 0 443400
www.directoryseolist.com 0 461876
www.shopdalco.com 0 464461
www.linkwarehouse.net NA 465824
www.cyberfeeding.com 0 517702
www.linkbusinessdirectory.com 1 532300
www.linkalley.net NA 539323
www.dbowen.info 0 565241
www.easylistexpert.com 0 590324
www.klasik.ws 3 604394
www.linkdirectory101.com 0 607692
www.linkmedirectory.com 1 626869
www.sitewebfree.com 1 651750
www.circlo.com 0 653486
www.ez-find.net NA 670470
www.proalllink.com 0 688585
www.cyberlinkbiz.com 0 712856
www.back-linking.com NA 896124
www.directoryradius.com 0 907684
www.advertiseitforyou.com 0 939537
http://dirpros.com 1 962845
www.xwebdirectory.com 4 983092
www.globelistingdir.com 0 1112070
www.sitelinkdirectory.com 0 1158865
http://aussie-link-directory.com NA 1527032
www.directory-king.com 3 1543506
www.dirtoplinks.com 0 1617186
www.journalwebdir.com 0 1936428
www.geesh.com 2 2216422
www.bizzopolis.com 0 2277584
www.planethalder.com 0 2284542
www.premiumseolinks.com 0 4028730
www.websitesdirectoryonline.com 2 4571777
www.linkv1.com 1 4675539
www.geal.info NA 5012856
www.redresource.biz 0 5139484
www.mitefind.com 0 6074086
www.tdglinkdirectory.com 0 6248728
www.suggestindex.info 2 6563119
www.a1linkdirectory.info 0 8592723
www.netweblinks.info 0 27201766
www.top-links.info 0 27202472
www.urllinks-directory.com 0 27750344
www.ebba.ws 0 -1

More Reading on Directory Submission for SEO


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July 27, 2010   No Comments

Advanced Press Release Linking Strategies

So you have read the basics on submitting press releases for getting backlinking juice and thereby providing a great deal of traffic, authority and of course search engine optimization in the eyes of the big search engines like google.

And now you want to know more about press releases and how you can set up an advanced press release link wheel structure – correct? So read on – If you are a small business trying to do cost effective seo, you should look into this.

How to set up an advance press release link wheel

1. Press Release LinkWheel

Do your first Press Release, let it syndicate out to about 500+ sites. It will only take about 2 to 3 weeks. Then, do another Press Release, this time, give one backlink to one of the previous 25 sites, another backlink to your main site. Now you are interconnecting them. You can keep building on this to give more juice to your previous Press Releases. This will build a huge link wheel for you.

2. Maximising Syndication Using Popular Keywords

In order to maximise your syndication, try to use common keywords within your title. Most websites use keyword to trigger syndication. For example, if you talk about Acai Berry, try to include Weight Loss within your title to get more syndication. If you talk about Twitter, add “money” into your title, it improves your syndication as well.

Every time you use this system, you should include new keywords. For example, if I am building links for a Dog Training website, I will use this keywords in the title:

First time, I will use Dog Training, so it gets syndicated to Dog training related sites. The second time, I will include Dog food, so it gets on to some food related sites.

Then I will use Pet Care or even Cat Training, or Pet training. The idea here is to target different keywords every time you do the Press Release. This way, you backlink will come from many types of websites, in various related niche. These backlinks are very valuable!

3. Using Unique Titles To Facilitate Tracking

There is no way you can track how far your Press Release is syndicated, unless you use a unique title. To track your Press Release, you only need to go to Google and search your title using quotes.



July 26, 2010   No Comments

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