Monday, June 2, 2008

7 Advanced SEO Tactics

If you're like most online webmasters, then you have probably read one article after the other about search engine optimization. Most of them rehash the same old information and you end up wading through tons of fluff. However, this isn't one of those articles. Listed below are 7 advanced SEO tips that you won't find on every digital corner.
1. Syndicating Articles that Link to Your Sitemap

As you probably know, syndicating articles is one of the best methods for obtaining one-way backlinks.


They are also valuable pieces of search engine bait because search engine crawlers are frequent visitors to many high-profile article directories. If you want to get the spiders quickly crawling your site, simply submit an informative article to a site like EzineArticles, GoArticles, or ArticleCity.

However, there's another article marketing strategy that isn't mentioned much in marketing circles. This tactic can get the crawlers searching deeper into your site and indexing more of your pages. Simply link to your sitemap within the resource box. This will send the spiders straight to a content buffet where they can quickly slurp up all of your pages.


2. Translating Your Website Into Other Languages

Are you marketing in just one language? If so, you are missing out on 64.8% of your marketing potential. This is because 64.8% of the world is surfing the internet in a language other than English. By becoming a multilingual marketer, you immediately open up a stream of new markets. Google alone crawls web pages in 35 different languages.

One of the best ways to attract worldwide traffíc is to translate your site and register it with both English and foreign-language search engines and directories. If you are a seasoned SEO, you'll be happy to hear that the competition in foreign search engines is much less than in those of the United States.

In addition, online foreign language markets are currently growing at a much faster rate than English speaking markets.

You have the opportuníty to tap into this market while it's in an exponential growth phase.


3. ROR Sitemaps

As you probably know, sitemaps are important for making sure your site can be completely spidered and indexed by the search engines. Unfortunately, many of these sitemaps are specific to one search engine or another. For this reason, there have been a number of Google and Yahoo site map generators produced in recent years.

However, there is an alternative that is even more exciting. These are ROR sitemaps and they are readable by all search engines, not just by Google or Yahoo.

ROR is an exciting new sitemap tool that uses XML feeds to describe your website. These sitemaps are structured feeds that enable search engines to complement text search with structured information to better interpret the meaning of your site. With a ROR sitemap, search engines can better understand your products, services, images, newsletters, articles, podcasts, and anything else that you want to describe.

For example, if you are selling products, a ROR file enables you to document your product names, descriptions, prices, images, availability, affilíate programs, and any other

relevant information. Search engine crawlers like the Googlebot have an enormous job to do. It's time we start helping them to better understand our content.


4. Keyword Phrases that Convert

Selecting the right keyword phrases is the single most important aspect of any SEO campaign. Unfortunately, many webmasters target the wrong keywords. Too many of us target very general keywords like "real estate" or "internet marketing". Although these terms get lots of visitors, it is unlikely that you will be able to rank highly for them. Then, even if you do, this type of traffíc produces very low conversion rates because it does not target prospects.

You will be much more successful, if you target keyword phrases that are 3-4 words long. These terms are much less competitive and have been proven to convert much better than keywords that are 1 to 2 words long.

Who do you think is more likely to buy; someone who goes to Google and searches for "ipod" or someone who searches for "4gb black ipod nano"? Obviously, the person who searches for a more specific phrase is much closer to making a buying decision.


5. GoogSpy

Would you like to get an in-depth view of how your competitors run their business? Well, you can do exactly that with an online service known as GoogSpy. GoogSpy is a free research tool that will tell you what keywords your competitors are bidding on.

This tool tracks over 500,000 keywords every day from Google and then loads this goldmine of information into the GoogSpy.com database. Using this tool, you can browse by company or by search term.

This tool is extremely powerful. Unfortunately, many people take it for granted. This service basically hands you a business strategy on a silver platter. Maybe we should just keep this one to ourselves and enjoy the benefits of being one step ahead of our competition.

For example, let's say you wanted to do some in-depth research on Overstock.com, one of the largest companies online. You would simply go to googspy.com and type in overstock.com. You will then be shown thousands of words that this company bids on. These keywords are proven profít generators. Research like this would normally cost thousands of dollars, but they are providing it free of charge.

If you want to find keywords with high conversion rates, simply type in words such as buy and purchase. You will be shown keyword phrases that are bid on that include the words buy or purchase. These are very lucrative keyword phrases because the person who types in "buy sony playstation 2" knows exactly what they want. They're not just looking around, they are in buying mode. These are the type of keywords you want to bid on. Using GoogSpy, you can uncover these hidden gems in seconds.

Other high-converting keyword phrases include brand names and product names. Type in the keyword "camera" and you will find thousands of different brands and product names for cameras. These keywords are some of the best keywords because of their high conversion rate.


6. Internal Links Within Content

The navigation of your site is a crucial element of your search engine optimization campaign. Each link within your navigational structure should correlate with a keyphrase that you are trying to rank for.

However, you can also include internal links within your content. For example, let's say you have written an article about online marketing. Within the article are a number of keyword phrases. Some of these phrases include "link popularity" and "web site traffíc". If you have other articles within your site that pertain to these topics, then you should definitely link those keyword phrases to those articles. By doing this, you can increase the link popularity of other pages within the same site.

There are very few sites that take advantage of this optimization technique. By doing this, you enable the search engines to find and index much more of your site. These internal links also contribute to a higher ranking because of the anchor text that is used.

Many people only think of inbound links from outside websites when trying to raise their link popularity. However, the internal link structure is also a major ranking factor.


7. Using Your Log Files for SEO

Your server logs reveal very important information about your site. If you learn to use them properly, they can quickly help to maximize your site's traffíc and conversion rates.

One of the most valuable pieces of information found in your log files are search phrases. The log files will tell you exactly which keywords people are using to find your website.

Once you have optimized a page, the log files will tell you how people are finding that page and what keywords they are searching for to get there. If you find that people are using keywords that you hadn't thought of to get to a certain page, it would probably be in your best interest to further optimize that page for those keywords.

You might also want to create a new page optimized for that particular term. This is especially true if a new page would enable you to serve better information on the phrase being searched for.

In addition, by looking at how your site is found organically, you can determine whether the same keyword phrases belong in your paid search campaigns. Only choose the ones that are highly relevant. You will find that these keyword phrases have the best conversion rate.
Source: ifergan.org

SEO Tips for Every one.

I miss the old days....life was simple. Your TV had just a few channels, your phone was attached to a wall, and the computer was a cool thing to have for the few who could afford one. But times change, our world changes and technology grows. TV has 200 plus channels (and still nothing on), your phone is attached to your hip and you could not live without a computer and the Internet is filled with billions of pages.

SEO was an easy job then. It was a no brainer. It was fast, it worked and the stress was little. Well, those days are long gone and the facts of SEO are no longer as easy as it used to be. It is not a quick fix and it is an ongoing process.

I miss the old days....life was simple. Your TV had just a few channels, your phone was attached to a wall, and the computer was a cool thing to have for the few who could afford one. But times change, our world changes and technology grows. TV has 200 plus channels (and still nothing on), your phone is attached to your hip and you could not live without a computer and the Internet is filled with billions of pages.

SEO was an easy job then. It was a no brainer. It was fast, it worked and the stress was little. Well, those days are long gone and the facts of SEO are no longer as easy as it used to be. It is not a quick fix and it is an ongoing process.

Sure, there are hundreds of SEO companies available for you to choose from. Cheap ones that say they submit your site to 1000's of engines (big deal), ones that add 100's of doorway pages (look out for spam), those that promise fast top rankings (they lie). Let's face it, for SEO there is The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. But lets not focus on the bad and ugly....they may be cheap, but you get what you pay for...nothing!

SEO is not instant, not any more. You need to look at many factors, you need to be prepared to make changes, you need to be willing to work closely with your SEO expert and be willing to be in it for the long haul. SEO changes and you need to be ready to meet those changes.

You should be serious about your web site. This is your business and you need to treat it as such. Canned web sites, website templates that offer everything from stores to products to hosting and say you have no worries on updating the site and still can achieve rankings may be a bit misleading. SEO is ongoing work and one you need to be prepared to handle.

Your SEO Expert serves two purposes...to guide you in changes that you need to make to a web site and to help you optimize your web site by actually working within the site so that you can be found for relevant keyword phrases.

Your Web Site Design

It used to be that design aspects really did not matter. Well, now they do and it is a big deal. If your site is poorly designed, poorly coded and developed using complex databases or heavily graphic, you face issues. You may need to make changes, you may want to develop a new site...whatever the need, your SEO will inform you what issues may be causing the site from being read correctly.

Your Keywords

Please...generic words may seem like the best, but with billions of pages, is it really feasible? Keyword phrases are extremely important, phrases that target your audience are imperative. Your SEO expert should work with you on helping you to make the most important choices on good, targeted and precise phrases that will target your consumer or product line.

Your Content

Using your keywords in content is important for the engines. Having good content is important to your consumer as well. Lack of content is not going to help you gain on the engines and lack of content is not going to help your consumer understand your product line. Your SEO expert can provide you writing assistance for those do it yourself folks or provide you with their expert content writers. Do not be fooled...if you are not using keywords with content, how can you expect to achieve rankings for those phrases?

Your Site Link Popularity

If no one else thinks your web site is important, then why would a consumer. You web site needs to be found on relevant web sites. You need to get your site out there....it needs to be seen on other web sites. Not doing so means that even you do not think your site is important enough to share with others. Your SEO can help you achieve a successful link campaign or even consult with you on the process. This is a time consuming task, and it needs to be done right. I mean, you want your site to be seen on the best of sites, so take the time to consider getting a link to those sites that can help you be seen as an expert in your product field.

Your Blog

Funny word...Blog. I mean, what does it really mean? Who came up with it...well who cares. What is important is that they are fabulous for helping with your SEO campaign. They are informative, they are easy to navigate, they contain content and so much more. Bogs are the way to go to help enhance your site. Again, your SEO can help you by developing a blog. You can easily learn to maintain it, keep it fresh, and keep it current.

Conclusion

Sure, SEO is just part of your marketing game plan. But it is a vital one when used with your other online and offline marketing. Gone are the days of easy rankings. Just because you built it, doesn't mean they'll come. A website is a business and as such deserves your time and your professional SEO to help you achieve your goals and bottom line success.

Source: seo-news.com