Optimize Your Website - Affordable SEO Help: Seo tips

Why SEO Is Crucial - Ignore At Your Peril

100 Awesome Marketing Stats, Charts and Graphs The internet has transformed the way people find, discover, share shop and connect.

More and more of the things people used to do offline they now do ONLINE.

When people are planning to buy, more and more of them research online first to compare prices and get reviews from other shoppers. Even if they buy on the High Steeet they start their fact finding and decision making tend to look online!

Google is the new yellow pages!

20% of Google searches are for local businesses.

Ranking high on search engines is no longer optional. You need to take action now and get ahead of the game.

Do let me know what you need from me and how I can best help you in the comments below...

Lynne Lee in Internet, Seo tips | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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Your Title Tag - The First Thing Google Sees

Google is constantly searchunhg the internet for fresh content. It has an automatic program that finds and indexes web pages based on a complex formula that the mighty Google keeps to itself.

Google doesn’t see your site like you do. It sees a text version. The very first thing it sees is your Title Tag, which tells it what your site is about.

You will find the title tag at the top of your web browser and in the tab

As you can see from the above picture, the title tag isn't technically on the web page, it's found at the top of your web browser. It's essential that the title tag has your keyword in it. The title tag is the first thing Google sees and it's what Google will index your page as in their search engine.

The title tag also forms the first line in search results. The text beneath it is the description.

How Do I Change The Title Tag?

If your site is powered by WordPress then you simply change your “Blog Title” to your main keyword phrase. You can change this in the back office of WordPress in Settings --> General.

If you're using a traditional HTML website then you will need to change some code. Your web designer can probably do this for you in a couple of minutes. Either way you need to edit the title tag in your header. Somewhere in between the <head> and </head> tags will be <title></title> tags. You just need to include your keyword phrase between those tags like this

<title>Internet Marketing For Small Businesses</title>

I'll be posting the next step to getting top Google rankings tomorrow.

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Wordpress Categories And Tags Explained

WordPress Tags are not the same as WordPress Categories

Simply explained, if categories are your table of contents, tags are your index.

Categories and Tags are there to help your visitors navigate through your content. They sort and group your content to make it easier for your visitors to find related information.

Categories and Tags are for your visitors, not just search engines. Think of your visitors’ first. They are not a place to be imaginative. Keep it simple.

Categories are your site’s table of contents.

Categories help identify what your site is about, they are not for you, they are for your reader and need to be specific enough to help visitors easily find what they’re looking for.

I suggest you use keyword to name your categories where it’s appropriate.

Tags are your site’s index. They act like sub-categories for your content.

Every post in WordPress can be filed under a number of different Tags. They help visitors to navigate and provide a way for posts to be grouped with other posts with similar content.

Tags can be displayed with each post. When someone clicks on a Tag link, a Tag archive page with all the posts identified with that Tag, will be displayed.

You can add the Tag Cloud Widget to the sidebar to display all the Tags you use in a cloud. The size of the tag in the cloud depends on the number of times you have used it

Don’t over tag

When thinking of tags ask, “What does it tell my reader about related posts? The idea of tags is to direct your readers to related content.

Tagging strategy

Think about all the things you might write about for each category, these are your sub-categories or tags, list them as tags you might want to use.

You can add to your list as your site develops. Don’t just add in random words that might fit. The idea of tagging is to provide more routes to your content.

Search engines don’t use the the rel="tag" which identifies a tag in their ranking algorithm so don’t be concerned about SEO when tagging.

Your main concern needs to be providing a useful index.

Today's post was written in response to this Question:

What I've been doing in the past for tags/keywords is to put in all terms that I think are relevant to the content, rather than just a handful of main keywords. Is that advisable or does that put Google off?
For example if I write a post about productivity the content might have things like time management, procrastination, focus, but also it might touch on motivation, goal-setting, flexibility, school holidays and fun!

Appreciate your insight.

The keyword tag in all in one SEO

Simply list keywords found in the post, don’t stuff every keyword you can think of in here, just the main keywords for the post. Google doesn't pay much attention to the keyword tag, the other search engines still factor it into their ranking algorithm.

I hope that's cleared a few things up about Wordpress Categories and Tags.

If you have other questions you'd like to know the answers to just leave your question as a comment and I'll get back to you wirh an answer.

Lynne Lee in Seo tips, Wordpress | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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How Do You Get Your Pages Listed At The Top Of Search Engine Rankings?

This is what Google has to say about how to get your pages listed at the top of search engine rankings:

"Webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages".

Quality inbound links are a crucial part of your SEO strategy. If you want your site's pages to be listed at the top of Google search listings, you must have a plan for attracting inbound links and make sure you take every opportunity to get links from quality trusted sources.

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Google Changes - Google Has Changed The Rules Again!

Google have decided that sites that copy content from other sites will be ranked lower than sites that offer original content AND that they will put more weight on how users interact with a site.

Time that people spend on your page has always been a ranking factor but it looks like the mighty Google will be placing even more importance on it. If Google does decide to rank a page highly and send traffic to it, they will only continue to send traffic if the content is good enough for visitors to hang around a while.

So if you want to rank highly in Google, your site really needs to offer good value content that encourages visitors to spend time reading your content, click through to further information, look at pictures, or watch your videos.

Online success boils down to giving people what they are looking for. The more you give people what they want, the more you will be rewarded with what you want - top Google rankings.

People who focus on offering value, and use tried and tested SEO techniques, will find their visitor numbers growing almost by default.

This article from the Wall Street Journal has more details about Google’s latest changes and how they might affect your traffic volume.

http://on.wsj.com/foQsye

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Claimed Your Free Google Places Listing Yet?

I'm just checking to see if you've claimed your no cost Google Places listing yet.

http://www.seoissimple.com/googleplaces/

You really don't need to spend a small fortune on Yellow Pages or newspaper ads. Those methods don't work anymore.

You could pay to advertise on Google but I've seen people lose a lot of many doing that.

Did you know that Google has its own NO COST promotional service that very few businesses know about. And their service will list your business in a prominent position right where your customers search for it. Really!

It's called Google Places. It will get you lots of online visibility. And the best thing? Most of your competitors don't know about Google Places and that gives you a huge advantage in your local market.

You can take the top advertising positions away from them for nothing. Google tells you everything you need to know to set up a listing with Google Places. But, they don't make it easy for you. They use tech speak.

And, they don't share the insider tips you need to get your business in the most prominent positions in the search engine listings.

The good news? I've got the solution right here for you. It's step by step and it's only $7 if you act now.

http://www.seoissimple.com/googleplaces/

More and more people are searching the internet using smart phones - you need to claim your Google listing to make sure they can easily find what you have to offer.

To your success

Lynne

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Google Update On Rankings For Long Tail Keyword Searches

Has your site suddenly lost traffic? Google has made recent changes that could be affecting how many people find their way to your site.

Matt Cutts confirmed that because of a Google algorithm update, some websites using long tail keywords have lost their place in search results. He also explains how to get back in favour and get your site ranked again.

Google is getting better at identifying poor quality sites and dropping them because they don't provide good quality search results.

Your site won't be affected by this recent change if you have quality content. Google is always looking to present good search results, and rewards relevant, good quality content with higher rankings.

If your site has high quality content relevant to searches, and has the right keywords in the right places it's unlikely to lose out from these changes and might even climb in the search results.

If you want to stay in Google's good books don't try to manipulate search results - it may work for a short time but the Google will cotton on to what you're doing and drop you. Do things the way Google likes and you will be rewarded with better search rankings.

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SEO Mistake: Focusing Almost Entirely On Keywords And Backlinks

Remember that you need quality content too

If you just focus on SEO and spend all your time researching keyword phrases and looking for possible backlinks, you will be missing out a vital element. While Keywords are important and you do need to optimize your site for the search engines, and get links to your site, you also need great information.

Why is the quality of your content so important?

Because people are searching for Information! The three main reasons people go online are:

To find information
To find a product or service
To find other people with similar interests

If you want people to find your website, stay around, buy from you and visit again, you need to provide them with great content that falls into one or more of the above categories.

For example, if you’re building an information site for people interested in tropical fish, you’ll need to include information on how to set up aquariums, how to maintain proper water conditions, how to feed the fish...

If you’re building an ecommerce site for the same people, you’ll need to include products and lots of useful information

how to use the products
answers to questions about the products
customer feedback on the products

If you want to build a community website for people interested in tropical fish, you’ll need to set up a way for visitors to exchange information, product reviews, stories, etc.

This explains why some of the ugliest sites have tons of traffic. It also explains why some sites that don’t always work properly have lots of fans. It’s all about content.

When you provide the content your customers or site visitors are looking for search engine optimization will be the easy part. It will almost take care of itself.

If you'd like to do less of the research yourself and focus on writing quality content click on this link

Quality Affiliate Niche Research Packs

If you'd like to explore great sources of quality private label right articles and reports (they really are excellent quality) click on these links:

Quality content in minutes

Personal Development PLR

Private label rights allow you to modify the content in any way you like. You buy the rights to use the content as though it were your own.

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SEO Mistake: Submitting Your Site to Search Engines

Submitting your site to a search engine simply involves going to the search engine’s website, filling out a form, telling the search engine the address to your website and what the relevant keywords are.

Sounds simple, fast and harmless. That’s what people in favour of of submitting will tell you.

“Submitting doesn’t hurt anything.”
“It’s best to make sure you’re covering all your bases.”

Unfortunately, some new website owners, desperate for traffic and motivated by spammy services that promise to submit the new site to thousands of search engines, or hundreds of directories, buy into this idea and find themselves separated from their money with no real return on investment.

The Truth about Search Engines

First, there are only four search engines. Any other site that calls itself a search engine these days simple displays results from one of the big four – Google, Yahoo, Ask and Bing. Submitting your site to any other “search engine” is a waste of time.

Second, search engines use programs called robots or spiders to crawl the web. This means that the spiders follow links from one web page to another and from one website to another. And when the spider encounters new content, a new page or a new site, it indexes the information. In other words, it sends the new content and its location back to the search engine.

Then, when someone searches a keyword phrase on the search engine’s site or in their browser toolbar, the visitor is given a list of relevant results on the search engine results page (SERP).

Your pages will appear in the SERPs for relevant keyword phrases even if you never submit your site to a search engine. Submitting your site doesn't speed up the process. It can take weeks for the search engines to list your site as a result of submission.

If you want your site to be found by the search engines all you have to do is make sure you have links to your site from sites that are already indexed: EzineArticles, YouTube, Twitter, a popular blog...

So what does this mean for you?

Don’t waste your time or money submitting your site to search engines.
Focus your efforts on developing quality content for your site and for other people’s sites. Call it search engine food.
Work on developing relationships with the owners of high ranking websites in your niche. A website owner who knows, likes and trusts you is more likely to link to you in the content of his website.

You really don't need to spend time or money submitting your site to search engines.

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Do You Really Need To Submit Your Site To Hundreds of Search Engines And Directories?

Do you get emails offering to submit your site to hundreds of search engines and directories? Whilst it might sound good it's really unnecessary and can do more harm than good.

Submitting your site to hundreds of search engines

There are only four true search engines: Google, Yahoo, ASK and BING (formerly MSN/Live). Every other search site takes their results from the four mentioned above. So, if your site appears in one of the four, it will appear in the search engine results pages, known as SERPs, on any other search engine site.

Submitting your site to hundreds of directories

The only directories that are going to do you any good are those related to your niche. If you’re selling hand crafted toys, a gardening directory isn't going to help you. However, a directory of hand crafted toys would be perfect. And a directory of natural, non-toxic toys may be a good match.

Having your site listed in totally unrelated directories doesn't help. If you have two or three high-quality sites linking to you and all the other links are from spammy, unrelated directories, those links will reflect poorly on your site. It’s better to focus on high-quality links from sites that rank well in the search engines.

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