Posted on: February 3, 2012 by Jordan Hardy
Here are my top 10 SEO (Search Engine Optimization) recommendations for businesses online. There are hundreds of other Search Engine Optimization recommendations I would suggest, so in the coming week I’ll post another small collection. It is important to note that each recommendation can be considered a tip of the iceberg for that item, where a high level of experience and technique are necessary to deliver long term results.
- Content with keyword strategy are important, as long as the information is unique and useful to Website visitors and search engines.
- Ensure your Website doesn’t have crawl errors. Search engines dislike broken links, code errors, hosting issues, redirects, incorrect usage of JavaScript, and error pages.
- Optimize your Website and landing pages for keywords which will convert at a higher CTR. Keywords and topics should be relevant to your targeted subject matter, with high quality clicks which convert being more important than impressions. It is important to leverage, but not overuse keywords.
- Submit a sitemap to Google and bing (same as Yahoo from alliance). Search engines use sitemaps to learn about the structure of your pages and Website.
- Use bing Webmaster Tools and Google Webmaster Tools. These tools provide interesting data to consider with your own Web analytics.
- Secure quality inbound links to your top handful of pages from other Websites.
- Use a robots.txt file to provide useful information to search engine spiders, robots, and crawlers.
- Use descriptive, carefully phrased title tags in your code.
- The best code for search engines is built from scratch since there is a generous amount of unique, useful information to crawl. If you’re using a CMS, eCommerce, blog, forum, template, or other platform, work hard on the code to ensure the Website will provide nearly as much useful information to search engines as would a hand coded Website.
- Your Website structure needs to be carefully architected, providing a useful, balanced hierarchy of information to people and search engines.
Contact Jordan Hardy here to inquire about consulting for your business.
Posted on: April 18, 2011 by Jordan Hardy
When building a new Website, whether a redesign or first company Website, there are dozens of platforms to consider. There is no perfect solution for everyone, as businesses have different online requirements.
It is necessary for a business to identify if the primary use for their Website will be general, blogging, Wiki uses, eCommerce, discussion forum, or other purpose such as social media. This is very important, to ensure the Website can be optimized to function well for visitors, users, and search engines. Depending on the platform chosen, it is always possible to add other functionality either with enhancements or additional Websites on the same domain.
Examples of some popular platforms to choose from include VirtueMart, Drupal, TypePad, Zen Cart, MediaWiki, DotNetNuke, Tumblr, Joomla, Pligg, osCommerce, WordPress, Blogger, Magento, and Expression Engine. There are dozens I normally consider. That list is to demonstrate a sample of how many specialized platforms are widely used. None of these platforms is perfect for all uses. With careful selection, development, and necessary enhancements all to precisely fit business needs, the online presence for a business can stand out and that can be maintained over time.
Posted on: July 6, 2010 by Jordan Hardy
Google Caffeine was launched with the objective to more quickly locate and display the most relevant, rich Web information such as videos, images, and social media updates for users. Google Caffeine provides 5 major improvements I’ve noticed to date, which not only benefit Google users but can also help SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Google Caffeine has now been live exactly four weeks, launched June 8, 2010.
- Some Social Media Website Listings Now Rank Higher
Social Media Websites with elevated current activity and higher perceived value can be given priority. As an example, at this time FriendFeed.com has gotten a boost in Google SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) due to a sustained recent increase in user activity. From an SEO perspective, designating resources for ongoing strategic efforts on the hottest social media Websites may be a worthwhile business decision.
- Google Caffeine is Faster
Results from Google Caffeine are displayed roughly 50% faster than before launch. Website speed is an important SEO factor especially within the last year. As part of a strong SEO program, Google and Website visitors will appreciate fast Websites. Rapid Website speed will complete a seamless experience after a user initially finds expeditious load times with Google Caffeine.
- Google Caffeine Presents More Fresh Content
Google’s previous index was engineered with a number of layers. This construction resulted in some Website listings within Google search results not being refreshed for weeks. Google Caffeine now continuously updates the Google index globally so that it is about 50% more fresh. New pages posted on the Web may now be indexed in seconds on Google and are frequently served in search results almost immediately. For SEO this means if more fresh, interesting content is posted on a given Website, there are additional opportunities for SERP listings possible for a business.
- Keyword Strings are More Important
The new Google Caffeine algorithm relies more on keyword strings than before so that results will be more relevant for users. My SEO keyword strategy best practices, which have evolved over time, emphasize keyword strings more than individual keywords. In many cases, keyword strings provide more necessary information than single keywords.
- Google Caffeine Indexes More Pages
With hundreds of thousands of pages indexed at any given time, Google Caffeine is adding roughly one million gigabytes of information every week to the Google index. A SEO friendly Website with extensive useful relevant information and no duplicate content indexed can secure more indexed SERP listings with Google Caffeine.
Beyond these 5 recent improvements with the Google Caffeine launch, Google Caffeine is also built to scale and allow more new developments to launch in coming months. I look forward in the future to discovering more techniques Google develops to deliver more relevant search results to users.
Posted on: May 31, 2010 by Jordan Hardy
After a user performs an image search, Google Images is currently providing additional refinement options beyond “Everything” and “More”. Users are now presented with image size, type (face, photo, clip art, line drawing), and color (full color, black and white, simple color palette tools) options.
With these new Google Images options, added SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and related image data and would assist Google as they rank your Website images. If images are not selected, labeled, optimized, and coded into pages effectively for users and search engines, Google Images may not have enough information to display and prioritize your Website images. Each image listed in Google images is yet another opportunity for you to to gain more Website visitors.
Posted on: April 27, 2010 by Jordan Hardy
Endless SEO (Search Engine Optimization) hyperlink (link) building is not necessary to drive online results. Occasionally, a company will hire an intern to concentrate full time building inbound links to their Website. This may include regular Website links, blog comments, forum posts, and social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) entries.
Without meticulous keyword, content, and link selection strategy, any online results are usually temporary. Incessant random link submissions are viewed as noise and vague low quality activity by search engines.
Tags: blog comments, blogs, company, Facebook, forum posts, Forums, intern, keyword, link building, Links, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Twitter, website Filed Under: SEO
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