In the old days webmasters could freely exchange links with other webmasters without worrying about being penalized by search engines.
In the old days I mean 2005 and earlier. Things change quickly on the web and the search engines are catching on faster and faster to webmasters trying to artificially boost their search engine rankings.
Old fashioned link exchanges consisted of 2 webmasters placing the others link on their site usually on a designated links page sometimes consisting of tens of hundreds of pages. The idea was to gather as many link partners as possible in hopes of boosting Pagerank and in turn increasing their rankings in the search engine result pages. It didn?t matter if webmasters traded links with site owners who had sites completely unrelated to theirs because in the beginning it didn?t matter. The more incoming or inbound links you had the better.
More and more webmasters caught onto this fact as the term SEO or Search Engine Optimization became popular. The web became saturated with links pages and the search engines caught on. Search engines like Google essentially want their results to be as accurate as possible because it is their livelihood so they began changing their algorithms to factor in such activity amongst webmasters. With some major search engine updates webmasters and SEO marketers soon figured out that incoming links from related sites were better then from unrelated ones. So they continued exchanging links but now with related sites only.
The problem with this is that the search engines can quickly tell who links to each other so it?s a simple way to see who is trying to boost their own rank. Google and probably Yahoo too now penalize sites that have been involved in serious link exchanges. I?m talking about webmasters who have traded links with hundreds of other sites and who have complete link exchange directories on their sites. You will notice sites like this who have resources or link exchange pages that extend to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 pages.
Because this is so easily detectible by search engines it?s time to start doing link exchanges differently. Link exchanges are not going away, so the way links are exchanged has to well, change. Here are a couple of suggestions on doing link exchanges differently.
The Three Way
No, I?m not talking about anything sexual here silly. I?m talking about creating a 3 way link exchange where one of the two link partners has 2 sites and links to his or her partner via their second site instead of directly from their first. This requires one of the partners to have a second site preferably in another location with a different class-c IP. I?d even go as far as to say with a different person named as the domain registrant so the whois information doesn?t show the same info for sites 1 and 2.
This requires of course more resources on the part of the webmaster with 2 sites but it?s not uncommon for webmasters to own more then one site. Directories or information portals are types of sites you could use as your second site. They should contain useful and unique content as well and have incoming links from other related sites. To get a boost of Pagerank needed you will have to submit your site to other directories, maybe publish a press release, articles or even purchase a text link or two. Your second site should be well ranked and give your partners a good reason why they should exchange links via this method. Basically you want to create an Authoritative directory of sites in your niche.
The Blog Way
Blogs seem to have special powers on the web. I?ve seen blogs with blogrolls a mile long and I?ve never heard of a blogger being penalized for linking out too much. Blogs can be a great link exchange medium and you can see this from bloggers who again have long blogrolls and who have high Pagerank. Starting a second blog is actually easier then starting a second website to use to exchange links with. it?s free at blogger.com to start a blog and once you do it?s easy to manage and especially link out to your partners sites. Like the first method you want to create an authoritative resource on the niche you are trying to conquer.
I don?t recommend using blogger.com if you want to actually own your site. You can start a blog at blogger.com but you never really own your site. I would recommend using wordpress, drupal or typepad on your own domain, again hosted on a different host then your first site. When your blog is set up you can blog about your niche related news, discuss or rate other sites in your niche (giving you a perfect way to link to your partners) or simply place your partners in your blogroll list.
So now you have 2 sites in your niche, one you use as your main site and the other you use for exchanging links. This means you don?t have any link exchange pages on your main site, which is great, but what about your partners site? Does he/she have a huge link exchange directory on their site? You don?t really want your link hidden in one of their deep link pages do you? I pass up any link exchange offers made by webmasters who are so kind as to offer me a link on their links page located 3 subcategories deep on a page with 200 other sites.
Here is what you can do. Besides telling them they should scrap their entire link exchange section you can suggest they give you a spot outside their link pages by offering them a full page of content. If that?s too much maybe a paragraph of content including your link they can include on one of their main pages. Maybe a testimonial of sorts they can add to their site. Most webmasters trade links on pages that are similar in Pagerank so you will have to be willing to offer up their link on a page with equal or greater Pagerank.
The above methods are long term and are only suggested if you are serious about gaining one-way inbound links to your site. Although the work involved is great so is the reward.
.
“Nothing last forever but the Earth and sky.” - from Dust in the Wind by Kansas.
Google has spent the last year evolving from a search engine to a giant media corporation.
At birth Google was worried about only one thing, search - and that focus is why it became so successful. As Google spreads out many are wondering, are they doing it too fast? Are they letting quality slip? As any company evolves it will make mistakes, but has Google lost sight of its goals?
Google gained large distribution when Yahoo switched to it to drive down Inktomi stock price, only later to buy Inktomi. Google then came to power stealing traffic from Yahoo by providing clean, relevant results, and good search tools for surfers and webmasters alike. Many estimate that Google controls in excess of 75% of the search market.
Microsoft is still working on its search engine. Yahoo recently acquired Overture and is working behind closed doors in much the same way as MSN is. LookSmart has not updated Wise Nut in a long time, is hated by a large portion of the internet community, and is soon set to loose most of its distribution. And Ask Jeeves (owner of Teoma) has its top results powered by Google AdWords. With Google powering Yahoo, AOL and many other sites Google lacks a clear competitor today.
Right now Google can take its huge lead and extend it, or let it slip. No system is perfect and there will always be complaints, but I have to wonder if Google has forgotten why or how it became such an icon.
Many people have reported their Google Toolbar has been failing to return PageRank 90% of the time. While the hysteria around PageRank is somewhat overrated, it would be more assuring if the feature worked often.
One of the biggest problems search engines face today is a lack of quality content on the web. Earlier this year Google introduced a program called AdSense which displays its pay per click AdWords ads on many mid sized web sites. AdSense was designed to help pay to produce better content sites. Soon after Google introduced AdSense they included a related searches link set underneath the ads which made webmasters angry. This technique was siphoning off traffic from websites back to Google with no payment of any kind. Quickly Google had to repeal this move.
Google has also signed its AdSense members to a gagging clause. Beyond that gagging clause many have complained about getting kicked out for reasons they could not even challenge. Then for these same members to see how much money Google had owed them up to that point they had to agree to another set of terms that prevented them from criticizing the AdSense program. But the ads get worse.
Google was in a race with Overture to be the first to provide broad matching on its search terms. Google got there first. The idea behind broad matching is that it will allow Google to sell more of its ad space by providing ads on similar terms that were not yet sold. Overture allows different bid prices on different levels of matching. Google sets a single price on the ads, and this causes a huge problem for those who do not know how to use the system.
First the broad matching ads are less relevant. The term broad indicates far reaching and is self explanatory to its end effect on relevancy - which is in the exact opposite direction of Google’s roots. This new type of broad matching matches many remotely close search phrases to those paid for by the advertiser. Couple near matching with the fact that ad sites and pages are scanned for relevancy (which is frequently inaccurate) and a big problem starts to come about with how to provide relevant ads on the syndicated results.
While many of the SEO experts know how to use negative keywords, tracking, and other advanced features, the smaller advertisers do not always have the resources or understanding to effectively use this new, more complex medium.
Now instead of rewarding businesses for hunting out the phrases that exactly match them (and thus providing higher quality search results), Google is rewarding the largest companies by allowing them to be lazy. Google is shooting itself in the foot by degrading relevancy for short term profits.
Large companies bid on generic cover all terms at prices where they loose money on every transaction until the competition goes under. Not only do these name brands enjoy higher click through rates (due to brand recognition), but those with stockpiles of cash can afford to burn through thousands without a blink. Many small sites can not, thus the sad state of internet media is that it is now consolidating much the same way as offline media is.
It gets even worse for the small website now though. These same ads which they are using may now appear on pages that sometimes do not even remotely fit the ads. I was looking at the GMT clock time zones to ensure my clock was set at the right time today (so I missed daylight saving time). The page which had the different time zones listed a few cities and a group of AdWords. Most of these AdWords were targeting Las Vegas (most likely the most expensive US city). Las Vegas was not even one of the cities mentioned on the list. Not a relevant ad set. Bad for all parties involved.
What is the result of this change to AdWords? Lower quality ads at a higher price. Nick Denton predicted that the expansion of these ads across the web (especially coupled with decreased relevancy) that users will start to ignore them. Much the same way as banners have faded, only a few years may be left before this advertising medium chips away and destroys itself.
What about the regular Google search results? At least they are strong, right? Sometimes they are rather week. Some clients have had search results dominated by the same sets of interlinking sites. Aiming to fight spam, Google is acknowledging this fact by incorporating a new major algorithmic change on the web live. My site went from #17 to #7 to not in the top 1000 websites for “search engine marketing”. While I still have customers that need work done on their sites, this sporadic re mixing is not refreshing in my mind, as well as in the minds of many of my customers.
I have already had concerned emails arrive from friends worried about loosing thousands of dollars a month as their top listing evaporated. All I can tell them is wait and see.
Much of what people have feared would happen to Google after it goes public has already happened. It is clear that competitive open source alternative search engines such as Nutch are not desired so much as required.
.
Aaron Wall
author and owner of Search Marketing Info
http://www.search-marketing.info
aaron@search-marketing.info
Site search - a powerful sales tool
When users search for a product or other item on your website, they want quick and relevant results and need instant gratification in order to return.
So try to improve your search usability feature by using a consumer-oriented strategy.
Improve the quality of your website.
Find out as much as possible about your targeted clients and learn to recognize their needs and simplify the way in which they can achieve their goals.
Keep in mind that simple is better.
The best position to place the search box is on the top right of the page. Avoid inserting other text input boxes for other functions in nearby areas. On home pages, search should be a type-in field and not a link, and should be wide enough to contain the typical inquiry.
Label the button “Search”.
Label the button “Search” since users are accustomed to this term, and usually won’t spend time in reading other instructions or awkward labels. Make sure the “Enter” key is working as well. For complex websites you could also place a text link for advanced search, but preferably not from the home page.
Place the search button on the first page.
It is mandatory to place the search button on the first page, but keep in mind that customers might wander a little on your site and might need that option later. So keep your search button available on every single page. It is better to search the whole site by default. Make the search forms and results pages fit into the overall design of the web site: they should use the same colors, fonts, etc.
Site search usability
To improve the search usability on your website, pay attention to the following attributes:
Accuracy and relevance.
Always show the most relevant results at the top of the search list. Place results that match all keywords before results that match single keywords. If results are from different categories found on your website, offer product links and product images. Provide a sufficiently descriptive title. The customer needs appropriate written and visual information to decide if he wants to buy a product.
Synonyms and related terms.
If no matches were found for the original query, show results for identical or related terms, whenever possible. Most users aren’t willing or able to refine their query.
Misspelled search items.
This is one of the main reasons why the search feature returns no results. Provide useful matches and show the misspelled search term alongside the correct spelling. Allow plurals, common abbreviations and hyphenations.
Sort and filter results based on mixed specifications.
Clients want to find specific products on your website. They are interested in price, brand, color, size, etc. Offer them the possibility to sort the list based on one or more attributes.
.
Quality link building play a vital role when comes higher search engine rankings
What is link building?
Link building is the process of increasing link popularity and search engine exposure through many channels including, Link Exchanges, Directory Submission, Newsletters and many more.
There are three types of link building
1. Link Exchanges
2. One Way Link Building
3. Three Way Link Building
The most popular and cost effective link building technique is exchanging links with different and theme related websites. One way link building is very costly which is usually obtained through paid inclusions. Three ways link building involves lots of work and is time consuming process in which there will be three domain names which will participate to get one way link to each other.
Search Engine Rankings usually improves with one way links and it?s more effective than link exchanges as there won?t be links going out from the website and hence the credibility of website does not decrease. Link exchanges are not much effective when compared to one way but plays a vital role and usually they are permanent links, and cost effective because of that it?s more popular than any other link building techniques.
I prefer Link Exchanges when compared to other link building techniques off course when it?s done with quality and effectiveness. I will tell you how it should be done.
Few Guidelines for Reciprocal Link Building:
1. The link partner website should be theme related
2. The links coming from websites should have been online for sometime.
3. If the website has good popularity than its perfect. Popularity is now days judged by Page Rank Technique of Google.
4. The link partner website should not be banned by search engines.
5. Link backs to our websites should not come from more than 3 clicks away.
I have applied all these techniques when I was doing search engine optimization for my websites www.tucsonrealestategroup.com www.ojairealestateteam.com www.egoggle.com and www.madisonrealestatewisconsin.com and received huge amount of traffic and search engine rankings which obviously improved my leads and sale generations.
I prefer doing professional Link building and quality link building within the guidelines of search engines which can fetch me high search engine positioning and obtain a prominent placements.
If you are going to start a link building campaign follow the tips when I have mention and you will get astonishing results. The link building process is simple and cost effective which can reduce your costs on PPC and other promotional methods to get traffic as a result you save huge amount of money.
.
Now that you?ve taken the steps to enhance your website with an informative blog, you should be seeing an increase in traffic to your site.
Keep updating that blog, use plenty of keywords, and you?ll see more and more business. But what if you?ve done all of this, and you?re not seeing the results you hoped for? You may need to make some improvements.
Examine Your Blog Design and Content
Ask a few friends or family members who use the internet what they think of your blog. You may need a new blog design to integrate better with your website.
Once you?ve fixed the look and feel of your blog, make sure that you?re following the most important rules of blogging: update frequently and keep your content interesting. Blogging about your new listings, open houses and price reductions is a great start, but also try your hand at writing articles about topics that would be useful to your clients. How-to?s on moving, packing, cleaning, preparing for open houses, visiting open houses, and looking for a new home could be useful to your clients. Informative articles on topics like the school system, local history, or local events will keep buyers in the know.
Become a Real Estate Resource
When you offer buyers and sellers information that they want and need, they?ll keep coming back to your website. With a little work, you can become known as a local real estate expert. Do some research online to see what other Realtors are doing to become real estate resources, not just agents. Check out Scott Chappell and Brian Bean?s excellent blog at
http://www.Scott-Brian.com for an excellent example of real estate blogging at its finest.
Your goal should be to create a site where buyers, sellers, and local folks can go to get the latest news and helpful information. You?re obviously the most in-the-know Realtor in town, right? Soon all those potential clients will see that you?re the ONE Realtor they need to call when they want to buy or sell.
.
A diamond might be ?forever?, but your search engine rankings certainly are not! With advancing technology, algorithm updates, and new web sites appearing every day, it can be challenge to keep your web site visible on the search results pages.
So if you?ve noticed your rankings aren?t what they used to be, here are some tips you can use to give them a boost:
1. Fresh Content:
Search engine ?spiders? love fresh content. Adding new content to your web site attracts search engine spiders (or ?bots?) and gives them new material to add to their databases. Even small updates matter ? adding new FAQs, press releases, product updates, or even pricing updates will trigger the search engine spiders to pay a visit to your site.
2. RSS Feeds:
Speaking of fresh content (above), RSS feeds are a great way to keep fresh content flowing to your web site every day. If you haven?t heard of RSS feeds, these are ?Really Simple Syndication? feeds from other web sites that you can display on your own web site, usually for free. RSS feeds can contain information on just about any topic of interest to your visitors. News feeds, current industry information, or relevant publications are all good candidates for RSS feed topics.
3. Directory Submission:
One of the quickest ways to gain visibility on the web is to add your site to top-performing online directories. The benefits are two-fold; first, your business gets listed and is exposed to more web users, and two, directory listings also serve as ?inbound links? that can help your web site rank better in the search engines.
4. Local Search:
It?s often easier for your business to get good rankings in local search results since they are focused on a specific geographic area (instead of competing with all web sites across the entire web). You get a two-fold benefit here as well; your business is more visible to web users, and the local listings create inbound links that help your placement in the larger search engines.
5. Blog Posts:
If you don?t already have a blog or use a blog, you really should consider giving it a try! Try visiting blogs that are relevant to your business or industry, or that you think your visitors would be interested in. You can add posts, pass along links, or even advertise on some blogs. Blogs are typically very niche-focused, so by participating in a blog you are interacting with other bloggers who are already pre-qualified!
.
There are two ways to get what you want. One is the difficult way and the other is the easy way. Well the temptation is always there to find the easy way out of anything.
The easy option may seem to be the best bet for you, but it is never beneficial in the long run. Grinding your way to the top through the hard way may seem to be a difficult option, but this is beneficial in the long run. In the field of search engine optimization, organic SEO is nothing but the legal and white hat methods adopted by a site through which you can increase your link popularity on the web.
Organic SEO is not a process that is difficult to implement. There are certain simple methods that you will have to implement in your online site. Link building is not at all a complex process. You only need to know the proper methods to do this and make sure that you do not use any unethical methods for building link for your site. Get as many links as you can that point to your site. It is all about link building on the web and the best way to go about it is through exchanging the links of your site with other relevant websites. You can?t exchange your link with just any other site on the web.
Search engine optimization is a process that is constantly evolving and changing over time. Organic SEO is no exception to this rule and everyday there is something that is new about this process. So if you want to stay ahead of your competitors, you must keep yourself constantly updated about all the changes taking place in this field. A good way of doing this to keep a close watch on all the new related to this field. Also you can subscribe to some good newsletters that will keep you updated with changes.
To be successful on the web is all about being seen and heard at the right places by search engines. By implementing certain changes you can make your site easily accessible and available to search engines. Try to implement these organic SEO features so that search engine spiders do not face any difficulty in crawling your site on the web. The whole trick is to design you site just the way search engine robots (spiders) want to see it.
Implementing CSS or cascading style sheets in the coding of your site is one good way of preparing for the search engine bots. CSS has very clean and transparent coding thus making it very simple for bots to crawl your site. Also make sure that your site contains lots of optimized content. Simply filling up your site with content is not going to serve you any purpose. Updated content with the proper use of relevant keywords will surely help your site in climbing the top of search engine rankings. After all climbing to the top of search engine rankings is the priority of any site that is doing business in the web.
Hiring professional help for organic SEO is the best way of going about this. You may not be fully aware of what to do and how to do various things for organic SEO of your site. A professional in the field of organic search engine optimization is fully trained to handle different types of websites. If you are really serious about your business and want to be successful on the web make sure that you implement and use the best organic SEO services for your site.
.
