Search Engine Optimization

In SEO, there are just as many myths and misconceptions that can damage your rankings as there are effective techniques that can propel your site to the top of the search engines. Because the search engines’ algorithms are kept secret from the general public, it’s common for misconceptions to flourish. One inaccurate blog post, forum post, or article is enough to spread a damaging SEO myth. Below are 5 of the most common myths in the industry and the truth behind them.

1. Toolbar Pagerank is important

Toolbar Pagerank is the Pagerank that appears in the Google Toolbar. Note that Toolbar Pagerank is not the same as a site’s internal Pagerank that Google uses in its algorithm. In the early days of SEO, the higher your Toolbar Pagerank was, the more valuable the search engines considered your site. Therefore, when webmasters built links, they only sought links from sites that had a Toolbar Pagerank of 4 or higher. Many people continue to follow this link-building strategy, even though it’s been proven that the Toolbar Pagerank no longer plays a role in a site’s rankings.

2. The META keywords tag affects your rankings

The META keywords tag will not help your rankings. It won’t do your site any harm, either, but creating them is just a waste of valuable time. Google publicly announced years ago that they were no longer using the META keywords tag to rank websites. Don’t confuse the META keywords tag with the META description tag, however. While the latter isn’t used to determine rankings, it is used as a snippet for your site in the search results, so it can help to increase your site’s click-through rates.

3. You have to submit your site to the search engines on a regular basis

Many unethical SEO firms mislead their clients by charging them to submit their sites to search engines multiple times. In reality, once your site is launched, you only need to submit it to the search engines once and doing so is free. There’s no need to pay an SEO company a hefty fee to do it for you! In fact, you don’t have to do it at all because the search engines will find and index your site on their own, as long as it gets a few links and visitors.

4. Nofollow backlinks are worthless

Backlinks from sites that use the “nofollow” tag are widely considered to be worthless, but many SEO professionals are starting to believe that the search engines consider nofollow links in their algorithms to some extent. Many authoritative sites, such as Wikipedia and Digg, use nofollow links. And links from those sites are still highly regarded. Furthermore, regardless of whether a link is nofollow, it will still refer visitors to your site. Even traffic you attract via nofollow links is valuable because those visitors may eventually become your customers.

5. You shouldn’t link to other sites on your site because it’ll decrease your rankings

Many webmasters try to keep outgoing links on their sites to a minimum because they believe that linking out will cause their own sites’ rankings to decrease. The truth is that linking out to other sites will not decrease your rankings. In fact, if you do it right, linking out to other sites could even improve your rankings. Google, the world’s most popular search engine, aims to highly rank sites that offer the best possible user experience. And linking out to relevant, useful content on other websites improves your site’s user experience. On the other hand, Google considers it unnatural for sites to have no outgoing links whatsoever. The only outgoing links that may hurt your site’s rankings are links that point to spammy, irrelevant, or malicious sites.

Attention online retailers: it might seem too early to begin preparing your website for the holidays, but it’s important to keep in mind that people start their holiday shopping online sooner than they do at brick-and-mortar stores because of the time it takes to receive items in the mail. Even if they don’t actually plan to buy something online, people like to use the internet to compare prices, read reviews, and look for special deals and promotions. You can monetize this kind of behavior if you present these prospects with the right content at the right time.

Now is a great time to start improving your site’s SEO, so it attracts more natural search traffic when the holidays finally roll around. Outlined here are 7 essential holiday SEO tips that will help you maximize sales this upcoming holiday season.

1. Promote specific items as good holiday gifts

Many prospects use the search engines to get ideas about what gifts to give to their friends and loved ones. Increase the chances that your products will show up when people search for gift ideas by describing each of your products as good gifts for men, women, children, moms, dads, travelers, etc. in tags and descriptions.

2. Offer a free shipping deal for holiday shoppers

Entice potential customers by offering them free shipping on all orders. Many shoppers search online for retailers that offer free shipping, so optimizing your site for the keyword, “free shipping,” will help you generate more traffic and sales.

3. Write about gift ideas on your blog

Publish gift idea lists on your blog that promote your products, so you can help your customers select appropriate gifts while encouraging them to purchase something from your store. Articles with titles like, “Top 10 Gifts for Her in 2011” and “5 Gifts for the Traveler in the Your Life” tend to get a lot of traction in social media.

4. Ask prominent bloggers to review your holiday gift items

Get valuable backlinks and promote your products to potential buyers by requesting prominent bloggers to review your holiday gift items.

5. Refresh your XML sitemap

If you’re like many online retailers, you probably carry certain items only during the holidays. Make sure that those holiday gift items are included in your XML sitemap by refreshing it. Another option would be to set up a special holiday XML sitemap.

6. Optimize images

An oft-overlooked SEO technique is to optimize website images by adding captions and alt text to them. If you optimize your images for relevant keywords, you may be able to attract more traffic and sales via image search since many people search for pictures of the products they’re thinking of purchasing.

7. Improve your website’s mobile shopping experience

Mobile commerce is expanding significantly. In 2010, there was a 300% increase in shopping-related searches during the holiday season. To take advantage of mobile commerce’s growth, optimize your website for mobile search and create a mobile version of your ecommerce site.

An increasing number of local business owners understand that they need search engine optimization (SEO) to succeed online. And it doesn’t take much research about SEO to figure out that the success of any SEO campaign depends upon its link-building strategy.

The challenge of link-building is that it is a long-term process that requires both manpower and financial resources. Since most small, local businesses have limited marketing budgets, they must develop ongoing link-building campaigns that require a minimal investment. Here are 5 link-building tips that small, local businesses can use to propel their websites to the top of the search engines.

1. Get listed in local directories

Although directory links are nowhere near as valuable as they used to be in SEO, they still dominate local rankings. The first place to start looking for links is on local directories. To find these local directories, search for your city’s name plus terms like “business directory,” “web directory,” and “local business links.” Big-name local business directories where you can have your business listed include Yelp, Google Places, YellowPages.com, and MerchantCircle. Other websites where you can get your company’s site listed include the local Chamber of Commerce website, business association websites, and company directories, like Manta.com.

2. Offer Online Coupons

Offer online coupons on local deals websites, so you can get featured on those sites and generate tons of traffic and links. In addition to getting a link from the deals site, you’re also likely to attract links from users of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, which will give your site even more link juice.

3. Distribute Online Press Releases

Whenever anything press-worthy is going on in your business, such as the launch of new products and services, a new hire, or a big project, announce the news to the local company by writing and distributing a press release. Email the press release to local media outlets and groups who might be interested in the news, so you can earn additional links.

4. Submit Content to Local and National Blogs

Find relevant blogs at both the local and national level and submit guest posts to them that include a link back to your website. Your time may be better spent writing and submitting content to other blogs rather than maintaining your own blog because of the valuable links you can build doing the former.

5. Organize Contests

Organize a contest with a prize for the winner at least once a year, so you can spread the word about your business and attract a slew of links from bloggers and social media users. Don’t give a prize away that’s irrelevant to your business, however. For the best results, give away your own products or services as prizes, so you aren’t just attracting freebie-seekers who have absolutely no interest in your business.

The effort you put into link-building will pay off in a big way, but it could take as long as 6-12 months to see the fruits of your labor. As long as you set some time aside each month to write, network, distribute content, and strategize, your site is sure to accumulate valuable links and achieve greater search engine visibility.

Creating and distributing linkbait is a popular link-building technique. When done correctly, linkbait can build your authority, attract relevant links, and boost your online visibility. Although creating linkbait can boost your online presence, it can also damage your brand if you aren’t careful. Outlined here are some of the most common linkbait mistakes and how to fix them.

Creating Linkbait without a Promotional Plan

Don’t wait till after you’re done creating linkbait to come up with a promotional plan because without a solid strategy in place, there’s a good chance your linkbait will fall flat quickly. Prior to creating linkbait, approach some influential figures in your industry to see what they think about your concept. If people dig the idea and you’re able to secure around five promising links, start working on your linkbait.

Using Misleading Headlines

One common mistake that people make when creating headlines for their linkbait is that they create catchy headlines just to grab people’s attention, but the headlines are only loosely related to the topic at hand. Don’t mislead your audience because if your linkbait doesn’t deliver on the promise made in your headline, people will be disappointed and won’t share it. It’s possible to write a compelling headline without lying.

Being Controversial Just for the Sake of Being Controversial

You can’t deny the fact that controversial content makes good linkbait, but there’s a thin line between compelling, controversial content and empty rants. If you want to create a controversial piece that helps you build your brand, reputation, and authority, you need to make sure your argument is valuable and thought-provoking. Otherwise, your linkbait attempt could end up hurting your brand rather than helping it.

Not Understanding the Social Media Landscape

In order for linkbait to spread, it has to do well in social media. So, unless you’re deeply familiar with the social networks where you plan to share your content, consult with an expert. The preferences and behaviors of social media audiences vary widely from one social network to the next. For example, some types of linkbait may do exceptionally well on Twitter, yet fail miserably on Digg. Study the type of content that does well with your audience and then determine which social media networks your audience use the most, so you can create linkbait that’s right on the mark.

Using Unreliable Hosting

Make sure that your website’s hosting service is reliable, so your server doesn’t crash if your linkbait is successful and your site receives tons of traffic. Remember: all of the effort you put into creating and promoting your linkbait will go down the drain if your server crashes. A good hosting service is well worth the investment.

Creating Irrelevant Linkbait

Whenever you create linkbait, make sure that it’s relevant to your industry and your audience’s needs and interests. A silly video about cats may spread like wildfire and attract a slew of links, but it won’t help you grow your online presence if it isn’t relevant to your business.