People in the world of search are commonly beating the drum of link building. We tell you that your success with your website, and even your online marketing presence, depends on it. Yet so many companies pay no attention to link building, and their inbound link profile. This dismissal is often due to a lack of understanding of the impact link building can have on your online success, or else due to a sense of being overwhelmed by the amount of time needed to execute an effective link building campaign.

I won’t lie to you: building links is an arduous and often thankless job, that seems to take more time than the perceived ROI. But formal and thorough link building strategy can positively impact your online presence, and, your business.

By increasing your inbound links to your website, you will:

• Increase the relevance and authority of your entire website, and kick up the relevance and authority incrementally for each of your pages
• Increase the relevance and authority of your page, which increases your visibility in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP)
• Increase referral traffic to your site through these links, as well as increase overall traffic
• Increase the search engines understanding of what your site is an expert, based on the phrases used in the back-link anchor text (the words used in the hyperlink from the other sites to link to your site)

So how do you come up with a link building strategy?

It’s important to note that not all links are created equal. Search engines place more authority on back-links to .edu, .gov and .org sites that others. Additionally, links from industry sites, related directories, associations are far more worthwhile than Uncle Bob’s fishing site (unless your business is fishing related). Authoritative and topical sites are more apt to give your higher rankings.

So, first consider your own back-link profile. See where and whom is currently linking to your site, and then deterine where you need to have links.

Next, look at your competitors. Here is a great way to uncover hidden opportunities that your competition is already taking advantage of.

When you consider your existing back-links and your competitor analysis see if you can determine the anchor text used for those links. While most if not all of them will used your domain name or Company name, the goal is to build links that used your targeted keyphrases for which you have optimized your site. And make the anchor text varies from site to site. There should also be anchor text diversity, while staying within the keyword themes of your optimization efforts.

Finally, search engines like domain variety. Look at existing back-links and competitors for opportunities that provide as much diversity as available. 20 links from one site is not as valuable as 1 link from 20 different sites.

So how do you go about acquiring new inbound links?

Sad to say, there is no magic potion for this. Link acquiring is all about determining target websites, getting in touch with the site owner with a compelling reason to link, and developing that relationship. It is a one to one proposition. And while you might have heard from, or been solicited by, companies who guarantee “500 links a month for only $49.95″, trust me: it isn’t true, and if it is, they won’t help you increase your ranking
and visibility. In fact, those “get links quick” schemes might even harm you in the eyes of the search engines.

There are some simple suggestions to help you with your link building:

• Ask for them. If you’ve done your research, and find a site for which your content would serve to enhance their audience’s experience, there’s nothing wrong with asking.
• Create share worthy content. Whether you have a new whitepaper, eBook, article, or blog posts, creating unique content for another website is a great way to break the ice with a new relationship. And, coming prepared with something to offer your potential link partner shows that you have given this consideration, and that you are motivated.
• Submit your site to Business Directories – there are many schools of thought to directory submission. I cannot deny that being listed in directories can in fact help your visibility and ranking, as well as traffic to your site. My recommendation: stick to industry related sites for the most bang for your buck, as most good directories cost money to be listed.
• Social bookmarking – Social bookmarking is the idea of adding bookmarks and articles across different social bookmarking sites in the web.Bookmarking sites store data through links from different sites, highlighting popular and recent links. These sites are frequently visited by users; therefore, the chances of your site spreading among users will be much higher.

Most important to your business (and your sanity) it to think of your link building as a long term process. Looking at the number of new links from your efforts, weekly, or even monthly, is like looking at your 401K every day. Think more in terms of every six months when you have a bundle of new links, and a spike in your traffic for your reward.

Link building is an ongoing process. There is no “set and forget” button, nor is there a finish line. Just as your SEO efforts and content development are ever evolving, so too should your link building efforts be a constant endeavor towards an consistently increased rank and authority.

Just as a comprehensive keyword analysis is the foundation upon which you build your on-site and PPC optimization, think of your link building as the spine that allows your brand to stand, and stand tall, on the Internet. By increasing your back-links, not only will search engines value your authority more and more, but those links will drive more and more traffic to your site, and hopefully convert visitors into customers.

Are there other link building efforts that your have used? Share them with us!

Lee Schwartz, Online Marketing Strategist

In the first three posts of this series, we considered authority and meta tags (title tags, meta descriptions and meta keywords) in relation to optimization of your website for the search engines. Today we look at the final best practices – content considerations.  Below is a snapshot of a site that shows many of the optimization best practices mentioned in this series:

Content, and its effectiveness in SEO, can be broken down into 6 categories:

URL naming conventions

When possible, try to name your actual URL with your targeted phrase. For example, if your company installs swimming pools, and you offer a service that manages and maintains the pool filters for customers, consider naming the page “www.mypoolcompany.com/pool-filter-maintenance-service.htm”. This URL is displayed on the SERP, which, in collusion with your optimized Title Tag and meta description, further imparts your authority on the subject. With the exception of your homepage, keyword targeted URLs are an effective SEO practice.

Site Architecture

In addition to using your targeted phrase in the page’s URL, it is best to use it in your menu items/navigation. In the above example, one of your navigation menus might be “service”. Under that, would be sub-navigation called “pool filter maintenance”. Be careful, however, that your sub menus and menus don’t become too work-heavy and disrupt the visual design of your navigation.

Header <H1> tag

Just as your Title Tag is your Chapter Name (if using a book analogy) your page header, or H1 is akin to a newspaper headline, proclaiming the contents of the page for all to see.  Using these heading tags, rather than just changing font sizes, is an indication to the search engines (and to your visitors) of the relevance of this page to your keyphrases. In the example, the H1 (and H2) contain the phrase “pool filter cleaning”. You can also use your smaller headers: H2, H3, etc to continue your chain of relevance, while drilling down into more detailed information about the main keyphrase (“about” “benefits of”, etc)

Keyphrases in body content

While there are disparate recommendations for body content in the world of SEO, it is safe to say that your exact keyphrase, variations of your keyphrase, and closely related themes can all be contained on the same page, and will reflect positively in the search engines.  In our pool example, “pool filter cleaning”, “filter cleaning”, and “pool filter services” are all supportive of the same theme.

Internal Linking and Anchor Text

SEO experts are often extolling the virtual of external links to aid in your ranking factors. However, one should not overlook the power of internal links in this endeavor, especially since, unlike external links to our site, we have complete control over our internal links. Using our example, by placing links throughout the content of our site on the phrase “pool filter cleaning” as the anchor text back to the pool filter cleaning page, we are showing the search engines where the authority for which phrases lie within the structure of our site. You also use internal linking when you link your menu items (if they are text based) to your pages, and footer links to specific pages.

Backlinking, or External Links

Backlinks are the Willy Wonka “Golden Ticket” of all authority is when you have other sites, with a good reputation, using your keyphrases as anchor text to link back to your site. This can be a very time consuming task. The easiest way to manage these external links is to submit your site to relevant directories, using your targeted phrases as recommended anchor text. Many of these directories are paid, some are free. Another method is associations and trade shows linking back to your site. These links, often, use your company name, your URL or your company logo as the “anchor”.

Ultimately, your goal of SEO is to accumulate authority on relevant phrases that make the best customers come to your site. Once you gain that authority, you need to continuously cultivate that authority with the constant development of new content and backlinks to your site, in order to maintain that authority. SEO is never a “set and forget” project. It is an ongoing and ever present strategy for existing keyphrases as well as new phrases that arise in time.

What other SEO best practices do you employ with your website?

Lee Schwartz, Online Marketing Strategist

In the past two posts in this series, we talked about how optimizing your site allows for creating authority around targeted keyphrases, which will allow your site to rank higher in the SERP (search engine results pages). We also discussed how Title Tags are the first place search engines (and humans) determine the relevance of your site for their search query. Today we will discuss two other meta tags: <meta description> and <meta keywords>.

Meta Description

The meta description is the second most important place in your optimization of your web page. While meta descriptions are no longer  factored into Google ranking algorithm for web search, they are vital in visitor determination based on targeted keyphrases.

Like the title tag, the meta description is found in the <head> section of the HTML of your website.  The meta description is invisible to your visitor once they are on your website, but is absolutely vital in determining whether the visitor even gets to your website. This short paragraph of information is what “sells” the page to the visitor, letting them know exactly what the contents of the page contains.

To the search engines, your meta description looks like this:

<meta name=”description” content=”eMagine is the East Coast’s leading Web Design and Search Engine Marketing firm for B-to-B, Technology and Healthcare.  Offices in Boston, New York, Raleigh, and Greenwich.” />

However, to the visitor, your meta description looks like this:

When writing your meta description, keep these points in mind:

• Length – Maximum character length for a meta description  is about 400 characters long, including spaces. However, most meta descriptions are cut off after 150 characters in the SERP, and can also be ignored by the search engines.
• Wording – writing a meta description can be as daunting as writing ad copy, but with the added task of character limitation. You want to “sell” the visitor on clicking to your website, as well as having your description contain your targeted keyphrase for relevance, as Google will bold keywords in the description when they match search queries (see example above).
• Duplication –  As with Title Tags, Google frowns upon duplicate meta descriptions. Make sure you have a unique meta description for every page on your website.
• Relevance – Make sure your meta description reflects the content of your page.  As with advertising, you want to avoid making false promises in your description, if that subject is not found in the content of your page.

Meta Keywords

In late 2011, Google announced that the meta keywords tag is no longer being used as a factor in ranking algorithms for web search. Additionally, the practice of keyword “stuffing” can word against you on some search engines, notably Bing. Finally, placing your targeted keyphrases in your meta keywords tag can be a neon sign to your competition of the phrases on which you are optimizing your site. It is best to ignore this tag altogether.

In our next post in this series, we will be looking at the final factors for optimization on your web pages: content considerations.

What changes have you made to your SEO strategy with the changes to Google ranking factors for meta descriptions and meta keywords?

Lee Schwartz, Online Marketing Strategist

In the first part of this series, we discussed how your website needs to command authority in aspects of content, site architecture, internal link structure, navigation and backlinks for your primary phrases, as well as parallel and synonymous themes, both on an individual page, and on adjacent pages.

How do we create authority for targeted keyphrases on your website?

Every optimized page of your website has the potential to rank well in the SERP (search engine results pages) when combined with SEO Best Practices. These practices involve your meta tags, your content, your architecture, and your links (both internally and externally) working in unison. Let’s look at each of these one at a time.

Meta Tags

The first place the search engines look for the authority of your targeted keyphrases is in the HTML structure of your page at the meta tags. These are located in the <head> section of your HTML document, and while they are vaguely visible to your visitors once they have arrived at your website, they are the key factors that drive people to click to your site in the first place. The 3 meta tags we will be discussing are the <title> tag, the <meta description> and the <meta keywords>.

Title Tags

Title Tags are the very first place search for relevance to a keyphrase on your website.  Title tags are like Chapters in a book, that tell visitors (of the human and search engine variety) what your page is about. This is the first place your targeted keyphrase for a page should be found.

A search engine finds the content of your Title Tag by spidering your HTML. Humans see this as the large blue, underlined text in a search result. So while a search engine will see your title tag this way:

<title>
Web Design & Search Engine Marketing in Boston, New York, Connecticut, Raleigh – eMagine
</title>

Your visitors will see your title tag this way (in the search results page):

And, when they arrive at your site, may see your title tag this way (depending on your browser):

When writing your title tag, keep these points in mind:

• Length – Maximum character length for a title tag is 70 characters long, including spaces
• Placement – your most important keywords should be first in your title tag
• Separation – use a pipe | to separate your keyphrases. Do not use any other characters or punctuation unless they are part of your keyphrase
• Wording – use the KISS method (short and simple). Grammar does not count here, so you can leave off “the, or, and, but, etc”
• Company Name –  if you feel you must keep your company name in the title tag (and we don’t, as a rule, include them) put it at the end of the title tag. Keep the other valuable real estate for your SEO phrases.
• Duplication – Google frowns upon duplicate tags of any kind, but especially title tags. Make sure you have a unique title tag for every page on your website.
• Relevance – Make sure your title tag reflects the content of your page. So, if your title tag says “pink flying elephants” your content should be around the topic of pink flying elephants

Now, here is the sad part. Google doesn’t always display your title tag (nor your meta description) exactly how you wrote it.  Sometimes Google thinks it can write it better, based upon the visitor search. And while we cannot control whether or not Google uses your exact Title Tag, by following you’re the best practices of being relevant, descriptive and simple, you stand the best chance of Google displaying your Title Tag as written.

In our next posts in this series, we’ll discuss the rest of the meta tags as well as other best practices for optimization of your web site for the Search Engines.

What other considerations do you have for optimizing title tags?

Lee Schwartz, Online Marketing Strategist

Mention SEO to any website owner, and the first thing that comes to mind is keywords, keywords, keywords. Keywords are just part of the story.  SEO means having an understanding of what, why and how search engines work, and what criteria and metrics are used to determine which sites are authorities on certain keywords and which are not.

In this four-part series, we discuss 3 considerations for optimizing your website: Authority, Meta Tags and Content.

Your goal in SEO is to create authority, both at the domain and page level. The quicker you can do this, the quicker your keywords will rank higher on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Depending on how extensive your endeavors to achieve authority are, will determine the extent of this authority.

How do you achieve authority? By developing five aspects of your website:

1. Content
2. Site Architecture
3. Internal Links
4. Backlinks
5. Navigation

These five aspects allow you to reinforce your page (and your website) for four aspects of your keywords:

1. The primary keyphrase
2. Parallel themes or categories
3. Synonyms and similar themes
4. Adjacent pages that could benefit from this flow or the authority of that page.

Taking this all into consideration, you can now begin to funnel authority and trust to any area of your website (using anchor text) making your website less dependent on backlinking to improve rankings in the search engines.

Ultimately, your goal is to have your site show up on the first page (or the first three spots) of the SERPs for your targeted keyphrases. Achieving this goal is dependent on how authoritative your page is, and how supportive your website is of this phrase.

Next week we will take a look at Best Practices to create authority on your pages.

How have you achieved authority with your SEO practices?

Lee Schwartz, Online Marketing Strategist