Archive for the ‘nick hantge’ tag
4 Tips to Insure Your Site Does Not Get Delisted
If you’re reading this article, you obviously understand there is quite a buzz around SEO and internet marketing. Not only is it becoming a must to be on the first page of Google, you also need to have a presence on all major social networking sites, article and video repositories and directories listings. Here are some helpful tips on how to avoid getting delisted by search engines so all of your hard work doesn’t go to waste!
Watch your Keyword Density
Your keywords on your web page are very important. It lets the search engine know what your content is about and what you are trying to target with each page. Each search engine has keyword density in their algorithm for ranking sites, however, their equation for density differs from one to another meaning their lenience of density allowed before a penalty varies.
If you know anything about SEO, you understand that at least 75% of searchers are using Google – I would think this is a pretty good place to start. I have heard many SEO’s give the 3-5% rule for keyword density. In my personal experience, I’ve gotten away with 7% and had great results. The idea here is to watch you keyword density throughout your web page and never exceed 9%! If you go over this mark, you are risking a negative reaction from the search engines. I would say stick between 3-6% here and you should be fine.
Keep your Content Original
If you are running your own SEO campaign, you have and will be investing a ton of time. Do not take the short cut and use someone else’s content on your web pages – it doesn’t make sense! Search Engines love original content and in the SEO world, content is king! It is what separates your page from the next before you even begin to create backlinks. That being said, why would you want to be on a level playing field from the start with the same content? Make sure you let the search engines know what separates your page from the competition. Follow the keyword density rule above and write as much as possible!
Do not allow a search engine to disregard your content because it is a duplicate of someone else’s page.
Don’t Hide your Content
As much as we don’t want to say it, the search engines (google bots) are actually pretty smart. They know the difference between visible and invisible content. Search engines will discredit a web page if they feel you are trying to trick them with text that cannot be read. Make sure the text on your page is a completely different font and do not hide it behind images. Make sure you tag your images with keywords but do not make the text invisible. If you are smart you will have content on your Home page that leads to more content in the site.
Tip: Publish articles to your home page with “Read More” buttons and your home page will get credit for all of the content on your home page including important keywords and links.
Be Cautious of Your Affiliate Links… too many = negative ranking
Be cautious of adding hundreds of affiliate links along with product descriptions. If you have too many affiliate links on your website, Google will drop you down the listings.”
I hope this article has helped you understand exactly not what to do to a web page. An SEO Campaign involves blood, sweat and tears which we don’t want to go to waste by getting delisted. Search Engines do not like keyword stuffing, duplicate or invisible content and too many outside links.
Nick Hantge is a SEO Professional with Iniquitous, a Denver SEO Firm. Nick Specializes in organic search engine optimization, traffic analysis and conversion as well as SEO coaching in Denver (303) 999-7963.
Importance of Off-Site Optimization
Written by: Nick Hantge
A few years back, web developers or SEO experts only needed to focus their efforts to “On-Site optimization”. This means they needed to have appropriate Meta tags, create a sitemap, they needed their pictures to be labeled and correctly link their pages throughout the site. Only 5-7 years ago, this would get them on the front end of the searches related with their website content.
Today is a completely different story. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the search engine optimization (SEO) you do off your site is more important than the SEO you do onsite now days. What I mean here is because of the sophistication of search engines today, there are many more factors that go into the SEO equation to achieve “Above the fold” placement organically. I feel the more powerful factors have to do with “Off-Site optimization” Don’t get me wrong, if you’re content is not relative to the searches you are going for, it will be much more difficult to obtain those results but it is possible.
So what is off-site optimization anyway? Off site optimization is all of the work you can do to promote your website without actually doing anything to the site itself. Things like building relevant backlinks, using social networking to increase traffic, and video submissions are just a few examples of off-site optimization.
Backlinks: Think of search engines judging every website like it’s a popularity contest. Every backlink to a website counts as a vote. As a search is submitted to a search engine, they gather which sites have relevant content and of those they rank them accordingly to the votes they receive (number of backlinks). Now anchor text adds even more madness to the equation. If you have anchor text pointed at your domain with the keyword or phrase you are trying to be found in, that vote has more weight than a regular backlink. At the end of the day, if you had a million backlinks with anchor text reading “BMW parts”, it’s a pretty good chance you would be in the top three results for that search term regardless of the page content.
Tip: Join a Forum or a discussion board related to your services or product and start adding useful posts. Link to your website in your post or signature.
Social Networking: With all of the buzz with Twitter and other social networking sites, now is the time to take advantage of the traffic that can be developed. Just creating an account and writing a few posts is not going to do the trick. You need to be creative just like anything else in your campaign and create excitement about your service or project. Offer discounts, link to blog posts which then link to your site or some bigger companies even use the social networking sites as a form of customer service. Everyone has a technique or social networking, many are bad but there are a few that are good and working excellent.
Tip: Create a LinkedIn page and add as many business professional in your area and send them all a message about your services and offer a discount.
Video Submissions: You might be wondering what creating, editing and submitting a video would have to do with search engine optimization but there are many benefits. First of all, a video is a good way to connect with potential customers. A client testimonial will give you credibility while a message from an employee or owner will create a sense of trust.
There are great video repositories out there, maybe you’ve heard of YouTube.com or Viddler.com? More and more people are using these sites to host videos, create commercials for the business and increase the traffic to their web site. Recently, YouTube.com just passed the 100 billion viewed videos in one month, pretty dang impressive. Geek.com reports YouTube.com overcoming Yahoo© taking the number 2 search engine. Don’t you think it’s time you start taking advantage of the traffic? Make sure you have a YouTube.com video that points to your website.
Tip: When you create a video to YouTube, you have the ability to put in keywords. Use this to your advantage and attrack more viewers looking for your services
Hopefully you now understand the importance of off site optimization and have picked up a few techniques to try yourself. Remember, SEO is not something that happens overnight and certainly is very time consuming.
More Articles on: Search Engine Optimization | Denver SEO Company | HOME
How to Get Your Website Noticed
Written by: Nick Hantge
With today’s shift from paper to major search engines and online directories, a website is one of the best marketing tools a company can have. A website can reach not only individuals searching for your services or products locally; it can reach hundreds of thousands of individuals nationwide and around the globe.
Whether you sell a product online such as cookies or jewelry or provide a service such as laser hair removal, the first step to being successful online is being found on the major search engines. It does not matter the size of your company or how great your website looks, if individuals cannot find your business in their searches you simply will not be successful online.
Too often, companies or individuals spend thousands of dollars on the design of their website thinking they are doing the right thing. This idea of creating a website that just looks good is a thing of the past. If a website is unable to be found under searches relating to its content, this marketing tool is a waste of your money.
The quickest possible way to get listed on the major search engines is through search engine marketing (SEM) where you pay for quality leads to your website often called Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. Although PPC does get you immediately listed on search engines, through our research 75% of individuals using the internet do not click on paid advertisements on the side.
A more effective but time intensive way to get noticed by the search engines is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is the science of analyzing and enhancing your website to manipulate your ranking on major search engines such as Google® and Yahoo!® to increase the volume of traffic to your site. Since 65% of searches make their decision before moving to the second page, it is vital to have your website optimized and show up for different search terms on the first page at least once. The more times your website appears under searches relating to your business, obviously the more exposure you have that will ultimately lead to more traffic to your website. After your website has been optimized and starts to appear on the first page of the search engine for a few terms, then the appearance, flow, and functionality starts to become a factor. It only makes sense to keep the individuals on your website once they are they. The longer people are on your website, the more likely they are to use your product or services.
A huge advantage to SEO when it comes to advertising is the quality of the traffic viewing your site. Most everyone that visits your optimized website is looking either for the product or services you provide. This quality lead is much better than the traffic you are reaching through a billboard, newspaper, or radio advertisement. The reason I say that is because the individuals who hear or see that ad, do not necessarily need or want your services. Plus in these types of advertisements, your information does not stay in front of individuals, whereas a properly optimized website can be found over and over again with your contact information and list of products and services blaring right at them.
There are many techniques that SEO experts use to increase the ranking of websites. The key to a good SEO campaign is a constant effort. Web pages need to be added and updated, link building needs to continue while your website remains live, and submissions to all major search engines along with directories are just a few of the many techniques an SEO company would use to help increase a websites rank. If you would like more information on SEO techniques or strategies, call Iniquitous as (303) 327-8991 or visit their website: Iniquitous