content: Go Long-Tail Go!
- 02/01/08 09:55 AM
From SEO Diva Stats from the horse's mouth: The average Google query now consists of 4 words 14% of Google click come from paid search - 86% from organic 25% of Google's user queries are unique* Reported by Beu Blog Hmmm, gives long-tail keywords new value. How do you optimize for long-tail? Content. This may seem counter to my previous posts, but it's not. Content is not the be-all and end-all (i.e. King) of SEO, but it does have an important place in search engine optimization. It all works together...don't ignore one facet of optimization for another. Onsite, offsite, off (12 comments)
content: Duplicate Content Clarification from Google Guru
- 02/01/08 02:51 AM
Matt Cutts offers a clarification of duplicate content on his blog this morning. If you have any confusion about that you may want to give it a quick read. Something I have been doing recently is posting my SEO Diva blog posts to Active Rain (it's too hard to provide regular content for both), with a referral link to the Diva site. It constitutes syndicated content, and because I post it on the Diva blog first, it should get the credit for having the original content. The link from AR to the original post shows the search engine that that's where I want (8 comments)
content: Content Dethroned
- 01/30/08 03:44 AM
From SEO Diva Is Content really King? No. Content is important - you bet it is! I always advise clients to have plenty of keyword-rich content on their sites, especially the home page. You must take care of the on-site basics - titles, meta tags, content, H1 tags, alt tags, properly named URLs and graphics, footer links, deep page contextual links. This especially works for lower tier keywords. Medium to highly competitive search terms need more aggressive methods.
And now we come to the real power behind the throne: Inbound Links and Anchor Text. This is where PageRank comes in. Direct quote (14 comments)
content: Writing Content 'As If'
- 01/24/08 08:43 AM
When you write content for your blog, web site, or direct mail advertising, from what perspective do you write it? Yours, the person who is already interested in your services, or the person you want to convince? Dr. Jerry Lynch is a Santa Cruz, CA sports psychologist whose techniques have motivated athletic greats. One of the main principles he teaches is “Act as if.” This essentially means stepping into another persona. Using his methods, if you're writing about why buying a home is a good investment even in the current real estate market, you don't want to write it for the person who has (10 comments)
content: Keyword Research: The Basis of All SEO
- 01/15/08 12:53 PM
Without proper keyword research, your SEO efforts will be mostly wasted. Keywords are the basis of all the rest of the search engine optimization you will implement, both on and off site. Spend plenty of time on it - don't rush through it. Using them you will build: TitlesMeta descriptionsHeadersContentAlt attributesBulleted listsLinksLink text How do you do this research? Glad you asked! Below is a list of tools you can use; some are free, others have a free trial period. You may know of others - these are just the ones that come to my mind right now. Overture (times out a (8 comments)
content: Don't Read This If You're Not Serious About SEO
- 01/11/08 03:31 PM
If you are serious about SEO for your blog or site then you need to have the Google toolbar installed in your browser, whether it's IE or Firefox. With the toolbar you will not only be able to see your page rank, you'll be able to see when Google spidered your site and what it saw. Once you see what the spider sees you'll have a better understanding of how you need to rework your page. Is the first thing it sees (which is vitally important) your name? Sorry darlin' but unless you're famous it's probably not a highly searched-for keyword. Neither (16 comments)
content: Real Estate SEO for 2008
- 12/11/07 02:43 PM
This is a rewrite of a blog posting on my SEO Diva blog. During last week's SEO conference in Las Vegas, Matt Cutts - Google guru - mentioned some important areas to concentrate on in 2008. High Quality Content: We all know this, but it's a good reminder that content is the most important factor on your web site, and we would all do well to remember to refine it, and add more as time permits. Personalization: Be ultra specific in your niche - in this case, your real estate market. Whether you specialize in land, investment property, first time (18 comments)
There are reports that Yahoo! has changed its algorithm, placing a higher value on new content, which is in line with Google and MSN. So, again, a blog on your web site will be a boon to your SERPs in all 3 major search engines. Another way of capitalizing on this is to add pages to your site - for example, city pages where you write about featured locations and events, which can be changed once a month or so. Although Yahoo! doesn't have the search volume of Google, don't discount it. One of my sites disappeared from Google for 6 weeks, and (7 comments)
content: How to See What Google Sees
- 11/05/07 01:03 AM
To help you understand what Google (and other search engines) see when they crawl your site, do the following: Download the Google toolbar and install it on your computer. (You don't have to accept any of the other programs.)In the settings, go to Options, More, Even More Buttons, and check Page Rank and Page Info. Go to your web page and look at the PageRank bar you now have in your Google toolbar. Hold your cursor over the bar to get your PR #.Click on the drop-down arrow next to the bar.Click on Cached Snapshot of Page. Click on cached text only. Now you're seeing (16 comments)
content: Optimize Your Content for Higher Rankings
- 10/04/07 02:02 PM
Now that you have the warm, friendly content you wrote for your home page, let's fix it up. (If you haven’t done so, you may want to read my previous post, Real Estate SEO - Tough But Not Impossible.) Divide your copy into paragraphs of no more than 2 or 3 sentences. Now write a header for each paragraph, using keywords, and make it bold. For example: Homes for Sale in NeverNeverLandIf you’re looking for real estate in NeverNeverLand, Peter Pan Realty has current MLS listings of beautiful tree top homes, cozy cave dwellings, and cute grass shacks for first-time home (8 comments)
content: Real Estate SEO - Tough But Not Impossible
- 10/02/07 02:14 PM
It's a tough job ranking well on the search engines when you have a relatively new real estate web site. There are a lot of existing sites that have been there for years and just won't budge off the first page of Google. Even in my job as a search engine optimization strategy specialist, real estate sites can be difficult. The first thing you need to do is get your own domain name and web site. The dynamic made-for-real-estate sites are terrific for all the back end goodies you get, but they are hard to rank because those dynamic pages are just (97 comments)