My history in website development and design began many years ago with SEO. I started my first website approximately 10 years ago with a stock template and quickly discovered that a website is useless if nobody but me could find it. Therefore SEO became one of my main disciplines.

My first job after moving to Oregon was for an online merchant with a heavy focus on SEO. I eventually left that company and started freelancing for SEO and blog development. Along the way I’ve worked with some incredible people in helping them improve their search engine rankings and thought it would be a good idea to mention them and describe a little of what they do and the results they have been shown.

Hard Head Graphix

Hard Head Graphix is a startup company that sells collegiate merchandise such as Oregon Ducks football helmets and Oregon Ducks hard hats. Their website recently launched, so their recognition in the search engines is pretty bare. However, some great results have been made for some key search terms related to their products. For example, their products couldn’t be found in the top 100 search listings but one of them is currently poised to land on the first page of Google! That’s a huge leap for such a new website!

Follow Through Cleaning

Follow Through Cleaning is a cleaning company based in Portland, Oregon that promotes the idea of green cleaning. They have been in the cleaning business for over 30 years and wanted to improve their online visibility for the services they provide. With steady efforts in optimization they have seen improvements in regards to search traffic and web referrals.

Mel Wagner

Mel Wagner is a broker dealing with Salem Oregon real estate. She uses her website to display her listings, and with a little effort every now and then she’s seen her website climb up the rankings in Google and other search engines.

Ad Media

My search engine work isn’t just Salem Oregon SEO. I also work with national and international clients. Ad Media is a marketing agency based in the UK that provides a variety of services such as mobile advertising and digital advertising. Their website was not very search engine friendly when I began working with them, but slowly we have been able to improve their website’s presence in the search engines and their rankings have been steadily rising in this competitive market.

Your Website

Are you happy with where your website is ranking in the search engines? Are you targeting the right keywords for your business? If your answer is “No”, “I don’t know”, or “What are you talking about?”, then you may be in need of some SEO assistance. A site redesign is in the works that will feature more on my SEO services, but in the meantime feel free to contact me about your SEO needs.

No related posts.

SEO leaves a lot of people spinning their wheels because they’re not sure how much work (or money) needs to be put in to see the results they want.  That’s understandable.  SEO is a mystery to many people.

The formula I like to use when explaining to people how much work they need to put into optimizing their site for search rankings is this:

x + 1

It’s a rock solid equation that will bring search engine success to everyone who follows it.

Put simply, “x” is everything your competitor’s websites are doing for SEO and the “+1″ is taking it just a step further.  Simple equation, but there are always people looking for shortcuts around this.

If you’re serious about getting your website ranked higher then you have to get in the mindset that there are no shortcuts.  You have to match or beat the value of “x” and then go a little further if you want to see your website climb the search rankings.

The value of “x” is different for everyone.  Do you know what that value is for you?

No related posts.

Not too long ago I received an email from someone I built a website for in the past.  She has a business website with a blog built into it.  She updates her blog frequently, and several months after I turned the keys over to her I get this in my inbox from her:

I’ve been blogging all the time but I don’t see my rankings going up.  What am I doing wrong?

This is a rather loaded question because it’s based on the preconception that blogging improves your search engine rankings.  Or let me restate that in a way that more closely relates to this particular preconception: frequently updating your blog will automatically elevate your search engine rankings.

I know that the statement, “Blogging improves your SEO” gets thrown around a lot, and when asked by others, I will affirm that statement.  But that statement on its own isn’t exactly true, it needs outside help in order to live up to its reputation.

I can’t speak for anyone else who makes this statement, but when I say “blogging improves your SEO”, I’m saying it with some particular patterns in mind.  The general pattern I’m referring to is:

1. You continually publish content that resonates strongly with your readers.  Your readers like what you’re offering, they share your information with others and link to your content, blog and website.
2. These links are like “votes” with the search engines, and in a nutshell, the more links you have to your site, the higher your site will rank in the search engines.
3. As more and more people begin linking to your site, your blog is exposed to a larger audience.  Some of these people may even visit your blog through these links, like what they see and link to and share your content again.

This is the basic formula behind the statement “blogging improves your SEO”, and it all starts with the content you’re publishing.  If you are frequently publishing great content, then your readers will share and link to it, and these links will eventually cause your search rankings to get stronger.

In the case of the email I received, it was apparent to me that this person understood that blogging can boost your your site’s search engine rankings, but she didn’t understand the how’s and why’s behind it.

What do you think about the idea of blogging to improve your SEO?  Is this something you actively pursue, or is it just something you combine with your other goals from blogging?

No related posts.

Yesterday I posted a brief rundown on how to implement captions in HTML5 video.  This is a great way to increase the accessibility of online video, but I never mentioned the SEO benefits from this.

A great example of this in action would be a common blog post which consists of only a video and an introductory sentence or two.  Under “normal” conditions, this gives the search engines a title and maybe around 30 words of text to understand what your content is about and how to rank it.  That’s not a lot.

But now let’s add those captions to the mix.  Even though it appears the text captions are part of the video, they are actually just words that are positioned on top of your video.  Words that are readable by search engines.

A blog post that once only had a few words of text now may have hundreds of words.  Since the video’s content probably relates to the title of your post and introductory text, you now have aided the search engines in pinpointing exactly what your post is about and increased your chances of ranking higher for that topic.

This is something to keep in mind in the future when you insert videos into your posts.  Not only does captioning benefit visitors with hearing disabilities, it can also greatly improve your site’s SEO.

photo credit

No related posts.

Category pages are one of the most often neglected areas of any WordPress site.  This is a shame, because if category pages are used in meaningful way, they can become a strong force in search engine rankings.

The key to higher ranking category pages (according to Chris Pearson) is to add a unique headline and some unique content to your individual category pages.  Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Well, it is.  If you use the Thesis theme then the capability of modifying your category archives is already built in.  All you have to do is go to the “Category” section in your admin dashboard, select a category, and edit the fields shown below.

In this example, the “Introductory Headline” and “Introductory Content” will be inserted at the top of your page before the list of categorized posts.  By adding some unique, optimized content along with some optimized meta tags, you will have taken a bold step in strengthening the possible search rankings for your category pages.

If the WordPress theme you’re using doesn’t have this built in ability, such as the default WordPress theme,  you could install Yoast’s SEO plugin and to handle the category page meta information.

Granted, you don’t have the option of creating unique titles to display on the category pages, but by edited the “Description” section you can add custom content at the top of your category pages.

If you’re wondering if category page SEO is worth the trouble, I invite you to ponder the following example:

Google the ultra-competitive term “affiliate marketing” and if you scroll about halfway down the first page you’ll probably notice that the affiliate marketing category page for Sugarrae is ranked there.  Her category page outranks millions of other websites because she has put in the effort to optimize her categories for SEO.

Do you see the value in doing something like this?  If you have previously taken steps to improve the rankings of your category pages, what did you do and how did it work out?

photo credit

No related posts.

I have touched on some topics relating to WordPress SEO in the past and they may be worth mentioning again.  In case you missed it the first time, here they are again.

WordPress SEO For Beginners

1.  The Permalinks – The best type of permalink structure is one that includes keywords pertinent to your article in it.  Learn why this is important and how to set this up in your blog.

2.  Meta Tags – What are meta tags and how do you use them?  Are some meta tags more important than others?

3.  Blog Layouts – Learn how the layout and direction of your blog can affect your SEO efforts.

4.  Blog Content – The heart of your blog’s SEO efforts lies in the content.  Learn more about keywords, keyword density, keyword value and more.

Sharing Your Posts

Blog Content Syndication – Is using your blog posts for article marketing purposes or syndication a good idea?  Here I give you the story of what it was like for me.

Faster Blogs

Speeding Up WordPress – Google uses site speed as a factor in how it ranks websites.  Learn more on what steps you can take to turn a slow blog into a lightning fast one.

SEO Mistakes

10 SEO Blunders - 10 common mistakes to avoid with your WordPress blog (or any blog, for that matter).

Worthless SEO Plugins – There are a lot of vultures on the internet that want to separate you from your money with worthless products.

Domains

Keywords In Domain Names – How important is it to have your main keywords in your domain name?  Very important.

Even More SEO Information

I could publish post after post with relevant SEO information but you may prefer to have something more concise and well written.  And if that’s the case, I recommend you check out SEO Secrets by Glenn Murray.

photo credit

No related posts.

There are several steps I take when I’m writing a blog post that I want to specifically target a keyword with.  They aren’t technical or difficult, and when combined together they can make a huge difference.

As an example, let’s say that I’m writing a post about Ethiopian coffee and I would like for Google to rank me as high as possible for the phrase “Ethiopian coffee”.  Here is what I would do:

1.  URL

I would start by making sure my blog post’s URL included my target phrase.  This happens automatically if my permalink structure includes the post title, but I would probably remove words that were not needed in my URL to help me out.

2.  Title

Putting the target keyword or phrase in the title is one of the most important things you can do, the closer to the beginning the better.

3.  Meta Description

I will also insert my keyword in the meta description, as close to the beginning as possible.  Not only does it help with the search rankings, it helps visitors get a better idea of what the post is about.

4.  Meta Keywords

I know some search engines and most SEO experts ignore these but I still use them anyway.  Just like the title and description, I put my target words at the beginning of the list.

5.  Content

Here is where it’s both an art and a science to include your keywords.  You want to include your keywords in a way that’s natural but doesn’t overdo it.  There’s no hard and fast rule on this, but some things to keep in mind are:

• Your keywords should not count for more than 5% of your content.  I like to keep mine around 3%.
• It’s a good idea to include your keyword at the beginning and at the end of your post.
• Bolding your keyword text or a string of text containing your keywords provides emphasis on it.

6.  Images

I like to insert a pictures into my posts, and adding the right wording to the alt text of those images can help with the overall onpage SEO.  If I’m feeling frisky I will also make sure the image has a file name that relates to what I want to rank for.

7.  Video

If I’m pulling out all the stops, I will also try inserting a relevant video into my blog post.  It helps to make a post “sticky”, and also helps by gaining traffic from video searches.  There is obviously more to Video SEO than just embedding a video on your site, and I’ll touch more on that later.

So that is a quick rundown of 7 things I do to optimize my blog posts.  As you can see, I focus on more than just the words on the page.  What kind of things do you do for onpage SEO?

photo credit

No related posts.

Here’s a quick tip that can help provide a little bump in your search rankings: tweak your blog post permalinks to reduce the amount of words in them.

Let me explain by giving you an example.  You’re writing a blog post on a new company that sells green widgets and your desire is for this post to rank well for “green widgets”.  The title of your post happens to be, “ACME Company in Seattle Sells Green Widgets”.

If your WordPress permalink structure is using the %postname% option, then your URL might look like this:

http://someblog.com/2011/07/acme-company-in-seattle-sells-green-widgets/

You are initially happy with the URL because you can see that it contains your target keyword, “green widgets”.  But is there something else you can do to the permalink that would give your main keyword a little more weight?

The answer is “Yes”.  You can alter the blog post permalink and totally rewrite it if you wish.  But what I would recommend is that you remove any unnecessary words in your URL that aren’t helping your cause.

If you look right below the title on the WordPress post screen you’ll see your permalink and a handy little “edit” button to the right of it:

Click on the “edit” button and you can easily add, remove, or modify any word or number in your permalink.  In the above example post, I would change the permalink from “acme-company-in-seattle-sells-green-widgets” to something like:

• http://someblog.com/2011/07/acme-seattle-green-widgets/
• Or simply http://someblog.com/2011/07/green-widgets/

By removing any unnecessary words and focusing on the words that matter to your article, you give your keywords more weight than they would have had if you kept the original permalink based on your post’s title.  And  every little bit helps in the search engine ranking game.

Do you ever modify your permalinks in any way to try and rank better?  What did you do and how did it work out for you?

No related posts.

Do you struggle with the thought of SEO for your website? Do you find SEO to be a confusing and mysterious affair and therefore avoid it at all costs? You don’t have to, thanks to Glenn Murray’s “SEO Secrets“.

I have had this book for quite some time now, and it is a goldmine of information. I have read this book several times and often return to it as a refresher. This book really lives up to its tagline of a “DIY guide to topping Google.” It has not only been a great resource for me, but it is a resource that I have often recommended to others interested in optimizing their website.

This isn’t some kind of “fluffy” book. Anyone reading this 213 page book will quickly learn the basics of SEO and more. Shortly after digging into this book you will soon be on your way to dominating Google by learning:

• What SEO is
• Choosing keywords
• Developing your website right
  • Positioning your web copy
  • Website structure
  • What to avoid
• Hosting and optimizing your own WordPress blog
• Creating and optimizing great web content
• Generating buzz about your content with social media
• Link building methods
• And much, much more

What I like best about this book is that it takes complex SEO terminology and replaces it with easy to understand explanations. You do not need to have any background knowledge of SEO to benefit from this book. Even those who consider themselves “computer illiterate” will have no problem understanding the information given and applying it to their website.

Although “SEO Secrets” does a fine job instructing you in the tried-and-true methods of search engine optimization, I do wish it covered some of the shadier techniques otherwise known as “black hat SEO”. I think it would be beneficial for people to know some of these “black hat” methods and why they should avoid them.

I have previously reviewed and recommended this book here and you can get even more information on this great resource straight from the author’s site. If you do decide to get this book for yourself, I’d love to hear your feedback on it.

No related posts.

How important is it to include your keywords in your domain name?  For a long time now I have profited by including them for sites when I could, but it looks like those benefits may be coming to an end.

According to Matt Cutts, head of Google’s webspam team, they may be changing their algorithm to where keyword rich domain names lose some of their value.  He recently posted a video on YouTube discussing the value of keyword domain names.

Matt makes a lot of good points regarding domain names that are brandable vs. domain names that are injected with keywords.  If you’re in it for the long haul, then a brandable domain name might be your best bet.  Personally, I think the ideal domain name would be a mix of brandable and include your keywords.

And just in case you’re wondering how much of a benefit keywords in your domain can bring you, here’s an example that I like to use.  I own the domain xsportzsunglasses.com.  I’ve owned it for several years now, and have only posted a handful of articles on it relating to the wholesale sunglasses industry.  Not once on that site will you see the words “xsportz sunglasses“, yet it ranks #6 in Google for that search term.  It used to rank higher, but other sites that sell that product have since climbed above it.

So my advice to you regarding domain names is if you can include your main keywords in your domain without losing your branding then go for it.  It will be easier for you to rank higher in the search engines that way.

If you decide to go with more of a brandable domain name that doesn’t include your keywords, you can still rank high for your search terms, it will probably just take a little longer.

No related posts.