August 31st, 2010
How do a set of search engines topple a giant like Google? As far as Yahoo & Bing are concerned, working together as a team could be the solution. 
Yet, is it really enough? Is Yahoo & Bing’s newfound search partnership a serious threat to Google or just an annoyance nipping at its heels?
Either way you look at it, Google has responded quickly to ensure it can maintain its dominance in the search engine world and continue to keep over 70% of the world’s searchers coming back time and time again.
For instance, in August 2010 alone, Google acquired five different web companies, including social networking gaming sites like SocialDeck & Slide (lending speculation that Google’s about to launch a new social networking site focused on gaming, which will of course have Google search integration). As well, Google inked a new deal with the Associated Press, assuring that the world will continue to associate Google with news search.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Google’s search dominance is assured by their continual innovation & expansion, never resting to take in the view from the top.
However, it’s possible that Bing & Yahoo could indeed finally beat Google at search if they can up the ante and deliver a search experience that goes above and beyond what Google’s search algorithm currently delivers. The next six months will be an interesting proving ground for “YaBing”, as the newfound partnership is no doubt hard at work on a search platform that intends to improve the way we search the web. Over the last few years, the old Western idiom of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” has rung true for Google, but perhaps the folks at Yahoo & Bing may just re-invent search as we know it (instead of just calling it a “decision engine“).
Posted in Google News, Search Engines | 1 Comment »
June 3rd, 2010
These days, geo-location tools are springing up faster than frogs after a heavy rain. Loopt, Gowalla, Four Square - the list goes on and on. What started as a fad to let your friends know where to find you, has suddenly turned into a potential $100 million investment from Yahoo. Restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and more storefronts are jumping on the bandwagon, in attempts to lure “gowallians” and “foursquarites” to their locations by offering incentives for those who “check-in” often or stop by the most.
Now, while a free drink or a 20% off your appetizer may be a nice quick reward, it appears the masses aren’t going to jump on to the geo-location bandwagon until there are real, strong incentives out there that can compel one to take the extra step to check-in to a new place. Beyond just a free side of coleslaw or a free small popcorn, I’m talking about a free sky diving adventure, a free dinner and bottle of wine, or front-row seats at your favorite ball game.
Competitions and contests have made some great headway in the social media realm, but if locations can lure individuals to check-in to their places by partnering up with others to offer a huge free prize, the windfall can be potentially huge. Sure, there’s a potential high cost for the storefront, but not only can they attract new visitors (and more repeats from frequent visitors), everyone will be sharing that they are there to everyone in their respective social spheres, potentially attracting even more and continuing to build strong brand awareness. It may take a few brave storefronts to take the leap and invest in a high-end prize, but if marketed correctly and angled the right way, it could be a way to turn a hot fad into cold, hard cash. That is as long as long as miscreants don’t try to take advantage of your empty house while you’re away!
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »
February 1st, 2010
Google, being the constant innovators they are, are always trying to refine the web search experience for their users and also maintain their dominance in the search market. Recently, they’ve integrated Personalized Search, which displays web sites on Google’s first page of search results that are specifically tailored to the user’s past search history. Individuals that are logged in with their Google account will see top results that focus on the types of pages they most frequently visit.
While this feature can certainly make the search experience quicker and faster if Google’s results are perfectly in-line with what the user is looking for, it can also prove to be tough obstacle for those websites searching for new visitors with improved search rankings. Also, being a robot, Google’s not perfect at predicting what sort of sites you’d like to see, so it’s bound to be an imperfect Personalized Search experience.
However, the good news is that users can log out of their Google accounts to see normal search results, and as more and more people become aware of Personalized Search, it’s clear that more and more will log out of their accounts to vary their search results, meaning your SEO efforts will not be in vain. If anything, Google’s Personalized Search can be just one more incentive for you to create high-quality content that attracts viewers and is spread naturally by your site visitiors. This is the ultimate goal with SEO efforts - keeping your site frequently updated with keyword-targeted content that brings folks back time and time again, so that ideally you can become a bookmark in their browser instead of 1 of 3,456,000 results.
Posted in Google News | No Comments »
January 20th, 2010
A key component to a website with strong search rankings is Site Structure. By using these 5 tips, you can ensure that search engines can find the keywords you want to rank for and each page can be indexed efficiently.
- Clean Code - Ensure that extraneous code on your website (javascript, flash, specific coding & methodology that is not content based) is kept to a minimum by referencing include files, or is kept below the header tag and body copy of each page, so that it does not slow the search engine bots from indexing new content.
- URL Naming Conventions – If possible when picking your domain, try and pick a URL that focuses on your biggest keyword. For example, www.lawnmowers.com. On top of having a domain that is keyword-focused, be sure to arrange the folders of your website so that they are keyword focused. Example www.lawnmowers.com/section=1?folder=b should be www.lawnmowers.com/electric/weed-wackers
- Anchor Text Links - Link to internal pages with the keywords you want to rank for. This is known as “anchor text’”, and helps the search engines associate individual web pages with specific keyword phrases. Example: We also feature affordable lawnmowers.
- Alternate Text – Whenever you have an image on your site, be sure to integrate keyword-focused “alternate text” so that each image can have a keyword phrase that is relevant. As long as your alternate text is brief and highly relevant to the image, search engine robots will use this text to associate keyword phrases with your website.
- Readable Formats - In order to guarantee that all of your content is readable by search engines, make sure that any textual content can be viewed on your website. If you must link to a .pdf, .doc, or other file that contains text, make the text viewable on the website and make it an option to download the specific format. This will ensure that any text you have on your site has an opportunity to be indexed properly by the search engines (and subsequently impact search engine rankings).
Posted in Site Structure | No Comments »
December 28th, 2009
Hope everyone had a great holiday. As we approach 2010, we’d like to share 5 Methods to improve your inbound links and ensure they can have a positive impact on your search engine rankings. Linking is a crucial part of any Search Engine Optimization campaign, and it should be a central focus of any website hoping to gain new search rankings and maintain current search engine placement.
- Directories – Build a strong foundation of links to your website by focusing on national and niche directories. National directories would include Yahoo! Directory, DMOZ, your city’s Better Business Bureau, Yelp, & CitySearch. Niche directories would include any directory that is related to your business including local business directories, associations & organizations that involve your website’s niche, and non-competitor sites that focus primarily on your products/services.
- Email Newsletters – Develop frequent email blasts with strong calls to action that drive a strong incentive to click back to your website. Keep the tone conversational and try to engage your audience by keeping it fun. Offering contests can be a great way to invite clicks to your site. The idea is to drive them to your site, and once they arrive there, expose them to quality content that will keep them spreading your link to their friends without any prompting on your part. (If you don’t have an email list, be sure to include an email list sign-up form on your Home Page.)
- Partnering Up – Research any potential linking partners and reach out to each of them with a personalized, friendly email that illustrates the benefit of linking to your website. Be creative: offer to share content for their blog, give away free advertising, or promote them via an email newsletter in order to receive a link back. If your website features links to other sites (for example if you are a link directory that links to vendors) reach out to each website and ask kindly to have a link back. Make a badge for your website (with keyword-focused alternate text) so that any of your link partners have a quick and easy way to link back to you.
- Competitor Research – Search your target keyword (and variations of the phrase) and make a list of your Top 5 competitors. Use a free back-link checker like SEO SpyGlass and make a list of all of the websites that each site is receiving links from that have a Google PageRank of 3 or higher. Reach out and submit links to each and every one of these sites, and follow-up with each site you don’t hear back from. The more of these links you can gain, the easier it will be to beat them across the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).
- Social Media - Interact with your audience with a Facebook and Twitter page (and link to both pages across your site) with fun, relevant, and engaging content that will incentivize them to follow you and click on your links. If possible, have a specific individual focus primarily on these tasks. Social media competition is fierce, however when done properly, it can cause individuals to spread links to your content across the web and will grow your search rankings naturally!
Posted in Linking | 2 Comments »
November 16th, 2009
A common frustration for optimizing website content for search engines is the desire for an immediate boost after making significant updates across pages. While your updates may be just what is needed to gain the new rankings you so desire, if your new content isn’t property indexed (think of it like a “scan” for new information) by the search engine robots, then your changes will go overlooked.
There are two ways to ensure that your new content is properly indexed:
- Submit XML SiteMap - Build an XML Site Map and submit it manually to the major search engines. This will provide an updated “roadmap” for the search engines to navigate and find your new content.
- Re-Submit Individual Pages - I can’t stress enough how important this step is. XML SiteMaps are great, but because this a more common method to have your content re-spidered and requires more time to process, re-submitting individual pages can provide a much quicker turnaround. Try re-submitting your site to Google, and you can have your new content re-indexed typically within a week’s time. While this may be a more tedious approach, we saw over 10 Number 1 Google Rankings in one week by using this approach to spotlight our new content updates.
Also, it’s important to keep in mind that at any time you can check to see if your new content has been indexed by placing your specific URL in the search box. As a way to double-check, we always at least make one modification to the Title or Meta Description, which can then be seen in the search results. Example: If I added “The” to my Title Tag for a particular page with new content, I would know that the page had been re-indexed if I see the “The” on the Search Result Page of the particular search engine I’m querying.
Posted in Search Engines | 2 Comments »
September 21st, 2009
It had been a while since I last blogged, so I thought I’d share a great article today emphasizing the relevance of keyword research. SEO is not an easy task by any means, but I can say that it is sooo much easier to accomplish if the due diligence and comprehensive keyword research is accomplished on the front end. You’d be so surprised the keywords you can rank for relatively easily that you aren’t even considering! Plus, the more long tail terms you can rank for right away, the easier it is to rank for those more general terms. Remember - a long tail term like “1970s led zeppelin shirt” is going to convert MUCH more than “vintage t shirt”, as long-tail searchers are much more likely to purchase your product or service.
In regards to keyword research, I typically use the free Google Keyword Tool to conduct my research, yet as their tool typically only has information for general terms, I prefer the Keyword Discovery Tool which was built by Trellian. When it comes to checking your search engine rankings across platforms, I stand by Advanced Web Ranking - it’s great.
Posted in Keyword Research | 1 Comment »
June 29th, 2009
I came across a great article in USA Today recently which addresses the important point of adding new content to achieve high search rankings. We couldn’t agree more. The amount of content you add to your site (and the frequency of said updates) can be a very effective way to increase the uphill climb to the top of Mt. Google.
What kind of content do I speak of? It will take research and knowledge of your competitors and the local search activity to find out where to start. First of all, one of your best strategies to find out about search activity around you niche is to use the free Google Keyword Tool, and type in the search phrases that you desire your website to show up for.
Say your niche is baseball cards. You may find that “1970’s baseball cards” is actually searched for 3X as much as “baseball cards”. This is more of a long-tail term, so you’re best bet here is to try and generate new content around the term. In other words, having a whole page of your site dedicated to the term “1970’s baseball cards”, with quality content discussing the cards you sell/historic value/monetary value/famous cards available and so on.
As long as you make it look honest and genuine and not spammy, you’ll be in good shape. Use this strategy on Blogs & any Social Media platforms you have set-up, including Facebook & Twitter. Also, be sure to use this opportunity to include anchor text links that feature your targeted keywords linking to your home page (i.e. “baseball card resource” linking to your Home Page). Search engines love to spring from one page to another via easy-to-find links found within the text of your content.
Google, Yahoo, & the little engine that could known as Bing will periodically crawl your website (basically scan it for any new material). Sites that have frequently updated content and new links are favored much more than those sites that don’t, and that will be all the more helpful to launching your site above your competitors.
Posted in Linking, Search Engines | 1 Comment »
June 10th, 2009
The last two weeks, Bing (MSN’s new facelift) has been all over the news. Now before Bill Gates can put his hands together and creepily say “Excellllent” like Mr. Burns, he’s still got a long road to climb if he’s ever going to beat Google. At the moment, MSN search commands a mere 5-8% of the market, compared to Google’s 70%. If there’s ever been a case of David vs. Goliath in the web world, this is certainly a great example.
For years, Google has been that lumbering giant that MSN can only throw tiny rocks at. No matter how fancy a slingshot they develop, Gates and Co. are going to have to have unstoppable persistence to hit Google in the eye and send it tumbling. To little surprise, Google CEO Eric Schmidt isn’t worried about Bing yet, and as he notes, the key to Google’s roaring success is innovation. Google has established the precedent that all search engines have tried to follow by always thinking of new ways to improve, and never settling with the current state of affairs (much like another California-based company that likes to put a “i” in front of it’s products).
Now, while paid search on Bing may be on the rise for a small period, it’s not bound to be a hugely profitable venture for businesses in the long-run. While Bing may be the talk of the town at the moment, at the end of the day Bing is MSN, and MSN’s inability to innovate effectively has kept them under Google’s heel all this time. Microsoft may dominate the browser market, but Google has stood at the top of the search world for as long as is relevant. Even Google is trying to beat Microsoft’s browser with Chrome, which is a nice little browser that is starting to pick up steam (though Firefox seems to be on the track to beat Microsoft’s Internet Explorer).
At the end of the day, when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, Google will still be our primary focus. Commanding the lion’s share of traffic and showing no signs of slowing their dedication to constantly improve, grow, and experiement with new ideas, the Google Mountain is going to be a long climb up for the Bing sherpas. Yet, healthy competition is always a great thing, and overall it’s a great indication that our economy is certainly still alive and is heading back on course stronger than ever.
Posted in Search Engines | 8 Comments »
April 28th, 2009
Hello Everyone. Welcome to the SEO Launchpad Blog! Here, we will share the latest news & developments in the ever-changing world of Web & Search Engine Marketing. We will also utilize this space to share our experiences with our clients and offer insight into how we are rocketing our clients to success. As well, we plan on using this blog to offer a few fun surprises from time to time and to interact with our visitors and find out what’s on your minds. Feel free to comment away!
Posted in Case Studies, Google News, Linking, Paid Search, Search Engines, Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »
