New Site Media Group » SEO

Google PageRank Checker – Check Google Page Rank of any Web Page

Steinar — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:05:24 +0000

Google PageRank is a factor that many consider important to search engine optimization and how your site ranks in Google search results. Here’s a site that lets you quickly check:

Google PageRank Checker – Check Google page rank of any web pages.

How to increase your PageRank? Well, that’s one of the great mysteries. Here’s how Google explains it:

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important”.

How to properly tag your images for search engine optimization

Steinar — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:17:17 +0000

Tagging your images for search engine optimization is a great tactic to drive more targeted traffic to your site.

If your site is being indexed by Google, chances are your images will be indexed as well. I suggest you sign up for Google Webmaster Tools (free) just to make sure Google know you want your images indexed.

First, I tend to only use one image per blog post, so the optimization settings are pretty simple and only take about 10 seconds.

Once you’ve inserted your image you want to set the Title, Alt and Description tags to include your keywords or at least some description that relates to the topic of your content. Some content publishing systems, like WordPress, allow you to right-click and set the tags, but you might have to look at the HTML in some cases.

For example, if I’m blogging about “homemade fishing lures”, my optimized code would look like this:

Easy right? Give it a shot and track your image related traffic in Google Analytics.

What do you think? Do you tag your images for search engine optimization?

3 Lessons on Blogging this Week

Steinar — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:40:31 +0000

I had a great week meeting with several clients, all of whom are new to blogging or have a blog but still have yet to find their rhythm. It is not surprising that many people think blogging is either nerve-racking, a waste of time or difficult in terms of finding something to say. Add in the concept of SEO and people really start to shut down.

So, in my discussions there are three main lessons I reinforced with my clients:

1) Start small. It’s not necessary to write every day and your posts don’t need to be very long. Find your voice over time and see blogging as a journey.

2) Get over your fear. People may agree or disagree with what you have to say, but if you’re honest it’s unlikely that people will criticize you. Of course, depending on the subject and tone of your post this may vary. The point is, if you’re new to blogging don’t be afraid to get started and put your ideas out there. You may learn something in the process and meet new people as well.

3) Be optimistic and keep a postive mental attitude. I hear so many excuses why people don’t want to blog. For me it’s about helping others and reinforcing the learning I’ve had in my journey. No one likes a complainer so, look on the bright side and people are more likely to continue reading your blog and engage with you along the way.

That’s it – something to chew on for a couple days.

What do you think? Are these lessons you can relate to?

Optimize your WordPress Blog for SEO and User Experience – Joost de Valk (Video)

Steinar — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:37:56 +0000

Another great video from Joost de Valk “Yoast”, including some useful advice on strategies to optimize your WordPress blog for SEO and user experience.

In particular, Yoast shares some very helpful hints for Analytics, Automation, RSS, Commenting and Plugins. Hope you enjoy.

What tips do you have to share to optimize your WordPress blog for SEO and user experience?

Drive More Traffic to Your Blog and Engage Readers (Audio)

Steinar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:10:25 +0000

In this audio post I’ll touch on a few techniques to drive more traffic to your blog and engage readers in a more meaningful way.

002-more-blog-followers.mp3

Topics Covered:
• Creating unique and compelling content
• Search Engine Optimization and long-tail keywords
• Commenting on third-party websites
• Leveraging Social Media

How are you attracting more readers? Which tactics are getting the best results?

Deep Links for Search Engine Optimization

Steinar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:36:47 +0000

It’s still shocking that many newbies don’t understand links. You don’t need to link to a lot of Web sites. You need a lot of good Web sites to link to you. And, it’s best if you can manage to get some of those links to include — in some fashion — the keywords that describe the page they’re linking to.

For example, if I’m linking to Search Engine Watch, I would want to link using the words “Search Engine Optimization News” within the anchor text of the link. If I wanted to “deep link” (that is to say, link deeper within the Search Engine Watch Web site), I would link to the Promotion & Link Building page using the words “Link Building Resources.”

via Top Signs Your Site Isn’t Ready for Prime Time, Part 2 – Search Engine Watch (SEW).

This strategy is so critical. I would also add that not only do you want to use your keywords in this deep linking strategy, but you should also link from sites that have a high PageRank.

For example, you could generate dozens of inbound links from sites with a Google PageRank of zero and your efforts would yield very little in-terms of SEO. Whereas one link from a .gov or .edu site with high PageRank could significantly improve your rank.

To lean more about PageRank, check out Wikipedia on PageRank

To check the PageRank of any site, check out prchecker.

Optimizing YouTube Videos for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Steinar — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:31:09 +0000

YouTube.com is the second most searched site on the Internet, next to Google, so you might conclude that it is the second largest search engine. It so happens that Google owns YouTube so the implications are something to be well understood and taken seriously as YouTube relates to your Internet Marketing strategy.

As the largest online video sharing site, YouTube is home to everything from Obama’s weekly radio address to corporate sponsored informercials and people showcasing their musical talent. The list goes on and anything you can imagine can be found on YouTube. It’s free to sign up, free to upload videos, and free to view videos. Honestly, there’s nothing stopping you from taking advantage of this great medium to communicate and engage with your market.

The fact is most people do not understand how to properly optimize their videos for search engines and thus most video get very little attention.

Keywords

As with any search engine optimization strategy, keywords are critical. Think of them as the combination of words or phrases that people search for on the Internet. Since YouTube videos are frequently indexed by major search engines, it’s important to understand some simple steps to make your videos more search engine friendly.

It so happens that you can also call out these keywords in a special Keywords section with every new video you upload. Here’s your chance to thoroughly differentiate your video from the pack.
Titles

The title of your video needs to include two things: 1) your keywords and 2) something to hook viewers as they scan through a list of titles. If you fail to include the right keywords, search engines will ignore your video and if you fail to use a catchy title viewers will ignore your video.

For example, instead of using a title such as “Great House on 1.3 Acres!”, you might get better results with “4581 Morgan Creek – House for Sale in Roseville, CA”. The first example would be fine if the video was for a specific client, but the second video will ultimately draw more viewers since it names the city and uses the keyword phrases “house for sale” and “Roseville, CA”.

Descriptions

The second most overlooked section of posting a video on YouTube is the description field. When search engines index your video, the description field is a key element.

First and foremost, if you have a URL that you want visitors to visit, put that as the first item in your description. By default, only the first few lines of the description are displayed above the fold, so you want your URL to be right there at the top in the most obvious position so viewers click on it. Be sure to format the link correctly so it’s an active link using “html://www.mysite.com”.

The description field is also a great place to pack in your keywords and keyword phrases. Take care not to overdo it – strive for something that makes sense and gets the point across, but still incorporates the keywords where possible. An extra bonus is that YouTube cross-references related videos and people are more likely to find your video if you follow these general guidelines.

What’s you experience with optimizing YouTube videos? Any tricks you’ve learned?

What are the best resources for a beginner of SEO ?

Steinar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:22:37 +0000

Q: What are the best resources for a beginner of SEO ?

via Discussion: Search Engine Land | LinkedIn

I recommend SEObook.com, SEOmoz.com and SearchEngineWatch.com. You can also take a professional course, such those offered at SempoInstitute.com.

If you really want hands-on training, identify a niche, conduct keyword research, and build a traffic generation strategy. Maybe set up a free WordPress or Blogger account to test various tactics you learn along the way.

At that point, you might need to consider leveraging communities or building your own and implementing a conversion strategy. Depends on your objectives – which you should clearly understand before launching an SEO campaign.

Learning the basics is pretty straightforward. The toughest part may be identifying the right long-tail keywords – if you don’t know how to do this you could potentially waste a ton of money and time with both SEO and SEM especially.

Becoming truly proficient at SEO takes time, so have some patience and learn one new tactic everyday.

Hope this helps,
Steinar

Think SEO Long-Term, PPC Short-Term

Steinar — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:10:35 +0000

There are many reasons why SEO is a better investment than PPC, but the most compelling one is this: SEO drives more than 75 percent of all search traffic and PPC drives less than 25 percent. In short, your opportunity is more than three times greater.

via Selling SEO Projects Against PPC Campaigns – Search Engine Watch (SEW).

Of course, this really depends heaviy on your business model and sales funnel. For some businesses that sell directly online, PPC is a fantastic option, since you have the ability to track ROI to the penny and can quickly coorelate keyword performance with sales to tweak your PPC strategy.

For more traditional selling models, PPC is great to get initial traffic coming in, but it’s SEO that will drive long-term organic rankings and search traffic.

Furthermore, SEO tactics, such as developing great content with RSS feeds, gives you the ability to increase inbound links, where PPC is a one-shot deal with no long term impact. Once you stop paying the traffic stops.

Take an hour today to revisit your traffic generation plan. Consider PPC and SEO among other strategies, specifically thinking about the short and long-term goals you hope to achieve with each.

How FriendFeed Could Become the Ultimate Social Media Tracking Service

Steinar — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:58:38 +0000

Friendfeed is one of my favorite apps for a couple reasons. One is the social networking tools, such as “Like”, “Comment” and groups.

Second if the real-time view. This is really great as news breaks instead of refreshing your screen every minute.

Third is the ability to automatically tweet certain RSS feeds in your account list.

Mashable also did a recent article on Friendfeed:

FriendFeed, the multi-network activity aggregator co-founded by GMail creator Paul Buchheit, announced today that it has entered the crowded field of real time search. FriendFeed was already the best way to learn what early adopter social media users were saying about any topic across blogs, Twitter, delicious and other diverse social media sites. If FriendFeed wants to step it up to the next level and challenge business-class conversation trackers, we believe there are four steps the company needs to take.

via How FriendFeed Could Become the Ultimate Social Media Tracking Service.