Tag Archives: best practices

Understanding the Penguin and Panda Updates

Posted on by
Reply

Google and their algorithms have people jumping out of their seats and scrambling to fix the penalty warnings they received from Google Webmaster tools. But receiving one of these doesn’t necessarily mean that there is a problem. According to SearchEngineLand “Google might no longer be letting the traffic from the link networks you were in carry weight. You’re not penalized. You’re just not benefiting any longer…Getting a warning doesn’t necessarily mean you got a penalty, it seems.”

All that was in preparation for the release of the Penguin Update (designed to combat Spam) launched April 24th… along with its pal Panda Update 3.5 (designed not to combat SPAM but poor quality pages) – everyone is freaking out. Now that Penguin is fully live, sites are able to determined how much they were affected by this update. If you saw a decrease as early as a few days before the actual launch date then you were hit, if you have seen an increase you benefited from this update – and obviously see no change? It didn’t affect you. Currently, there is no way to determine if Penguin did affect you other than running a search and seeing if you disappeared completely.

To those of you who were affected, you can submit a reconsideration request, however according to Google since this is an algorithm change, all penalties were issued automatically from the system and not by a human. Because of this Google says that a reconsideration request won’t actually help nor will they be considering any of these – only fixing the issues will.

Team Eminent SEO

Eminent SEO is an Arizona website services and strategic internet marketing company.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle PlusFlickrStumbleUponYouTube

Meta Keyword Tags – Who, What, When, Why & How

Posted on by
Reply

While many of the more popular search engines, such as Google, claimed to-have abandoned the keywords meta tag, other’s, like Bing still do utilize these tags. Ultimately, the decision to use keyword meta tags on your site is up to you, but the general consensus is that when done properly, they will not hurt your site in any search engine.

Keyword Meta Tag Best Practices:

-          Interested in placing a special emphasis on particular words? The keyword meta tag may be the answer! Placing major keywords toward the top of a page or in a header tag isn’t always the easiest task. Important words may not be presented until the center of the page. By utilizing the keywords meta tag, these words can be added to provide search engines with a notice of emphasis. Keep in mind… there are rules:

  • Avoid placing irrelevant keywords within the tag. This practice will only serve in getting the site banned from the search engine.
  • Avoid placing keywords twice within the tag. Many search engines consider this practice a form of spam, and will only serve to reduce your page rank.
  • Avoid placing too many keywords on each page, industry standards recommend no more than 10-12 keywords per page.

-          Want to include synonyms for particular keywords not found within the page content? Keyword meta tag to the rescue! Search engine users search a number of variations on different keywords. Depending on the site content, it can be difficult to cover each of these variations without making the search engines think your site is a pile of keyword spam

-          Some choose to utilize the keyword meta tag to include keywords in various languages. Sites that use multiple languages but use only one for the default page can benefit from this practice by snagging traffic from users who speak different languages.

Bing

Yes… Bing does use the keyword meta tag. No… it will not help your search results on the site. Bing mainly uses it as a means to identify spammers who are trying to get visibility for high searched phrases that are not relevant to the site.

So Do I Use The Tag Or Not?!?!?

Sure! However, it’s important to keep in mind that you’ll be chancing Bing stamping your site as spam if you over-stuff your tag. If you’re more the “better safe than sorry” kind of programmer, the recommendation is predominately “no”. Google does not support the tag, and any additional traffic gained from ASR isn’t worth having your site branded in a negative light by Bing.

If you already use the tag on your page, there’s no need to panic. You may choose to remove it… though the general take is that sites will only be branded in a spam fashion in cases where additional signals are present.

Confused?

Don’t be! Contact an Eminent SEO representative today to keep your site ranking high and keyword optimized!

Team Eminent SEO

Eminent SEO is an Arizona website services and strategic internet marketing company.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle PlusFlickrStumbleUponYouTube

Google+ SEO Best Practices: 5 Quick Tips

Posted on by
Reply


As search engines go, there is little debate as to Google’s supreme reign over internet visibility, traffic and profit. With the introduction of Google+, the search giant seeks to gain foothold of the social media market as well. Recent plugs for community registration in television, print and, of course, online have made +’s presence undeniable in the consciousness of web users the world over.

When it comes to business, the sell for Google has been a bit more subtle. Since the inclusion of + results into the search medium, it has become apparent that a lack of participation in the service may very well affect potential web traffic. Long story short, if you do not create a dedicated Google+ page, your web traffic is likely to suffer… at least a little. As such, many businesses are scrambling to gain a better understanding of Google + best practices in hopes of boosting SEO. In the following article, we will offer up a few tips and tricks to get you started.

1 – Sign up! (DUH!)

Getting started isn’t difficult at all. As with Facebook pages, Google + business page creation is contingent upon personal account ownership. Once a personal account has been registered, one must simply add an account for the business. If you wish to include multiple administrators you need only add them to the page.

2 – Run in Circles

This part takes a little more effort. The fastest way to increase your Google+ presence is to invite as many people into your circles as possible. Ideally, you’ll want these individuals to be in the same industry, but that the end of the day it’s the numbers that matter. Create different circles for friends, business associates, customers and even industry rivals!

Unfortunately, there is no way to force others to join your business pages. Instead, we must make individuals in our personal circles aware of your page in hopes of increasing numbers. Try adding your page to the signature of your business and personal email accounts, your website homepage and business print propaganda.

3 – Organic Keyword Stuffing

Though it may be tempting to fill your page with keywords relevant to your business, the practice may actually do more harm than good. Instead of littering your page with random word trash, try an organic approach. Post regularly and include relevant keywords where applicable.

4 – Timing Is Everything

Seize the moment! Posting when potential visibility is at its highest may result in added traffic to those searching for relevant terms. For example, post about something political following a national debate.

5 – +1 Buttons Are Your Friends

If you search the web on a regular basis, you’ve likely encountered more and more Google+ profiles returning in search results. Why, you ask? People who use the +1 function on content relevant to their industry will effectively increase visibility! Pretty cool, huh?

Considerations

Social media optimization takes a fair amount of time, effort and enthusiasm. If you find yourself overwhelmed with your social media duties, the team at Eminent SEO is here to help! Contact a representative today to get started on your customized social media SEO platform!

Team Eminent SEO

Eminent SEO is an Arizona website services and strategic internet marketing company.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle PlusFlickrStumbleUponYouTube

Navigation Menu Optimization – Best Practices

Posted on by
1

Perhaps one of the more overlooked SEO practices; navigation menu optimization offers site owners an advantage over competing sites with minimal effort and high-gain potential. In the following entry, we will take a closer look at this area in hopes of extending your SEO reach.

Let’s start out with a simple example, shall we?

Say you want to link to a page on your water heater installation site that focuses on solar water heater installation. Your primary keyword phrase for this particular page will likely be “solar water heater installation.” Best practices tell us that we should use this phrase, “Solar Water Heater Installation” when linking to said page. This is an example of anchor text optimization. Unfortunately, in the pursuit of creativity, many people choose not to utilize proper practices in regard to anchor texts during link building.

Take a peak at how your links should look when proper practices are employed:

SEO XHTML navigation code snippet

Full navigation menu practices – Example #2

In this example, we will use the following navigation links:

-      All About Water Heater Installation

-      Solar Water Heater Installation

-      Electric Water Heater Installation

-      Gas Water Heater Installation

-      About Us

-      Contact Us

For the purpose of this example, “Solar Water Heater Installation”, “Electric Water heater Installation” and “Gas Water Heater Installation”, will all link to main areas of your website. From these pages, you would typically create sub-pages complete with additional information pertaining to these particular products and services.

In addition, it’s always a good idea to position pages with like topics in a unique directory, naming said directory with a dedicated keyword phrase that pertains to that area.

With these lessons in mind, the following are examples of how your navigation menu should look:

SEO XHTML navigation code snippet 2

No-follow attributes are used in main navigation links that are not deemed particularly relevant to the website’s unified theme. By removing generic links, such as “About Us” and “Contact Us”, you serve the site by redistributing page ranks to pages that may hold more value.

Choosing to utilize proper keyword phrasing and sub-directories within your navigation menu is vital in ensuring higher page ranks, while helping search engines to better assess what your site is actually about. Though it may appear in your best interests to title pages and links with creative phrasing, it will ultimately work against you, leading search engines astray and lowering your potential traffic.

If you’re still in the dark, please feel free to contact an Eminent SEO representative to discuss your website optimization options!

Team Eminent SEO

Eminent SEO is an Arizona website services and strategic internet marketing company.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestGoogle PlusFlickrStumbleUponYouTube