Google vs. Yahoo -- How To Rank High On Each One

Google likes incoming links, especially links from high-ranking, on-topic pages that include keywords in the link text. Google doesn't like over-optimized, high keyword densities and over use of keywords in headings, etc. like they use to.

Yahoo, on the other hand, looks at on-page factors more, such as keyword density, keywords in headings, etc. That is where the problem comes in.

Of course, they both look at everyting, but keep these two very important points in mind when you are trying to optimize your site.

When you search both Google and Yahoo for a keyword phrase, you will usually find a BIG difference in the Search Engine Results Pages or "Serps" as it is usually called. Serps just means the list of websites that show up when you do a search on any of the search engines.

Back to Yahoo and Google. Here's why the results are different and in a nutshell what you have to do to rank high on each one of them.

Links from other websites are the most important thing to Google. The higher the ranking of the actual page your link is on the better. Remember it is NOT the ranking of the Home page of the site you are getting the link from, but the ranking of the page your link is actually on that counts.

The text in the link to your site is VERY important. It needs to have the keyword phrases you want to rank high for included.

Then the next most important thing to Google is the keywords in your Title tag and then the content on your page. If your content is over-optimized (too many uses of keyword phrases or too many keywords in your headings, etc.), that will hurt your ranking with Google instead of help you.

Of course, there are 101 other factors that count with both Yahoo and Google, but get the basics right and you will be well on your way to high rankings.

As for Yahoo, the content that is on the page is the most important. To rank high with Yahoo you need to use a lot of keyword phrases on the page, have a lot of keywords in the headings, have a high keyword density, etc.

Basically, Yahoo likes all of the things Google used to count as being important before Google decided that too many people knew this and were making the most highly optimized websites show up at the top instead of the most relevant sites.

Now you can see why the sites that show up high on Yahoo don't show up high on Google and vice versa.

Bottom line: You could say that Google likes off-page factors (i.e. links) and Yahoo likes on-page factors. That's an over simplification, but it is a good rule of thumb.

If you understand this one thing, you can get your rankings higher than most of your competitiors. Of course, you will have to get it all right if you want to be at the very top.

The problem is that you can't completely do what it takes to please both Yahoo and Google. Of course, links help you with both Google and Yahoo, but the other factors seem to be either or.

If you have a reasonably good ranking on Yahoo and not Google and want to increase your Google ranking, I would recommend that you work on incoming links and particularly the text in those incoming links (and don't make them all word-for-word the same).

Then start cutting back on the over-optimizing of on-page factors and see when your Yahoo rankings start coming down and your Google rankings start coming up. Try to see how close you can come to making them both happy if ranking as high as possible on both is your goal.

Of course, this has to be done slowly because Google and Yahoo don't change their rankings that fast.

If you want to get the highest ranking on just one of the search engines and not worry about the other one, your job is much easier.

One last point.

Even though Google counts incoming links as being a lot more important than Yahoo does, the recent "search engine bombing" by political pranksters with the term "waffles" shows that Google is more immune to this than Yahoo. Obviously, Google wants a few other things to be in line before they will award top ranking to a site. Google is harder (if not imposible) to trick. Yahoo is not.

Craige Stacey has been studying search engines optimization as a hobby and has achieved some very good search engine positions in the past for membership website software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craige_Stacey

Tips On Optomizing Your Website For Search Engines

I wish to give a few little tips, about optimizing. You may find it quite useful, depending on the type of website you have.

This is it; basically, when you optimize a website, you first want to enter at least 30 keywords into the ‘head’ of your web page. No problem there.

The next step in optimizing is that you must put each of your keywords into the text of your web page at least 4 times!

This is one area where your web page sinks or swims in the search engine ‘spidering’ process. This is where one must get, er.. creative.

We’ve all seen those web pages that are about a mile long and so wordy, that you kind of loose track as to what the heck they are talking about. Well, optimizing is what that’s about. That and testimonials, which are a good thing to have, but most experts agree that you’ve got to get right down to the point and not loose your reader.

If this page is in a surf exchange, you’re expecting your viewer to read a mile long page in about 30 seconds. Trying to get all your key words into your ad text 4 times, can make it read a bit funny.

So here are a couple of alternatives;

If you use graphics, (and who doesn’t?), you are often able to enter text as mouse over text, as if you were going to link the graphic somewhere, but just put in some graphics that you don’t plan to use as links and cram as many keywords into the mouse over as you can.

On some of my sites you see a few extra graphics that seem to be there purely for decoration, until you put your mouse on one and see a mouse over text that stretches off the screen.

But most folks don’t put their mouse on a graphic unless they are told it’s a link.

I honestly thought of that myself, but I have since seen the idea in Trafficology.

Another one that I thought up, and haven’t seen anywhere else is this;

Just create a text box and load all your keywords into it as many times as you need, or use four boxes, (just copy and paste) then set the color of your fonts for the text in these boxes to match the background color of your web page. Now you have invisible keyword boxes that still work the same as if you had put them into your ad text!

Brian Beshore has been involved with Internet Marketing for several years. He publishes his own Home Business Guide. http://surfinsafari.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Beshore

Link Building Services

In today scenario when we talk about Search Engine Optimization, we also talk about one of the most important aspect of SEO, which is Link Building. But there are different types, aspects and limitations of Link Building, which would be discussed now under

1.Types of Link Building: I would be explaining this factor in a more understandable manner with giving some examples with Site1, Site2 and Site3.

a)One Way Linking: One Way Linking is a type of Link Building where a site links to another site without getting a link back

Example: Site1 links to Site2 One of the best ways of generating One Way Links is Directory Submissions

You can submit your site in different free directories like Dmoz, Yahoo Directory (Paid Also) and many others

Limitations of One-Way Linking

One of the most desired limitations of One-Way linking is time Consuming process and the confirmation of getting listed in Directories is not fixed

b)Two Way Linking: Mostly known as Reciprocal Linking, this is one of the most effective and fast method of creating quality incoming links towards your site. Two Way Linking is process of exchanging links between 2 sites of similar theme. (As per latest Google Semantic Indexing)

Example: Site1 Links to Site2 and in return Site2 Links back to Site1 The best method to create Reciprocal Links is to contact theme based sites, which you can think can be involved in your Linking Parameters and ask them for a Link Exchange with your site

There are no limitations in this type of Linking as this is one of the most effective and fastest methods of creating incoming traffic to your site.

c)Three Way Linking: This can also be termed as a better way of obtaining One-Way Links to your site, as in this process there is One-Way and Reciprocal Linking Involved

Example: Site1 Links to Site2, But in place Site2 Links Site1 on Site3

Aspects to be Looked Before While creating Links

1.The partner’s site Page Rank of the page where he has placed your link

2.Whether the page where your link has been placed is indexed in Search Engines or not

3.One most important factor is the theme of the site. Eg: If you have a site related to Web Design you can exchange links with site related to shoes or gifts, you should link with sites related to Web only

For More information on Link Building Services Contact Sunny Kathuria at skathuria@gmail.com or sunny_indian@touchtelindia.net

SUNNY KATHURIA Link Building Freelancer India skathuria@gmail.com sunny_indian@touchtelindia.net Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sandy_Kathuria

Google: The Ultimate Web Writer's Style Guide

Indulge me for a moment.

Forget that Google is a search engine. Just for a moment, imagine it is a style guide. A very different kind of style guide.

Instead of this particular style guide being written as a static book by an expert or two, it is written by studying the searching and browsing habits of hundreds of millions of web users.

Get the idea? Not a search engine. A style guide. A constantly evolving style guide that works from its insights into how people use and read web sites.

A style guide that puts the visitor first, puts their needs ahead of the academic opinions of experts.

A style guide that automatically rewards sites that serve their readers the best.

If we study Google not as a search engine, but as a style guide, what does it tell us about how we should write our web pages?

>> 1. Make the subject of each page absolutely clear.

As visitors arrive at your site, regardless of the entry page, the first question in their minds is, “Am I in the right place? Will I find what I want here? Can I achieve what I want to achieve here?”

Fortunately, the web page format gives us a title, headlines, first paragraphs and subheads we can use. So it makes sense to use them to make it abundantly clear to our visitors what the page is about.

We’ll do this for our visitors. But, because doing so helps our visitors, Google will reward us.

>> 2. Make your home page short text clear

First-time visitors to your home page are unlikely to be able to achieve their objective through that page alone. So you need to write short text that will quickly and clearly let them know if you have what they want deeper in your site, and how to get there.

This means using the right words in your headings, subheads and short descriptions. It means anticipating the words and phrases most visitors will have in their minds and will scan for. It means understanding which words and phrases best correspond to your visitors’ needs.

Write these headings and short descriptions with your readers in mind and, once again, Google will reward you.

>> 3. Make your text links relevant and descriptive

A text link that says, “More...” or “Click here” or “Learn More...” tells the reader nothing about the destination page.

Visitors scan your text links in the same way as they scan headings, subheads and short text. So provide them with clues. If you have an interior page about a weight-loss hypnosis service, write a link that says something like, “More on weight-loss hypnosis”.

Do this and you’ll be helping your readers a great deal. And yes, Google will reward you for your efforts.

>> Concluding thoughts...

By all means use a traditional style guide. They are great for getting your grammar right and choosing the right words. That said, many of them conflict in their recommendations as to the correct online terms. To some, a web site is a web site, to others it’s a website.

But back to Google as a style guide for a moment. This whole exercise, this make-believe about Google being a digital, interactive style guide is all about the importance of writing for your readers.

Yes, what I have been talking about it using the correct keywords and phrases in the appropriate places.

However, too many people write their pages with Google as the primary audience. I think that’s the wrong approach. You get a clunky text flow that, intuitively, feels wrong to the reader.

Instead, write with a clear understanding of what your readers need. Do this and you’ll find that the best keywords fall into the right places with an appropriate frequency.

And Google will reward you.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author and speaker. You can access all his newsletter articles on writing for the web at his http://www.ExcessVoice.com site. You'll find articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at http://www.FreelanceWritingSuccess.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Usborne

All About Google

If you read The Search Engine Showdown, you know Google is my favourite search engine. Why? Google always offers the most results for any given search (they currently have over 8 billion pages indexed), it's faster than the Audi Quattro we test drove this morning, and 9 times out of ten, in my experience, all the front page results are relevant to my search. In fact, I usually find what I'm looking for within the first few sites listed. I also really respect the fact that two college kids started it (kinda like Abalone Designs!) and that those two college kids seem not to have forgotten where they came from. If you check out the images at Google's press center (http:// www.google.com/press/images.html) and scroll down to the Everyday Life Inside Google section, you'll get a feeling that life at Google is fun.

Google is the most used search engine on the web. In May, 2004, 36.8% of all searches on the web were done using Google. Also during that month, Google powered 54% of all searches done on the web (Read more about these figures here).

Google owes their success to their mind-boggling algorithm. This intricate formula sucks in a web page, considers its keyword density, its link popularity, domain name, how often it is updated, the amount of content in the site, and a myriad of other things that few know and spits out a number called PageRank. There is absolutely no way to be sure how to get your site to number one on Google, but there are a few things that we know can help:

Make sure your site is well organized, visitor friendly and useful. Google seems to like sites that are listed in the Open Directory Project, and my theory is that it's because the Open Directory Project is human edited. This means real human eyes have looked at each site that is included in the directory and deemed it useful in some way or another. If your site has a link on The Open Directory Project, you're on the right track.

Avoid "spamming". Spamming refers to many different things. If you add keywords to your site that are out of context or hidden from plain view, it's considered spamming. Resubmitting your site to Google can be looked upon as spamming. The basic principal is to make sure every page on your site is professional looking, clean, organized and has its own unique information to offer.

Try to trade links with good quality sites that you like, 'cause if you like them, chances are they have something to offer and Google will recognize that. The more good quality sites around the web that have links pointing to your site, the higher your link popularity will be.

Stay away from hi-tech sites unless you offer an alternative. ie. If your site has been designed in Flash, try to offer a plain HTML version of the site. Google can index flash but it's not likely that it will be indexed well, and your ranking will suffer. Frames are also a no-no. Although Google can index framed sites as well, again, the ranking can suffer and more importantly, frames are universally recognized in our industry as hideous!

Keep the content on each page to a decent level. You don't want too much content, but you definitely do not want too little. A good way to judge what a good content level is, is to search for the #1 ranking site for the keywords you wish to target, and see how much content they have. Make your content keyword-rich, but don't make it so full of keywords that it sounds ridiculous to visitors. You want to keep the visitors you get from Google, right?

Google almost always offers you the best resource for your query due to the fact that all of these things matter to them. They are also always trying to find ways to improve on the Google Algorithm so they can continue to offer us the best service. Every once in a while we hear about this new search engine and that new search engine, but no one seems to have been able to catch up. As long as this remains true, these simple tips will be applicable.

Courtney Heard is the founder of Abalone Designs, an Internet Marketing and SEO company in Vancouver, Canada. She has been involved in web development and marketing since 1995 and has helped start several businesses since then in the Vancouver area. More of Courtney's articles are available at http://www.abalone.ca/resources/.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Courtney_Heard

The Search Engine Showdown

If you're anything like me, you have a favourite search engine and you're loyal to it. You never use any others (which made this research difficult for yours truly), insist yours is the be-all and end-all and you even go so far as to deny any shortcomings it may have. But is your search engine truly the best? Inspired by a great article at the BBC News (BBC News: Search Wars), we decided to compare the major search engines. Here's what we found.

We chose the search term "real estate fiji" because it's a competitive industry and geographically specific. We also searched with the same phrase, misspelled to see if the search engine would suggest the correct spelling.

Google

Initially loading the search page for Google is lightning fast.

The look is clean and easy to understand.

Search time was 0.15 seconds.

The search yielded 1,190,000 results.

All results on the first page were relevant.

Spellcheck was available.

Yahoo!

Initially loading the search page for Yahoo! is a little bit slower than Google, but still fast.

Search time was 0.18 seconds.

The search yielded 711,000 results.

It is difficult to tell the sponsored links from the actual web results.

All results on the first page were relevant, however one of them directed you to another set of results for your search at DMOZ.org.

Spellcheck was available.

AskJeeves

Initially loading the search page for AskJeeves is fast.

Search time was not posted and was much slower than Google & Yahoo!.

The search yielded 63,100 results.

Sponsored links take up the whole screen. You have to scroll down to see the web results.

All first page results were relevant.

Spellcheck was available.

A9.com

Initially loading the search page for A9 is fast.

Search time was not posted but was average.

The search yielded 209,000 results.

All the results on the first page were relevant.

There were image results alongside the text results. This could be helpful.

Spellcheck was available.

MSN

Initially loading the search page for MSN is fast.

Search time was not posted but was average.

The search yielded 112,607 results.

All except one of the results were relevant. This result pointed to Philippines real estate. Also, one the results directed you to DMOZ, where a second search for your keywords is performed.

Spellcheck was available.

Alexa

Initially loading the search page for Alexa was fast.

Search time was not posted but was somewhat slow.

The search yielded 208,000 results.

It was difficult to tell the sponsored results from the web results.

Some results included screen shots.

The look was kind of disorganized.

Spellcheck was available.

AltaVista

Initially loading the search page for AltaVista is fast.

Search time was not posted but was a sliver slower than Google.

The search yielded 736,000 results.

The sponsored results take up almost the entire screen. You have to scroll to get to the good stuff.

The results are all relevant, though one redirects you to DMOZ, where a second search for your keywords is performed.

Spellcheck was available.

Lycos

Initially loading the search page for Lycos is fast.

Search time was not posted but was rather slow.

The search yielded 114,356 results.

The sponsored results take up almost the entire screen. Once again, you have to scroll to get to the good stuff.

All the results are relevant although 2 of them redirect you to DMOZ.org.

Spellcheck was available.

Excite

Initially loading the search page for Excite is slow.

Search time was not posted but was rather slow.

The search yielded 114,356 results.

All the results on the first page were relevant.

The look of the site was clean.

Spellcheck was available.

HotBot

Initially loading the search page for HotBot is fast.

Search time was not posted but was fast.

The search yielded 114,389 results.

The sponsored results take up almost the entire screen. Once again, you have to scroll to get to the good stuff.

All the results are relevant although 1 of them redirects you to DMOZ.org.

Spellcheck was available.

AllTheWeb

Initially loading the search page for AllTheWeb is fast.

Search time was not posted, but was fast.

The search yielded 679,000 results.

It is difficult to tell the sponsored results from the web results.

An offensive content filter was available.

All the results are relevant although 1 of them redirects you to DMOZ.org.

Spellcheck was not available.

Looksmart

Initially loading the search page for Looksmart is fast.

Search time was not posted but was rather slow.

The search yielded 300 results.

There were 3 completely irrelevant results on the first page.

The look of the site was clean.

Spellcheck was not available.

Jayde

Initially loading the search page for Jayde is somewhat slow.

Search time was not posted but was average.

The search yielded 60,424 results.

There were quite a few irrelevant results.

The look of the site was clean.

Spellcheck was not available.

So, what's the conclusion? My favorite search engine is the best. All hail Google! ...

Alright, alright, some of the others are pretty cool, too.

Courtney Heard is the founder of Abalone Designs, an Internet Marketing and SEO company in Vancouver, Canada. She has been involved in web development and marketing since 1995 and has helped start several businesses since then in the Vancouver area. More of Courtney's articles are available at http://www.abalone.ca/resources/.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Courtney_Heard

Effective Search Engine Use

The Internet is a wonderful place full of resources that can be really helpful for us.

The best way for finding information is through a virtual search engine. A search engine explores the resources on the Internet and gives results relating to your queries. Search engines allow keyword searches and use crawlers to locate sites or pages that match requests.

However, finding the information that is relevant for you is a challenge. Everyday more sites come into existence. A simple query like "web hosting" on Google returns 15,100,000 results. Now how does the user know which site is useful for them, thus creating an "Information Overload" of sorts. How is the user assured of the quality of the information?

The thing about search engines is that they generally display all the web pages that contain any or both of the words contained in the search query.

So comes the question: how do we find the information we are looking for?

There are various techniques that you can use to make your search query better which will then help to achieve more relevant results.

For instance if you use the "+" operator and restructure your query to "web hosting" + Windows it will show only those sites that offer Windows hosting. You can also use the "AND" Boolean operator, depending on what you are comfortable with.

You can use the "-" operator and key in "web hosting" - Linux thereby telling Google to make sure that it does not display Linux related hosts. This is the same as using the "NOT" Boolean operator.

There are also keywords like ADJ, NEAR etc. that are used by some of the search engines. The NEAR operator looks for keywords specified in the query within certain proximity of each other i.e. it makes sure that both the keywords "web" & "hosting" are present on the same page and are placed nearby to each other in the text.

The ADJ operator is a stricter filter and returns only those pages where the keywords are next to each other i.e. it will only return pages where the keywords "web" and "hosting" are mentioned together.

Another technique to make sure you get better results is to use a sensible query. Make use of words that you think will be contained on the site you are looking for: "web hosting" is better then "I want web hosting".

Also remember that search engines normally ignore certain words like "a', "for", "of", "in", "at" etc.

Another important thing to remember is that most search engines have a 'tips' page that specifically contains information on how to make better searches on the search engine. It is always good to read these tips.

Most search engines have an advanced search option that is really useful if you are not proficient at using operators while searching.

Searching and finding what you are looking for is easy if you are armed with the know-how of how to do it.

Ashish Jain : M6.Net : http://www.m6.net Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ashish_Jain

Your Online Home-Based Business Can Lead To Search Engine Stress

As a member of several search engine optimization forums, I have recently noticed (especially since Yahoo recently decided to try their hand at competing with Google) that the stress level of many webmasters has gone way up. This applies not only to webmasters involved in Internet-based home businesses, but to webmasters in general.

Additionally, it seems that many people that are in the business of search engine optimization (SEO) are, with good reason, going completely bonkers. As Google came on the scene in 1998 and quickly dominated the search business, website optimization became largely a game of shooting at a single target, namely, pleasing Google...for all intents and purposes, Google became the "800 pound gorilla" of the search engine business.

Since the advent of search engines (particularly Google) spawned the whole SEO business, I guess its only fair that the search engine industry can once again turn the SEO business on its ear, and it seems now to be sort of a cat and mouse (not desktop) relationship that can get really interesting as we move forward.

Not only are there now several viable players (most notably Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask Jeeves) in the search engine business, but they are all adopting different and frequently changing algorithms for determining the ranking positions for websites.

The current game is that webmasters are trying to figure out how the various search engines perform the rankings and, on the flip side, the search engines are striving to be unpredictable to those webmasters and SEO firms.

For those people using websites to promote home-based businesses, it can be stressful constantly trying to determine "what the search engines want" and agonizing over every downward fluctuation in rankings that their website may experience.

Looking forward in time, I think we can expect that rankings will fluctuate frequently and will not be at all consistent from one search engine to another. It will be quite common that for a particular search term a website might suffer a drop in position ranking for search engine "A" and an increase position ranking for search engine "B" at essentially the same point in time.

Rather than stressing out over every position ranking "wiggle", a better approach might be to just focus on "what do visitors to my site want?". The search engines are striving to give their users a quality (relevant) search experience and if you are focused in giving visitors to your website what they are looking for, these paths will meet somewhere down the road.

You can save yourself alot of consternation by focusing upon the needs of the website visitors you are seeking to attract, rather than chasing the frequently changing ranking algorithms of several search engines. Focus on a single target instead of chasing several moving targets at the same time.

This article pertains to natural searches only, as paid search engine advertising is a completely different situation.

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Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business.

Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.

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The Life Blood of Internet-Based Home Businesses...Search Engines

Anyone involved in an Internet-based home business will soon come to recognize the importance of search engines as a vehicle to attract potential customers.

Since the inception of Google in 1998, the popularity of using search engines has increased dramatically. Nielsen NetRatings reports that about 114.5 million Americans, or a whopping 39 percent of the US population, currently use search engines.

Through February of 2004, Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN ranked as the two favorite spots on the Internet with 87.3 million and 86.2 million unique monthly visitors, respectively, according to figures produced by Nielsen NetRatings.

Microsoft.com, ranked third, with 64.2 million visitors, but this figure is somewhat misleading because this site attracts much of its traffic by repairing flaws in the Windows operating system. Google was the fourth most popular site with 60.8 million visitors.

The market shares of MSN and Yahoo haven't changed much in the past three years while Google has emerged as a powerhouse without spending much of anything on advertising. Google's audience is now approximately six times larger than it was in early 2001, when it was the 26th most popular destination on the Internet.

As they vie for position, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft plan to continue upgrading their services - healthy competition that can only serve to improve the search experiences of Internet users in the future.

According to comScore Networks, an estimated 3.5 billion online searches are performed in the United States each month, making searching the second most popular online activity, ranking behind only e-mail.

In 2003, businesses spent an estimated $2 billion on advertising related to searches and some knowledgeable sources expect the search-related advertising market to triple during the next three years.

There are various search engine formats including natural search, pay for inclusion (PFI), pay per click (PPC), and hybrid approaches which combine both PFI and PPC characteristics. Because of the immense and growing popularity of search engines, their effective utilization is the life blood of Internet-based home businesses.

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Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business.

Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kirk_Bannerman

Has Google Indexed Your Site ?

So has Google found your site yet?

Over the last 12 months Google has undergone many changes to the way it looks at and lists your site.

This week sees another upgrade in Google.

As any search engine or member of the public will tell you, Google or any other search engine MUST provide the most relevant listings for a search query.

One of the major changes that Google is implementing is that it will not display more than one AdWords listings for the same company Domain Name. At present they also try to have only one listing (with a secondary) per website domain displayed in the top search results.

This affects mainly affiliated member sites.

This also affects companies that provide a member program. Say if you were using Google AdWords and there are 5 members from your company paying to use AdWords only one listing will be displayed and this will be the highest bid for that keyword.

In another words the average Joe Marketer will have to pay a high price to have his AdWord listing displayed.

For Google and for the Google search user this provides a more defined search. There will not be 5 AdWords placed for the same company or merchant as has been the case in the past.

With 3 or 4 AdWords for the same company displayed, allowed a person who paid a bid of 50 cents to be displayed at the bottom of the list while someone who could afford to pay five dollars for the same keyword to have his link at the top of the page. You stood a chance when your AdWord was displayed, now you have to have the highest bid at that particular time.

BUT, this is not an insurmountable problem. This is where owning your own Domain name and web site is a must.

At present many search engines only allow one plus a secondary listing for any one domain to be displayed in their top page or two of their search results.

NOTE:
There is no easy way around not owning your own domain.

Getting your affiliated member site listed in a search engine is becoming almost impossible, especially when you consider that there are tens and even hundreds of thousands of other members belonging to the same company, promoting their member site too.

This can and will affect many companies as they rely on their members to promote the companies site though pay per click - AdWords and standard search engine listing.

With odds of one hundred thousand to one you have better odds of winning the lotteries.

Once marketers understand the concept of creating their own website, one of the next hurdles they face is the content for their site. What so often happens is that they do not consider themselves as copy writers, so they copy the content from their member site. I have seen this many times where marketers websites are almost exact copies of their companies site.

The definition of a search engine is to provide the most relevant search results for a specific search.

Google are only trying to live up to this definition. So as they are only allowing one AdWord display listing for any one company or domain, Google are also only allowing one page with the exact same content to be displayed.

If your web page is a duplicate of your companies page, then your page is very likely to receive a duplicate content penalty with Google.

In other words if your site has been indexed by Google and they find your page to be an exact copy of another page, it is highly likely your page will receive the penalty and not the company site.

Remember that the Google Bot's are checking and indexing around eight billion pages each month. It takes a very powerful computer system to keep track of all those pages and the content on those pages to return relevant searches. It doesn't take to much brain power to realize that as Google indexes a page it can also compare your page with the thousands that fit into your product, service or information category.

It is generally thought that for a 1st offense your page will be removed from their index for 30 days then for the 2nd offense for 60 days then for a 3rd offense your page will be removed for 90 days. After the 3rd offence you can forget about Google.

But it gets worse, if your page contains duplicate content and Google spots it, for the time your page is cooling off for 30 days it affects the rest of your site as you will no doubt have many links in the site map etc, to the banned page so this can and does affect your whole sites ranking.

The news is not all bad as anyone who has the ability to consider marketing any product and is prepared to attempt creating a web site, also has the ability to reword and rewrite the content from their company site.

Most other pay per click search engines or ones that accept paid inclusion like Overture already use similar policies that Google is now implementing.

There are exceptions to the duplicate rule like RSS News feeds, Directories, ezine article Directories and sites like Ebay and Yahoo stores where these individual stores use the Yahoo or eBay domain name.

Using good common sense, you should never have any problems with Google or other search engines as you are promoting your website as your own unique sales display.

Don't get me wrong Google is my first choice in Search Engines.

Google offers many f`ree tools for web masters. You can find some of tools listed here.

http://www.google.com/help/features.html

If you to Google.com search, you can check the links to your Website. (incoming links). Where I have www.internet-income-index in the search box, you would type in your website domain.

"+www.internet-income-index.+com

Now if I can get 151 links back to my site without submitting it to search engines, think what you can do...

Most Internet Marketers average between 20 and 50 links using the Google links tool.

My point is if you add one link to your website in a single Internet directory, Google and other search engines will find you and your site just by following the link you placed in that one directory.

If you check issue 103 of this ezine dated May 26 - 2004 Google only had 2 links to my ezine site listed.

I have placed a link on my other personally owned sites and have added ezine articles I have written in a couple of Ezine Article Directories. You will find EzineArticles.com will be listed above my site in a search for my ezine site as they are a very high profile site.

The higher the profile or page rank Google gives any site that you have your site link in, the higher Google is likely to rate your site providing you have played by Googles rules.

Did you know that many search engines consider you have 2 sites one with http;//www. in front of your domain and one with just the http;//yourdomain.com plus if you have a sub-domain name like http://www.search.yourdomain.com they treat this generally as a different domain or website. The word search is the sub-domain in this instance.

But it is far easier to promote just the one domain as opposed to promoting 3 variations of the one domain name. I know that from past experience after I listed it in the Dmoz.org Directory without "www."

http://VoipConference.info

"+www.voipconference.+info with 21 incoming links

compared to 320 incoming links (without the www.) "+voipconference.+info

TIP,
Domain Name Branding your website using a one off name like Google or eBay is still best when it comes to search engine marketing and for domain name recognition if you are prepared to invest the time and money, but if your budget is limited then using a domain name that describes your business or includes keywords relating to your product or service is equally good.

May Google be kind to your site.

PETER GREEN.

Editor of ~ The INDEX ~ ezine.

Editor@Internet-income-index.com

http://www.Internet-Income-Index.com

Your Free Weekly Internet Marketing News, Ideas, Resources and Sources Ezine.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Green

Meta Tags Help Optimize Your Web Site Rankings

Are you working on getting your web site up onto the internet?

There are a few different elements you need to think about when first putting up your new web site. Starting with the basics and building from there is the best way to go. Optimizing your web site and getting it ready for the Internet World to see is what you need to concentrate on first. Here are a few helpful hints to get you on your way to success.

When optimizing your web site and making sure it is ready for the search engines to crawl frequently, there are a few key areas that you need to pay attention to. The three main fundamentals for creating successful search engine optimization are Link popularity, Meta tag creation and optimizing your web site. We will specifically concentrate on creating meta tags to help optimize any web site.

What is a Meta Tag?

A meta tag can be found in the "html code" within a web page. Each meta tag is used by the search engines to determine what your web pages are about. The meta tag Information provides the "essential guts" of your website page. Your Web site "Title and Description" Tags are an essential part of this meta tag creation. The "Title, Description and Headline" Tags can be the first thing any web searcher will see when they do a search on the internet.

Since first impressions are everything, the importance on making "the Title, Description and Headline" meta tags readable, relevant, attractive and properly optimized are absolutely essential. The true key is not to over optimize because you are likely to be banned entirely from the search engines if you choose to do so.

What happens when the search engines crawl your web site?

Now that you have set up your meta information, the search engines will crawl your web site and use this essential information as the brochure to your web site. When a search engine crawls your site, it determines the relevance of this meta information compared to the content on your page. The keyword Frequency on your web site should appear as much as possible on a page without being considered as something that sticks out like a sore thumb. If this does occur, you may be penalized as spamming.

What is key word frequency?

Keyword Frequency describes how many times a keyword (or phrase) occurs on a page. The most simple example of keyword frequency is if your key word appeared on a web page 5 times in every 100 words viewed by an engine, then your keyword density would be 5/100 or 5%.

The real trick to ensure a good ranking on the search engines is to produce quality content-rich pages which make the keyword density climb higher. But repeating your main keyword phrases can be tricky because you must still ensure that any content on your site isn't compromised by your search engine optimization effort, so as to not confuse your reader. If you can keep a reader coming back to visit your web site, you definitely know you have accomplished this task.

In conclusion, keyword frequency should match your meta information with the content on your pages. The search engines have changed dramatically so trying to trick them by spamming with only hurt or jeapardize your web site.

Don't try to spam the engines by submitting content-low pages full of keywords. You want to attract visitors to your site because of the good content your are providing to your readers. Take the time to optimize your site correctly so that you can get the most out of your web site rankings. When you have good content on your site, you will find those search engine rankings climbing to the top.

Good luck optimizing those web pages,

Jennifer Schilling

Copyright © 2004 Jennifer Schilling

Jennifer Schilling publishes home business tips newsletter dedicated to supporting people like YOU! If looking for home business opportunities, the latest time saving tips and a mentor for support, come by and grab a F-R-E-E subscription today at: http://www.internet- business-success.biz Or visit her other web sites at http://www.thinkingfaster.com and http://www.internet-business-opportunities.biz for help getting started with your own home business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Schilling

The Hottest Tip On Getting A Web Site Listed Quickly by Yahoo, Inktomi, MSN, FAST and AltaVista

Every webmaster knows that the free search engines are a major source of traffic.

They also know that applying all the SEO techniques in the world will not in itself get their web pages spidered, indexed and listed. Yes, sure, a "perfect" page, once indexed and listed will surely rank high for its keywords but unless it is found by the spiders, it is pretty useless.

It is no secret that the process of a web page being found by the spiders can be helped by placing links to that web site on other web sites (e.g. by doing a links exchange with other web sites, by putting one's URL in one's signature file when posting on a forum, by writing and submitting articles for free distribution and placing one's URL in the author's resource block etc.) All of this will surely work but it can take months before anything happens. The webmaster has no option but to be patient and wait...and wait...and wait.

Now there is something very easy and very effective one can do to speed up this process. Actually, using this method, will get a web page indexed and listed in less than 48 hours. And the whole process is controlled by the webmaster. It is easy, fast in terms of setting it all up and what's more it is free!

Here is what one does:

• Go to http://www.blogger.com and sign up for a new account (free - they even host the blog on their server at no cost)
• Give your blog a name.
• Navigate to 'Settings' and then choose 'Site Feed'
• Check that the 'Publish Site Feed' option is set to 'Yes'
• Copy the 'Site Feed URL' to the clip board (you can paste is some where .. you're going to use it when you've set up your my.yahoo account)
• Save your changes
• Navigate to 'Posting' and create your first entry.
• What should you write? Anything, actually - your words do not make that much of a difference. What is important is that you add the URL of each page you want listed to the blog. Remember to add them as live links (to enable all the spiders to follow them!)

  Mmm, you don't know how to do a live link? Here is an example. Just copy the HTML code

  link to Perfect Party Ideas

  Replace the URL with your URL and the description ("link to Perfect Party Ideas" with your own.

  As a suggestion, why not make your blog a log of this experiment?

• Publish your blog by hitting the 'Publish' button.

Sorry, we're not done yet...

• Now you have to go to http://www.yahoo.com and open a My Yahoo! account. Just follow Yahoo's very clear instructions.
• Click on the 'Add Content' button.
• Click the ' Add RSS by URL' link.
• Paste the 'Site Feed URL' you've copied earlier in the 'URL' field and
• hit 'Add'

You have just added your site's news feed to your My Yahoo! account.

Mmm, you don't know what a news feed is? I've written a document explaining it all. You can read it here.

• Last step: go to http://www.pingomatic.com
• Enter your blog's name and URL (similar to mine: http://www.perfect-party-ideas.blogspot.com)
• Select all the services to ping (of which My Yahoo! is one) and click the 'Submit Pings' button.
• Navigate back to your My Yahoo! account and refresh your browser.
• Scroll to the bottom of the page where you'll see your blog's feed appearing.

Your job is done - the spider bait is ready!

Now for a bit of excitement. Start watching your web site's stat's to see how quickly the spiders find their way to your web site. You could even throw a free stats counter on your blog and watch the spiders visiting your blog.

Next step: Play "blog-and-ping" every day or so. More often if you have the time! Whenever you feel like it, add another posting to your blog. Remember to throw in some links to specific pages on your web site.

Let me know how successful you were - leave a comment in my blog or use my Contact Us page on my web site.

Here's to your success!

Kind Regards
Anne-Marie
P.S. If this article had any value to you (and I'm sure it did ;-) ), why not read more hot tips in my blog?

Anne-Marie Killer is a mother of two teenagers and a toddler. She is the webmaster and owner of Perfect Party Ideas, Read her blog where she documents the process of setting up Perfect Party Ideas.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anne-Marie_Killer

No Cost Search Engine Marketing

As a matter of fact, I recommend NOT wasting money on pay inclusion in most cases because it doesn't offer enough of an advantage (and many times the fees give you absolutely no advantage - the only exception are the few sites that guarantee placement within a specific timeline). Focus your online marketing and gain positive and targeted traffic without paying out for "expedited listings" or "submission software."

Submission software can appear to save time and effort, but in all reality, it doesn't...

I suggest to clients that they don't waste their time with submission software. No matter how good it sounds, honestly, the best way to attain and maintain strong search engine rankings is with a solid plan, time, diligence and staying active online. Search engine submission and optimization is a marketing strategy, and as such is not a one-shot process.

A plan that works...

The important thing is to use a good, strong and simple approach that really works and endures through the ever-changing standards in the search industry. There are some helpful free search engine submission tools, but the downside is, you get involved in several and you can duplicate efforts, which not only wastes time, but some engines and directories could mistake it for spam (I've seen this happen!).

My experience and best advice is, find one helpful free submission tool site (my personal favorite is SelfPromotion.com (http:// selfpromotion.com/) and use it as a base. Keep a spreadsheet or submission log, and keep track of when you submit, what your Meta data/tags say (especially your ranking and core keywords), and note your rankings. This may sound like work, but really, once you set it up you will find it is the easiest way to keep from wasting time and it will help you track when your listings need some attention.

Basics that I recommend to reach a good rank and maintain it:

* Research keywords for your site. Take some time, check out competitor's sites, keyword lists, etc.

* Write GOOD title and description META tags for every page on your site. You really need custom META tag info for every page. There are many sites that will give you good advice on how to write great tag content. If you use a good submission site, you will find help there.

* Construct a good keyword tag specific to every page.

* Submit your site to every free search engine and directory you can find that is appropriate for your site...always use the free links because the paid ones won't give you any advantages (with very few exceptions).

* Be patient...it can take three months or more to become listed by the "big guys" when you use indexing only.

* Get a jump on the waiting time and use search engine optimization techniques for your site content, online marketing such as press releases and circulating free articles, place your site on industry directories and local business directories online.

* Put your site address (URL) on EVERYTHING. (Well, everything reasonable and legal)

By using this brief lesson on marketing your site, you can build a strong marketing base with absolutely no cost whatsoever. And in doing so, you are gaining in-depth knowledge of your site's target audience, and it can only help with future marketing. Good luck!

Cherie' Davidson has been working as a Web copywriter, content editor, press release writer, Web Reviewer and marketing consultant for several years. Her business, Suitable Words Publications can be found online at http://www.suitablewords.com . She also has a free content Website, WritersContent.com (http://www.writerscontent.com), where you can get great no-cost content for your writing or Web marketing site and e-zine.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cherie_Davidson

Beating the New Google AdWord Rules with Blogs and RSS

When Google Adwords first came on scene, it was not immediately apparent to most people how to utilize the system to create wealth, until John Carpenter popularised it with his Google Cash system, a book he wrote some time back.

Since then, Google Adwords has become one of the main traffic generation tools for most affiliates. It was the fastest way to generate traffic.

By now, most people would have learnt about the latest Google Ruling on their Adwords' programs

Basically it goes like this:

1) Google will only display two ads for the same website at the same time AND only ads with the best click thru rate,

2) You can remove the three letter word 'aff' from your ads, if you are a reseller.

How do you ensure you are the top 2 ads besides having to bid up keywords until your nose bleed?

With this new ruling, there will only be 2 ads displayed at any one time, and only for ads that has the best click through rates.

The rationale is that there isn't any value add to show multiple ads that all point to the same web site.

In any case, experienced affiliate marketers would probably capture the email address of the person who clicked on the Google Ad, rather than directing the person straight away to the vendor's web site;

So there goes an easy and fast way to get traffic

So how do we counter the latest 'dance' from Google?

I have a solution which targets to key areas of concern:

1. Offering Value Add content through the use of Blogs

2. Getting F.R.E.E Traffic with RSS Feeds

Thousands of blog communities are sprining up all over the Net, and depending on what you are trying to market (as an affiliate) you can easily set up a blog centered just around the topic which relates to that product.

If you're selling slimming pills, you can have a blog just related to weight loss. Next, turn your blog into an rss feed and syndicate it all over the Net, by submitting to the 27 major blog directories and 41 major rss directories.

(There might be more at time of writing, but these are the main ones I submit to.)

Besides it's ability as a traffic tool, blogs give your potential clients value add in terms of useful contents you make.

Since you have to make postings to your blog, you are in a way 'forced' to study the area in which you want to market (e.g. weight loss) and provide good value add information, very much like a 'consultant'.

Which in a way is good for anyone wanting to build a sustainable business and stay in the 'game' in the long run.

Brandon is Author of Multimedia Ebook "Marketing Rampage with Blogs and RSS". Learn how to leverage the power of blogs and rss feeds to drive more FREE targeted traffic, gain more leads and sales. Get Listed in Google and Yahoo for Free and save $299.

http://www.marketing-rampage-with-blogs-and-rss.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hong_Brandon

Twelve Steps to Higher Search Engine Placement

Recent studies suggest that more than 80% of new visitors to any web site get there as a result of a search engine query. If this study is to believed, it certainly suggests that working to get high rankings in the search engines might be the most effective thing you can do to bring traffic to your site.

The following 12 design tips will help you get started in optimizing your site's search engine placement.

1. Design for Specific Search Engines - there are hundreds of different search engines, but for best results you should design your site to take full advantage of the search criteria of the big three - Yahoo, Google and MSN. If you can get high rankings in these three, you won't need to worry about the other search engines. Knowing how these search engines rank sites (as well as why they will penalize a site) is important. The rules change often, but the tips below are the most current.

2. Know your target audience. Before you apply any of the tips below, do some research and find out what are the most likely key words and phrases your target audience will be searching for. In most cases, the key words or phrases won't be your site name, but will be something related to the solution to a specific problem or the answer to a specific question. Knowing the question that will be asked is half the battle.

3. Use Meta tags. By now just about everyone knows about Meta tags. These are commands you can place in the html on your web page to help the search engines categorize what your page is about. The two most important Meta Tags are 'Keyword' and 'Description'. The description Meta tag should describe what is on the particular page, and the keyword Meta tag should include the important key words from the page. Avoid using 'fluff' words and phrases as these will be ignored by the site.

Warning: If the keywords in the Meta keyword line are not found within the text on the web page, some search engines will penalize the page or simply not list it. This is done to prevent 'meta tag' spoofing.

My advice - have a different Meta description tag on every page. And be sure that keywords in the keyword tags are used on the page.

4. Optimize your Title tag. Many search engines give considerable weight to the html title tag on the page. It is the first element the search engine will scan and weight. Not including a title instantly reduces the search engine ranking your page will receive. When yo create a title tag, include keywords and write it to catch the attention of the users be scanning lengthy lists of titles in search engine results.

For higher ranking, make sure the title tag matches headline text on the page. And be sure to use a different title tag for each page on your site. (Pages with the same title tag will often be ignored.)

5. Use Keywords in page headlines. Page headlines are important - to your visitor as well as to search engines. Use short keyword phrases, including hot button words and phrases. Avoid 'fluff' and generic words.

My advice - use a strong headline on the page, and use the same headline in the title tag.

6. Use interesting text. Search engines actually count all the words on a webpage, then rank those words by frequency of use. The more often you use a word or phrase(up to a point), the higher you will rank with that word or phrase in the search engine. For that reason, be sure to include words or phrases that are likely to be searched for on your pages.

My advice - Keep your text short, on topic, and packed full of keywords. Avoid useless and meaningless words, and certain phrases that will place you in the penalty box.

7. Use the AlT tags on all images. Search engines are starting to index sites by the images found on the site. They accomplish this by looking at all the image tags on the page, and cataloging the ALT tags accompanying the image. Obviously if you don't use the ALT tag, then images on your site won't be properly cataloged. When using the alt tag, be sure to use a keyword or phrase describing the content of the image.

8. Use the Title tag on links. Search engines look at all text on the site, including the title tag on the links on your site. Most sites still don't use the link title tag, so when you do, you gain an advantage. The link title should be a short keyword or phrase.

My advice - Check out how the pages on my site have a left navigation menu filled with department names. I try to make these names keywords for my site, and the link to the departments all make use of the title tag. Doing it this way means that the search engine ranks the department names twice. Once as text, and again as a Link Title Tag.

9. Provide a Link Trail. Search engines coming to your site follow the links on the front page that lead into your site. These links should provide a 2 level trail to all pages on your site. If you don't provide a link trail, the search engines probably won't find all your pages. (And even if you do provide a 'link trail' - if you use the same title tag and Meta tags on your pages, the search engine may ignore all the pages beyond the first one.)

My advice - check out how every page on my site has a one click link trail to any department on the site. You are never more than two clicks away from any page. Plus every page has at least 30 different link trails (through the departments) making it easy for visitors as well as search engine spiders to move through the site.

10. Avoid the Penalty Box. Search engines are getting smarter every day, and they will penalize a site if it violates search engine rules. These rules include:

Keyword spoofing - using keywords not related to site content

Keyword spamming - pasting hundreds of copies of the keywords on the page just to get high ranking

Numerous doorway pages - using hundreds of index pages that do nothing but point to the site

Link Spamming - submitting links to the 500,000 link submission services

Page Redirects - not necessarily a major penalty, but can cause loss of ranking

Frames on Main Page - not necessarily a major penalty, but can cause loss of ranking

Flash Movie on Main Page - not necessarily a major penalty, but can cause loss of ranking

My advice: Keep in mind that search engines are intelligent software. When they visit a page they try to determine what the page is about, relying primarily on the titles, headlines, text, links, and images on the page. That's why it is important to focus on those elements, and avoid the ones that can put you in the penalty box.

11. Check for errors. Before you submit your page to the search engines, run the page through an html checker and a spelling checker. Search engines do check and take into consideration spelling and html errors, and will penalize a page that has too many of either.

My advice - take the time to do it right. If you get a poor ranking on a search engine it might be six weeks before the search engine comes back to re-rank you. Get it right before you submit to the search engines, and then keep it right so when the search engine returns, you will continue to get high rankings.

12. Manually submit the site. Don't be tempted to use an automatic site submission program. They don't work, and can get you penalized. Better to manually submit your site to the top search engines. Yahoo, Google, MSN.

My advice - Start with Google.com, then yahoo.com, and then MSN.com. Each has a place to register your site with their search engine.

This may seem a lot of work, but if you do it right and get high rankings, it will pay off.

Craige Stacey has been studying search engines optimization as a hobby and has achieved some very good search engine positions in the past for PublisherGate - membership website software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craige_Stacey

SEO and Directories

If you are a webmaster, then you've probably submitted your website to several directories, you may even run one yourself. There are thousands and thousands of directories out there on the net and they all have their advantages and disadvantages. Good webmasters need to be able to evaluate these differences to assess what directories will be worth the time, effort and money to submit to.

Traffic

While all webmasters would like more traffic, and often have the goal of obtaining more visitors from directory submissions, the truth of the matter is that most directories don't bring in very many visitors. Even DMOZ, one of the largest and most popular directories on the web, brings in few surfers for many sites listed there. And other directories that spend several thousand dollars each month on advertising may only bring a few visitors.

Now don't get me wrong, sites in popular directories listed in a good spot near the top of popular categories many indeed see a nice amount of visitors, but this is the exception rather than the rule. But even one visitor a month is better than none.

SEO

The top search engines build rankings to a lesser degree based from on-page factors, like how many times your keyword appears on your page, or if the keyword is used with bolding, italics, H1 or H2 tags, etc. To a larger degree, search engines rank pages based on what the rest of the web has to say about them. This means that links to your website count as positive votes, and the anchor text in these links helps categorize the content of your page. If the rest of the web says a webpage is about a "miserable failure", search engines will take that strongly into consideration, regardless of what the webpage in question says it is about.

The main point being that directories provide webmasters with a way to vote for their own website by getting a new link. With respect to categorization, the downside with most directories is that instead of linking to your site with your keyphrase as the anchor text, they link to your site through the title which only provides some categorization depending on the title. Worse, directories sometime use the URL as the anchor text which provides no categorization benefit at all. But the absolute worst way that a directory can link out to your site is through a tracking-script URL which allows the directory software to count hits to your site, but provides no SEO benefit at all. The ideal case would be a directory that used a direct link with your selected keyphrase as the anchor text, but this is very rare.

One final SEO factor to consider, is the difference between floating text links and links that are naturally embedded within content. Search engines understand that natural in-content links may provide more accurate anchor text, and that floating links are often used with links purchased for SEO benefit. If you can get your anchor text link from within surrounding content text, that is the ideal case.

Saturation

Another factor to look at is the saturation of a directory. This simply means how full is the directory, or targeted subcategory, with other websites. If you take Google PageRank into consideration the idea of a link as a vote, as discussed above, becomes more complex. Really each page has a certain varying amount of voting power (PageRank), and this voting power is divided between all the links on the page. In practice, this means that if a link to your site is the only one on the page, it will get the most benefit as it gets the full voting power possible from the page. This is rarely the case, as there are usually multiple directory entries which all share the PageRank. If the directory has grown to 100s of links per category it has reached the saturation point and the benefit of being listed is diminished. So, the best time to get into a good new directory is at the beginning!

Free vs. Paid

Some directories are free, some require a reciprocal link and some require a onetime payment or a recurring payment. Yahoo's directory, for example, requires a recurring annual payment of $299. DMOZ is free, but many sites wait for years to be listed. One of the advantages of paid directories, is that the fact that they are not free, slows down the submissions, which in turn slows down the saturation of the directory. This factor can make a purchased directory entry a very worthwhile investment, these directories are often of higher quality as well, which makes them a better resource for users, which can make them a better source of traffic than junky free directories.

One thing to note here, is that you definately want to avoid FFA link pages. Free-for-all link pages are typically uncategorized lists of links that often require no administrative review for submission, this results in a spammy, uncategorized, saturated list of links that you really don't want to be associated with. So, in summary, take avantage of the quality free directories, but don't write off the paid directories if you are seeking to gain high quality backlinks.

Introducing SEOMA

Now that you are aware of some considerations for selecting directories to submit to, I'd like to introduce you to a new directory you may be interested in. SEOMA was designed from the ground-up to maximize the SEO benefit for listed sites. While most directories ask for just your URL, Title and Description, SEOMA also requests your desired anchor text. This anchor text is used exclusively to link out to your site, maximizing the benefit of the new backlink. And another optimized feature of SEOMA, is that if your anchor text appears within your description, it will automatically be hyperlinked on the custom detail page which is provided in addition to the standard directory listing. Your link will be the only outbound link on this page. So, you get a custom anchor text link from an on-topic category page, plus another custom anchor text link from a dedicated detail page for at least two outbound links per site.

Visit SEOMA

Mark is the creator of many popular websites including Money Talk and SEOMA.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Steadham

"How To Write Effective And Unique Articles That Are Optimized for the Search Engines"

It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and posting articles to various location on the web is an extremely effective way to generate targeted traffic and establish yourself as an experienced marketer in your field. Unique articles that help solve the reader's problems, assists the reader in advancing their marketing acumen, or otherwise generally inform tend to stay posted on many web sites throughout the Internet and usually generate targeted traffic for the writer.

In order to further maximize the benefits of writing and posting unique articles, it makes good business sense to optimize the articles so the search engines list the URL's associated with those articles on search engine results pages (SERP's). Ideally, you'd like to see your article URL on the 1st page of the SERP's so you can capitalize on the free and targeted traffic from these listings.

So, what type of strategy can be utilized to optimize your articles for the search engines?

There's quite a few different ways but here are some tactics that you may want to use:

Article optimization tactic 1: Choose keywords that complement your USP and name your article page accordingly.

When choosing keywords that will be the central theme of your article, it is necessary to define what your article will be about, who the information in the article will benefit, and how it will tie into your USP before choosing your keywords. After you've thought through this, then come up with a list of keywords that will be suitable as the central them of the article.

Next, decide which keywords you will center your article around based on the number of searches that keyword gets per day and by assessing how much competition there is for that keyword phrase. Once you have chosen your keyword phrase for the article, name your page.

Example: If 'green widgets' is the keyword you wish to base your article on, you may want to name your web page 'greenwdgets.htm' or 'greenwdgets.html' or 'greenwdgets.shtml'.

Article optimization tactic 2: Utilize keyword in the title tag. Utilize your keywords that you've chosen for your article in the title tag of the web page.

Example:

Article optimization tactic 3: Utilize keyword in headline tags. Using keywords in headline tags will increase rankings of your web pages.

Ideally you would use the keywords as the headline, but usually this doesn't look natural.

Keep the h tags before and after the entire headline.

Example:

Green widgets: We have the most affordable and powerful green widget available anywhere, guaranteed!

Article optimization tactic 4: Utilize keywords in the 1st sentence of the initial paragraph.

This an easily be accomplished and still make the paragraph read well and in a natural sounding tone if read back. Remember that you want your reader to feel like they are being talked with not "at" and you want your reader to not realize that your placement of your keyword phrases might be planned.

Article optimization tactic 5: Utilize keywords in text with appropriate keyword density. After you write your article, you can easily edit to try to obtain the best keyword density for the search engines you'd like to target.

Google's optimum keyword density is between 1.5% to 2.5% keyword density at the time of this writing.

Once you have the article written you can use GoRank's keyword optimization tool (http://www.gorank.com/seotools/) to check what the keyword density is of the text of the article so you can edit accordingly.

Remember, you don't want to 'stuff' the page with your chosen and targeted keyword phrase but you do want to make sure that you utilize your keywords when you can up to the required amount for the desired keyword density.

Article optimization tactic 6: Bold or italicize keywords in text. When bolding and italicizing your keywords in your articles, it isn't necessary to bold and/or italicize every keyword phrase. When the reader comes across bolded and italicized words they add emphasis to the text at the time they read those words. So you should use your best judgment as to what looks right and 'reads' right when you edit your article.

One key item to remember to write naturally so you get your message across in a human manner.

You want the reader to click to your link at the end or in the body of the article and the more human and conversational your article comes across, the more likely that the reader will travel to the URL you'd like them to see. Some marketers write their articles without search engine optimization in mind and then go back and edit them for the search engines.

After your article is optimized, do all you can to get it posted to other web sites so the number of relevant links pointing to that article is heightened. If you get your article posted to some of the heavier web sites that post articles and have the correct categories where your article will fit, the faster your article URL will get indexed by the search engines.

Karl Augustine SEO Enthusiast Starting An Online Business FREE e-series, "Traffic Tips" FREE traffic tips Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karl_Augustine

Work With The Search Engines - Don't try to Outsmart the Search Engines

Contrary to the claims of high-priced SEO firms, optimizing your web site for search engines is not brain surgery. But you must first accept the fact that "spiders" - the search engine programs that read web pages - run away from non-HTML code. This is why the first thing any SEO expert does - before researching keywords or rewriting your copy - is look at your web site code.

If your web pages are full of Javascript, graphical navigation buttons, Flash animation, and other glitzy stuff, your odds of ranking high in the search engines sink like a stone. The spiders may never even find your site, let alone start adding your pages to their search results.

You say you just can't give up those cool Javascript menus or that glitzy Flash intro? Then be prepared to get shunned by the search engines. Spiders are good at only two things: reading basic HTML and finding text. If your sites throw obstacles in their path, resign yourself to obscurity - and poverty!

The most important SEO secret you will ever grasp is incredibly simple. Your web site must be built so spiders can read your text. The text is where the gold is. This means no Flash animations. Your HTML must be plain and clean. Your graphics must be kept to a minimum. And links should always be text - not Javascript buttons or drop-down menus.

Millions of dollars are wasted trying to outfox the search engines. People everywhere scramble from gimmick to gimmick to be #1 for a general search term like "weight loss." Sometimes they even manage to do it - for about 10 minutes. Then one little tweak by Google ... and they're back to #8,734.

The lesson? Neither you, nor any analytical tool, nor any automatic site submission service, nor any SEO guru, can manipulate Google for long! Google employs too many brilliant engineers. Their minds collectively focus on one task - to make Google results as relevant as possible. These people invent Google's algorithm - a mathematical formula that decides your rank.

The algorithm is impartial. The algorithm is complex. The algorithm - not a human being - decides your page rank. Given the millions of web sites on "weight loss," your odds of outsmarting the algorithm to get a #1 spot are ludicrously small. So instead of spending money on SEO gimmicks, invest in educating yourself so you can work harmoniously WITH the search engines.

Instead of trying to manipulate the search engines, build a site that doesn't FIGHT them. Avoid questionable gimmicks, but embrace search engine friendly techniques to get yourself ranked high for almost any keyword you wish. For more information visit DominateSearchEngines. Focus on strategies that help you save time, add real value to your site, and are designed to work hand in hand with the search engines.

Don't try to outsmart the search engines. Work WITH them, not against them.

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Kusuma Widjaja is President of Yahoo Cyber Technology, CV., based in Surabaya. He has over 2 years experience in Internet Marketing Arena, Custom Web Site Design and Graphic Design Services. For more information go to http://www.whycity.net or you can reach us at +62-8315-838474.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kusuma_Widjaja

Optimize your Search Engine Placement Five Easy Ways

If you are like me, you created web site metatags with the help of your Web master. Maybe like me, you didn't spend time or money submitting to search engines because you weren't techie enough.

Now you can optimize your search engine placement these five easy, non-techie ways. My Web site is now # 1 in Google.com and others. If you are in the top ten listings in your category (mine was book coaching) you are in good shape. This placement has put my web site URL on 4700 other sites with a link back to mine. With targeted viral marketing my sales are 30 times what I started with each month--now over $4500.

Here's Five Ways to Get Search Engines to Boost your Ratings:

1. Makeover your signature file that goes out with every email you send. Include your fre.e report or ezine offer, your email, URL, and phone numbers plus a line with your product or service name on it. See more on this in my fre.e article "Top Ten Things to Do to Make your Signature File Sell" at www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article124.shtml.

2. Submit short articles to dozens of opt-in ezines who need content daily. Make a special offer in each signature file that relates to your article. Through a hyperlink, offer a free ezine with a free report by autoresponder. To get started, go to www.yahoogroups.com and subscribe to one of the opt-in ezines (no spam).

3. Rewrite your best list of key words and phrases you used for your Web site. Incorporate them into your excellent, well-edited short articles or tips. For more information go to www.goodkeywords.com or see my special fre.e report "Know Which Key Words Will Bring Targeted Visitors to your Web Site" at www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article-47.shtml

4. Submit to top Web sites looking for new content.. They want and need your information, because that is why people visit any site--for free information. Follow directions for each site. Many want a list of key words and a description. Others require your article by autoresponder. Four years ago, my URL was on 987 other Web sites. Today it's on 4700. Amazing viral marketing!

5. Makeover your Web home page. Place those top key words and phrases in the top half of this page and in the links you list along the bottom or side of your page. Search engines pick up these and you receive a higher placement. For instance, my top key words include: book coaching, eBook, ePublishing, self-publishing, Online promotion, Web copywriting, Free Publicity.

Yes, you can buy key words and put paid ads in Google and Overture, but when I tried that I got almost 0 results and spent a lot of money. The above ways to boost your search engine placement are totally free. It's a building process this viral marketing, but if you are willing to stay a while, you'll get money results as well as becoming well known and trusted for your product or service.

Judy Cullins ©2004 All Rights Reserved.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people's lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," "How to Market your Business on the Internet," and "Create your Web Site With Marketing Pizzazz," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, "The Book Coach Says..." and "Business Tip of the Month" at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 155 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Judy_Cullins

Search Engine Copywriting: Focus on One Topic

Perhaps the simplest of all the lessons I have learned about writing for search engines is to keep my pages simple. That is to say, whether I am thinking about my readers or about Google, there is a huge advantage to keeping most of your pages confined to a single topic.

There are three approaches I take to the creation of a page, and each has a significant impact on how high the listing for that page appears on Google.

>> #1 – When I don’t think about Google and cover multiple topics.

There are times when a page is put up simply for the benefit of my readers and, for one reason or another, covers a number of different topics.

A simple example of this would be a page in the Excess Voice newsletter archives. I archive all issues, so visitors can browse their way through previous articles and reviews.

From Google’s point of view, these pages are very unfocused. A particular newsletter might include an article on one subject, a review on another and reader feedback on yet another. As a result, Google sees a mix of unrelated topics, gives a digital shrug, and rewards me with a horrible listing across a variety of keywords and phrases.

>> #2 – When I do think about Google and cover multiple topics.

Let’s say I am reviewing a service of a fairly general nature. As an example, we’ll pick a site that offers a variety of marketing services for companies online. My review may cover search engine optimization, newsletters, buying AdWords, buying newsletter ads and banners.

In other words, by the nature of the services being offered, my review tackles a number of different topics. However, I’d like to get some Google traffic to that page, so I might even use WordTracker to find some good key phrases. Then I’ll include that phrase in the page title, meta tags and in the headings and text.

Will that help me? Probably not. The problem is that Google will find my key phrase, take a peek at my text for related phrases, but then find a whole bunch of unrelated topics. The result? Page 10 on Google for my key phrase.

>> #3 – When I hardly think of Google at all, but focus on just one topic.

This is when I deliberately confine my page to a single topic. Sometimes I give very little, if any thought to keywords or Google. I simply write a good page on a single topic. I write for the reader.

What happens? Quite naturally, I will find that my page title, meta tags, headlines, subheads and text all include a logical key word or phrase, and the text is filled, quite naturally, with related phrases.

Will this page do well on Google? That depends. If the topic is very general, like ‘advertising’, then probably not. But if the topic is more focused, within a smaller niche, like ‘advertising in German ezines’, then I’ll probably do very well indeed.

>> Concluding thoughts

A lot of the time, trying to get a high listing simply by packing in keywords and phrases will do you very little good.

If I have learned one thing over the last few years, it is that if I want a high listing, I need to do just one thing:

- Write a simple, focused page on a single, niche topic

On top of that, if you use WordTracker or a similar tool to find a relevant and strong, high demand/low supply key phrase, you’ll do even better.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocate of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his Excess Voice site. You'll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his Freelance Writing Success site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Usborne

Using Blogs for SEO

Why Start A Blog?

I knew about blogging and blogs for years before I actually started my first blog... So this begs the question... "Why did it take me over 4 years to start my 1st blog?"

Well, why would I want a blog? After all, blogs are just for geeks, self opinionated left or right wing zealots pushing some obscure political agenda, teenage school kids waffling on about their zits and boyfriends or technical journals full of terms and jargon only a rocket scientist could understand.

And I never bothered with blogs or the development of the "blogosphere" again.

Then something changed the way I viewed blogging about July 2004. I was introduced to using a blog as a tool for SEO - Search Engine Optimization. In the crudest form it was almost spamming, but done properly, it will get your website pages spidered almost immediately and indexed in less than a week.

Blog and Ping

The crude method involved first setting up both a blogger (.blogspot) blog and a free myYahoo page. You add the RSS or Atom link from your blog to your myYahoo page, so that your blog feeds into your myYahoo website.

You then write a page into your blog with links to webpages that you want Google and Yahoo to find and index. After posting your new blog entry, you then ping your myYahoo page to tell it that there's a new entry at your blog. Then you go to Yahoo, open your myYahoo page, and the blog headline should be there.

The assumption is that Yahoo would spider all feeds going into it's myYahoo pages and because Google owns Blogger.com they would spider all new blog entries at Blogger.com ... and in fact this is indeed what happens. Start a blog, add entry's to it every day, and in less than a week it will be spidered as soon almost as you post to it. But you must post daily.

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Russell Savige is the owner of SEO-easy SEO-easy publishes the latest Search Engine Optimization techniques as they become available.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Russell_Savige

The First Search Engine Marketing Method: Content That Meets Customers' Needs

For your business web site, good search engine rankings and high user traffic depend on relevant content. More user traffic will mean more sales leads and then more sales. Beyond any technical tricks, content that meets the users' need for three types of information is the best guarantee that search engines and users will find your site. The Google and Yahoo page rankings favor sites that have articles of about 1000 words and that use keywords relevant to the user's search.

Once they find your site with a search engine, web users spend more time on sites where their needs are met. To understand why users come back to content rich sites, lets look at the ways that a successful website, like DVInfo, fills the three most important information needs of the website user.

The DVInfo.net online community boasts over thirteen thousand members and a quarter million posts. What makes users of DVInfo Community come back to the site on a regular basis? The users come back for relevant content that meets their needs.

Here everyone from Hollywood cameramen to new DV camera owners in Alaska meet to discuss digital video. Online communities can build powerful loyalty in users. Some unpaid users at DVInfo.net are posting their stories and answering other forum user's questions nearly every day. What would happen to your sales if users were so loyal to your brand and your web site that they showed up every day to read new content?

At the Digital Video website (DVInfo.net), the presence of experienced video creators who can offer detailed explanations gives the site credibility. In this forum a rookie video camera user can learn from an experienced Director of Photography like Charles Papert, who has worked on TV shows like "The West Wing" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Because of its highly relevant content and numerous links from other Digital Video content sites, the DVInfo.net site has a Google page rank of 6 out of 10.

For your business web site, the presence of reliable, helpful content builds the user's confidence that they can trust your business. Reliable content and links from other relevant content sites also build the page rank of your business web site.

Now let's look at what this means to a business web site that also wants to build more user traffic. Users have three major tasks they perform when using a content rich site like DVInfo.net Community or your business website.

Customer Need 1: Learn Enough About the Topic to Identify Needs

How does a new video camera user approach the DV INFO web site? A beginning video camera user may not even realize that the video he shoots can be edited to remove bad video shots, or tell a story. The new video camera user reads about the way more experienced users shoot video and edit video. Gradually he realizes that he can do more than just shoot home movies. He begins to want a PC that can edit his video. He learns because the web site community has rich content.

At first, your business web site customer may not even know he has a need for your service, or may not understand that need. Your website content should first focus on helping people understand their need without pushing a particular product at this point.

Customer Need 2: Learn About Alternative Solutions

Next, the DV INFO user studies the different ways to edit video. Should he get a PC or a Mac? He learns about video edit software by reading about other users and their experience with different brands of edit software.

During this middle stage, web site customers look for possible solutions and then narrow these down to make a decision. Website users need both rational and emotional reasons to make their decision, but content at this stage generally shows the benefits of a solution or compares it to other solutions. Many websites focus on the rational, technical description of a solution, although a study of Amazon.com's product reviews found that the more subjective product reviews were as helpful to customers as the more objective reviews. This testimonial-style content helps alleviate fear and lets customers learn from other peoples' experience with your product.

Commercial web sites, like Amazon.com, have User Reviews to allow purchasers to see how others liked a certain book. This reduces the customer's fear of the unknown. The buyer at Amazon.com feels more confident buying a book about cave exploring, by Michael Ray Taylor, if 30 other users also liked the book. Good reviews or testimonials on a business web site overcome the buyer's fear of the unknown.

Customer Need 3: Choose the Best Solution and Feel Comfortable

The DV INFO user settles on 1 or 2 video edit solutions and needs to learn more. If other users write about good experiences with the same hardware and software choice, the aspiring video editor starts to feel more comfortable. Especially if the cost is great, the good experiences of others reduce the user's fear about making the wrong choice.

Finally, your business website customer chooses a solution, by purchasing a product, or choosing a service. Content at this stage helps people learn about their chosen solution and adapt to working with it. Technical support or sharing experiences and advice with other people who have also chosen this solution can help the customer use the product successfully. Good content at this stage strengthens the relationship with customers. This stage is ongoing and sometimes leads to more questions. This may mean additional sales for your web site.

This understanding of content could be the guiding force in creating different parts of your web site. Your website selling business services could have a web page that educates clients about the different problems that they may have in their business. Your second web page could offer several possible solutions to these problems. Finally, you could build consumer confidence in your services by showing user testimonials or case studies.

By writing your website content from these three client viewpoints your web site meets the three most crucial information needs of clients. This is the first step to earning good Search Engine rankings for relevant content.

Ed Hill does Search Engine Marketing and website promotion using PR methods. He works mainly with businesses, PR firms and web design firms. Learn how search engine marketing can drive more traffic to your business website: http://www.edhillpr.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ed_Hill