Copyright©2013Mr.MatthewDavidsonAllrightsreserved.ISBN:061567660XISBN13:9780615676609

eBookISBN:978-1-62345-612-2

TableofContents

ForewordIntroductionChapter1WhySearchEnginesMatterandWhattoDoAboutItChapter2NotAllSearchTermsAreCreatedEqualChapter3WebsiteSuccessinExcessChapter4LinkingUp:SafetyinNumbersChapter5LocalizeIt:Location,Location,LocationChapter6TheUniqueContentUniverseChapter7ISpyaCompetitiveAdvantageChapter8GettingSocialWinsYouFriendsChapter9DirectorySubmit,Rinse,RepeatChapter10GettingBloggedDownChapter11ReportCard:AforEffort

Chapter12TheStep-by-StepSEOMethodConclusionGoForthandTaketheSearchEnginesbyStormGlossaryofEssentialSEOTermsAbouttheAuthorAcknowledgments

Foreword

Asyoureadthisbookandcometounderstandthespecificactivitiesrequiredtotakethesuccessofyourwebsiteintoyourownhands,Istronglyencourageyouto visit me at www.stepbystepseobook.com and sign up for my monthlynewsletter.Atvarious timeswhileyouworkonyoursearchenginepresence, Iwill provide you with additional tips, tricks, resources, and the occasionaldiscount for top-rated SEO tools, which will help you expedite your searchengineeffortsand,asaresult,onlinesuccess.

WhyIWroteThisBookIhaveworked insearchenginemarketingforoveradecade. In that time, I’veattendeddozensofconferences,workedwithhundredsofadvertisers,andreadthousandsofarticleson the topicofsearchengineoptimization.After learningabout the potential impact search engine optimization can have on businesssuccess,Imadeitmypersonalgoaltolearnhowtoeffectivelyoptimizewebsitesforstrongsearchengineplacement.

However, as I set about learning the process of getting to that magicalpositionatthetopofthesearchengines,IwasfrustratedatthelackofspecificinformationavailableonhowIcouldimprovemysearchenginevisibility.Therewerealotofbuzzwordsandtips,butnothingIfoundusefulforapplyingspecificstrategiestomyeverydayefforts.Thus,afteryearsoftrialanderror,Idecidedtowriteabookprovidingtheexactprocessandresourcesutilizedbyprofessionalssuch as myself.With this book, now anyone can succeed with search engineoptimizationandenjoyincreasedonlinetrafficandvisibilityasaresult.

Introduction

Step-by-StepSEOMethodThegoalwiththeStep-by-StepSEOMethodis toprovideyouwithaconcreteplan, thingsyoucando today tobegin increasingyour searchengine rankingsand improvingyouronlinebusiness.Rather thanpresentabunchofhigh-levelrecommendations, thisbook isdesigned toprovideyouwithaneasy-to-followaction plan that you can implement to start increasing your search enginerankingsimmediately.

HowThisBookIsOrganizedThisbook is structured toprovideyouwithabreakdownof each strategyandhow to apply it to your own search engine optimization efforts. Each chapterprovides detailed recommendations for tools, resources, and processes tocompletethesetasks.Attheendofthebook,thereisaspecificactionplanyoumay reference weekly as you continue to work on your search engineoptimizationprogram.Istronglyencourageyoutoreadtheentirebookfirstandthengobackandimplementeachareaoutlined.

AfterreadingStep-by-StepSEO,youwillbewellonyourwaytobecominga knowledgeable search engine marketer who can tremendously impact theamountoftrafficandbusinessyouareabletodriveonline.

IhopeyouenjoyreadingthisbookasmuchasIhaveenjoyedwritingit.

Chapter1

WhySearchEnginesMatterandWhattoDoAboutIt

Didyouknowthatover90percentoftheadultpopulationusesasearchengine?Were you aware that, other than e-mail, search is the most popular onlineactivity?DidyouhaveanyideathatGoogleprocessesovertwobillionsearchesevery single day?With statistics as staggering as these, is it anywonder thatsearchengineoptimizationhasbecomeamajorcomponentofimprovingonlinevisibility?Withthisbook,mygoalistohelpyouunderstandhowsearchenginesworkandhowyourwebsitecanbecomemorerelevantintheireyes.

So what exactly is search engine optimization (SEO) and why is it soimportant to anyone looking to attract online business? SEO is importantbecausesearchisimportant.

Consumersarechangingandsoaretheirpreferencesforhowtheywanttoengage with business. Potential customers are overwhelmed with advertisingcomingat them fromalldirections, suchasbillboards, radio, television,directmail, telemarketing, and more. This overabundance has resulted in a lowertoleranceforintrusiveadvertising.

That is why search engine optimization has become such a necessity inmodern-day advertising. Insteadof shoutingyourmessage at your prospectivecustomers,youcansitbackandletyourcustomersfindyouattheexactmomenttheyarelookingforwhatyouhavetooffer.

This could verywell be the reason that sales leads coming through SEOaverage a closing rate of 14.6 percent while outbound leads (such as printadvertisingordirectmail)averageaclosingrateofonly1.7percent,accordingto a study conducted by Search Engine Journal (a respected resource onadvertising). This same study found that 40 percent of SEO marketersinterviewedexperienceda returnon their investment inexcessof500percent.Justtakeasecondtothinkabouthowpowerfulthosekindsofadvertisingreturnscouldbeforanybusiness.

Search engineoptimization is all about traffic and location. If youownarestaurant,youwillfinditmostprofitabletobuildyourrestaurantinabusyareawith bustling foot traffic. Similarly, the most profitable websites appear at ornear the top of everyday popular searcheswithin themost active and biggestsearchengines.Getting to the topof thesearchengines is important.Websitesthatusesearchengineoptimizationtotargettheiraudiencehaverepeatvisitors,oftengetsharedsocially,andaremorelikelytoconvertnewcustomersonline.

Over the past decade, I have lived, breathed, and slept search enginemarketing, for I’m a believer. I’ve visited Google’s ridiculously extravagantheadquarters. I spent four years working atMicrosoft on its Bing.com searchengine.Forthepastthreeyears,IhavebeenrunninganSEOagencywhosesolefocusistogetwebsitestothatenviablepositionatthetopofthesearchengines.

I have personally witnessed countless situations in which high searchengine rankings have produced significant increases in business, phone calls,sales,andoverallbrandawareness.I’vebeenfortunatetoworkwithhundredsofindividuals, businesses, and organizations that have used search engineoptimizationontheirwebsitestoachieveincrediblesuccess.

Duringmy timeworking directly for a search engine, and laterwithmyown agency, I’ve assisted hundreds of businesses in building their client basethroughsearchengineexposure.IworkedwitharoofingcompanyinSeattlethatwanted to increase calls and landmore jobs during the raremonths in Seattlewhenitisn’training.IworkedwithacommunitybankinMontanathatneededtobuildbrandawarenessandopenmorecheckingandsavingsaccounts.Ievenworked with an Alaskan preservation group determined to help protect andrestore the wild salmon and trout population throughout the state—a worthycause,tobesure.Youknowwhattheyallhadincommon?Ineachcase,theseentities applied the strategies outlined in this book to reach their objectives.Although their aims andobjectiveswereverydifferent, theoutcomeswere allthesame:overwhelmingsuccessinreachingtheironlinegoals.

These are just some of the many cases I’ve witnessed where improvingsearch engine traffic has made the difference between a good attempt and a

successfulventure.Whetheryou’reestablishinganewbusiness,developinganexisting one, or simply trying to build awareness for a website or causeimportant to you, working with the search engines to improve your onlinevisibilitycouldabsolutelybethedeterminingfactorofyoursuccess.

Allow me to formally introduce myself. In 2006, Microsoft launchedadCenter,andIwasrecruitedtohelpadvertisersmarketthemselvesthroughthisnewpaidsearchplatform.Overthenextfouryears,Iexperiencedanevolutionofsmartersearchenginemarketing,thelaunchofBing.com,andanintegrationbetweenMicrosoftandYahoo!toincreasesearchenginedominance.

AtthebeginningoftheYahoo!integration,IleftMicrosofttostartmyownsearchengineagency.AtSovoMedia,myprimaryfocushasbeenworkingwithbusiness owners tomeet their online goals, and as such, I’ve been exposed tohundredsofopportunities todrive increasedsearchenginerankings.While theonlyguaranteesinlifearedeathandtaxes,anditistruethateventhebestSEOprofessionalsaren’tsuccessful100percentofthetime,IwillsaythatIhavehadaconsistent track recordof success. In thisbook, I’ll reveal theexactprocess,techniques,andtoolsIusetoachievethesetypesofresults.

Myintentwiththisbookistogiveyouthetoolsandresourcesyouneedtoapply these same techniques and to experience similar success.What can youexpectbyincreasingyoursearchenginerankings?Successonthesearchenginestypically leads to increased web traffic and visibility, a spike in interestedvisitors to your website, and the resulting benefit of more awareness, phonecalls,andonlinesalesthroughyourwebpresence.

Beforewegetstarted, Iwould like to introduceaquickhistory lesson. In1996, two Stanford classmates had a vision to organize all of the informationfound on the web in a relevant and manageable way. To say that this was achallengingtaskisanunderstatement.BillionsofwebpageswithinformationoneveryimaginabletopiccanbefoundontheInternet today.Andtheplacemostpeople now visit when searching for information? Google—the brainchild ofthosetwoStanfordclassmates.

Throughoutthisbook,I’lldiscussthestrategiesIusetogetwebsitesrankedon search engines like Google for the search terms most relevant for theirproducts and services.Within this book, I primarily refer to strategies gearedtoward positively impactingGoogle searches, sinceGoogle currently accountsforaround70percentofall searchengine traffic.Plus,whenyouoptimizeforGoogle,youwilltypicallyexperienceincreasesontherestofthesearchenginesaswell.

As a reference, here is a current breakdown of search engine traffic byindividualsearchengine:

SearchEngineMarketShareReport

Source: comScore - a global leader in measuring the digital world andmarketingintelligence.

While Ioften refer toGoogle,pleasenote that these tacticswill typicallyassist with increased exposure across all of the search engines. However, it’smuch easier to focus your attention specifically on Google given the searchmarketshareitcurrentlyenjoys.

Mygoalwith thisbook isn’t tohelpyoubeat the system. In fact, it’s theopposite.Iwanttohelpyoufigureoutthebestwaytomakethesearchenginesunderstandwhatyoursiteisaboutandwhytheyshouldgiveyoupriorityforthesearchtermsyoudeemimportant.Byworkingwiththesearchengines,youcandrivesignificantlymoretraffictoyourwebsiteandcreateabetterexperienceforthesearcheraswell. It’sawin-winsituation: thesearchenginesprovidebetterinformation to their users, while you getmore traffic to your site. Andwheneverybodywins,it’sagoodday!

Search engine optimization has acquired a negative perception over theyears.SomepeopleseeSEOastryingtotrickandmanipulatethesearchenginesintogivingtheirsitespreferentialtreatment.I’llletyouinonasecret.Thesearchengineswantyoutodooptimization—becauseitmakestheirsearchesbetter.Asearch engine’s business is built on offering searchers relevant information.Whenyoumakeyourinformationmorerelevanttosearchers,thesearchenginesbenefitand,moreimportantly,sodoyou.

Let’sbeginwithwhysearchenginesmatter.Asmentionedearlier,over90percentoftheadultpopulationusessearchenginestofindinformation.Itseemsthat Internet users have become preconditioned to go to a search engine first.Manyhavesetasearchengineastheirdefaulthomepage.Infact,manyInternetuserswillgotoasearchenginetofindasiteevenwhentheyalreadyknowthenameofthesitethey’retryingtolocate!

TakealookatthisrecentdatafromthePewResearchCenter:

Source:ThePewResearchCenter’sInternet&AmericanLifeProject,April26–May22,2011trackingsurvey.

Asyoucansee,gettingrankedonsearchengineshasbecomesomethingofa necessity. By getting ranked, I’m referring to the process of having yourwebsiteshowuponthesearchenginesforsearchtermsrelevanttoyoursite.

Unfortunately,howtogetrankedhasprovenextremelyconfusingformanywebsite owners. But it doesn’t have to be some unknown black hole. CarefulconsiderationgoesintoGoogle’ssearchengineplacement,anddiscoveringhowthosedecisionsaremadecanmakeallthedifference.

Searchengines are continuously crawling thewebwhile seekingoutnewpages and content.They aren’t overly sophisticated, as they can read text andlinksbutnotmuchelse.Whenyouconduct a search, the results aredisplayedalmost magically, but a lot is happening behind the scenes. In this book, I’ll

uncover thesemysteriesso thatanyonewhowants tobefoundonGooglewillhaveanopportunitytodoso.

When I startedmyagency, I did extensive research,went to conferences,madefriendswithothersearchenginemarketingfirms,andspentatremendousamountof timeandmoney to trulyunderstandhowandwhat itmeans to rankhighlyonthesearchengines.

What I share in this book isn’t some random theory about why searchengines give preference to some websites over others. It isn’t meant to be ageneraloutlineofwhattolookoutfor.Itwasbornoutofreal-worldresultsandis designed to be a concise, easy-to-implement process that, if followeddiligently,shouldhelpyougarnerbetterresultsonthesearchengines.Again,asa word of caution, nothing is ever guaranteed in the world of search engineoptimization, as any SEO professional can attest. That being said, you reallyhavenothingtolosebyimplementingthestrategiesoutlinedinthisbook.

Chapter2

NotAllSearchTermsAreCreatedEqual

Whenselectingwhichsearchterms,alsoknownaskeywords,youwanttorankhighly for, there are three important factors to consider: which keywords aremost relevant foryour site,whichkeywordshave lowcompetition, andwhichkeywordshavehighsearchvolume.Formulaforkeywordresearch:

LowCompetition+

HighSearchVolume+

HighVisitorValue=

ReachingSearchersSuccessfullyTodiscernwhichkeywordsmakethemostsensetooptimizeforyoursite,

here isa4-stepprocess to identify thebestkeywords to targetwithyourSEOefforts.

Step1) Put together a list of keywords you think someonewould use to findyou.

Step 2) Go to the Google Keyword Tool here:https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool and type in the list of keywordsyoucameupwith.Thenonceyou’veenteredthetargetsearchterms,clickonthesearchbutton to reveal a listof related termsand their correspondingmonthlytrafficvolumes.SometimesGooglewill change the link for this tool so ifyouhave difficulty getting this link towork, just do aGoogle search for “GoogleKeywordTool.”Thistoolisfreeanddoesagreatjobofrecommendingpotentialsearchterms.

Step3)DownloadallofthekeywordsintoanExcelspreadsheetbyclickingonthedownloadbutton.

Step 4) In your new Excel file, do a data sort of keywords with the highesttraffic.Tosortthedata,you’llhavetogotothedatatabatthetopandclicksort.Ifyou’rehavingdifficulties,doaGooglesearchforsortingdatainExcel.Ensurethatyousortfirstbykeywordswiththehighestmonthlytrafficvolumes.

Onceyou’vedoneallofthis,selectfivetotenkeywordstowardthetopofthelistthatyouthinkaremostrelevanttoyourwebsite.

Nowthatyouhaveyourinitialsearchterms,wewillwanttodeterminehowmuchcompetitiontherewillbeforthesekeywords.TheGoogleKeywordToolwillprovideitsowncompetitionestimatewhenyoudownloadthefile.However,youshouldbeawarethatthisestimatereferstothelevelofcompetitiononthepaidsearchsideandisn’tatruereflectionofhowcompetitiveasearchtermwillbewhenattemptingtooptimizeyourwebsitefororganicrankings.

Google gives priority to sites that are seen as authoritative, have beenaround a long time, and are consistently creating and publishing usefulinformation for their users. Therefore, if you do a search on your targetkeywordsandseeabunchofsitesappearthatadherecloselytothatdescription—suchasWikipediaor theNewYorkTimes—it’s going to beverydifficult tomakeprogresswitheventhebeststrategiesinplace.

Whendeterminingsearchtermcompetition, thereareplentyofgreatSEOtoolsoutonthemarket.OnethatItendtousequiteabitandhighlyrecommendisMoz (www.moz.com)While this tool does cost somemoney,Moz offers afree thirty-day trial. This Seattle-based software company has acquired aparticularly strong reputation in the SEO space and they have a very activecommunitythat’salwayshappytoanswerSEO-relatedquestions.Thissoftwarewillhelpyouidentifyopportunities,whilethecommunitywillputyouintouchwithexperiencedprofessionalswhocananswerquestionsandprovide insightsintoSEO.IfyoudodecidetouseMozonanongoingbasis,you’llonlyneedthe

minimum level of service, currently $100/month. Though, as mentioned, thecompanydoesofferafreeone-monthtrial ifyouwant toexplore their toolsetbeforemakinganytypeofcommitment.Alsoimportanttonote,youdonothavetobeapayingmemberofMoztobenefitfromtheinformationavailableontheirblog. So feel free to check out their blog at any point if you have specificquestionsaboutSEOorsimplywanttocheckoutwhat’snewintheindustry.

Beforegoingany further, it’s important tounderstand that thereare somegreatSEOtoolsouttheretohelpyoureachyouronlinegoals.WhileMozisoneof themore prominent resources featured throughout this book,my goal is toshowcase thevalue that tools like thiscanbring to the tablewhenworkingonyour search engine presence. Later in this book, there will be other toolsmentionedthatprovidesimilarfeaturestoMoz.Iwanttogiveyousomeinsightsintowhatthesetoolscandoforyouandthengiveyoutheabilitytogooutandfindthetoolsthatwillworkbestforyourpurposes.

With regard to theseSEO tools, the strategiesoutlined in thisbookcouldabsolutelybedoneforfree,withouthavingtospendanymoneyonsoftwareortools. If youwould like to research keyword competitivenesswith a tool thatoffers a free version, you can utilize WebSEO Analytics here:http://www.webseoanalytics.com/free/seo-tools/keyword-difficulty.php.

ThesoftwaretoolsthatIhighlightthroughoutthisbookaredesignedtohelpwiththeseSEOactivitieswhilespeedingthingsup.However,youshouldneverspendmoneyonanythingrelatedtosearchengineoptimizationunlessyoucanafforditandfeelyouwillreceiveafuturepaybackfromyourinvestment.Withthisinmind,let’scontinuewithourSEOkeywordresearch.

Onceyouhaveanideaaboutwhichsearchtermsyouwanttotargetbasedonrelevancyandpotentialtraffic,gototheKeywordAnalysistoolinMozorthefreetoolatWebSEOAnalytics.

OnceattheKeywordAnalysistool,you’regoingtoinputthesearchtermstogetanideaofhowcompetitivetheyareonthemajorsearchenginessothatyouwillgetsomeideaaroundcompetitionlevelssuchasthis:

Thedifficultyscoretakesintoaccounttheauthorityandpagerankofsitesthatarecurrentlyenjoyingstrongrankingsforour targetedsearchterms,alongwith howmany websites are going after the same keywords and a few otheradditionalfactors.Inmyopinion,anysearchtermthathasadifficultyscoreinthe low tomedium range should be okay to go after initially.WithMoz, thiswould be any termwith a competition score under 50. However, the lower asearch term’sscore, thebetter,as itwillbeeasier toget increasedrankings. Intheeventthatsomeofyourtargetedsearchtermsaretoocompetitive,itwouldbeadvisable tostartwithsomeof theothersearch termsfromyour initial list.Afterall, thegoal is to increaseyour search trafficasquicklyaspossible,andchoosingtherightsearchtermstotargetisakeyfactorinthisgoal.

Onceyou’vefound therightcombinationofsearch termsbasedon trafficpotential and overall competition, these will be the keywords we’ll targetinitiallywithoursearchengineoptimizationefforts.Thislistwillbeconstantlychangingasweobtain rankings,but this iswherewe’ll start.Onceyouobtainstrong rankings on your first set of keywords, repeat the process and go aftermoresearchterms!

To go a step further, another useful tool for identifying potential searchtermsisSpyFu.Thiscompanycanprovideinvaluablecompetitiveinsight.Thereare both free and paid versions; the free versionwill bemore than ample foryourneedswhenitcomestokeywordevaluation.

First, navigate to spyfu.com and input a term you’re considering. Forexample,ifIwantedtoresearchtheterm“buyacar”onSpyFu,Iwouldreceivethefollowinginformationintheorganicsearchrankinganalysis:

Asyoucanseefromthissearch,Iwouldbeabletoidentifythetopwebsitescurrently ranking for the search term in question, the ranking increase ordecreasethateachofthesesiteshasrecentlyexperienced,thestrengthofdomainforeachof thesewebsites,and theestimatedclicks/month thateachwebsite isdrivingfromthesearchterminquestion.Thisispowerfulinformationthatcanalsobeusedtoidentifythesearchtermsthatmakethemostsensetotarget.

Ourmainfocuswiththistypeofresearchistofindtherightorganicsearchterms.Byorganicsearch terms, Imeansearch termsthatnaturallyrankon thesearchenginesasopposedtosearchtermsthathavebeenbought.WhenyoudoasearchonGoogle,you’ll typicallyseesponsoredsearchesat the topandright-handsideof thescreen thathaveactuallybeenpurchased.Our focus ison therestofthesearchresultsthatcanbehadforfree!

Here’sanillustrationtodemonstratethedifference:

Throughoutmycareerinmarketing,onethingI’vealwaysfoundinterestingis the fact that 80 percent of time, money, and resources spent on increasingsearch engine visibility is focused on paid search.However, 80 percent of allsearch engine traffic actually comes from the organic searches, which can beobtainedforfree!

Keep inmind that it’s far better to focus on ranking at the top for fewertermsthantofocusonrankinginthemiddleofthepackformoreterms.Why?Because the percentage of traffic that goes to the top positions dramaticallyincreasesasyourrankingimproves.

DataCourtesyofMozIdentifyingtherightsearchtermstotargetisthemostimportantthingyou

candotohelpensureyoursuccessonthesearchengines.Ifyoudon’thavetheright search terms to target, it ishighlyunlikely thatyouendupgettingmuchvaluefromtherestofyourefforts.Itwillbemoredifficulttomakeprogressintherankings,andevenifyoudomakeprogress,theremaynotbemuchsearchtrafficforyoutobenefitfrom.Focusingontherightkeywordsisthemotorthatwilldrivethiscarforward.

With this inmind, itwould only be fitting forme to include some otherhighly regarded keyword tools in order to provide some additional optionsavailableforkeywordresearch:

Market Samurai ($97/one time and offers free trial)http://www.marketsamurai.com

MarketSamuraigenerateskeywordsandtrafficstatisticsbasedonGooglesearch query data and provides a range of additional analytics and tools.SomeofthemorepopulartoolsincludetheRankTracker,whichallowsyoutotrackallofyourkeywords,theKeywordResearchTool,whichhelpsyoufind relevant keywords and conduct an in-depth analysis, and the SEOCompetitionTool,whichallowsyoutoanalyzethetoptensitesrankingonyourtargetkeywords.

Word Tracker ($69/month and offers free trial)http://www.wordtracker.com

WordTracker generates keywords and traffic statistics based on searchesperformedacrossallthemainsearchengines,includingGoogleandBing.Itusesadatabaseofover330millionsearchterms,whichitupdatesweekly.

Keyword Discovery ($69.95/month and offers free trial)http://keyworddiscovery.com

KeywordDiscoverygenerateskeywordsandtrafficstatisticsfromovertwohundredsearchenginesworldwideandclaimstohavethelargestkeyworddatabase, containing nearly thirty-eight billion searches. KeywordDiscovery imports the search engines’ search logs into its database orcollects samples from its user panel and other sources. Data is collecteddaily,butduetothesizeoftheindex,thedatabaseisupdatedmonthly.

Finding the right set of keywords to target with your search engineoptimization efforts is the first andmost important step in getting to thatveryimportantspotat the topofGoogle.Somakesure toget it rightandyouwillbewellonyourwaytoachievingsuccessonline.

SEOChallenge#1:KeywordDevelopment

UsetheGoogleKeywordTooltofindtenkeywordsthathaveatleastonethousandmonthly searchesandare relevant toyour target audience.Howmanymonthlysearchesdoesyourtopkeywordreceive?

ToolsAndTricks

KeywordResearch GoogleKeywordTool(https://adwords.google.com)

Go to the free Google Keyword Tool and find search terms that arereceivinghighvolumesofinteresteverysinglemonth.Thisisanincredibleresourceforkeywordresearch.

MarketSamurai(http://www.marketsamurai.com)GeneratekeywordsandtrafficstatisticsbasedonGooglesearchquerydata.The Keyword Research Tool can help you find relevant keywords andconductanin-depthanalysis.

WordTracker(http://www.wordtracker.com)

Generatekeywordsandtrafficstatisticsbasedonsearchesperformedacrossall of themain search engines, includingGoogle andBing, by using thisdatabaseofoverthreehundredmillionsearchterms.

KeywordDiscovery(http://keyworddiscovery.com)Generate keywords and traffic statistics from over two hundred searchenginesworldwidewith software that claims to have the largest keyworddatabase,containingnearlythirty-eightbillionsearches.

CompetitiveResearchMoz(www.moz.com)Use the keyword analysis tool to figure out how competitive the specificsearch termsmay be.Don’t spend your time optimizing for search termsthataretoodifficulttoeffectivelyacquirerankings.

WebSEOAnalytics(http://www.webseoanalytics.com)Use thekeyworddifficulty tool tospeedup thekeywordresearchprocessbyscreeningtheKeywordListandexcludingthetermsthatwillbedifficulttoachievetoppagepositioning.Itwillhelpyouselectthetermsforwhichyouhaveagoodchancetorank.

SpyFu(www.spyfu.com)Research keywords and find the search terms that are driving the mosttraffictocompetitorwebsitesonamonthlybasis.

Chapter3

WebsiteSuccessinExcess

Afteryou’veselectedyourtargetsearchterms,youwillneedtomakeyoursitemoresearch-engine-friendly.Thereareafewkeyareasyou’llwanttofocusonwhencreatingortweakingyourwebsite.

AvoidusingFlashforyoursite

Google’srobotsarenotverysophisticated;theyprimarilypickuponcontentandlinksbutnotmuchelse.BuildingyoursiteinFlashwillsignificantlyreducethecontentyou’reabletoincludeandcouldhurtyourabilitytorankonthesearchengines.Therefore,itisrecommendedthatyoursitebebuiltwithoutrelyingonFlash.

Includeasitemaponyourwebsite

A sitemap will typically help your site to be better organized for both youraudienceandthesearchenginerobots.Havingasitemapwillthereforeassistthesearchenginerobotstoquicklycrawlyoursite.

Includeinternallinkingthroughoutyoursite

Internallinkingcanbeacontributingfactortoincreasedrankings.Therefore,it’simportant to include linkswithin your site to other areas of the sitewhereverpossible.

Usethetargetsearchtermsonyoursite

Ifthere’sasearchtermyouwanttorankfor,youmustincorporateitintothetexton your website at least a few times. I would recommend that you use yourtargetkeywordswithinthefirsttwenty-fivewordsandthelasttwenty-fivewordson your page. I would also recommend that you bold your target keyword atleastonce.Often times,whenyoursite iscrawledbyGoogle, their robotswillscanitandputmoreemphasisonthebeginningandtheendofthepage.

Incorporatingyourtargetsearchtermsintothepagemultipletimesiscommonlyreferredtoaskeyworddensityandcanhelpyoureffortsaslongasitisusedwithmoderation.However, it isvery important thatyouensure thepageprovidesagooduserexperience.Ifnot,thevisitorsyoustarttoattractwillleaveyoursiteimmediatelyandallofthisworkwon’tdoyoumuchgood.Alwayskeepinminduserexperiencewhenoptimizingyoursite.

Use the most important search terms in your page title (Googlerecommendsusinglessthan65characters)

Searchenginesrelyheavilyuponpagetitlestodeterminerelevancy.Youshouldalwaysincludeyourtopkeywordsinthepagetitle.

Useimagealttagsonyourimages

Search engine spiders are fairly unsophisticated and aren’t able to identifyimages. These tags will help the search engines understand what the imagesrepresentonyourwebsite.

Incorporateimportantsearchtermsinheadertags

Businesses often overlook header tags as a place to highlight importantkeywords. Placing search terms within header tags increases rankings andrelevancy.Here’sanexampleofareasonyourwebsitethattheseHTMLtagswouldimpact:

OptimizeHeaderTag-EmployingtargetedkeywordsintheH1taghasshownto correlate with higher rankings. It’s also considered a best practice foraccessibilityandtodescribeapage’scontent.KeywordUsageinDocument-TextcontentisveryimportantformodernSEO.Inordertooptimizeyourchancesofrankinghigherforthetargetedkeyword(s),Ihighlyrecommendusingmultipletargetedkeyword(s)onyoursite.AddImageAltTags-Keywordusageinthealtattributeofanimageemployedonapageissurprisinglypositivelycorrelatedwithgoodrankings.Italsohelpsconsiderablywithimagesearches.OtherareasthatyouwillwanttofocusoninordertomakeyourwebsiteSEO-friendlyinclude:

Leveragethemetadescription(Googlerecommendsusinglessthan156characters)

This is aplace tobriefly listwhatyour site is about,whatproductsyouoffer,whatareasyouservice,andothervitalinformation.Itwillimpactyourwebsite’sdescriptionon the searchengines, so it’s important toget it right. It’s the firstimpressionyouleavewithaprospectivecustomer.

Avoidusingmetakeywords

Manywebsiteownersstillrelyonmetakeywordsintheirattemptstomaketheir

websites search-engine-friendly. Search engines largely ignore the metakeywordstagintheirrankingalgorithms.Whileittechnicallywon’tharmyourrankings,itcangivecompetitorsinsightintowhatsearchtermsyouaretargetinginyourSEOefforts.Whywouldyoueverwanttohelpthecompetition?

Courtesy of the folks at Moz, here is an example of what a perfectlyoptimizedwebsitepagewilllooklikeforthekeyword“chocolatedonuts”:

RecommendedPageTitle:ChocolateDonuts|Mary’sBakery

Recommended Meta Description: Mary’s Bakery’s chocolate donuts arepossibly themostdelicious,perfectly formed, flawlesslychocolatedonutsevermade.

RecommendedPageURL:http://marysbakery.com/chocolate-donuts

Fillouttheheader,title,andmetatagsproperlyandincludekeywordsinthecontent and imagedescriptions andyour sitewill be ready tobe foundby thesearchengines.

When it comes towebsite development, there is an organization that setsthestandardsforhowwebsitesaresupposedtobestructured.Ifyouwanttotakeyour website to the next level, you can consult with the World Wide WebConsortium, or W3C (http://www.w3.org) as it is commonly referred to, inordertoensurethatyouaremeetingalltheproperguidelines.

I also recommend that you implement Google Webmaster Tools, whichprovidesvisibilityintohowyourwebsiteisviewedbythesearchengines.Here’swhyit’simportanttoincorporateGoogleWebmasterTools:

1. GooglewilllistallthepagesonyoursitethatithasindexedsothatyoucanensureyourwebsiteisbeingrecognizedbyGoogle.

2. Google employs abotwhose job it is to crawlyour site and indexyouaccording to what it finds. If your site doesn’t link everything clearly(thustherecommendationforasitemap),Googlemightmissacoupleofyourpagesandthatwouldnotbeagoodthing.ByincorporatingGoogleWebmasterTools,you’llhavetheabilitytotellGooglewhereallofyourindividualpagescanbefound.

3. Intheeventthatyouhavesomepagesyoudon’twantGoogletofind,youwill have the ability to tell them not to index you. With GoogleWebmasterTools,youcanbesurethatwebpagesthatmaybesomewhatembarrassing or not ready for prime time aren’t suddenly findingthemselvesinthesearches.

4. WhiletherearesomeothertoolsIrecommendinthisbooktotrackyourincominglinks,GoogleWebmasterToolswillallowyoutoseehowmanylinksarebeingdirectedtoyoursitethatGoogleisabletoidentify.Afterall, it can’t hurt to check this information directly from the source thatmattersmostgivenhowimportanttheselinksaretoyouroverallpotentialtorankinthesearchengines.

5. YoucanuseWebmasterToolstogetGoogletoindexyourimages.Ifyoursitehasgreatimagesincorporatedthroughout, thenyoucanusethemtoenhance your search engine visibility. Just set up the enhanced image

searchinWebmasterToolsandmakesureyou’veincludedtheimagealttagswithrelevantdescriptionsandkeywords.

6. AnotherimportantfeatureofWebmasterToolsisacontentanalysistool.ItwillhighlightanyissuesthatmaymakeitdifficultforGoogletocrawlandindexyoursite.Thiscanprovideaverypowerful to-dolistwhenitcomestoimprovingyouronsiteoptimizations.

ThereareotherreasonstoincorporateGoogleWebmasterTools,butthesearesomeofthemoreimportantones,andIthinkyougetthepoint.

Nowthatweknowwhyit’sagoodideatosetupGoogleWebmasterTools,let’smoveontohowonewouldactuallygoaboutsettingupGoogleWebmasterTools.

Hereisastep-by-stepbreakdown:

Step1– Ifyoudon’talreadyhaveaGoogleaccount, suchasGmail,youwillneed to create one here: https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount. If you doalreadyhaveaGmailaccount,skipthisstep.

Step 2 – Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools and register for aGoogleWebmasterToolsaccount.Thensigninsothatyoucansetitup.

Step3—Oncesignedin,youcanaddyourwebsiteaddressandclicktheAddSitebutton.

Step4–Afterthis,youwillbeaskedtoverifyyoursite.SinceyoucanonlysetupwebsitesonGoogleWebmasterTools thatyoupersonallyown,youwillberequiredtoprovethatyouownthesitebeforeyoucanbefullyupandrunning.The most common form of verification is to download an HTML file thatGoogle provides to you and then upload the file onto your server. Once youconfirmthatthefilehasbeenuploadedbyclickingontheverifybutton,youaregoodtogo.

Nowthatyou’resetuponGoogleWebmasterTools,you’llbeabletoseeallkindsofinformationaboutyoursitetoensurethatGoogleisfindingyouinthewaythatyouintend.

To check on the overall effectiveness of yourwebsite for SEO purposes,Mozhasausefultoolaswell.

WhenyoulogintoMoz,youcangototheOn-PageGradertooltocheckontheoverallSEOeffectivenessofyourcurrentwebsite.

Enter your target search term along with your domain name. Once yousubmit this information, you’ll be given a grade for how successfully yourwebsite is optimized, along with areas of opportunity to better optimize yoursite.

You’llbepresentedwithadetailedpageanalysis and recommended fixesforany issues thatmayexist.Someof theareas that this toolwillevaluateonyourwebsiteincludecriticalfactorssuchas:

AccessibilitytosearchenginesKeywordusageindocumentKeywordusageinthepagetitle

Otherlesscriticalfactorsthatthistoolwillalsoanalyzeinclude:

KeywordusageinimagealtattributetagsWhethertherearesufficientquantitiesofkeywordsinyourcontentProperkeywordusageintheURLKeywordusageinyourH1TagKeywordusageinmetadescriptionAppropriateURLlengths

If you’re not quite surewhat someof thismeans, every recommendationcomes with a full explanation on what the recommendation means for yourwebsite.

Ifyou’relookingforafreetoolthatcanhelpyoutoevaluateyourwebsite,you can check out WebSEO Analytics here:http://www.webseoanalytics.com/free/seo-tools/web-seo-analysis.php.

Usetheresourcesatyourdisposaltomakesurepropertagsandkeywordsarebeingutilizedandyouwillensurethatyoursiteisinastrongpositiontobefoundonthesearchenginesforthesearchtermsyouaretargeting.

Nowthatyouhaveagoodideaofhowyoucanimpactyourabilitytogetthesearchenginestodiscoveryourwebsite,itwillbeveryimportanttoensurethatyousetupyourwebsiteinawaythatencouragesastrongcalltoaction.Bycalltoaction,Iamreferringtotheactionyouareattemptingtogetthevisitortotakewhentheycometoyourwebsite.

Therealityisthatyourwebsitewillmostlikelyexistforaspecificpurpose.Whiletherearemanytypesofwebsitesouttherewithvariousintentions,every

website should strive to invoke some typeof action from thevisitor. Ifyou’repromoting a cause, you can collect e-mail addresses on your website to keeppeople updated on the progress you’remaking. If you’re promoting a servicebusiness, you can prominently display your phone number and e-mail addresswith the intention of getting individuals to contact you to schedule anappointment.Andifyou’resellingaproductonyoursite,youwillwanttomakeitaseasyaspossibletobuyfromyoubecausetheeasieritisforyourcustomerstobuy,themorelikelyitisthattheywillbuy.

Takea lookat thiswebsite (www.medicalmarketinghelp.org)whichwassetuptopromoteamarketingclass:

It’s important to note that this website was set up with the intention ofgetting visitors to provide their e-mail addresses to receivemarketing lessonsdeliveredtotheirin-boxeveryfewdays.Withthispurposeinmind,thewebsitewas designed to show in a compellingway how these lessons can help usersreachtheirowngoals,andtomakeiteasyforvisitorstodiscernwhatactionthewebsiteisattemptingtogetthemtotake(i.e.,providingtheire-mailaddresses).Byoffering a strong case forwhyvisitorswouldwant to provide their e-mailaddress and making it extremely easy for them to do so, this website hasachievedaverystrongconversionrate.

While therearemany things thatcan impactawebsite’soverallability toturnavisitor intoacustomer, themain takeawayhere is thatyouwillwant toensurethatyouarebuildingacleanwebsitethatiseasytonavigateandmakesthefollowingdetailsveryclear:

Whatactionyou’retryingtogetthevisitortotake

Whatmakesyouthebestoptiontohelpthevisitor

Whataboutyourbusinessdifferentiatesyoursite

Whatspecificservices/productsyouareoffering

Whenitcomestoyourwebsite,therearetwomainthingsonwhichtofocusyourefforts.Thefirstistogetyourwebsitefoundbythemajorsearchenginessothatyoucanbringinasmanyvisitorsaspossiblewhoareinterestedinwhatyou have to offer. The second is to ensure that your website is in a strongposition to take meaningful advantage of this incoming traffic to help youaccomplishtheoverallgoalsyouhavesetforyourwebsite.Bycombiningyourfocus in these two areas, you will ensure that you are in a great position toexperiencesuccessonline.

SEOChallenge#2:OnsiteOptimization

Install Google Webmaster Tools on your website. Then using the contentanalysistool,checkyoursiteforanyerrors.Weretheremoreorlesserrorsthanyouhadexpected?

ToolsAndTricks

WebsiteOptimizationAnalysis Moz(www.moz.com)

Receivegradedon-pagekeyword targeting.Findout howwell your pages areoptimized for targetkeywords,and improveyoursite for thebestperformancepossiblewithMoz’sOn-PageOptimizationReport.

WebSEOAnalytics(http://www.webseoanalytics.com)This toolproducesa fullSEOreport foraparticularpageorwebsite,analyzesthemost importantSEOfactors thatareusedby themajor searchenginesandoffers detailed diagnostics with all the errors and warnings that were foundduringtheanalysis.

Google Webmaster Tools(https://www.google.com/websmasters/tools)

Receive detailed reports and information about your visibility on Google andhowwellyourwebsiteisdoingwhenitcomestogettingcrawledandindexedbytheGooglesearchengine.

WebsiteAccessibilityReporting

WorldWideWebConsortium(www.w3.org)Learnaboutcommonprotocolsandstandards thatcanimpact theability togetyourwebsitenoticedbythesearchengines.

Chapter4

LinkingUp:SafetyinNumbers

Nowthatyou’vesetupyoursitesothesearchenginesknowwhatyou’reabout,it’s time to let themknowthatyouexist.Howdoyoudo this?Through links!Searchengineshighlyvaluethequalityandquantityofexternalwebsiteslinkingto yourwebsite.Why is that, you ask?Becausewhen awebsite links back toyou,it’sanindicationthatyoursitematters.Alinkisasignthatanotherwebsitegivesyouitsnodofapproval.

When two graduate students originally founded Google, the idea for thesearch engine came from the fact that research papers were typically deemedmoreimportantwhentheywerereferencedbyotherexternalpapers,researchers,etc.Essentially,themorereferencesandmentionsaresearchpaperreceived,thehigher the levelof importanceandvaluewas typicallyplacedonsaidresearchpaper.Ifyouthinkaboutit,linksserveasthesecitationsthatonceinfluencedthecreationofGoogle.

But not all links are created equal. If CNN.com links to your site as avaluable resource for their audience, Google sees this as a high-qualityrecommendation. IfSmalltimeautoshack.com links back to you,Googlewon’tgiveitasmuchattention.AndintheInternetworld,attentionisagoodthing.

Courtesy ofMoz, here’s a graphic to demonstrate the importance of linkbuilding:

TheycallittheWorldWideWebforareason.Therereallyisawebofsitescontinually pointing to each other to create groupings of relevant information.We live in an interconnected world. It has never been more important to getconnectedonthewebwithlinksflowingtoyourwebsite.

Create your own “link destiny,” so to speak, and put yourself light yearsaheadofthecompetition.Throughoutthefollowingchapters,I’llcoverexactlyhowtogoaboutbecomingthelink-acquiringmachinethatwillhelpyougettheonlineresultsyou’reafter.

Chapter5

LocalizeIt:Location,Location,Location

Doyouhaveawebsiteorbusinessthat’sfocusedonworkingwithpeopleinyourneighborhood?Maybe you’re a local dentist, handyman, or landscaper or yourun a local restaurant or auto repair shop. You get the idea. Google has acompletelydifferentsearchresultforthesetypesoflocation-specificsearches.

TryaGooglesearchforthe“bestrestaurantsinSeattle”andyou’relikelytogetresultsthatlookdifferentthanstandardsearches.TheywilltypicallyhaveaZagatscore,GoogleReviewsandwillincludeanaddressandphonenumberaswellasincorporatingaGooglemaplisting.

If you’re a local business or website, getting found on the local searchengine rankings,which often includeGoogleMaps pinpointing your location,willbecriticalinattractingcustomersinandaroundyourcommunity.

Mapcitationson the Internetassist searchenginesbyhelping themknowmoreaboutyourbusinessorentity,suchasyourlocation,services,andhoursofoperation.Thesemapcitationscanevenincludeimages.

Sowhat isacitationexactly?Acitationiswhereyourbusinessnameandaddress are mentioned, or cited, on another website. Google crawls contentacrossthewebandanywheretheyfindacitationofyourbusiness,theygiveyoucredittowardtheirsearchenginerankings.

Andhowdoyoushowuponthesemapsearches?Itallstartswithcreating

astronglocalprofile.Ifyouregisteryourbusinessonallofthesesites,youwillbewellaheadofthegame—andthecompetition.

Ona side note,Google giveswebsites aPageRankbetweenone and ten.The higher the PageRank, themore credibility a sitewill havewhen factoredinto Google’s rankings. You can use this information when determining whatsitesyouwanttoworkwithtoobtainlinkstoyoursite.

Whenfillingouttheseprofiles,you’llbeaskedtoprovide:

ContactpersonAddressE-mailPhonenumber

ServicesCategoryofbusinessPicturesofbusinessDescriptionofbusiness

Youcanalsoincludeanyotherimportantdetailsaboutyourbusiness.Someofthesesiteswillofferafreeorpaidoptionofinclusion.You’llbefineifyouonlychoosethefreeoptionasyoubuildouttheseprofiles.

Thinkyou’llgocrazysubmittingyoursitetolocaldirectoriesoverandoveragain?Toavoidwriter’scramp,therearecompaniesouttherethatcanhelp,suchashttps://www.ubl.org.Provideyourinformationand,foranominalfee,they’llpostyoursiteacrossdozensoflocaldirectoriesonyourbehalf.

Irecommendcheckingonthedirectoriestowhichtheysubmitinordertoensure that all of the sites listed above are included. For the sites that aremissing,you’llwanttosubmitthosemanuallyifyouchoosetouseUBL.

Also, be aware that most of these local directories have some type ofverificationprocess,suchascallingyourphoneorsendingyouapostcardwithaPINcodeenclosed.Thereasonthesesitesimplementaverificationprocessistoprove that you actually exist at the location you have specified so that thisinformation is as accurate as possible. Make sure you are receiving theseverificationsandrespondingtothemsoyoucanbeassuredthatyouaregettingplacementonthesesites.

Nowthatyouhaveyour localprofilessetup,whatotherfactorswillhelpyourstatusasalocalsuperstar?

Put simply, customer reviews, customer reviews, and more customerreviews. Reviews have become an increasingly important aspect of localsearchesfor tworeasons.First, reviewscanactuallyhaveapositive impactonsearchrankings.Secondly,reviewswilltremendouslyincreasethepercentageofsearchersthatclickovertoyourwebsitewhentheyfindyouonGoogle.Peopleloveandtrustreviews.

When you do a localized search on Google, you will notice a commontrend.Thosehigh-rankingwebsitesallhavealargenumberofGooglereviews.Sohowdoyougetreviews?Youaskforthem.

It’s imperativeyoumakea seriouseffort to followupwithanyonewho’sused your services or products. I also recommend offering your customers anincentivetofilloutthereviews.Anincentivecouldbeanythingfromadiscountthe next time they do business with you to a Starbucks gift card. After all,they’respendingtheirowntimetowriteareviewforyou.EverytimeI’vemadetheefforttocollectthesereviews,ithaspaidoff.I’llrepeat—everytime.

IrecommendfocusingprimarilyoncollectingGooglePlacesreviewssinceGoogle has a tremendous amount of users and gives preference to its ownreviews. However, Google recently purchased Zagat and is including thosereviewsintheirsearchesforrelevantcategoriesaswell.Yelpisanotherservicethatcanbearobustreferralsourceforbusinessifyouhaveastrongprofilesetupwithlotsofreviews.WhileYelpwon’tplayabigpartinyoursearchenginerankings,itwillmakesensetofocusonitonceyou’vefullyestablishedyourselfonGoogle as the local superstar that you are.Yelp can serve as a tremendousreferralsourceontopofthetrafficyou’rereceivingfromGoogle.

Here’sasamplee-mailI’vesentthatseemstoworkwell:

REVIEWUSONGOOGLEPLACES

At[nameofbusinesshere],wearealwaysexcitedtobeatyourservice.One of the top compliments we can receive is a testimonial from you!

GooglePlacesiswheremostpeoplesearchforlocalservicesonline,andwe’dloveitifyoucangothereandwritealittlesomethingaboutus.It’saverysimpleprocessandwillhelpustremendouslyingettingthewordout!

We really appreciate your support and thank you for being a part of ourfamily!

CLICKHERE

topostyourreview

Ifyou’renotcurrentlycollectingyourcustomers’e-mailaddressesaspartof your business process, you should be. If you’re looking for a reliablecompany tohelpwith thesendingof thesee-mail requests, I recommendMailChimp (www.mailchimp.com) since it offers inexpensive services and aridiculous amount of useful information about the e-mails you send throughthem.Currently,theyofferafreeserviceforyourfirsttwothousandsubscribers,so there is reallynothing to loseby trying themout.MailChimpcan tell youhowmanye-mailsweresent,whiche-mailswereread,howmanyusersclickedonyourGooglePlacespage,andmore.

Onceyougetyourlocalprofilesfilledoutandyourreviewrequestprocessinplace,you’llbeinagreatpositiontostartdrivingsomeseriouslocalsearchenginetraffic.

SEOChallenge#3:GettingLocalwithGooglePlacesSignupforaGooglePlacespageandoptimizeforthelocationofyourbusinessandtheservicesyouoffer.IfyoualreadyhaveaPlacespage,optimizeitforthekeywords you selected in Challenge #1. How long did it take for Google toverifyyourlisting?

ToolsAndTricks

LocalDirectorySubmissions

UniversalBusinessListing(www.ubl.org)Providesafastmeansforbusinessesofallsizestogetlistedonallofthemajorsearchengines,onlineyellowpages,socialnetworks,andmappingsites.

E-mailOutreach MailChimp(www.mailchimp.com)

Mail Chimp offers a fantastic e-mail marketing solution to manage contacts,sende-mailsandtrackresults.Betteryet,thefirsttwothousandcontactsarefree.If you’re looking to do any e-mail outreachwith your customers, this tool ishighlyrecommended.

Chapter6

TheUniqueContentUniverse

Searchengineshighlyvalueuniquecontent, suchasanewlywrittenarticleorblog entry related to your business and posted to theWorldWideWeb. Theengineswanttheirsearcherstofindmaterialrelevantfortheirsearches,andtheywill often prioritizewebsites that continue to put out a steady flow of uniquecontent. In fact, creating and distributingwell-written and valuable content issuchacriticalcomponentofsearchengineoptimization that it shouldserveasthebackboneforyourentirestrategy.

Intermsofgeneratingnewcontent,youhavetwooptions.Optiononeistowritethecontentyourself.Afterall,youknowyourbusinessbetterthananyoneelse.Optiontwoistopayacontractororcompanytowritethecontentonyourbehalf.Moreonthislaterinthechapter.

There aremultiple optionswhen it comes to distributing the content youcreate.Youcanpostitonablogthatyoucontrol.Youcanpostittoanoutsideblog as a guest blogger. You have the option to post the article to an articledirectory.Oryoucansubmitthearticletoawebsiteowneryoucomeacrosswhois lookingfor the typeofcontentyouarewriting.Justmakesure theowner iswillingtoprovideyouwithalinkinexchangeforyourcontribution.Thegoalistocreatelinksbacktoyoursite,drivingincreasedrankingsandnewtraffic.

Another optionwhen it comes to content is to submit yourmaterial as apressrelease.Thiscanhelpcreatebrandawarenessandgenerateanincreasein

incominglinks.Onethingtokeepinmindwhenwritingapressrelease is thatyou want to keep the content newsworthy. This means writing about a newproduct launchornewservice.Keep thepress release limited to somethingofsignificance to create as much buzz as possible. Obviously, this is easier forsometypesofbusinessesthanothers,butI’msureifyougetcreative,you’llfindsomethingyoucanusetocraftastellarpressrelease.

Whenitcomestodistributingthepressrelease,thereareplentyofoptionsforgettingthewordout.OneofthebiggestPRdistributionsitesiscalledPRWeb(www.prweb.com).However,itcangetabitexpensiveifyou’rejuststartingoutandnotquitesureifPRdistributionisworthyofyourtimejustyet.Withthisinmind, there is another great service that can help you distribute your pressreleasesforfree,PRLog(www.prlog.org).Feelfreetocheckoutbothoftheseservicestodeterminewhichonemakesthemostsenseforyourwebsite.

Whencontributingyournewlycreatedcontent,it’scriticalthatyouincludelinksback toyoursitewithin thearticles.Eachdistributionsite isdifferent,sopayattentiontoinstructionswhendoingthis.

While press releases provide a great resource for building awareness andgenerating incoming links, you will have to be careful to not send out pressreleasessofrequentlythattheylosetheirvalue.Withthisinmind,youwillwanttofocusthemajorityofyourcontentcreationonarticlewriting.

Here is an extensive list of article submission sites you can usewith theintentionofsubmittingtheuniquecontentyou’vewritten:

Themajor search engines, likeGoogle, respect these sites andmostwilltypicallyallowyoutoplacelinksbacktoyoursitewithinyourarticles.Simplysetupaprofileandpost.It’safairlystraightforwardprocessandcanhaveahugeimpactonrankings.

If you’d like to see a sample article that I’ve created for one of mycampaigns,youcancheckoutthisarticle:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Medical-Specialization-Is-Becoming-The-Way-Of-The-Future&id=7400191

Asyoucanseefromthisarticle,thereisalinkembeddedatthebottomofthearticleforasearchtermthatIwouldliketotargetforincreasedsearchengine

rankings.Theanchortextisthevisible,clickabletextinahyperlink.Ahyperlink(or link) isaword,groupofwords,or image thatyoucanclickon to jumptoanother document. The words contained in the anchor text can determine therankingthatthepagewillreceivebysearchenginesbecausethesetypesoflinkswillhelpthesearchengineidentifythetargetwebsiteasrelevantforthatterm.

Hereisthecodethatwouldbeusedtoproperlyinsertananchortextlink:<ahref=“http://www.medicalmarketinghelp.org/”>

MedicalMarketing</a>ByusingthisHTMLcode,theterm“medicalmarketing”canbeplacedina

blog or article as a link text with the link pointing to the website URL:http://www.medicalmarketinghelp.org. This serves to inform the searchengines that the article is about medical marketing while at the same timebuildingastrongerlinkprofilearoundavaluablesearchterm.

Youmaybe askingyourself,whohas the time towrite all these articles?Nottoworry,astherearesomesolutionsforthataswell.

Thereareservicesavailabletoassistwitharticlewriting.I’llwarnyouthatthey typically won’t pen a journalistic masterpiece about your industry, so Ihighly recommend you spend some time writing content yourself if at allpossible.

For about $30, you’ll typically receive five articles that you can publishacrossarticlesitesandonyourblog.

Whenpressed for time,here are some services that canprovideyouwithcontentforyourSEOactivities:

99centarticles.comarticleninjas.comarticlesontap.comccarticles.commyarticleexpress.com

There’sanotherservicethatcanworkwellforthistypeofcontentwritingcalled iWriter (http://www.iwriter.com). The good thing about iWriter is thatyoucanorder individualarticles, set thepriceyouwish topay,and rejectanyarticlesthatdon’tmeetyourstandards.Inthatway,youcanbeassuredthatyouareonlypayingforarticlesthatyoufeelareuptoyourcriteria.Ifyou’reshortontime, it could definitely be worth giving this service a try since you have somuchcontroloverwhicharticlestouseinyourSEOcampaigns.

If thesearticle-writingcompaniesdon’tmeetyourapproval,youcanalso

look intohiringapart-timecontentwriter.Thereareacoupleofsitesyoucanusetohireacontentwriteronaper-projectorhourlybasis.Thetwobiggestsiteswith the most talent available are Elance (www.elance.com) and oDesk(www.odesk.com). On these sites, you can review vendors’ past jobs andcustomer feedback and engage these potential content writers via e-mail orSkypebeforeyouactuallyhire them.Also,you’llhave theability tosetupanaccountwithElanceoroDesksothatthecontractordoesn’tgetpaiduntilthejobiscompleted.Theothernicethingaboutthesenetworksisthattheymakeitveryeasytoreplaceacontractorwhoisn’tmeetingexpectations.Theseserviceshavedone a great job of limiting the risk and exposure involved with hiring aninexpensivecontractorforcontent-writingpurposes.

Onecaveat:it’sveryimportantthatyoudon’tpublishthesearticlesmultipletimesas the searchengineswillpenalizeyou forduplication.Theywillknow.Onearticleshouldequalonesubmission.

With this in mind, I would like to quickly cover something that is a bitcontroversial in the SEO world. Quite a few SEO professionals engage in aprocess known as article spinning, which involves taking a well-written andinformativearticleandreplacingthemaincontentwithvarioussynonyms.Thus,thearticleisessentiallysayingthesamethingwhilechangingenoughwordstomakethesearchenginesviewthespunversionofthearticleasthoughitwereauniquearticle.

Now,thistechniqueistechnicallyconsidered“blackhat,”meaningthatitisfrowneduponby themajorsearchengines.Assomeonewritingabookon theproperway tomarketawebsite throughSEO, Ican’tadvocate thatanyonegoout and engage in article spinning. However, I feel as though I do have aresponsibilitytomentionitsexistencegiventhatit issowidelyusedbysuchalargenumberofSEOprofessionals.

Articlespinningisahot-buttonissueintheSEOcommunity,andtherearetwosidesoftheargument.Thefirstisthatarticlespinningisabadthingfortheindustry and its only purpose is to spamvariouswebsiteswith content that ispassed off as unique but isn’t. Opponents of article spinning argue that thepractice does a disservice across the Internet because it floods websites withcontentthatisn’tstrongenoughtogetpickeduponitsownandsharedvirally.These critics also argue that it goes against Google’s guidelines, which cancreateproblemsdownthelineifGoogleeverdetectsthatyourwebsiteengagesinarticlespinning.

The side that believes that article spinning is an acceptable practice willarguethatGoogle’srobotsaren’tsophisticatedenoughtodeterminegreatcontentfrompoorcontentandthatit’sthefaultysystemthatcreatedtheneedforarticle

spinning in the firstplace.Afterall, ifFord takes the trouble toput togetheragreatcommercial,thecompanywillbuyairtimeoneverymajornetworktoairit.Theseindividualsarguethatarticlespinninghasasimilareffect,maximizingthereachofgreatcontentthatwassopainstakinglywrittenbythewebsiteowner.

Ibelievebothsideshaveavalidargument.Myintenthereisnottochooseasidebut to simplygiveyouasmuch informationaspossible soyoucanmakeyour own informed decision about how youwould like to proceed with yourcontentdistributionefforts.

Googlehasmadequite a fewchanges in thepastyear to their algorithm,changes that appear to be designed to address this issue.While these updatesconnote cute furry animals with names such as Panda and Penguin, make nomistakeabout theirpurpose.For thosewhohaven’theardofPandaorPenguinbefore, these are a recent set of Google algorithm changes designed todiscouragewebsiteownersfromengaginginlessthanreputableactivitiestogettheirsitestothetopoftheGooglesearchengine.

The Panda update is essentially a filter to stop sites with poor-qualitycontent fromworking theirway intoGoogle’s top search results.ThePenguinupdate was created to better catch sites that spam the Google search results,especiallythosesites thatarebuyinglinksorobtainingthemthroughnetworksdesignedspecificallytoboostsearchenginerankings.IhavenotcoveredtheseGoogle shifts in much detail throughout this book since all of the strategiesoutlined in this book are in line with the website behavior that Google isencouraging. However, given this issue’s impact on the SEO community, itmakessensetoatleastmakeyouawareofit.

Thesealgorithmchangesaredesignedtoencouragelegitimatelinkbuildingand incentivizewebsiteowners to create communities to share information, asopposed to spinning articles and sending them out to a bunch of differentwebsites. While these shifts in Google’s algorithms have thrown some SEOprofessionalsforaloop,theydon’tappeartohavecompletelyeliminatedarticlespinning. I am a firmbeliever that article spinningwill cease to exist if/whenGooglelegitimatelymakeschangesthatlimitanypositiveimpacttheseactivitiesmay currently enjoy. However, given the number of SEO professionals stillusingthistechnique,it’smybeliefthatthishasn’tfullyhappenedyet.

WhileIdon’tspecificallyadvocatetheuseofarticlespinning,it’simportanttoat least acknowledge itsexistenceandcurrent role inSEO. I’vebeenaskedaboutarticlespinningbymultipleclientsandIwanttoensurethatyouarearmedwiththerightinformationintheeventyoucomeacrossarticlespinninginyourown research. Although I’m not encouraging the use of article spinning, Iwanted to make mention of it since it is widely known throughout the SEO

communityandiscurrentlybeingusedbysomemarketersintheindustry.Intheeventyouchoosetotryyourhandatarticlespinning,thebesttoolon

themarketforthatiscalledTheBestSpinner(www.thebestspinner.com).YousetupyourarticleinTheBestSpinner,anditthencreatesdifferentversionsofitby replacingwords throughout thearticlewithsynonyms. Iwillwarnyou thatthetoolisn’tverysophisticatedindeterminingthecontextofyourwords,soyouwill absolutelywant to review thearticleprior to finalizing the spunversions.Forexample,ifIweretowriteanarticleaboutsearchengineoptimization,thetool would most likely recommend replacing the word engine with motor.Obviously, my article would not sound very professional or informative if itwerewritten entirely about searchmotoroptimization.Once an article is spunintodifferentversions,marketersusing this techniquewill thenplace the spunversionsontovariousarticlesitesandpassthemoffasuniquecontent.

Keepinmindthatthegoalwithcontentcreationistogetothersitestopickupyourarticlesbecausethecontent issointerestingandvaluabletheywanttoshare itwith theiraudience. In turn, thataudiencewill thenshareyourcontentwithotherpeopleandtherebydrivenaturallinksbacktoyourwebsite.

With the changes currently taking place at the major search engines,creating valuable content that makes you a thought leader in your space hasbecome the most important thing you can do to influence your link-buildingefforts. So make sure you’re putting out good content and the rest shouldultimatelytakecareofitself.Inthisway,thecontentyoudistributewillserveasastronglink-acquisitionmachineforyourSEOefforts.

SEOChallenge#4:ArticleSubmissionSignupforanaccountwithEzineArticles.Next,writeanarticlethatisbetween550–700words about a keywordyou chose inChallenge #1.Then include ananchor link in theauthorresourceboxthat linksback toyourwebsite.Finally,submitthearticletoEzineundertheappropriatecategory.HowlongdidittaketheEzineeditorstoapproveyourarticle?

ToolsAndTricks

PressReleaseSubmissions

PRWeb(www.prweb.com)A great option for press release distribution that can help you create buzz,increaseonlinevisibility,anddrivewebsitetraffic.

PRLog(www.prlog.org)PRLogisanothergreatpress releasedistributionservice thatcanhelp increasetrafficandvisibility.However,unlikePRWeb,thisserviceisfreetouse,whichmakes it acost-effectiveoption foranyone looking toget thewordoutwithapressrelease.

ContentWritingServices

Theseservicescanprovidequalityarticlewritingandwebcontentforaverylowprice.Ifyou’reinneedofcontenttohelpmarketyourwebsiteandareshortontime,theseservicescanbeagreatoption.

iWriter(www.iwriter.com) 99CentArticles(www.99centarticles.com) ArticleNinjas(www.articleninjas.com) ArticlesonTap(www.articlesontap.com) CCArticles(www.ccarticles.com)

HiringAContentWriterBusinesses can use these websites to post jobs, search for freelanceprofessionals, and solicit proposals.You can evaluate the contractors applyingforthejobbyreviewingqualifications,workhistory,ratings,portfolios,andskilltestscores.

Elance(www.elance.com) oDesk(www.odesk.com)

ArticleSpinning TheBestSpinner(www.thebestspinner.com)

Ifchoosingtousethis tool,adequatecautionisadvised.TheBestSpinnerwillreplace content within your article with synonyms to create multiple uniquearticles,essentiallychangingthewordingofyourcontent.

Chapter7

ISpyaCompetitiveAdvantage

Whenitcomestocompetingontheweb,informationaboutwebsitesrankinginthepositionyouareattemptingtoreachis tremendouslyuseful.Ifyouwanttoattainacertainrankforaspecificsearch term, itstands toreason that thebestplanofactionistoreplicatethestrategiesofwebsitesthathavealreadyreachedthepositionyou’reafter.Therefore, itmakessensetobetterunderstandwhatawebsiteisdoingtoachieveitssuccess.

InChapter2,SpyFuwasmentionedasapowerful tool to researchsearchterms. This tool can also be used to research the top organic searches drivingtraffictocompetitorwebsites.Betteryet,alotofthisinformationisavailableforfree,withoutevensigningupforapaidaccount.

Simply go to SpyFu (www.spyfu.com) and type in the name of acompetitor’swebsiteyouwanttoinvestigate.Forexample,ifIwantedtoreviewthewebsitewww.cars.com,Iwouldgetalistofthisparticularsite’stoporganickeywordsandtoporganiccompetitors:

Keep in mind that I’m focusing specifically on organic keywords andcompetitorssince that ismyprimaryfocus in increasingoverallwebsite trafficand sales.However, SpyFuwill also provide details aroundpaidmarketing aswellifthat’safocusIwereinterestedinpursuing.

Asyoucanseefromthischart, thisresearchprovidesahandfulofsearchtermsthataccountforquiteabitofsearchvolumeonthesiteinquestion,aswellasahandfuloforganiccompetitors.Ifyousignedupforapaidaccount(evenforamonth), youwould have access to a substantially larger amount of searchesandcompetitorsavailableintheSpyFudatabase.However,forourpurposes,thisshouldprovideagreatstartforreviewingthecompetition.

Ifacompetitorwebsiteappearstobedoingwell inthesearchrankings, itstands to reason that the site owner put some effort into their search enginepresence. If you were able to identify the specific search terms that yourcompetitor is using, you would be able to benefit from the hard work thatcompetitor has already done to identify target search terms that will increasesearchenginetraffic.

IfyourecallinChapter3, Iadvisedagainstusingmetakeywordsonyourwebsite because it can give away competitive intelligence about your SEOpriorities. If you simply right-click on a competitor’s site, you can view theirsourcecode:

Then just look for themetakeyword tagsandyou’ll seewhichkeywordsarebeingtargetedbythespecificwebsite.

CompetitiveLinkBuildingIcannotstressenoughtheimpactastronglinkprofilewillhaveonyoursearchenginerankings.Gettingothersitestolinkbacktoyouisthebestwaytoprovetothesearchenginesthatyouareproducinginformationandcontentthatmatterstotheirsearchers.

In that regard, there are tools at our disposal that actually identify linksbeingreceivedbywebsitesrankingforthesearchtermswe’retargeting.Canyouseetheopportunitythispresents?

It stands to reason that if certain sites have chosen to link to websitessimilar toyours, these sitesmight alsobewilling to link toyour site.For thispurpose,we’re going to do a little research and spy on the competition, so tospeak.

Forcompetitivelinkbuilding,therearequiteafewgreattoolsouttherethatcanprovidetremendousvaluebyhelpingtoidentifylink-buildingopportunities.

Withthisinmind,herearesomeofthebiggesttoolsouttherethatcanhelpwiththesetypesofactivities:

Moz($99/monthandoffersfreetrial)http://www.moz.com

Mozprovides tools tohelpoptimize localbusiness listings, track socialmediaperformance,conductlinkresearch,accessSEOmetricsandmuchmore.

RavenTools($99/monthandoffersfreetrial)http://raventools.com

Raven Tools utilizes data from multiple sources, including Moz, to offer apowerful suite of tools to help you research and manage link-buildingopportunities.

MajesticSEO($49.99/monthandoffersfreetrial)https://www.majesticseo.com

MajesticSEOisapowerfulsourceoflinkinformationthatcanallowyoutoseethelinkprofilesandincominglinksbeingreceivedbynearlyanysite.

WebCEO($49/monthandoffersfreetrial)http://www.webceo.com

WebCEOoffersasuiteoftoolsfornearlyeverySEOactivityimaginable.Someofthemoreusefultoolsincludeacontentsubmissionservice,backlinkmanager,websiteauditor,andarankchecker.

BuzzStream(startsat$19/monthandoffersfreetrial)http://www.buzzstream.com

Buzz Stream was specifically constructed with link building in mind. It isdesigned to automate the link-building process as much as possible, therebyminimizingthetimecommitment.Someofthemorepopularfeaturesincludearesearchtooltohelpfindprioritizedlinkingopportunities,outreachassistancetohelp you seamlessly reach out to potential link partners, and detailed trackingandreportingsoyoucanidentifyhowtheseeffortsarepayingoff.

Asanexampleofcompetitivelinkbuilding,youcangotowww.moz.comtousetheirOpenSiteExplorertoolundertheResearchToolssection.JustentertheURLofoneofyourcompetitorsintothetoolbartofindoutwhoislinkingtotheirwebsite.This tool is free to use and can provide somegreat informationaboutpotentiallinkingopportunities.

Mozwillprovideyouwitha listof sites linking towhateverwebsiteyouputintotheir tool,whichyoucanthendownloadintoanExcelspreadsheetforyourrecords.

Onceyoudownload theExcelreport,you’llbeable toviewwebsites thatarelinkingtoyourcompetitionandwouldthereforepotentiallybewillingtolinktoyoursiteaswell.

Nowthatyouhavea listofsites thatmaybe interested in linking toyou,it’s time to reachout to thesiteownersandmakeyour request. Inorder todothis,you’llneedtofindanadministrativecontactforthewebsite,soI’dliketoshareasecretforaveryeffectivewaytofindmostwebsiteowners.Simplygotohttp://www.whois.com/whois/andtypeinthewebsiteyou’retryingtocontact.WHOIS is a great resource that provides contact details for just about everywebsite,aslongasithasn’tbeenprivatelyregistered.Thiscandefinitelybeaninvaluableresourcewhenattemptingtodooutreachforlink-buildingpurposes.

Here’satypicale-mailIusetoaskforalinkfromthesiteowner:

Hi,I came across your site when doing a Google search and was really

impressed. I actually represent a site that (listwhat your business does here).Therefore, I was hoping you’d consider including it as a resource for youraudienceaswell.Thewebsiteisnameofsite.com,andIthinkyouraudiencewillfindittobeveryuseful.Ifyouneedanyfurtherdetails,I’dbehappytoprovidethemtoyou.Pleasejustletmeknow,andthanksforyourtime.

Regards,

YourNameInthisregard,BuzzStream(whichismentionedearlierinthischapter)can

beagreattooltohelpautomatesomeofyourlinkoutreachefforts.Ifyoudon’taskforalink,youwon’tgetalink.I’llwarnyouthatthisprocesscanbefairlytedious,andtheresponseratewillvarydependingonthetypeofbusinessyou’reinandhowcompetitiveitis.Keepthoseexpectationsinmind.Thequalityofthelinkscanbe strong,but theprocesscanbe limitingbasedonhowmanualandtedious this type of outreach tends to be. I recommend reaching out to thewebsitesthathavethebestpotentialforyoutoacquirelinksinordertomakethemostefficientuseofyourtime.

Atthispoint,Iwouldliketostateagainthatwhilethereisextensivedetailprovided in this book about how to leverage the tools of Moz to effectivelyexecutevariousSEOtactics,thisisnottheonlyresourceoutthere.I’vefocused

onMozspecificallybecausethetoolsprovidedbythiscompanyhaveemergedassomeofthebestandmostrespectedintheSEOspacetodate.Furthermore,Moz is an all-inclusive resource to assist with nearly every aspect related tosearchengineoptimization.

With that being said, the world of SEO is very fluid and constantlyevolving.Therefore,thestrategiesoutlinedinthischapterandothershavebeendesignedtoshowyouhowtoeffectivelyusetheseresourcesforthepurposeofgettingmorewebsitetraffic.MozisinnowaytheonlyproviderofferingthesekindsoftoolstohelpmanageaneffectiveSEOcampaign.Mygoalistoprovideyouwithspecificexamplesandknowledgeofhowthesetoolsworksoyoucanthenuse these and similar tools to create the results youwant. So feel free toexperimentwiththevarioustoolsthatareoutlinedinthisbooksothatyoucanfindtheresourcesthatworkbestforyourpersonalworkingstyleandgoals.

With these resources at your disposal, it’s only a matter of gettingfamiliarizedwith the techniques.Once you do that, you’ll be a link-acquiringmachine. You’ll have a huge advantage over the competition, increasing bothyoursearchrankingsandrelevanceforthetermsforwhichyouareattemptingtorank.Theincreaseinlinksyouacquirewillbeahugedriverinimprovingyoursearchrankings.

Let’s seeyourcompetitorskeepupwithyouwhenyouapplyallof thesenewfoundstrategies!

SEOChallenge#5:LinkOutreachLookup theMetakeywords foryour top3competitors.Howmanykeywordswereyouabletofindthatweren’tinyourinitiallistoftargetedsearchterms?

ToolsAndTricks

SEOResearchTools

SpyFu(www.spyfu.com)Researchcompetitorsandfindthesearchtermsthataredrivingthemosttraffictotheirwebsitesonamonthlybasis.

SEOSoftwareTools

Moz(www.moz.com)Mozoffers a complete set of software, tools, and resources tomaximize yoursearch engine optimization. Paidmembers get access to their campaign-based

web application, dozens of SEO tools,webinars, and full access toOpen SiteExplorer,apowerfulresourceforresearchingcompetitorlinkprofiles.

RavenTools(www.raventools.com)Raven Tools utilizes data from multiple sources, including Moz, to offer apowerful suite of tools to help you research and manage link-buildingopportunities.These tools are designed to help youwith a range of functions,such as managing your campaign, building links, checking ranks, conductingcompetitiveanalysis,andmonitoringyoursocialmediachannels.

MajesticSEO(www.majesticseo.com)MajesticSEOisapowerfulsourceoflinkinformationthatcanallowyoutoseethe link profiles and incoming links being received by nearly any site. Forreviewingtheincominglinksforyoursiteoracompetitor’s,thiscouldverywellbethebestofthebest.

WebCEO(www.webceo.com)WebCEOoffersasuiteoftoolsfornearlyeverySEOactivityimaginable.Someofthemoreusefultoolsincludeacontentsubmissionservice,backlinkmanager,websiteauditor,andrankchecker.

BuzzStream(www.buzzstream.com)BuzzStreamisaCRMforlinkbuildingandPR/socialmediathatallowsonlinemarketerslikeyoumanagerelationshipsandgetresults,whetheryouarelookingtoincreaseyourincominglinksorgainexposurethroughapressrelease.

WebsiteOwnerResearch

WHOIS(www.whois.com/whois)

TheWHOISdatabasecontainsinformationrelatedtowebsitessuchasassignees,registrants, administrative information, and website creation and expirationdates.

Chapter8

GettingSocialWinsYouFriends

Socialbookmarkingisagodsendforpublishersofnewssites,blogs,andotherwebsites. Social bookmarking can introduce your site to new people withrelevantinterestsandcandrivesitetrafficandvaluableincominglinks.Sowhatexactlyissocialbookmarking?

Have you ever found a website that you wanted to remember so youbookmarkeditonyourbrowserforeasyreference?

If you’re not quite sure how to do this, you can find a tutorial here:ehow.com/how_5420_bookmark-web-page.html.TheprocesswillvaryabitbyInternetbrowser.

It’s important that you understand this concept, as there are distinctsimilarities to social bookmarking. In fact, social bookmarking is the same asbookmarking any website in your browser. The only difference is that socialbookmarksaresavedonawebsiteandnotonyourlocalcomputer.Soitdoesn’tmatterwhichcomputeryouuse,youalwayshaveyourbookmarksavailable toyou.

Let’stakealookathowyouactuallygoaboutsocialbookmarking.Step1)Youneedtoregisterwiththetargetsocialbookmarkingwebsiteand

getyoure-mailaddressverified.Step2)Addthewebsitetoyoursocialbookmarkingaccount.Step3)Submittheappropriateinformationaboutyourwebsiteintothetitle

anddescriptionwindow.After that, simply fill out the details, hit the save button, and you’ve

successfullycreateda socialbookmark foryour site. It’s a simpleprocess thatcanhaveaprofoundimpactonyoursearchenginerankings.

Nowthatyouknowhowtheprocessworks,here’sanextensivelistofsitesforsocialbookmarkingpurposes.It’scompiledaccordingtoGooglePageRank,sogonutsandgetyoursocialbookmarkon.

When prioritizing your social bookmarking efforts, it’s important to notethat,asmentionedearlier,PageRankisavaluethatGoogleplacesonawebsitein terms of the level of importance that it has given to a particular website.PageRankvalueswillfluctuatebetweenoneandten,withtenbeingthehighestrating possible. Therefore, the higher the PageRank, the more importanceGoogleplacesonthelinkbeinggivenoutbythewebsite.

Social bookmarking is just one part of the social strategy involved inwinningontheweb.Thesedays,utilizingFacebook,Twitter,andevenGooglePlusforyourbusinesscanhelpyoubetterengagewithyouraudienceandbuildastrong link profile in the process. While social media still has a somewhatminimal impact on SEO in terms of factors being considered by Google’salgorithms,thatimpactisgrowingallthetime,andGooglehasindicatedthatitwill play a more prevalent part in their rankings in the near future. Also,leveraging socialmedia is a greatway to get your content shared so that younaturally build your incoming links. Therefore, you should be aware of someopportunitiesandtoolstohelpyoumanageyoursocialmediapresence.

If you haven’t already, you should definitely sign up for a Facebookbusiness page for your website. Simply go here to set up a page for yourbusiness: https://www.facebook.com/business/build. Once your page iscreated,youwillwanttoinvitefriends,customers,andcolleaguestobecomeafan of your newFacebook business page.Next, youwillwant to post qualitymessagesonyourpagethatservetoengageyouraudience.Also,encouragefanstopublicizeyourinformationtotheirfriendsbyofferinginterestinginformation,contests, or other incentives thatwill drive your audience to share your page.

Thisisagreatopportunitytoengageyouraudienceanddriveincominglinksintheprocess.

Another highly regarded tool for SEOpurposes is Twitter.You can learnmore about setting up a Twitter account for your business here:https://business.twitter.com/. Twitter can be a great tool to help you stayinvolved in the conversation and encourage incoming links.One tool thatwillhelp you to find Twitter users interested in your business iswww.tweetadder.com. For$55, you canopen an account and look for peoplefollowing topics related toyour site.Thenyoucansimplyadd them,and theywilladdyouinreturn.ThisisagreatwaytogetpeopletofollowyourTwitteraccount if they are interested in what your site has to offer. By sharing withthem, they can then pass your messages on, and this can help you generateincominglinks.

Once you’ve set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts, a great tool tohelp schedule posts and monitor these accounts is Hoot Suite(www.hootsuite.com).HootSuiteoffersafreeorpaidaccount;youcaninitiallygetsetupwiththefreeversionforthesepurposes.

AmorerecentsocialmediaplatformthathasburstontothesceneinabigwayisGooglePlus.OnebigadvantageofGooglePlusisthatthelargestsearchengine in theworldcreated it.Thisgives theplatform instantcredibility.Withany socialmediaplatform, theusefulnessof thenetwork is tied closely to thenumberofactiveusersthenetworkisabletoattract.Inthisregard,GooglePlushas surpassed fivehundredmillion activeusers.This is an impressive feat forsuch a young platform. In quite a few ways, Google Plus closely resemblesFacebook. To create a business Google Plus page, you set it up here:www.google.com/+/business. Then, similarly to Facebook, you will want toinvitefriends,customers,andcolleaguestoclickontheplus-onebuttonGooglewillcreateforyousoyoucancreategroupsinyourGooglePlusaccount.ThisisalsoknownasGoogleCirclesandisverysimilartotheprocessoflikingapageonFacebook.TheonebigdifferencebetweenGooglePlusandFacebookisthatwithGoogle Plus you have the ability to categorize your sharing, so you cansharedifferentcontentwithdifferentgroupsofpeopledependingonhowyou’vecategorized them. This is a great feature for content sharing through socialmedia.

WhileGooglePlusisstillfairlynew,itappearsGooglewillbeintegratingmoreheavilyintosomeofitssearchesthesocialsignalsitcollectsfromGooglePlus.SinceGoogleownsthisplatform,itwillbeeasierforthemtomeasurethesocial signals they extract.Also, itwill be easier forGoogle to tweakGooglePlus to get the types of social signals they deem important for their search

rankings. Furthermore, Google has been trying to become a major factor insocialmediasince2004andwillbeheavily invested inmakingGooglePlusasuccess.TherehasalreadybeensometestingregardingtheeffectsofbuildingaGooglePlusfollowingonincreasedsearchenginerankings,andthereappearstobeacorrelationbetweenthetwo.WhenitcomestoSEOtactics,youwanteveryadvantageforrankingonthesearchengines.Therefore,IhighlyrecommendedyouimplementtheGooglePlusOnebuttononyourwebsiteandencourageyouraudiencetojoinyourGooglePluscircle,sincethiscouldverywellbesomethingthatisheavilyintegratedintofuturesearches.Gettingajumponthisnowcouldprovideatremendouscompetitiveadvantage.

There’soneother thing Iwould like todiscuss regardingsocialmedia. Interms of your ability to drive awareness, gain incoming links, and use this toyouradvantagetoincreasesearchenginerankings,thesizeofyouraudienceisveryimportant.IfyouonlyhaveafewfollowersonTwitter,acoupleoffansonFacebook,andnoonesigneduponyourGooglecircles,socialmediawon’tdomuchforyouronlineambitions.Thereisatool,though,thatcanbeveryhelpfulinexpandingyoursocialreachanddrivingthenaturalsharingofyourcontent,which is very important in the online world. If you’re interested inexperimentingwithsocialmediasharing,signupforatrialaccountatTribePro(www.tribepro.com).There,you’llhavetheabilitytojoinnichegroupswhereyou share out members’ content with your followers and they reciprocate inkind.Thiscanbeapowerfulwaytospreadyourcontentwithouthavingtorelysolelyonthecommunityyouhavebuilt.Sofeelfreetogiveitatryanddoyourbest to get your content to go viral.You’ll be very surprised atwhat you canaccomplish.

Whileitcantakeawhiletobuildastellarbacklinkprofilerelyingonsocialmedia sites, theydohave some influenceover search engine rankings and aregrowinginimportanceall thetime.Sogetsocialandwinfriends,becauselinkbuildingreallyislikeapopularitycontest.

SEOChallenge#6:SocialBookmarkingSignup foranaccountatDelicious.comandgetyourwebsitebookmarkedonthesite.Howlongdidittakeyoutocompletethisprocess?

ToolsAndTricks

SocialMediaforBusiness Facebook(www.facebook.com/business/build)

While everyone knows about Facebook these days, it is still significantly

underutilizedbybusinesses.WithastrongFacebookpresence,youwillbeableto build relationshipswith your customers, reach newpeople, and drive sales.Overonebillionpeoplelikeandcommentanaverageof3.2billiontimeseverydayonFacebook.WhenyouhaveastrongFacebookpresence,yourbusinessispartoftheseconversationsandhasaccesstothemostpowerfulkindofword-of-mouthmarketing—recommendations between friends. Furthermore, Facebookcan be great for getting information shared virally while increasing yourincominglinksatthesametime.

Twitter(https://business.twitter.com)While Twitter is a well-known social tool, most businesses don’t realize howinvaluable this resource can be for engaging with current and prospectivecustomers.Twitterisaninformationnetworkthatbringspeopleclosertowhat’simportanttothem.Everyday,millionsofpeopleturntoTwittertoconnectabouttheirinterests,shareinformation,andfindoutwhat’shappeningintheworld.Ihighlyrecommendthatanybusinesslookingtoincreasetheircustomerbasetakefulladvantageofthisvastcommunicationnetwork.

GooglePlus(http://www.google.com/+/business)AlthoughGooglePlus is fairly new to the socialmediaworld, it is ownedbyGoogleandstartingtodemonstratesomeheavyinfluenceonhowsocialsignalsimpacteverydaysearches.Withover fivehundredmillionactiveusersand theabilitytosetupspecificcategoriesforyourfollowerswithGoogleCircles,thisplatform is quickly becoming a necessity for any business looking to gain anadvantageinincreasingsearchenginerankingsandoverallawareness.

SocialMediaManagement TweetAdder(www.tweetadder.com)

Tweet Adder is a powerful tool to effectively build a community of Twitterfollowersinterestedinyourtopicsofchoice.Youcanopenanaccountandlookforpeoplefollowingtopicsrelatedtoyourwebsite.Addthem,andtheywilladdyouinreturn.Thisisagreatwaytoengagewithpeopleinterestedinwhatyoursiteoffers.Yousharewiththem,andtheythenpassyourmessageson,helpingyougenerateincominglinksaswellasinterestinyourbusinessorwebsite.

HootSuite(www.hootsuite.com)Hoot Suite is a premier socialmedia tool that helpsmanage andmeasure thebiggest socialmedia networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. In acomplexsocialworld,a toolsuchasHootSuitecanbe invaluable forkeeping

track of your online social presence and scheduling messages through yoursocialmediaaccounts.

SocialMedia.ContentDistribution

TribePro(www.tribepro.com)TribePro is an innovative content syndicationplatform for socialmedia.Thisresourcewillhelpyoufindacommunityofbloggers,socialnetworks,andonlinemarketerswhoarehelpingeachothertosucceedontheInternetbybookmarkingandsharingeachother’scontentacrossvarioussocialmediaoutlets.Thereisnobetterway to build up your social profile than to connectwith a like-mindedgroup of online marketers who are willing and able to reach out to the veryaudienceyouareseekingtoattract.

Chapter9

DirectorySubmit,Rinse,Repeat

During the early days of the Internet, directory submissions used to play asubstantial role in search engine rankings. In today’s more complex world,searchengineshavegottenmuchmoresophisticatedinthewaytheydeterminerankings.Thatbeingsaid,thereisstillsomevaluetosubmittingyourwebsitetodirectories.

The goalwith this chapter is to help you identify how to find directoriesthatwillhavethegreatestimpactonyourlink-buildingeffortsandhowtodosowithoutpayingadime to thedirectories for inclusion.So let’scut through theclutter, save time, and focusondirectory submissionsonlywhereandwhen itmakessense.

It’s important to be very carefulwhen submittingyour site to directories.Thepracticeofobtaininglinksfromonlinedirectorieshaschangeddramaticallyover thepast fewyears.Poor-quality, spam-induceddirectories currently floodthe Internet, and an unfocused effort to obtain links from these all-inclusivedirectories can actually harmyourSEOefforts.Therefore, it’smore importantthanever tohaveanevolvedand focused strategywhenengaging indirectorysubmissions.

Let’s begin with what directory submissions are and how they canpositively impact your search engine rankings. The concept is actually quite

simple. You find a directory, such as www.botw.org, you select a categoryrelevant toyour site,andyou then listyourwebsite info.Theprofile typicallyconsistsofthesite’stitle,ashortdescription,anyrelevantkeysearchterms,andthe site’swebaddress.Onceyou filloutyour information,youhit submitandyou’reuponthedirectoryonceapproved.Soundssimpleenough,right?

Unfortunately,likesomanythingsinlife,it’sabitmorecomplicatedthanitappearsonthesurface.

First, there’s the process of finding directories and manually submittingrequeststoeachoneoverandoveragain.Therearebulkservicesouttherethatoffer to do this for a nominal fee.Most of them are complete scams, though.Stayawayfromthemandtheinformationinthisbookhasalreadypaidforitself.

Second,therearealwaysmultipleoptionswiththesedirectories.Typically,theoptionsinvolvepayingforalink,addingalinkonyourownsiteinexchangeforreceivingalink,orsubmittingaregularlinkwithouttheaboverequirements.Wouldyoueverpayoradda linkonyoursite ifyoudidn’thaveto?Probablynot.Often, thedirectorythreatens to takeuptosixmonths togetyoulisted, iftheyevenallowitatall,unlessyouoffertopayforinclusionorincludealinkonyourwebsitethatpointsbacktothedirectory.Don’tworryaboutthat.

Myadviceistoneveraddalinktoyoursiteorpayforinclusion;thebenefitis almost neverworth the cost. The best-quality directories provide free linksbecause it encourages more businesses to register, which in turn makes theirdirectoriesmoreuseful.Also,addingalinktoyoursitecouldactuallyharmyourSEOefforts, asGoogle penalizes sites that are viewed as having lists of linkswithnorelevantvalue.

Sonowthatyou’vebeenthoroughlyfrightenedwiththepotentialperilsofdirectories,let’sdiveintotheprocessanddiscusssomethingstolookoutfor.

Anyone interested in increasing his or her business or entity’s onlinepresence should consider actively submitting to some directories with a highpageranking.

Inthisbookyouwillfindalistoftwohundredfreedirectoriestowhichyoucan submit your site. I would recommend starting with the highest-valueddirectories in terms of page rank and thenmoving down the list.All of thesedirectoriesshouldoffertheopportunitytosubmityoursiteforfree,butbeawarethatyoursitemaytakesometimetoshowupandgetplacement.

Beforegoing toocrazywith thedirectories listedbelow, I’d like toaddaword of caution about directory submissions. Recently, Google has begunpenalizing sitesdeemed“over-optimized.”What thismeans is that if your siteappears to have tremendous amounts of directories pointing back to it for noother reason than receiving a link, it could harm your efforts. Therefore, I

stronglyrecommendyousubmittotenorsoonthislist,reviewyourprogressforamonth,andthensubmitsomemore.Slowandsteadycandefinitelyhelpyouwinthisrace.

Withthatbeingsaid,hereisalistoftwohundredfreedirectories:

Now thatwe have a large list of directories towhichwe can submit ourwebsite,let’swalkthroughhowthisprocesswilllook.

Withmostmajor directories, there’s an option to submit a link, submit asite,registeracompany,orsomevariationthereof.

Onceyoudothis,you’ll typicallybegiveninstructionsonthesubmissionprocessandrequirements.Forexample,onDMOZyou’reinstructedtogotothehome page, select the single best category for your website, and then hit theSuggest URL link once you’ve reached the category you believe is most

appropriate.AfteryouclickSuggestURL,you’llhavetheopportunitytogivedetailson

thebusinessitself,whichwillserveasyourlistinginthedirectorylistingbeingsetup.

Simplyinputyoure-mailandyou’regoodtogo.Makesurethatyoumentionyourmainservicesandproductswhencreating

yourdescription.This is similar to thedescriptionsyouusedon the localmapcitationsearlier.

Nowjustrepeatafewdozentimesandyou’llhavemasteredthedirectoriestoincreaseyoursearchenginerankings.

SEOChallenge#7:DirectorySubmissionsSubmityourwebsitetobothDMOZandtheYahoo!Directory.Didyouhaveanytroublefindingtherightcategorywhensubmitting?

Chapter10

GettingBloggedDown

Blogging can help yourSEOefforts in a fewdifferentways.Whenyou blog,you’recreatinguniquecontentthatwillhelpthesearchenginesidentifyyoursiteasanauthoritativeresourceonyoursubjectmatter.Andwhenyoucontributetootherblogsandforums,itcanhelpyoubuildupyourlinkprofile.

Ihighlyrecommendthatyouhaveyourownblog.Thetwobiggestplayersout there, the services that by far facilitate the most blogs for the biggestbloggers, are WordPress (www.wordpress.com) and Blogger(www.blogger.com). The good news is that both of these services provideoptionsthatarefreeorveryinexpensive,andbothareextremelyeasytouse.Ifyou want a blog as part of your website, I strongly encourage you to go toWordPressorBloggerandsetoneup.

When you sign upwith these services, youwill be offered a free optionhosted and supported by the service you choose or an inexpensive option thatallowsyou to set up theblogon anydomain that youwant touse. If you areseriousaboutgettingintoblogging,Ihighlyrecommendyousetuptheblogonyour own domain.Once you start to amass traffic and an audience, itwill bevery difficult to flip a switch and transfer all that you have built to your owndomaindowntheline.Itiscompletelyuptoyou,basedonhowmuchbloggingyouthinkyouwillactuallydo,butusingyourowndomainnameisdefinitelythepreferredwaytogoifyouplanonmakingbloggingasignificantcomponentof

youronlinepresence.Onceyourblogissetupandreadytogo,youwillneedtocreatecontentfor

it.Updateyourblogatleastonceortwiceaweek.Noneedtooverdoit,butyoushoulddefinitelykeepyourblogactive.

Whenitcomestoblogging,thebottomlineisthatyou’dbetterliketowrite—or work with someone who does. If you don’t have the time or ability tomaintain a steady flow of blog content, try to make time. It can pay offsubstantially.

If youwant to hire a company to helpwith thiswriting, you can alwayscontractanoutsidevendortohelporusesomeofthesamecompanieslistedinChapter6:

www.elance.comwww.odesk.comwww.iwriter.comwww.99centarticles.comwww.articleninjas.comwww.articlesontap.comwww.ccarticles.comwww.myarticleexpress.com

As mentioned earlier, the quality of these article-writing services andvendors can vary greatly. Depending on your industry, this can make a bigdifference. Ifyouwork inacomplex field suchas financeor law, itwouldbeadvisabletowriteallofthecontentyourself.However,thesewritingservicesaretypicallyveryinexpensive,soyoureallywon’triskmuchbytestingthemouttoseeiftheycanwritecontentthatmeetsyourstandards.

One thing that can be said about these services—if theyweren’t needed,theywouldn’texist.There’sobviouslyaglaringdemandforassistancewiththistypeofwriting,whichiswhysomanyoftheseservicesareabletosurvive.

Ifyoufindthatnoneofthecontentproducedcanmatchyourfinelytunedprofessionalabilities,thenIencourageyoutospendafewhoursaweekwritingstrongcontentforyourownpurposes.You’regoingtoneedquiteabitofcontentto properlymarket your site,whether you post thematerial on your own site,contributecontentasaguestblogger,distributeyourpostingsacrossarticlesites,or use your writings to answer questions on forums. There’s quite a bit ofthoughtandeffortthatgoesintocontentcreation,butthepayoffcanbehuge.

It’simportanttokeeptwothingsinmindwhengeneratingmaterial.Don’t

continually repost the same blog entry. The search engines pick up on theseactivities.Also, don’t create spammy articles, poorlywritten pieceswith littlevalue that overuse the intended keywords. If a readerwould come away fromyourpostwithlittletonovalueoraddedinsight, thenitprobablyshouldn’tbewritten.

Nowthatwe’veexploredhowtosetupablogandvariousoptionstocreatethe content needed, let’s focus on how we can leverage these tools for ourpurposes.

First, use your material for internal linking. Within your own website’sblog,ifanarticlementionsatopicorservicethatexistselsewhereonyoursite,makesurethearticlelinkstothepageinquestion.

Next, constantly create new content; one to two new articles a week,optimally.Yourpostsdon’thavetobeincrediblylong-winded,but theyshouldcenterontopicsspecificallyrelatedtothesearchtermsyouaretargeting.Thisisextremelyimportanttokeepinmindasyoudevelopyourcontent.

AsmentionedinChapter6, linkbuilding isan instrumentalpartofarticlewriting.Applyanchortext—wordingthatprovidesalinkbacktoyoursite—forappropriatekeywordstogetadecentranking.

Asareminder,anchortextisthevisiblecharactersandwordsthatcreateahyperlink display when linking to another document or location on the web.Searchenginesusethistexttohelpdeterminethesubjectmatterofthelinked-todocument.

ThisissuchanimportantpartoflinkbuildingthatI’dliketocoveritagain(even though itwasmentioned in an earlier chapter).Here is theHTMLcodethatwouldbeusedtoproperlyinsertananchortextlink:

<ahref=“http://www.sovomedia.com”>SeattleSEOAgency</a>ByusingthisHTMLcode,theterm“SeattleSEOAgency”canbeplacedin

a blog or article as a text link with the link pointing to the website URL:http://www.sovomedia.com.Thisservestoinformthesearchenginesaboutthesubject matter of the article while building a stronger link profile and morecredibilityonlineatthesametime.

When it comes to blogging, the benefits experienced from increasedexposureandincominglinkswillbecloselyalignedwiththesizeoftheaudienceactuallyreadingtheblog.Hence,it’simperativethatagoodamountofeffortisplacedonbuildingupafollowing.Havingalargereadershipwillnotonlyhelpwith the overall goals of SEO but will also serve as a great motivator todiligently update your blog, as youwill notwant to disappoint all those loyalreaders.

In this regard, Triberr (www.triberr.com) is a great tool to help you

increase your overall audience by leveraging the networks of other prominentbloggers. Triberr groups people into niches or “tribes.”Every time one of thetribe members makes a blog post, a tweet is sent by all of the other tribemembers to inform their blog audiences. This extended reach can beinstrumental in helping small-and medium-sized bloggers band together andshareeachother’saudience.IfyourecallfromChapter8,Irecommendedatooltohelp increaseTwitterfollowerscalledTweetAdder(www.tweetadder.com).UsingthistooltobuildupyourTwitterfollowing,youwillincreaseyourabilitytojoinsomegreattribestohelpyoupromotecontentyouposttoyourblog.

It’simportanttonotethatTriberrwillnotallowanyrandompersontosignup.First,youhavetobeacceptedintoanexistingtribe.Eitheryousearchtribesand request entry into the tribe, or you receive an invitation from an existingtribechief.Youcansearchbaseduponcategoriestofindatribethatisafitforyou.

Therefore, the more Twitter followers you have acquired, the higher theprobabilitythatyouwillbeacceptedintothebesttribeswiththebiggestreach.

Anothergreatopportunitywhenitcomestobloggingistowriteguestpostsforrelevantblogs.Toidentifyhigh-valuesitesforcontributingcontent,youcanuseresources thatconnectbloggerswithpotentialblogs,suchasBloggerLinkUp (www.bloggerlinkup.com). Here, you can get on a free e-mail list wherepeople post requests for blog contributions.Another reputable resource isMyBlogGuest(http://myblogguest.com).Thissitewillalsoputyouintouchwithrespected bloggers who regularly need content related to specific areas ofinterest. If youwrite something, they’ll give you a link back,whichwill helpwithyourlinkprofile.

Beforegoingtotheeffortofcontributingtootherwebsites,alwaysbesureto check out the site and its traffic statistics. You can use a tool like Alexa(www.alexa.com)tofindrelevanttrafficinformation.

For those not familiarwithAlexa, it’s a great tool. TheAlexaRank is astatistic used to evaluate traffic volumes of websites. Alexa ranks the tophundred thousand websites on the Internet in terms of popularity. AlexacomputestrafficrankingsbyanalyzingthewebusageofmillionsofAlexausers.It’sbasicallyliketheNielsenratingsoftheInternet.Thelowerthenumber,themore traffic a website receives. For example, Google has a ranking of oneaccordingtoAlexa,meaningthatitreceivesthemostInternettrafficoutofanywebsiteinexistence.

AnothergreatopportunitytospreadyourcontentinvolvesbloggingonWeb2.0sites.AWeb2.0siteisessentiallyawebsitethatallowsuserstointeractandcollaboratewitheachotherascreatorsofuser-generatedcontentinacommunity

environment.Thisstandsincontrasttothetypicalwebsite,encouragingpassiveviewingofcontentbyitsusers.Thus,thenameWeb2.0wascreatedtolabelthisnewbreedofinteractivewebsitethatfocusesoncommunity-generatedcontent.

These Web 2.0 sites have created a great opportunity to distribute yourcontentinabloggingformat.ThiswillhelpgeneratelinksacrosshighlyvisiblewebsiteswithstrongcredibilityintheeyesofGoogle.

Here is a list of 15 websites that can provide you with additionalopportunitiestodistributeyourcontent:

Asnotedearlier in thisbook,GooglegiveswebsitesaPageRankbetweenoneandten,withahigherrankindicatingmorevalueplacedonagivenwebsite.

Another opportunity in the blogging world is the creation of qualityinbound links with forum participation. By participating in relevantconversationsonvariousforums,youcanestablishyourselfasanexpertinyourniche, driving greater awareness and increased traffic to your website whileincreasingyourincominglinksatthesametime.

I highly recommend you go to a site such as Boardreader

(www.boardreader.com)anddoasearchforforumsthatdiscussyourtargetedtopic. Once you identify a few that seem relevant, you should sign up andoccasionallyparticipateintheconversation.Whenyousubmitacomment,youshouldalwayshavealinktoyoursiteplacedwithinyoursignature.Afteryou’vesubmittedafewcomments,theforummoderatorwilltypicallyfeelcomfortableenoughwithyourlevelofcontributiontobeginallowingthelinkstobepickedupbyGoogle,whichwillbenefityourSEOefforts.

Youcanreallymakeanimpactonthesearchengineswithastrongbloggingandforum-participationstrategythathelpsyoubuildarobustincominglinkingprofile.

SEOChallenge#8:BlogSet-UpSet up a blogwith either Blogger orWordPress.Did you choose to use theirdomainorsetupyourown?

ToolsAndTricks

BloggingContentManagementSystems(CMS)Abloggingcontentmanagementsystemisafree,web-basedsoftwareprogramanyone can use to build andmaintain a blog. Itwas originally intended as aneasywaytosetupablog.

WordPress(www.wordpress.com) Blogger(www.blogger.com)

BlogContentWritingServicesTheseservicescanprovidequalityarticlewritingandwebcontentforaverylowprice.Ifyou’reinneedofcontenttohelpmarketyourwebsiteandareshortontime,theseservicescanbeagreatoption.

iWriter(www.iwriter.com) 99CentArticles(www.99centarticles.com) ArticleNinjas(www.articleninjas.com) ArticlesonTap(www.articlesontap.com) CCArticles(www.ccarticles.com)

HiringABlogContentWriterBusinesses can use these websites to post jobs, search for freelanceprofessionals, and solicit proposals.You can evaluate the contractors applyingforthejobbyreviewingqualifications,workhistory,ratings,portfolios,andskill

testscores.

Elance(www.elance.com) oDesk(www.odesk.com)

BloggingCommunityResources

Triberr(www.triberr.com)Triberr is an online blogging community using social media like Facebook,Twitter, Google Plus, andmany others. Bloggers join similar groups or tribesand share each other’s blogs and content. Bloggers on Triberr can providecommentsonyourblogaswell.

BloggerLinkup(www.bloggerlinkup.com)WhenyoujointheBloggerLinkuplist,youwillreceiveweeklye-mailslistingbloggerslookingforexpertsourcesandcontributorsfortheiralreadyestablishedblogs.Whenyou see a requestyouwant to fulfill, just responddirectly to therequester.It’sthateasy.

MyBlogGuest(www.myblogguest.com)MyBlogGuestisafreecommunitythatconnectsguestbloggerstoblogowners.By joining this community for free, you can gain tremendous exposure fromguestpostingopportunities.

BoardReader(www.boardreader.com)BoardReaderisasearchengineforforumsandcommunityboards.Simplytypeinatopicrelatedtoyourwebsite,andyouwillfindallkindsofdiscussionsyoucancontributeto,becominganauthorityinyourspaceandgeneratingastrongerlink profile. This can be a powerful method for obtaining links and gainingauthorityonthesearchengines.

OnlineTrafficAnalysis Alexa(www.alexa.com)

AlexacomputestrafficrankingsbyanalyzingthewebusageofmillionsofAlexaToolbar users and data obtained from other diverse traffic data sources. Theinformation is sorted, sifted,anonymized,counted,andcomputed todeterminethetrafficrankingsshownintheAlexaservice.Thisisareliableandpowerfulinformationsource forevaluating the trafficvolumesofwebsites (especially ifyou’regoingtothetroubleofcontributingablogposttoaparticularwebsite).

Chapter11

ReportCard:AforEffort

So you’ve identified your key search terms, optimized your HTML tags, anddiligently built out incoming links. You’re regularly writing relevant articleswith embedded anchor tags pointing back to your website, have bookmarkedyour site on all the biggest social sites, and are a regular contributor to yourfavoriteforumsandblogs.

Nowhowdoyoudeterminethatallthishardworkispayingoff,thatyou’reincreasinginrankingsandgettingthereturnoninvestmentyoudeserveforallofyourefforts?

First, you’ll want to check your rankings for the search terms you’retargeting.MozhasausefultoolforthisthatiscalledRankTracker,and,asthenamesuggests,ittracksyourkeywordrankings.

When you launch your SEO endeavors, make sure you input the termsyou’re optimizing for into Rank Tracker or a similar tool. Then, you can seewhatkindofprogressyou’vemadeandwhereyoupresentlyrank.Thiswillhelpyouwhenidentifyingprioritiesandevaluatingprogressacrossyourcampaign:

Since increasing search engine rankings is such a vital part of any SEOcampaign, most of the major tool providers will allow you to check yourrankings. If youwant to use a free rank tracker tool, you can check out SEOBook(http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank-checker).

Someadditionaltoolproviderswithrank-trackingabilitiesinclude:

AuthorityLabs(http://authoritylabs.com)RavenTools(www.raventools.com)WEbCEO(www.webceo.com)MarketSamurai(www.marketsamurai.com)

Another great tool that can be utilized for free is Majestic SEO(www.majesticseo.com). It’s important to note that there are paid and freeversionsofMajesticSEO.This toolworkswell for evaluatinghowyour link-building efforts areworking, and aswe know, building links pointing back toyourwebsitewillhugelyinfluencehowyourankinthesearchengines.

WithMajesticSEO,you’llhavetheabilitytoreviewhowyoureffortsaredirectlyimpactingyourincominglinks:

Ifyouspendsometimepublishingafewarticlestoyourfavoriteblogsandarticlesites,socialbookmarkingonafewtargetedsites,submittingyoursitetonichedirectories,andbuildingmapcitationstoyourwebsite,thefluctuationsinyour incoming links will illustrate how these efforts are working. A spike inincoming links after a day focused on these efforts can indicate that thework

you’reputtinginistrulystartingtoyieldresults.Here is a look at how Majestic SEO will display data when pulling

incominglinksfromacumulativeperiodoftime:

This level of information can be tremendously valuable in determining ifthe search engines are actually recognizing your link-acquiring efforts. Linkbuildinghasamajorimpactonyouroverallonlineauthorityandrankingability,sopaycloseattentiontothesereports toensurethesearchenginesareactuallygivingyoucreditforthelinksyou’reacquiring.It’simportanttonotethatitcantakeseveralmonthsforyour links tostartaccurately tracking in these tools. Ifyouarenotseeingimmediateresults,thereisnoneedtodespair.Givethesetoolssometimetopickuponyoureffortsandyoucouldbepleasantlysurprisedattheamountofprogressyouareabletomake.

In terms of tracking overall website traffic, the most utilized and by farmost popular tool is Google Analytics. Better yet, Google Analytics iscompletelyfree.

There isplentyof informationavailable regardinghow toproperly setupGoogleAnalyticsforyourwebsite,soIwon’tgivedetailedinstructionshere(ifonlytosavepaper).Hereisagoodresourcefordetailedinstructions:

http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/setupchecklist.html

Someofthethingsyou’llwanttofocusoninclude:

Installingtrackingcode

Creatingandplacingaconversionscriptthroughoutyourwebsite.

Settingupconversiongoals

Conversiongoalscanincludeanyactionyouareattemptingtocreate,suchas fillingout ane-mail form,downloadinganewsletter,watchingasalesvideo,orbuyingaproductfromyoursite.

Whenyoufirst logintoGoogleAnalytics,youwillseeavisitoroverviewthatincludesthefollowinginformation:

NumberofvisitorsNumberofpageviewsAveragepages/visitAveragevisitdurationBounce rate (% of visitors that only see one page before exiting thewebsite)Percentageofnewvisitors

All of this information serves to inform you of how many new visitorsyou’reattractingandhowengagedtheyarewithyoursitewhentheylandonit.

Once the conversion script is createdand thegoals are inplace, youwillhavetheabilitytoreviewreportsthatincludeallkindsofinformationaboutyourwebsite.

Youcanevensetupadashboardtoincludethespecificareasyouwanttomonitor.Someofthemoreprominentareasthatadvertiserstendtotrackinclude:

Trafficsources(suchassearchtraffic,directtraffic,andreferraltraffic).Conversion goals (such as goal completions, goal value, and goalconversionrate).

WhileIcouldshowyouhowtoaccesssomeof thesereports,Googlehasprovided so much information that it doesn’t make sense to include a longinstructionmanualhere.Formore information, just visit theGoogleAnalyticstutorialhere:

http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/index.htmlI’m a big advocate of Google Analytics, as it is free and provides very

detailedinformationaboutyouronlinemetrics.InadditiontoGoogleAnalytics,it’s important to diligently track how your search terms are ranking andwhatkinds of requests are coming through your site so you can get the bestinformation possible about what is actually driving your increased traffic andsales.

I take reporting very seriously.After all, it’s difficult to pinpointwhat isworking well and what needs adjustment if you’re not meticulously trackingyourprogressandgaininginsightintohowtheseeffortsaretranslatingintoreal-

world results, such as more customers, sales, visitors, and increased onlinevisibility.

Therearetonsofgreattoolsavailabletoprovidemoreinsightintowhatistakingplaceonyoursiteandhowvisitorsarefindingyou.Thetoolsdescribedinthis chapter can be great resources, but there are many others as well. IrecommendthatanywebsiteownerinitiallysetupGoogleAnalytics,asitisfreeandprovidessomecrucialinformationaboutyourwebsite’straffic.YoushouldalsoleveragethefreeversionofMajesticSEOifyoudon’twanttospendmoneyonthepaidversion.It’sverypossiblethatthesefreetoolswillbesufficientforyourreportingneeds.

So,byallmeans,startwiththefreetools,andifyourtrafficgrows,ifyoustartexperimentingwithdifferenttypesofmarketing,orifyouneedmoredetailsabout how you’re being found online, you can evaluate and test some of theother resources out there. Here are some additional powerful and popularanalyticstoolsyoucanevaluatefortrackingpurposes:

SpyFuRecon(www.spyfu.com/recon)Optify(www.optify.net)Clicky(www.getclicky.com)Piwik(www.piwik.org)Omniture(www.omniture.com)WebTrends(www.webtrends.com)

I spend a decent amount of time and resources on reporting formySEOeffortsandyoushouldtoo.ThistypeofinformationcanbeincrediblyvaluablewhenattemptingtoquantifyyoureffortsandrealizingactualvaluecreatedfromtheseSEOactivities.Afterall, inbusiness, time ismoney. IfyourSEOeffortsaredoneproperly,theycantranslateintoasubstantialreturnonyourinvestmentoftimeandresources.

SEOChallenge#9:AnalyticsSet-UpSet up Google Analytics across your website and make sure you track everysinglepage.Referbacktotheset-upguidesinthischapterforguidance.Wasitmoreorlessdifficultthanyouexpected?

ToolsAndTricks

RankTrackingTools

Ranktrackingtoolsaredesignedtoretrievesearchenginerankingsforpagesandkeywords.Mostwillalsoallowyoutotrackselectedrankingsovertime.RanktrackingcanbeausefulwaytohelpvalidateprogresstowardyourSEOgoals.Afterall,it’simpossibletoknowifyourSEOeffortsareworkingifyou’renotable to track your progress. Here are some great rank tracking tools for thispurpose:

Moz(www.moz.com) SEOBook(http://tools.seobook.com) AuthorityLabs(http://authoritylabs.com) RavenTools(www.raventools.com) WebCEO(www.webceo.com) MarketSamurai(www.marketsamurai.com)

LinkTrackingToolsMajesticSEO(www.majesticseo.com)

FindouthowallthewebsitesontheInternetlinktoeachotherwiththelargestlinkintelligencedatabaseontheplanet.Thissitegivesyouaninsaneamountofdetailedinformationaboutlinks,whichcanbeinvaluableforfullyunderstandinghowyourlink-buildingeffortsareworking.

AnalyticsToolsWebsiteanalyticsnotonlymeasurewebtrafficbutcanalsobeusedforbusinessandmarket research and to assess and improve the effectiveness of awebsite.Installinganalyticswillhelpyouestimatehow traffic toyourwebsite changesbased on the work you put into building awareness and increasing visitors.Analyticscanprovideinformationaboutmanyareasofyourwebsite,includingoverallwebsitetraffic,thechannelsdrivingnewvisitors,thelengthoftimeyouraudience is staying on your website, and specific actions your potentialcustomersaretakingwhentheygettoyourwebsite.Herearesomegreattoolstohelpyoutrackyouranalytics:

GoogleAnalytics(www.google.com/analytics) SpyFuRecon(www.spyfu.com/recon) Optify(www.optify.net) Clicky(www.getclicky.com) Piwik(www.piwik.org) Omniture(www.omniture.com)

WebTrends(www.webtrends.com)

Chapter12

TheStep-by-StepSEOMethod

Nowthatwe’vecoveredindetailhowtoeffectivelysetupandmanageasearchengineoptimizationcampaign,it’stimetoputtogetheraplanofactionutilizingallofthenewtoolsandresourcesinourarsenal.Thegoalwiththisplanistoputenougharrowsinyourquivertoeffectivelyhityourtarget.Iffolloweddiligently,itshouldhelpleadyoutotheresultsyoudesire.

Iwillwarnyouthat thenumberonereasonpeoplefailatSEOisbecausetheygiveuptooquickly.Ifyoudon’tseeresultsinthefirstmonthortwo,don’tgiveup!Itcouldhappenverysuddenly,whereyougofromrelativeobscuritytoGoogle’s firstpage,even if it feelsas thoughnothing ishappening.Stickwiththeplanandgiveittheappropriateamountoftimetoworkitsmagic.Patiencewillbeyourbiggestallyinyourquesttoachievestellarsearchenginerankingsandincreasedwebsitetraffic.

Nowthatyou’vehadyourpeptalk,here ishowtheplanofactionshouldlookgoingforward:

Step1–KeywordSelectionSelectkeywords to target inyourSEOcampaign.This should initially includefivetotensearchterms.Thesetermsshouldhaveadifficultyscoreinthelower

tomiddlerangewithanyoftherecommendedkeywordtools.ThetermsshouldalsoenjoyahealthyamountofmonthlysearchvolumeaccordingtotheGoogleKeyword Tool. Ideally, you would like keywords that receive at least onethousandsearchespermonth.Dependingonyourspecificareaoffocus,though,thismaybeanunrealisticgoal.SelectyourtargettermsandthenentertheminanExcelspreadsheetinorderofpriority.KeepthisExcelfileonhandforfuturereference.

Step2–OnsiteOptimizationUsing your selected keywords, revise the following tags on your website toincludeyourtargetsearchterms:

Updateheadertag<H1>Updatetitletag<Title>UpdatemetadescriptionUpdateon-pagecontent

Include target search terms in top twenty-fivewords andbottomtwenty-fivewordsonpageandboldthemonce.

RemovemetakeywordtagIncludesubpages

Forany importantkeywords thatyouwant to rankwith, createasubpagewithrelevantinformationandadomainthatincludesthekeyword.For example, if youwant to target “Seattle roofing,”write some contentrelatedtothatwithadomainlike:www.roofer.com/seattleroofing.html

Checkforonsiteerrorsorissues

Onceyoursitehasincorporatedtheproperchanges,useanyoftherecommended tools aswell as yourGoogleWebmasterTools to identifyhowoptimizedyourpageisforyourtargetkeywords.Ifyoureceiveerrorsorrecommendations,maketheimpliedchangesandtestagainuntilyouaresatisfiedwithyourwebsite.

Step3–Link-BuildingActivities

Createmapcitations

Gothroughtheprovidedlistandfilloutlocalmapdirectoriesforyourbusiness ifyouaregoingafteranylocation-specificsearches(at least tendirectoriespermonth).

Createanddistributearticles

Setupatleastfivetotenaccountswithsomeofthearticledirectoriesprovided in thisbook.Thenwriteorpost at least fivearticlespermonththat include your target search termswith anchor links pointing back toyourwebsite.

Createanddistributepressreleases

Createonepressreleaseonanewsworthytopic,suchasanewserviceyou’reofferingorpromotionyou’rerunning,bywritingashortblurbabouttheexcitingchangestakingplace.ThensubmittoPRLogorPRWebwiththeappropriatelinksembeddedinthepressrelease.Irecommendsendingoutonepressreleaseeverymonth.

Practicecompetitivelinkbuilding

ConductaGooglesearchforyourtoptargetedkeyword.Next,takenote of thewebsites currently enjoying the toppositioning for this term.Then leverage anyof the tools that youdecide to use and enter the firstwebsiteyoudiscovered.Thiswillthenreturnalistofcurrentsiteslinkingbacktothewebsiteinquestion.Finally,identifyatleasttenwebsitesthatwouldbeagoodfitasalinkpartnerandreachoutviae-mail,askingthemtolinktoyoursite.

Usesocialbookmarking

Gothroughthelistofsocialbookmarkingsitesprovidedinthisbook

andfilloutatleasttendifferentsocialbookmarkingaccountspermonth.

Socialmediaposting

WriteafewrelevantpostsaboutyourbusinessorindustryonyourFacebookpageandmakeaconsciouseffort to increasefansand likesonyour page. Also, ensure that you’re actively using Tweet Adder orimplementing another method to increase your Twitter reach whilebuildingastrongnetwork.Don’tforgettofocussomeattentiononGooglePlusaswell,working to increase thenumberofpeople“circling”you toboostyoursocialstatusintheeyesofGoogle.

Submittodirectories

Gothroughthelistofdirectoriesprovidedinthisbookandfilloutatleasttendifferentdirectoryprofilesfromsitesonthelistwiththehighestpagerankings.

Bloggingandforumcommenting

Afteryou’vesetupyourveryownblogthroughWordPressorBlogger,write one article perweek related to your business and target keywords.MakesureyouuseBloggerLinkUptocontributeablogposteverymonthto an outside blog so that you can differentiate your blogging strategy.MakesuretoincreaseyourblogexposurebyextendingyourreachthroughTriberr. Also, make sure that you log into BoardReader at least once amonthtosubmitcommentsonrelevantforums.

Setupreporting

SetupafreeGoogleAnalyticsaccountandmakesureyouaretrackingactivityacrossyourwebsite.

Trackyourkeywordrankingswithanyofthetoolsmentionedinthisbooktoevaluateyourrankingincreasesstemmingfromtheseactivities.

LogintoGoogleAnalyticsand/orMajesticSEOeverycoupleofweekstoverifyanyprogresswithlinkacquisitionandonlinetrafficincreases.

Followthisstep-by-stepguideandyouwillbeeffectivelyoptimizingyourwebsitefor themajorsearchengines.Keepa trackingsheetonhandandmarkyourprogresseverymonth.Itshouldlooksomethinglikethis:

KeywordDevelopment OnsiteOptimization TenLocalMapCitations FiveArticlesWrittenandDistributed OnePressReleaseWrittenandDistributed TenCompetitorLinkPartnersContacted TenSocialBookmarkingSubmissions FourFacebookPosts TwoTweets TwoGooglePlusPosts TenDirectorySubmissions FourBlogPostsWrittenandDistributed TenForumCommentsSubmitted

Based on my experience, following a schedule like this will typicallyrequire around five hours per week on an ongoing basis. However, you cansuccessfullymanage these SEO activities with less of a time commitment byutilizing some of the resources outlined in this book to helpwith the contentwriting foryourwebsite.While thismayseem likeabigcommitment,gettingonto Google’s first page for just a handful of terms will typically more thanjustifythetimeand/orexpenserequiredtoimplementthisplan.

Hereisacalendaryoucanfollowtobettertrackyourlink-buildingeffortsonyourcampaigns:

When it comes to SEO—or anyworthwhile activity, for thatmatter—themoreeffortyouputin,themoreyouwillgetoutofit.Therefore,ifyoucanfindthetimeandresourcestogoaboveandbeyondtherecommendedSEOplan, itwillbenefityoursearchenginetrafficinthelongrun.

Conversely,evendoingalittleofthisworkisbetterthandoingnothingatallwhenitcomestohelpingyouronlinepresence.Justkeepinmindthatwhileengagingintheseactivitiesonareducedschedulewillstillwork,it islikelytoincrease the amount of time itwill take for you to start seeing results. If you

don’thavethetimeordesiretowritecontentyourself,thenIhighlyrecommendyouhireanoutsidecompanyorcontractortoassistwiththeseactivities.

There you have it. The Step-by-Step plan that can help you soar fromobscuritytoauthorityonthesearchengines.

SEOChallenge#10:ImplementanSEOProgram

Give the Step-by-Stepmethod a serious try for threemonths. Follow theprogramcloselyandconsistently.Whenpossible,goaboveandbeyondtherecommended work outlined in this plan. Howmuchmovement did youexperienceonthesearchenginesafterthreemonths?Howmanyadditionalvisitorshaveyouattractedtoyoursitewiththisprocess?

Conclusion

GoForthandTaketheSearchEnginesbyStormNothingventured,nothinggained,sothesayinggoes.Givethisprocessatry,asyou have nothing to lose. While it’s impossible to guarantee success (oreveryonewouldbesuccessful),Icanassureyouthatthisprocesshasledtosomehugesuccesses for thecampaigns I’vepersonallyworkedon.Workat it justafewhoursaweekandoverthecourseofafewmonths,youcouldbepleasantlysurprisedwiththeresultsyouexperienceonthesearchengines.

Whatcanyouexpect?Hereisabreakdownofhowmypastcampaignshavetypicallyprogressed.First,thereisaslightincreaseinrankingsforsomeofthesearchtermsbeingtargeted.Typically, likeclockwork,afterabout twoor threemonths,afewkeysearchtermswillstarttorankand,asprogressismade,thesesearch terms will eventually make it onto the first page of the major searchengines.

Frommyexperience,by the timesomeof the targetedsearch termsreachthetophalfofGoogle’sfirstpage,therehasbeenabigincreaseinonlinetraffic.Asmentioned earlier in this book, you can find some free tools to track thistrafficthroughGoogleAnalytics(http://www.google.com/analytics).Betteryet,becausethistraffichasbeensotargetedandrelevant,theseincreaseshaveledtomoresales,phonecalls,andotherconversions.

Additionally,therewasastrongcorrelationbetweenthesearchtermsbeingoptimized and the keywords driving the majority of the traffic online. Thisstrongconnectionwasnotacoincidence.

Ifyou’restillnotsureSEOisworththeeffort,herearesomekeyreasonswhyyoushouldgivesearchengineoptimizationsomeseriousconsideration:

SEOis importantbecause it improves theoddsofsomeone findingyouonline.Onlinevisibilitycanbolsteryourcredibilityandbrandawareness.SEOcanputyouinfrontofpeopleactivelylookingforyourproductsand

services.SEOallowsyoutofocusyouronlinemarketingeffortsonanendresult,suchasmoresales,leads,andvisibility.

What makes search engine optimization such a powerful method ofadvertisingisthatitempowersyourcustomerstofindyouattheexactmomentthey are actively looking for what you have to offer. Most other advertisingchannels require you to shout your messaging at prospective customers andsimplyhopeforthebest.

Better yet,whilemost advertising requiresyou to investmoneybasedonthenumberofpeopleyouare attempting toget in frontof, the customersyouattractwithSEOare completely freewhenyoubegin to get placement on thesearchengines:

Whichwouldyouprefer?Ifyouranswer is freecustomers, I thinkyou’restartingtoseethevalueinthis!

Iurgeyoutogivethisstrategyatry.WiththeStep-by-Stepprocess—whichincludesallthetoolsandresourcesneeded—itiseasytoputtheoryintopractice.

Freemarketingandwebsite traffic is there for the taking—as longasyouknowhowtogetit.Andnowyouknowhowtogetit!Sogoforthandconquerthesearchengines.Onceyoumoveforward,you’llneverlookback.Thedaysoftheyellowpagesarebehindus.It’sanewkindofrevolution—andinformationisking.

AHumbleRequestIwould like to thank you for reading Step-by-Step SEO. If you feel this

bookhasprovidedvalue,pleasevisitAmazon.comandwriteareview.I’malwayslookingforfeedbackandwouldloveforyoutobepartof the

SEOcommunity.Iwillprovideanyonewhocompletesareviewwithawebsiteevaluation—absolutely free! This evaluation includes an overview of thecompetitive landscape in your industry, a list of 10–15 recommended searchterms to focus on for optimization purposes, and onsite recommendations foryour website. Simply send a link of your Amazon.com review tosupport@stepbystepseobook.com.

GlossaryofEssentialSEOTerms

#301MovedPermanentlyThe file has beenmovedpermanently to a new location.This is the preferredmethodofredirectingformostpagesorwebsites.Ifyouaregoingtomoveanentiresitetoanewlocation,youmaywanttotestmovingafileorfolderfirst.Ifthatrankswell,thenproceedwithmovingtheentiresite.Dependingonyoursiteauthorityandcrawlfrequency,itmaytakeanywherefromafewdaystoamonthorsoforthe301redirecttobepickedup.

404NotFoundTheserverwasunabletolocatetheURL.However,somecontentmanagementsystemssend404statuscodeswhendocumentsdoexist.

AAbovetheFoldAtermtraditionallyusedtodescribethetopportionofanewspaper.Ine-mailorwebmarketing,itmeanstheareaofcontentviewablepriortoscrolling.

AdWordsGoogle’s advertisement and link auction network, which controls all searchenginelistingsfoundinthesponsoredsectionofGoogle.

AffiliateMarketingAffiliatemarketingprogramsallowmerchantstoexpandtheirmarketreachandmindshare by paying independent agents on a cost per action (CPA) basis.Affiliatesonlygetpaidifvisitorscompleteanaction.

AgeSome social networks or search systems may take site age, page age, useraccount age, and related historical data into account when determining howmuchtotrustthatperson,website,ordocument.Somespecialtysearchengines,likeblogsearchengines,mayalsoboosttherelevancyofnewdocuments.

AlexaAmazon.com-owned search servicewhichmeasureswebsite traffic.While nothighlyaccurate,itisfree.

AltAttributeMostmajorsearchenginesarenotabletoeasilydistinguishanimage’scontent.Using an image alt attribute allowsyou to help search engines understand thefunctionofanimagebyprovidingatextequivalentfortheobject.

AnalyticsSoftware that allowsyou to trackyourpageviews,userpaths, andconversionstatistics based upon interpretation of your log files or through including aJavaScripttrackingcodeonyoursite.

AnchorTextThetextauserwouldclickontofollowalink.

Search engines assume that your page is authoritative for the words thatpeople include in links pointing at your site.When links occur naturally, they

typically have a wide array of anchor text combinations. Too much similaranchor text may be considered a sign of manipulation and could thus bediscountedorfiltered.Makesuretomixupyouranchortextwhenbuildinglinksthatyoucontrol.

API(ApplicationProgramInterface)A series of conventions or routines used to access software functions. MostmajorsearchproductshaveanAPIprogram.

AskAskisasearchengineownedbyInterActiveCorp.ItwasoriginallynamedAskJeeves;“Jeeves”wasdumpedinearly2006.

AuthorityTheabilityofapageordomaintorankwellinsearchengines.Fivekeyfactorsassociatedwithsiteandpageauthorityarelinkequity,siteage,traffictrends,sitehistory, and thepublishingofunique,original, quality content.Search enginesconstantly tweak their algorithms to try tobalance relevancyalgorithmsbasedontopicalauthorityandoverallauthorityacrosstheentireweb.

BBacklink(seeInboundLink)BaitandSwitchMarketingtechniquewhereyoumakesomethinglookovertlypureorasthoughithasanotherpurposetogetpeopletobelieveinitorvoteforit(bylinkingtoitorsharingitwithfriends),thenswitchtheintentorpurposeofthewebsiteafteryou gain authority. For example, it is generally easier to get links toinformational websites than commercial sites. Some new sites might gainauthoritymuchmore quickly if they tried looking noncommercial and gainedinfluencebeforetryingtomonetizetheirmarketposition.

BlackHatSEOSearchenginessetupguidelinesthathelpthemextractbillionsofdollarsofadrevenuefromtheworkofpublishersandtheattentionofsearchers.Withinthathighly profitable framework, search engines consider certain marketingtechniques deceptive in nature and label them as black hat SEO. Thoseconsidered within the guidelines are called white hat SEO techniques. Thesearchguidelinesarenotastaticsetofrules,andthingsthatmaybeconsideredlegitimateonedaymaybeconsidereddeceptivethenext.

BlogA periodically updated journal, typically formatted in reverse chronologicalorder.Manyblogsnotonlyarchiveandcategorizeinformation,butalsoprovidea feed and allow simple user interaction like leaving comments on the posts.Mostblogstendtobepersonalinnature.Blogsaregenerallyquiteauthoritative,with heavy link equity, because they give people a reason to frequently comebacktothesite,readthecontent,andlinktowhatevertheythinkisinteresting.

BloggerBloggerisafreeblogplatformownedbyGoogle.

Itallowsyou topublishsitesonasubdomainofBlogspot.comor toyourowndomain. If you are serious about building a brand ormakingmoneyonline,youshouldpublishyourcontenttoyourowndomainbecauseitcanbehardtoreclaimawebsite’slinkequityandage-relatedtrustifyouhavebuiltyearsoflinkequityintoasubdomainonsomeoneelse’swebsite.

BoldAwaytomakewordsappearinabolderfont.Wordsthatappearinabolderfontaremorelikelytobereadbyhumansscanningapage.Asearchenginemayalsoplace slightly greater weight on these words than regular text. When writingyourowncopy, ifawordorphraseappearsonapagemanytimes, itdoesnotmakesenseorlooknaturaltoboldeveryoccurrence.

BookmarksMost browsers comewith the ability to bookmark your favorite pages.Manyweb-based services also allow you to bookmark and share your favoriteresources.Thepopularity of a document (asmeasured in termsof link equity,number of bookmarks, or usage data) is a signal for the quality of theinformation.Somesearchenginesmaybeusingbookmarks toaid their searchrelevancy.

BrandTheemotionalresponseassociatedwithyourcompanyand/orproducts.Abrandis built through controlling customer expectations and the social interactionsbetween customers. Building a brand is what allows you tomove away fromcommodity-basedpricingandtowardhighermargin,value-basedpricing.

BrandedKeywordsKeywords or keyword phrases associated with a brand. Typically, brandedsearches occur late in the buying cycle and are someof the highest-value andhighest-convertingkeywords.

BrokenLinkA hyperlink that is not functioning. A link that does not lead to the desiredlocation.

BrowserClient used to view the World Wide Web. The most popular browsers areMicrosoft’sInternetExplorer,Mozilla’sFirefox,Safari,andOpera.

CCache

Copyofawebpagestoredbyasearchengine.Whenyousearchtheweb,youarenotactivelysearchingthewholeweb,butfilesinthesearchengineindex.

CanonicalURLMany content management systems are configured with errors that causeduplicateorexceptionallysimilarcontent toget indexedundermultipleURLs.Manywebmastersuseinconsistentlinkstructuresthroughouttheirsitethatcausethe exact same content to get indexed under multiple URLs. The canonicalversion of anyURL is the singlemost authoritative version indexed bymajorsearchengines.Searchengines typicallyusePageRankorasimilarmeasure todeterminewhichversionofaURListhecanonicalURL.

CloakingDisplayingdifferentcontent tosearchengines than tosearchers.Dependingontheintentofthedisplaydiscrepancyandthestrengthofthebrandofthepersonor company cloaking, it may be considered reasonable or it may get a sitebannedfromasearchengine.

ClusteringInsearchresults, the listingsfromany individualsiteare typically limited toacertainnumberandgroupedtogethertomakethesearchresultsappearneatandorganizedandtoensurediversityamongstthetop-rankedresults.

CommentsManyblogsandothercontentmanagementsystemsallowreaderstoleaveuserfeedback. Leaving enlightening and thoughtful comments on someone else’srelatedwebsiteisonewaytogetthemtonoticeyou.

ConceptualLinks

Linksthatsearchenginesattempttounderstandbeyondjust theirwords.Someratheradvancedsearchenginesattempttofindouttheconceptlinksversusjustmatchingthewordsofthetexttothatspecificwordset.

ConceptSearchA search that attempts to conceptually match results with the query, notnecessarilywiththosewords,butrathertheirconcept.

ConversionMany forms of online advertising are easy to track. A conversion is reachedwhenadesiredgoaliscompleted.

Mostofflineadshavegenerallybeenmuchhardertotrackthanonlineads.Some marketers use custom phone numbers or coupon codes to tie offlineactivitytoonlinemarketing.

Hereareafewcommonexampledesiredgoals:

aproductsalecompletionofaleadformaphonecallcaptureofane-mailcompletionofasurveycaptureofaperson’sattentionfeedbackwebsitesharebyavisitorlinkatyoursitebyasitevisitor

CopyrightThelegalrighttopublishandreproduceaparticularpieceofwork.

CookieSmalldatafilewrittentoauser’slocalmachinetotrackthem.Cookiesareused

tohelpwebsitescustomizeyouruserexperienceandtrackconversions.

CPA(CostPerAction)Theeffectivenessofmanyformsofonlineadvertisingismeasuredonacost-per-actionbasis.

CPC(CostPerClick)Many search ads and contextually targeted ads are sold in auctionswhere theadvertiserischargedacertaincostperclick.

CPM

Cost per thousand impressions. Many people use CPM as a measure of howprofitableawebsiteisorhasthepotentialofbecoming.

CrawlDepthHowdeeplyawebsiteiscrawledandindexed.Sincesearchesthatarelongerinnaturetendtobemoretargeted,itisimportanttotrytogetmostorallofasiteindexedsuchthatthedeeperpageshavetheabilitytorankforrelevantlong-tailkeywords.

CrawlFrequencyHow frequently awebsite is crawled. Sites that arewell trusted or frequentlyupdatedmaybecrawledmoreoftenthansiteswithlowtrustscoresandlimitedlinkauthority.

ClickThroughRate(CTR)Thepercentageofpeoplewhoviewandthenclickonanadvertisement,whichisawaytomeasurehowrelevantatrafficsourceorkeywordis.

DDeadLinkA link that is no longer functional.Most large, high-quality websites have atleastafewdeadlinksin them,but theratioofgoodlinkstodeadlinkscanbeseenasasignofinformationquality.

DeepLinkA link that points to an internal page within a website. When links grow

naturally,mosthigh-qualitywebsiteshavemanylinkspointingatinteriorpages.When you request links from otherwebsites, itmakes sense to request a linkfromtheirmosttargetedrelevantpagetoyourmosttargetedrelevantpage.Somewebmastersevencreatecontentbasedoneasylinkingopportunities.

DedicatedServerServerlimitedtoservingonewebsiteorasmallcollectionofwebsitesownedbya single person. Dedicated servers tend to be more reliable than shared (orvirtual) servers. Dedicated servers usually run from $100 to $500 a month.Virtualserverstypicallyrunfrom$5to$50permonth.

De-ListingTemporarily or permanently becoming de-indexed from a directory or searchengine.

DemographicsStatisticaldataorcharacteristicsthatdefinesegmentsofapopulation.

DescriptionDirectoriesandsearchenginesprovideashortdescriptionneareachlistingthataimstoaddcontexttothetitle.

High-quality directories typically prefer the description describewhat thesiteisaboutratherthansomethingovertlypromotional.

DirectoryA categorized catalog of websites, typically manually organized by topicaleditorialexperts.Somedirectoriescatertospecificnichetopics,whileothersaremore comprehensive in nature. Major search engines likely place significantweight on links from DMOZ and the Yahoo! Directory. Smaller and less

established general directories likely pull less weight. If a directory does notexerciseeditorialcontroloverlistings,searchengineswillnotbelikelytotrustitslinksatall.

DomainSchemeusedforlogicalorlocationorganizationoftheweb.Manypeoplealsousetheworddomaintorefertoaspecificwebsite.

DuplicateContentContentduplicateornearduplicateinnature.

Searchenginesdonotwant to indexmultipleversionsof similar content.Many automated content-generation techniques rely on recycling content, sosomesearchenginesaresomewhatstrictinfilteringoutcontenttheydeemtobesimilarornearlyduplicate.

EEditorialLinkSearch engines count links as votes of quality. They primarily want to counteditorial links thatwere earnedover links thatwere bought or bartered. If thelinksarefromsiteswithouteditorialcontrol,likelinkfarms,theyarenotlikelytohelpyourankwell.

EntryPageThepageavisitorusestoenteryoursite.Ifyouarelinkbuilding,itisimportanttopointlinksatyourmostappropriatepagewhenpossible.

EthicalSEOSearch engines like to paint SEO services that manipulate their relevancyalgorithms as being unethical. Any particular technique is generally not

associatedwithethics,butiseithereffectiveorineffective.

EverfluxMajorsearch indexesareconstantlyupdating.Google refers to thiscontinuousrefresh as everflux. In the past, Google updated their index roughly once amonth.ThoseupdateswerenamedGoogleDances,butsinceGoogleshiftedtoaconstantlyupdatingindex,GooglenolongerdoeswhatwastraditionallycalledaGoogleDance.

ExternalLinkAlinkthatreferencesanotherdomain.Ifyoulinkouttolotsoflow-qualitysitesorprimarily relyon low-quality reciprocal links,somesearchenginesmaynotrank your site very well. Search engines aremore likely to trust high-qualityeditoriallinks(bothtoandfromyoursite).

FFavorites(seeBookmarks)

FeedManycontentmanagementsystems,suchasblogs,allowreaderstosubscribetocontentupdatenotificationsviaRSSorXMLfeeds.Feedscanalsorefertopayperclick,syndicatedfeeds,ormerchantproductfeeds.Merchantproductfeedshavebecome lesseffectiveasameansofcontentgenerationdue to improvingduplicatecontentfilters.

FlashVector graphics-based animation software thatmakes it easier for websites tolook rich and interactive. Search engines tend to struggle with indexing andrankingFlashwebsitesbecauseFlashtypicallycontainssolittlerelevantcontent.

ForwardLinks(seeOutboundLinks)FreshContentContent that is dynamic in nature and gives people a reason to keep payingattentiontoyourwebsite.Freshcontentoftenreferstocreatingnewcontent.

FTP(FileTransferProtocol)Aprotocolfortransferringdatabetweencomputers.Manycontentmanagementsystems(suchasbloggingplatforms)includeFTPcapabilities.

GGoogleAdvertisingProfessional(GAP)AprogramthatqualifiesmarketersasproficientAdWordsmarketers.

GoogleTheworld’sleadingsearchengineintermsofreach.GooglepioneeredsearchbyanalyzinglinkagedataviaPageRank.GooglewascreatedbyStanfordstudentsLarryPageandSergeyBrin.

GoogleBotGoogle’s searchengine spider.Googlehas a sharedcrawl cachebetween theirvariousspiders,includingverticalsearchspidersandspidersassociatedwithadtargeting.

GoogleBombingMaking a page rankwell for a specific search query by pointing hundreds orthousandsoflinksatitwiththekeywordsintheanchortext.

GoogleBowling

Knocking a competitor out of the search results by pointing hundreds orthousandsoflow-trust,low-qualitylinksattheirwebsite.Typically,itiseasiertobowl new sites out of the results. Older, established sites aremuch harder toknockoutofthesearchresults.

GoogleDanceIn the past,Google updated their index roughly once amonth. Those updateswerenamedGoogleDances,but sinceGoogleshifted toaconstantlyupdatingindex,GooglenolongerdoeswhatwastraditionallycalledaGoogleDance.

Major search indexes are constantly updating. Google refers to thiscontinuousrefreshaseverflux.

GoogleKeywordToolKeyword research tool provided by Google that estimates the traffic andcompetition for akeywordandwill tell youwhatkeywordsGoogle thinksarerelevanttoyoursiteorapageonyoursite.

GoogleSitemapsProgram that webmasters can use to help Google index their sites’ content.Pleasenotethatthebestwaytosubmityoursitetosearchenginesandkeepitintheirsearchindexesistobuildhigh-qualityeditoriallinks.

GuestbookSpamAtypeoflow-qualityautomatedlinkinwhichsearchenginesdonotplacemuchtrust.

HHeadingsThe heading element briefly describes the subject of the section it introduces.

Heading elements are classified from H1 to H6, with the lower-numberedheadings beingmost important. You should only use a single H1 element oneachpage,thoughyoumaywanttousemultiplesoftheotherheadingelementstostructureadocument.

HeadlineThetitleofanarticleorstory.

HiddenTextSEOtechniqueused toshowsearchenginespiders text thathumanvisitorsdonotsee.Whilesomesitesmaygetawaywithitforawhile,generallytherisk-to-rewardratioisinadequateformostlegitimatesitestoconsiderusinghiddentext.

HITS

Link-basedalgorithmthatranksrelevancyscoresbasedoncitationsfromtopicalauthorities.

HomePageThemainpageonyourwebsite,whichislargelyresponsibleforhelpingdevelopyour brand and setting up the navigational schemes used to help visitors andsearch engines navigate your website. As far as SEO goes, a home page istypically going to be one of the easier pages to rank for some of your morecompetitiveterms,largelybecauseitiseasytobuildlinksintoahomepage.Youshouldensureyourhomepagestaysfocusedandreinforcesyourbrand,though,anddonotassumethatmostofyourvisitorswillcometoyoursiteviathehomepage.Ifyoursiteiswellstructured,manypageswilllikelybefarmorepopularandrankbetterthanyourhomepageforrelevantqueries.

Host(seeServer)HTML(HypertextMarkupLanguage)ThelanguageinwhichpagesontheWorldWideWebarecreated.

HTTP(HypertextTransferProtocol)The foremost protocol to communicate between servers and web browsers.Hypertext transfer protocol is themeans bywhich data is transferred from itsresidinglocationonaservertoanactivebrowser.

IInboundLinkLinkpointingtoonewebsitefromanotherwebsite.

Most search engines allow you to see a sample of links pointing to adocumentbysearchingusingthelinkfunction.

IndexA collection of data used as a searchable bank to find a match to a user-fedquery.Thelargersearchengineshavebillionsofdocumentsintheircatalogs.

InternalLinkLinkfromonepageonasitetoanotherpageonthesamesite.Itispreferabletousedescriptiveinternallinkingtomakeiteasyforsearchenginestounderstandwhat your website is about. Use consistent navigational anchor text for eachsectionofyoursite,emphasizingotherpageswithinthatsection.Placelinkstorelevantrelatedpageswithin thecontentareaofyoursite tohelpfurthershowtherelationshipbetweenpagesandimprovetheusabilityofyourwebsite.

InternetVastworldwidenetworkofconnectedcomputers.

InternetExplorerMicrosoft’swebbrowser.

IPAddress(InternetProtocolAddress)EverycomputerconnectedtotheInternethasanIPaddress.SomewebsitesandservershaveuniqueIPaddresses,butmostwebhostshostmultiplewebsitesonasinglehost.

ISP(InternetServiceProvider)ISPssellendusersaccesstotheweb.Someofthesecompaniesalsosellusagedatatowebanalyticscompanies.

J

JavaScriptAclient-sidescriptinglanguagethatcanbeembeddedintoHTMLdocumentstoadddynamicfeatures.

KKeywordAwordorphraseimplyingacertainmindsetordemandthattargetedprospectsare likely to search for. Long-tail and brand-related keywords are generallyworthmorethanshorterandvaguekeywordsbecausetheytypicallyoccurlaterinthebuyingcycleandareassociatedwithagreaterlevelofimpliedintent.

KeywordDensityAnoldmeasureofsearchenginerelevancybasedonhowprominentkeywordsappeared within the content of a page. Keyword density is no longer a validmeasureofrelevancyoverabroadopensearchindex,though.Whenpeopleusekeyword-stuffedcopy,it tendstoreadmechanically(andthusdoesnotconvertwellandisnotlink-worthy),plussomepagescraftedwithjustthecorekeywordinmind often lack semantically related words andmodifiers from the relatedvocabulary(andthatcausesthepagestorankpoorlyaswell).

KeywordFunnelThe relationship between searchers’ various related keywords. Some searchesare particularly well aligned with others due to spelling errors, poor searchrelevancy,andautomatedormanualqueryrefinement.

KeywordResearchThe process of discovering relevant keywords and keyword phrases to focusyourSEOmarketingcampaignson.

KeywordResearchToolsToolsthathelpyoudiscoverpotentialkeywordsbasedonpastsearchvolumes,searchtrends,bidprices,andpagecontentfromrelatedwebsites.

KeywordStuffingWritingcopythatusesexcessiveamountsofthecorekeyword.Whenpeopleusekeyword-stuffedcopy,it tendstoreadmechanically(andthusdoesnotconvertwellandisnotlink-worthy),plussomepagescraftedwithjustthecorekeywordinmind often lack semantically related words andmodifiers from the relatedvocabulary(andthatcausesthepagestorankpoorlyaswell).

LLandingPageThepageonwhichavisitorarrivesafterclickingonalinkoradvertisement.

LinkAcitationfromonewebdocumenttoanotherwebdocumentoranotherpositioninthesamedocument.Mostmajorsearchenginesconsiderlinksavoteoftrust.

LinkBaitingTheartof targeting,creating,andformatting information toprovoke the targetaudience to point high-quality links at your site.Many link-baiting techniquesaretargetedatsocialmediaandbloggers.

LinkBuildingTheprocessofbuildinghigh-qualitylinkagedatathatsearchengineswillusetoevaluateyourwebsiteasauthoritative,relevant,andtrustworthy.

LinkBurstsArapidincreaseinthequantityoflinkspointingatawebsite.Whenlinksoccurnaturally, theygenerallydevelopover time. In somecases, itmaymake sensethat popular viral articles receive many links quickly, but there are typicallyothersignsofqualityaswell.

LinkChurnTherateatwhichasiteloseslinks.

LinkEquityA measure of a site’s strength based on its inbound link popularity and theauthorityofthesitesprovidingthoselinks.

LinkFarmWebsite or group of websites that exercise little to no editorial control whenlinkingtoothersites.

LogFilesServer files that show your leading sources of traffic and what people aresearchingfortofindyourwebsite.

LinkHoardingAmethodof trying tokeepallyour linkpopularitybynot linkingout toothersites.Generally,linkhoardingisabadidea.

LinkPopularityThenumberoflinkspointingatawebsite.Forcompetitivesearchqueries,link

qualitycountsmuchmorethanlinkquantity.Googletypicallyshowsasmallersample of known linkage data than the other engines do, even thoughGooglestillcountsmanyofthelinkstheydonotshowwhenyoudoalinksearch.

LinkReputationThecombinationofyourlinkequityandanchortext.

LinkRotAmeasureofhowmanyandwhatpercentageofawebsite’slinksarebroken.

LongTailLong-tailkeywordsarelongerstringsofsearchtermsthatoffermorepreciseandspecificsearches,thushaveahighervalue.

MManualReviewAllmajorsearchenginescombineamanualreviewprocesswiththeirautomatedrelevancy algorithms to help catch search spam and train their relevancyalgorithms.Abnormalusagedataorlinkgrowthpatternsmayalsoflagsitesformanualreview.

MetaDescriptionThemetadescriptiontagistypicallyasentenceortwodescribingthecontentofthepage.

MetaKeywordsThemetakeywordstagcanbeusedtohighlightkeywordsandkeywordphrasesthat the page is targeting. Many people spammed meta keyword tags and

searcherstypicallyneverseethetag,somostsearchenginesdonotplacemuch(if any) weight on it.Many SEO professionals no longer usemeta keywordstags.

MetaSearchA search engine that pulls top-ranked results from other search engines andrearrangesthemintoanewresultset.

MetaTagsPeople generally refer to meta descriptions and meta keywords as meta tags.Somepeoplealsogroupthepagetitleinwiththese.

MindshareAmeasure of the amount of people who think of you or your product whenconsideringproductsinyourcategory.

Siteswithstrongmindshare,toprankings,orastrongmemorablebrandarefarmorelikelytobelinkedtothansitesthatarelessmemorableandhavelesssearchexposure.Thelinkqualityofmindshare-relatedlinksmostlikelyexceedsthequalityoftheaveragelinkontheweb.Ifyousellnoncommodities,personalrecommendations also typically carry far greater weight than search rankingsalone.

MirrorSiteSite that mirrors (or duplicates) the contents of another website. Generally,searchenginesprefernottoindexduplicatecontent.

NNavigationSchemetohelpwebsiteusersunderstandwheretheyare,wheretheyhavebeen,

andhowthatrelatestotherestofyourwebsite.

NicheAtopicorsubjectthatawebsiteisfocusedon.

Searchisabroadfield,butasyoudrilldown,eachnicheconsistsofmanysmallerniches.

NofollowAttributeusedtopreventalinkfrompassinglinkauthority.Commonlyusedonsiteswithuser-generatedcontent,likeinblogcomments.

OOrganicSearchResultsMostmajorsearchengines’resultsconsistofpaidadsandunpaidlistings.Theunpaid/algorithmiclistingsarecalledtheorganicsearchresults.Organicsearchresultsareorganizedbyrelevancy,whichislargelydeterminedbasedonlinkagedata,pagecontent,usagedata,andhistoricaldomainandtrust-relateddata.Mostclicks on search results are on the organic search results. Some studies haveshownthat70to80percentormoreofclicksareontheorganicsearchresults.

OutboundLinkAlinkfromonewebsitepointingatanotherexternalwebsite.

PPageRankAlgorithmic scale based on link equity that estimates the importance of webdocuments. Since PageRank is widely tied to Google’s relevancy algorithms,other engines have moved away from relying on PageRank and place moreemphasisontrustedlinksviaalgorithmssuchasTrustRank.

PageTitle(seeTitle)PaidInclusionA method of allowing websites that pass editorial quality guidelines to buyrelevantexposure.

PaidLink(seeTextLinkAds)PenaltySearch engines prevent some websites suspected of spamming from rankinghighly in the results by banning or penalizing them. These penalties may beautomated algorithmically or manually applied. If a site is penalizedalgorithmically,itmaystartrankingagainafteracertainperiodoncethereasonforbeingpenalizedisfixed.Ifasiteispenalizedmanually,thepenaltymaylastan exceptionally long time or require contacting the search engine with areinclusionrequesttoremedy.

PersonalizationAltering thesearchresultsbasedonaperson’s location,searchhistory,contentrecentlyviewed,orotherfactorsrelevanttotheindividualonapersonallevel.

PortalWebsite offering common consumer services such as news, e-mail, othercontent,andsearch.

PPC(PayPerClick)A pricing model through which most search ads and many contextual adprogramsaresold.PPCadsonlychargeadvertisersifapotentialcustomerclicksonanad.

Q

QualityContentContentthatislink-worthyinnature.

QualityLinkSearchenginesconsiderlinksvotesoftrust.Qualitylinkscountmorethanlow-qualitylinks.

QueryTheactual“searchstring”asearcherentersintoasearchengine.

QueryRefinementSomesearchersmayrefinetheirsearchqueryiftheydeemtheresultsirrelevant.Queryrefinementisbothamanualandanautomatedprocess.Ifsearchersdonotfind their search results relevant, theymay search again. Search enginesmayalsoautomaticallyrefinequeries

RReciprocalLinksNepotisticlinkexchangeswherewebsitestrytobuildfalseauthoritybytradinglinks,usingthree-waylinktrades,orotherlow-qualitylinkschemes.

RedirectAmethodofalertingbrowsersandsearchengines thatapage locationmoved.Permanentchangesoflocationuse301redirects,and302redirectsareusedforatemporarychangeoflocation.

Registrar

Acompanythatallowsyoutoregisterdomainnames.

ReinclusionIfasitehasbeenpenalizedforspamming,thewebmastermayfixtheinfractionand ask for reinclusion. Depending on the severity of the infraction and thebrandstrengthofthesite,theymayormaynotbeaddedtothesearchindex.

ReferrerThesourcefromwhichawebsitevisitorcame.

RelevancyAmeasureofhowusefulsearchersfindsearchresults.

Manysearchenginesmayalsobiasorganicsearchresultstoinformationalresourcessincecommercialadsalsoappearinthesearchresults.

Robots.txtA file that sits in the root of a site and tells search engineswhich files not tocrawl.SomesearchengineswillstilllistyourURLsasURL-onlylistings,evenifyoublockthemusingarobots.txtfile.

ROI(ReturnonInvestment)Ameasureofhowmuchreturnyoureceivefromeachmarketingdollar.WhileROI is a fairly sophisticated measurement, some search marketers prefer toaccount for their marketing using even more sophisticated profit elasticitycalculations.

RSS(RichSiteSummaryorRealSimpleSyndication)A method of syndicating information to a feed reader or other software that

allowspeopletosubscribetoachanneltheyareinterestedin.

SSearchHistoryManysearchenginesstoreusersearchhistoryinformation.Thisdatacanbeusedforbetteradtargetingortomakeoldinformationmorefindable.Searchenginesmayalsodeterminewhatadocumentisaboutandhowmuchtheytrustadomainbasedonaggregateusagedata.

SearchEngineAtoolordeviceused to find relevant information.Searchenginesconsistofaspider,index,relevancyalgorithms,andsearchresults.

SEM(SearchEngineMarketing)Marketingawebsiteinsearchengines,typicallyviaSEO,buyingpay-per-clickadsandpaidinclusion.

SEO(SearchEngineOptimization)Theartandscienceofpublishinginformationandmarketingitinamannerthathelps search engines understand that your information is relevant to relatedsearch queries. SEO consists largely of keyword research, SEO copywriting,information architecture, link building, brand building, mindshare building,reputationmanagement,andviralmarketing.

SEOCopywritingWritingandformattingcopyinawaythatwillmakeitappearrelevanttoawidearrayofrelatedsearchqueries.

SERP(SearchEngineResultsPage)Thepageonwhichsearchenginesshowtheresultsforasearchquery.

SearchMarketingMarketingawebsiteinsearchengines,typicallyviaSEO,buyingpay-per-clickadsandpaidinclusion.

SitemapPagethatcanbeusedtohelpgivesearchenginesasecondaryroutetonavigatethroughyoursite.

SocialMediaWebsitesthatallowuserstocreatevaluablecontentthatcanbesharedvirally.Afewexamplesofsocialmediasitesaresocialbookmarkingsitesandsocialnewssites.

SpamUnsolicited e-mail messages. Search engines also like to outsource theirrelevancy issues by calling low-quality search results spam.Theyhavevague,ever-changing guidelines that determine what marketing techniques areacceptableatanygiventime.Typically,searchenginestryhardnottoflagfalse-positives as spam, somost algorithmsarequite lenient, as long asyoudonotbuild lots of low-quality links, host large quantities of duplicate content, orperformotheractionsthatareconsideredwidelyoutsideofrelevancyguidelines.If your site is banned froma searchengine,youmay request reinclusionafterfixingtheproblem.

SpammingTheactofcreatinganddistributingspam.

SpiderSearchenginecrawlers that searchor“spider” theweb forpages to include intheirindex.

SubmissionThe act of making information systems and related websites aware of yourwebsite.Inmostcases,younolongerneedtosubmityourwebsitetolarge-scalesearchengines;theyfollowlinksandindexcontent.Thebestwaytosubmityoursiteistogetotherstolinktoit.

TTagging,Tags(seeBookmarks)TermFrequencyA measure of how frequently a keyword appears amongst a collection ofdocuments.

TextLinkAdsAdvertisements formattedas text links.Since thewebwasoriginallybasedontext and links,peopleare typicallymore inclined topayattention to text linksthansomeotheradformats,whichareusuallylessrelevantandmoreannoying.However,searchenginesprimarilywanttocounteditoriallinksasvotes,solinksthataregrouped togetherwithotherpaid links (especially if those linksare tooff-topiccommercialsites)maybelesslikelytocarryweightinsearchengines.

TitleThetitleelementisusedtodescribethecontentsofadocument.ThetitleisoneofthemostimportantaspectstodoingSEOonawebpage.

TrustRank

Search relevancyalgorithm thatplacesadditionalweighton links from trustedseed websites controlled by major corporations, educational institutions, orgovernmentalinstitutions.

UUnethicalSEOSomesearchenginemarketerslackingincreativitytrytomarkettheirservicesasethical, whereas services rendered by other providers are somehow unethical.SEO services are generally neither ethical nor unethical. They are eithereffectiveorineffective.SEOisaninherentlyriskybusiness,butanyqualitySEOserviceprovidershouldmakeclientsawareofthepotentialrisksandrewardsofrecommendedtechniques.

UpdateSearchenginesfrequentlyupdatetheiralgorithmsanddatasetstohelpkeeptheirsearchresultsfreshandmaketheirrelevancyalgorithmshardtoduplicate.Mostmajorsearchenginesarecontinuouslyupdatingboththeirrelevancyalgorithmsandsearchindex.

URL(UniformResourceLocator)Theuniqueaddressofanywebdocument.

UsabilityHoweasy it is forcustomers toperform thedesiredactions.Thestructureandformatting of text and hyperlink-based calls to action can drastically increaseyourwebsiteusabilityandthusconversionrates.

UsageDataThings like a large stream of traffic, repeat visitors, multiple page views per

visitor,ahighclick-throughrate,orahighlevelofbrand-relatedsearchqueriesmaybeseenbysomesearchenginesasasignofquality.

VVerticalSearchAsearchservicefocusedonaparticularfield,aparticulartypeofinformation,oraparticularinformationformat.

ViralMarketingSelf-propagatingmarketing techniques.Commonmodesof transmissionare e-mail,blogging,andword-of-mouthmarketingchannels.Manysocialnewssitesandsocialbookmarkingsitesalsoleadtosecondarycitations.

VirtualServerA server that allows multiple top-level domains to be hosted from a singlecomputer.Using a virtual server can savemoney for smaller applications, butdedicatedhostingshouldbeusedforlargecommercialplatforms.Mostdomainsare hosted on virtual servers, but using a dedicated server on your mostimportantdomainsshouldaddserver reliabilityandcouldbeseenasasignofquality.

WWHOISEachdomainhasanownerof record.Ownershipdata is stored in theWHOISrecord for that domain. Some domain registrars also allow you to hide theownershipdataofyoursites.Manylarge-scalespammersusefakeWHOISdata.

WhiteHatSEOSearchenginessetupguidelinesthathelpthemextractbillionsofdollarsofad

revenuefromtheworkofpublishersandtheattentionofsearchers.Withinthathighly profitable framework, search engines consider certain marketingtechniques deceptive in nature and label them as black hat SEO. Thoseconsidered within their guidelines are called white hat SEO techniques. Thesearchguidelinesarenotastaticsetofrules,andthingsthatmaybeconsideredlegitimateonedaymaybeconsidereddeceptivethenext.

WordPressPopular open-sourceblogging softwareplatformofferingboth a downloadablebloggingprogramandahostedsolution.

Ifyouareseriousaboutbuildingabrandormakingmoneyonline,youshouldpublish your content to yourowndomain because it canbehard toreclaimawebsite’s link equity and age-related trust if youhavebuilt years oflinkequityintoasubdomainonsomeoneelse’swebsite.

WordtrackerFeature-rich, paid-keyword research tool that collects data from a couple ofpopularmetasearchengines,likeDogpile.

XXHTML(ExtensibleHypertextMarkupLanguage)A class of specifications designed to move HTML to conform to XMLformatting.

XML(ExtensibleMarkupLanguage)Asimple,veryflexibletextformatderivedfromSGML,usedtomakeiteasytosyndicateorformatinformationusingtechnologiessuchasRSS.

YYahoo!SiteExplorer

ResearchtoolwebmasterscanusetoseewhichpagesYahoo!hasindexedfromawebsiteandwhichpageslinkatthosepages.

YouTubeFeature-richamateurvideouploadandsyndicationwebsiteownedbyGoogle.

I want to send out a big thank you to Aaron Wall from SEO Book,www.seobook.com for putting together such an expansive SEO glossary andallowingSEOprofessionalssuchasmyselftopublishthislistforotherstosee.

AbouttheAuthor

Matt Davidson is a search marketing expert who has worked in the field ofInternetmarketingfornearlyadecade.RecruitedbyMicrosoftin2006toworkwith advertisers on the company’s newly launched paid search platform,adCenter,theauthorhadtheuniqueopportunitytobeattheforefrontofamajorevolution in search engine marketing. During that time, the author alsoparticipatedintrademarketingforMicrosoft,whichrequiredspendingtimeontheroadattendingmostofthemajorsearchmarketingconferences.

AfterleavingMicrosoft,theauthorwentontolaunchSovoMedia,anSEOagency.AtSovoMedia,hehasworkedhands-onwithcompaniesofallshapesand sizes. The author is passionate about helping small and medium-sizedcompanies devise innovative and inexpensive ways to reach their potentialcustomers.HealsopresentsSEOwebinarsandworkswithtraditionalagenciessettingupSEOprogramsfortheirclients.

Acknowledgments

First,Iwouldliketothankallofmyclientsforentrustingtheirbusinesstomeand allowing me to work on their SEO campaigns. Without their trust andfeedback,IwouldneverhavehadtheopportunitytoexperimentwithSEOandgaintheknowledgeneededtoputtogetherabooksuchasthis.

Iwouldalso like to thankmyhardworking teamatSovoMediaforalloftheirgreatworkbuildingourprocessandforconstantlypushingmetoimproveandlearnonadailybasis.Iwouldliketoespeciallythankmybusinesspartner,MikeShin,whohasbeenatremendoushelpinensuringthatourworkhasbeenabletothriveinaconstantlychangingandevolvingenvironment.

Thank you to JasonYormark,who has openedmy eyes to the value thatsocial media can play in just about every aspect of online interaction. Yourconstant encouragement has been a huge motivator to me as my career hascontinuedtoevolveintheSEOfield.

AspecialthanksgoesouttothefolksatMozwhoneverhesitatedtoletmesharesomeof thegreat research they’veconducted in theSEOspaceandwhograciouslyallowedmetopresentscreenshotsoftheirimpressiveSEOsoftware.

Abigthankyouis inorderformyeditor,SusanVanHecke.Withoutyourguidanceandkeeneditorialeye,Ihavenodoubtthatthisbookwouldhavebeenadisorganizedmessthatwouldn’thavedonemuchgoodforthegreaterpublic.

A big thanks goes out to my family and friends. Without your constantwordsofencouragement, Iwouldhaveneverbeenable tomaintain thementalstaminaandwherewithaltospendthoseendlessdaysandnightsworkingonthisproject.

Lastbutnotleast,I’dliketothankmybetterhalf,InnaKuperman.I’mnotquitesurehowyouputupwithmesometimes,butyouseemtomanageokay.You’ve been a huge advocate of mine from day one and have given me theconfidenceandpushneededtomakethisbookhappen.

Theysayittakesavillagetoraiseachild,andinmypersonalexperience,there is definitely some truth to this. Without the inspirational and talentedpeopleIfindmyselfsurroundedbyonadailybasis,thisbookwouldhavenever

been possible. So thank you, everyone, for your help inmaking Step-by-StepSEOareality!

You’veFinishedtheBook.BeforeYouGo...

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I hope you’ve found this book useful in helping you reach your fullpotentialonline.