Typically I don't pump other articles unless they have lasting value to the industry. I came across such an article last week pertaining to the expansion of B2b SEO (from SEWatch). Essentially, the report provides some data that suggests what many in the B2B (business to business) industry have known for a long time: potential clients are using search looking for sellers.
I'm going to write a brief summary on some thoughts I've been kicking around in response to a growing number of number of SEO boards I frequent regarding the value and correlation of Google page rank and search engine rankings.
What is Page Rank?
Google uses Page Rank (PR) to 'rate' web site relevance, maturity, stature, etc. This value is hidden within the Google algorithm (that ranks web sites) and therefore nobody knows exactly what items are used to create PR. What we do know from Google is that it's more than just 'counting links'. They do look at relevance of where your links is coming, etc., in determining PR.
There is an 'external' or visible PR display offered by Google in the form of a small toolbar you can install that displays values. Yahoo! has a PR 10, which is incredibly difficult to achieve and only the 5 richest kings in the world can afford it (haha). External page rank is rarely updated, maybe 4 times a year, and the information is usually old by the time it reaches you.
How Should I Treat Google Page Rank
Contrary to popular assertions by some SEOs I believe there is an indirect correlation between PR and SERPs (your rankings). PR is a measure of the web sites health. The healthier and more robust it is (more incoming links), the higher the PR. That's the basic criteria for rankings (I've left out great content here but that's in the mix too). Many claim that PR has ZERO impact on SERPs. You're right, it doesn't, but SERPS and PR are derived from the same place (correct me if I'm wrong here.)
Let's consult a robust (:lol:) diagram to aid explanation.
Note: Visible toolbar PR and rankings derive information from the same place (this is extremely general but helps.) Visible toolbar PR does NOT factor into your rankings. However, visible PR IS an indicator of your overall web site health and can be used as a general indicator against your competitors. That does not mean you focus on PR though.
Managers or webmasters should not ask how they can improve PR, rather how they can improve overall rankings. For many this is merely a semantics game; they treat both words synonymously. Rest assured, you do not need more PR to rank higher than a web site that has a higher PR value (say 3 to 4) than you. However, if you're PR goes up, it does provide a general indicator that your web promotion techniques are being noted.
So remember, you want to ask yourself, "how you can I improve my search engine rankings", not how you can improve your visible toolbar number. After all, it's only a number at the end of the day. Visible PR will increase if you conduct your web marketing strategy correctly--it's a visible result of your overall SEO efforts.
EDIT: For a more in-depth analysis (harder for beginners) please visit Smashing Magazine.
Technorati Tags: google page rank, pr on rankings, pr serps, visible pr, visible page rank, pr seo, page rank seo
It's unusual I post stuff about other SEO bloggers, but I should do it more. Two notable things have caught my eye with a new blog I found from StoneTemple Consulting.
Firstly, Google revealed that between 20-25% of all searches per day are new to Google. That means they've never seen 1/4 of the terms people use. That means the keyword research you do is only poling 75% (if that) of users; you only use maybe 1% of that 75% to choose your 20 keywords (for a tiny site.) Interesting.
Secondly, Eric Enge seems to feel that (in the link above) meta keywords are still being taken into consideration by the spiders (Google I'm assuming). I could be wrong here and don't mind being corrected, but it was interesting to read since the consensus recently is the tag has no barring whatsoever.
That about wraps up my Friday offering, Monday we have another SEO interview slated for release, a mystery guest who rules the likes of SEOchat. Stay tuned for that!
Technorati Tags: erci enge, stonetemple consulting, meta keywords, nofollow
When Google burps everyone feels it. Last month we reported that Google will never follow or 'remember' links with the 'nofollow' attribute. I surmise other major search engines will follow suit and adopt a similar policy in an attempt to combat link spam, bad link practices (i.e. .edu sites using their position to link to questionable sites), and link purchases. So what does this mean for future web ranking and SEO practices?
Let's face it, the majority of web sites out there are not optimized by qualified web marketers. Why does this matter? Webmasters are semi-aware of the SEO world and many do pick up tid bits here and there about how to rank their web sites higher in the search engines. But only certain pieces of info actually make it into the 'mainstream' web world and I surmise that one of these 'leaks' of disinformation will be the treatment of linking (specifically outgoing links). Here is my reasoning expressed in mathematical equation.
Read the rest of this entry »
I recently did an interview for a provincial business magazine (more details later if it comes out), and one of the questions highlighted was, "I'm the small business coming into your office that knows nothing about SEO, what are you going to tell me?"
Well the answer is pretty simple, I'm going to walk you through the basic elements of search engine optimization and highlight how it can benefit your bottom line. The process is really the same regardless of web size or who walks in.
However, I also came to the conclusion long ago, and reiterated within the article, that SEO is not for everyone. Actually, let me take a step back, SEO consultation is not for everyone.
For many larger firms, consultants buy time. The company does not want to invest in the time to learn the new knowledge or stay current so they hire out. The fact is, many small sole-proprietorships may not benefit from a sizable investment into SEO consultation. We have turned away clients simply because it does not make any sense for us to charge thousands of dollars to rank the local vet clinic or drycleaners. (Quite simply, qualified and good SEO consultants are not a dime a dozen.)
For example, if you own a web site with a target market spanning a 10 mile radius then SEO consultation is probably the wrong investment. Don't get me wrong, if you have any web presence at all, then search engine optimization is a necessary component to your web site, but paying top dollars for a professional may be the wrong route.
BUT, like I said, there are options out there. You MAY in fact have the time to learn some basic foundational aspects of SEO that will benefit your local community web site. Yes, there are options for you that don't cost into the thousands. Distinct SEO often turn small clients to our training option. (See: Distinct SEO Training Pages for more details.)
Quite frankly, we do not have an interest in running a client through a process they don't need. Business owners like to put their investment dollar in the right place, and we do our best to accomplish and facilitate that. Not everybody needs an SEO consultant, most do, but not everyone. But remember, you DO need SEO for your web site, but maybe you save the money and learn yourself--really it's not that hard (at least the on page optimization stuff :P).
Technorati Tags: seo training, local seo, small business seo training, intro seo training, intro seo
Two posts in one day--your lucky day! This is a brief post to quell some questions and rumors on how Google handles the nofollow tag.
If you recall all three major search engines said they'd start obeying rel="nofollow" tags inserted into links. This was supposed to be a major method of combating spam. Essentially nofollow means the webmaster does not 'vouch' for the link and as such no 'PR juice' is sent via the link.
Most blogs have the featured automatically installed for all blog comments. The question for the longest time was: "Does Google follow the link but not count it? Or do they simply not follow the link?"
The answer from the mouth of Google is here. Google will NOT follow any link with nofollow attributes unless it is found elsewhere.
Case closed.
Technorati Tags: nofollow, google nofollow, no follow, nofollow links
For ages many SEOs have sworn that web content is the key foundation to building successful SEO projects. It is believed that continually updating your web site with relevant, useful, and unique content will give you a head above your competition. Google is firmly behind these content initiatives since, from their standpoint, 1000 unique pages are better than 1000 copied pages.
Read some thoughts from Google folks:
Google Adsense ppl
Matt Cutts' videos to name just a few.
The problem is, webmasters have tirelessly updated their web site with quality, relevant, and on-topic content without any results. Sure they went up a few spots but their competition rests firmly in place at the top with their ripped off content and rarely updated listings. Why bother with this whole content fiasco if Google continually rewards LINKS and NOT content, as evidenced in their results?
The fact is, Google makes a few assumptions when they stand behind the, 'content is king' moniker. Firstly, they expect you'll not only write relevant and unique content, but you'll also do the correct promotion for the content as well. Google says they love new content, and they aren't lying, but they don't explicitly say that great content should gets links. Typically this does not occur without correct promotional activity by the webmaster/marketer. This means your great content will sit unnoticed and without the right people promoting it to its full Google potential.
Google expects great content will yield more links. Great content without quality incoming links in itself WILL NOT trump poor content that has many links (some quality some not). All things being equal, if you have better content but no links, then Google doesn't care about you. If you have mediocre content but high PR (not necessarily on topic) links, Google will rank the web site higher.
Of course, Google does not want webmasters to follow this 'crappy content high PR links' strategy, but the fact of the matters is: within the SERPs, web sites with more links (and higher PR) will rank higher. Furthermore, it appears that in many instances merely getting high PR links without any attention to relevance is A-OK with Google.
Unfortunately for confused webmasters Google keeps pumping the 'content is king' show without walking the talk. There clearly exists a bias for high PR links regardless of content (it is as if anything over PR 5 can come from anywhere, not necessarily sites relevant to yours). Google needs to weight content with greater authority in ranking algorithms if they want webmasters to believe their content is really king of the SEO world.
If you can't beat them, join them, then exceed them. Fact of the matter is, Google has an initiative to reward great content and relevant links. They are behind the eight-ball right now as countless web sites get away with not producing in either category. However, that doesn't mean come tomorrow they won't clean up their act (fact is Google improves every day).
If you're a webmaster struggling against dirty competition then start doing what they're doing, but in a different way. Google loves links, however, they will reward high PR relevant links over non-relevant links with the same PR weight. If you need to rank higher then get your web links, quality ones, via focused promotion and off-page optimization. This is a simple process, but it is definitley one that will yield better results than your competition that you've tried so desperately to beat.
Content on its own will do little to trump the company ahead of you with 1000s of links. Make a point to acquire quality, high PR, relevant incoming links via unique, profitable and relevant content. Easier said than done though 
Technorati Tags: content is king, seo content king, seo content, google content
It's nearly over, the wave of ezine article submissions is in the tail end of its life. What was once a viable method of both promoting content/products and getting one way links, has turned into an industry with only a handful of viable players. There once was a time where 300+ article directories would be active on any given day. That number is 10 percent the size today.
How do we know? Well for one, individuals with article publishing software would have, like I said, a slew of directories to submit one article to (assuming they submitted to all). Nowadays, every two weeks you're removing more and more directories from the list because the domain has expired, the PR is zero, or new articles are not accepted/updated.
What does that mean for SEOs today? Quite frankly, you can still achieve some results in ezine submission. The number is smaller, the value is less, but for new web sites, a three articles to the 30 or so existing and updated ezine directories is about 100 one way links for free. But after this investment you should stop. The 'threshold level' for ezine directories would vary between web site size, however, 3 articles of mediocre quality is about the effort you should invest for a small web site.
What's replacing the ezine? Get on board, the reasons ezines are shutting down is because the industry of web marketing is naturally progressing. You can easily update and inform your audience of the latest product through other channels. Social media and bookmarking, web blogs, etc., have replaced the ezine article.
This natural progression of the web marketing industry has stranded some webmaster and even some SEOs. Why? Quite frankly, they aren't prepared and are amateurs. It's harder to garner ranking results when your linking strategies incorporate creative and necessary marketing planning, require time investment for ideas (link-bait), and require a level of expertise to promote in the new medias. Quite simply, submitting to ezines was easy; the new wave of web marketing today is harder.
Of course, this isn't a bad thing. Many 'web marketers' will be weeded out as their inability to adopt basic marketing principles will begin to show. For the small business owner with a web site, just remember, there's a new method in town, and although some ezines are still around, social media optimization and the blog has effectively killed the ezine directory.
Here is some more information about ezines:
Technorati Tags: ezine article submissions, ezine seo, seo ezine, article submissions
