Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Blog

The value of a single directory link is usually not very great. Directories add value after you list in many of them, especially if you are listing in high-quality ones next to other sites that are in your same vertical.

If you have a keyword-rich domain name, it will help you get descriptive inbound links from directories. Most sites on the web only have links from a few dozen sites. By listing your site in a half dozen to a dozen quality directories and also getting links from other relevant quality sites, you can quickly build up a great linking campaign at minimal cost.

Originally posted 2008-02-27 11:46:41.

Popularity: 6% [?]

You just got your website online. Everything is setup and you're ready to go. Excitement is high and the time has come to open your virtual doors to the millions and millions of Internet users around the globe. You put out the cyber welcome mat and declare your site ready for action. But, instead of sitting and watching the users trample over one another to get to your site, you see little to no traffic.

Don't worry! This is something every webmaster goes through and is to be expected. (Well, webmasters in the late 90's expected to launch their site and be millionaires the next morning, but times have changed since those wonderful days!)
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Originally posted 2007-03-02 19:03:32.

Popularity: 5% [?]

If there's one thing every business owner wants it's this: you want lots of people to find your business. That's why you want a presence (or a better presence) on the Internet. The Internet, after all, is the World's biggest marketplace.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you had a shop (or an office) in the best location on the most popular street of every English speaking town and city in the World? Well that's exactly the Internet equivalent of having your web site on the first page of the search engines.
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Originally posted 2007-03-11 17:38:23.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Search Engine Optimization seems at times to be suffering from a multiple personality disorder. On one hand it's a set of technical skills for research, analysis and even coding. On the other you must morph into a wordsmith capable of not only crafting technically targeted prose but being engaging for the viewer as well. If that weren't enough, these days you must be pro-active. Don't wait for your ship to come in, swim out and get it. We are in the age of link building my friends.

Once upon a time it was merely optimizing on page factors such as Title tags site structures and keyword density. In short, getting the site ready for the 'Bots' "" (resistance is futile). These days you have to be a well rounded marketer that can create awareness, network and create value in the website to increase organic linking opportunities and so much more. (more…)

Originally posted 2007-02-15 02:45:23.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Google is primarily driven by linkage data.

The Google Toolbar provides a 0-10 logarithmic scale to mimic the link popularity of pages. PageRank helps provide a quick glance how important Google thinks a page is.

Google would like you to believe that their PageRank algorithm is the core of their search technology, but they also use many other technologies to improve their search relevancy.

Many webmasters exchange links with as many people as they can, but there is an opportunity cost to everything you do. There are algorithms for sorting good links from bad links. Many link schemes increase your risk profile much quicker than they increase your potential rewards. When you link into the wrong circles, you run the risk of being associated with them.

It is important to note that this PageRank value is only one component of the Google search engine algorithm. Many times, a PR 4 site will rank above a PR 6 site because it was optimized better and has a well-defined descriptive inbound link profile, which means better, more natural links from more sites (and more related sites).

Originally posted 2008-03-03 04:35:06.

Popularity: 8% [?]

1. For your blogs (eg. WordPress) add a "Similar Posts" or "Related Posts" feature. I recommend using the Similar Posts plugin.

2. Make a list of popular posts (Top 5 or Top 10 list) and feature it preferably on your sidebar or anywhere that is suitable for your blog/site.

3. Build a quality and long-term inbound links. – Go to the Link Building section for more help.

4. Open an account at Technorati and claim your blog. Make use of the Technorati tags.

5. Do a sticky post which are keyword rich that always appears on your homepage. You can also do a separate sticky post for each of your category to spice things up a little. WP-Sticky is highly recommended.

6. Take advantage of the Buzzlogic tool to identify the influential bloggers and get them to link to you by referring their site to your readers first. Get into their blogroll as trackbacks and comment will not do much good.

Originally posted 2007-08-31 12:25:33.

Popularity: 7% [?]

This is a tool to help you check the headers of the servers and verifying the status codes of those. The makers of this tool have invested a lot of research work and time to calculate the most commonly found HTTP codes and they have indexed them keeping in mind the perspective of the rankings provided by the search engines. This is greatly helpful in knowing whether the URLs of your site are returning to the right Status code that is there in the Header of the Server. Many website owners have found this tool extremely helpful.

Originally posted 2008-09-11 06:33:02.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Starting in early December through much of January many sites that typically ranked somewhere in the top 5 of Google's search results started ranking at #6 for a wide array of related phrases.

• Many of the sites that were hit with this filter were older sites with few fresh links and over-optimized page copy.
• At first Matt Cutts claimed he did not know what we were talking about.
• Later Matt stated that they found something that would have acted like what we were seeing and they reversed it.

The filter was discussed in a lengthy WebmasterWorld thread.

Originally posted 2008-02-03 06:00:14.

Popularity: 4% [?]

TrustRank is an algorithm that can be used to bias PageRank by placing additional authority on human-reviewed, trusted sites. Trust propagates out from the trusted pages and sites to pages and sites they link to. TrustRank also can be used to neutralize the effects of some types of low-quality link building from untrusted sources as well as to flag high-PageRank, low-trust websites for human review.

In the TrustRank research paper, the seed sites fit the following criteria:

• Seed sites linked to many other websites. DMOZ and the Yahoo! Directory, for example, were most likely seed sites.
• Seed sites were controlled by major corporations, educational bodies, or governmental bodies.

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Originally posted 2008-05-25 23:59:17.

Popularity: 3% [?]