Search Engine Optimization

331 Pages·2007·2.08 MB·English

by  Matthew Bourjaily

Search Engine Optimization
AARON MATTHEW WALL
Search Engine Optimization Book
© Aaron Matthew Wall
144 Dahlia Drive • State College • PA 16803
[phone] • [email protected]

Last Updated: Friday, January 12, 2007
Table of Contents
Quick Summary of Do-It-Yourself ..........................7
SEO Tips .......................................7
SEO Tools.................................................................7
Picking a Product.....................................................7
Picking a Domain Name...........................................8
Domain Registration & Hosting...............................8
Keyword Selection....................................................9
Page Optimization....................................................9
Home Page Optimization......................................10
Site Optimization...................................................10
Registering With Directories................................11
Link Building...................................................12
When Algorithm Changes Occur.....................13
Common SEO Abuse Techniques....................13
Appearing Natural..........................................14
Social Considerations.....................................15
Closing Tips.....................................................15
SEO Quick-Start Checklist....................................17
How to Read this e-book.......................................19
SEO as a Standalone Product.........................19
The Social Elements of Relevancy..................21
Starting from Broke........................................22
Questions, Comments & Concerns.................23
Interactive Elements......................................24
Why Search?..........................................................25
Finding Prospects ..........................................25
Interactive Elements......................................26
Some Notes.....................................................27
Brief History of the Web........................................28
The Goal of Search Engines &
How They Work..............................................28
Origins of the Web .........................................36
Commercialized Cat & Mouse ........................37
Choosing a Domain Name ..............................42
Hosting ..........................................................51
Interactive Elements......................................53
Some Notes.....................................................54
General Internet Topics.........................................56
Learning Your Subject ...................................56
Changing Your Site ........................................61
Copywriting....................................................66
Usability .........................................................70
Generating Revenue ......................................76
Interactive Elements......................................86
3
Some Notes.....................................................90
Writing for Search Engines...................................91
Keywords .......................................................92
Meta Tags ....................................................111
Page Title Tag Done Wrong .........................115
Page Title Tag Done Right ...........................116
Internal Linking............................................119
Navigation....................................................125
Optimizing Your Page Copy..........................127
Building Content...........................................132
Unexplored Waters.......................................137
Interactive Elements....................................137
Some Notes...................................................141
Directories and Communities.............................142
Search Engines versus Directories...............142
Submitting Your Site ...................................143
Social Interaction and Links ........................143
General Directories.......................................146
Niche Directories .........................................151
The Active Web.............................................157
Interactive Elements....................................157
Some Notes...................................................159
Search Engines....................................................160
The Major Search Engines............................160
Google...........................................................160
Yahoo! Search ..............................................181
Microsoft.......................................................186
Ask ...............................................................188
Comparing Search Results ...........................192
Interactive Elements....................................193
Some Notes...................................................195
Link Building........................................................197
Text in Incoming Links ................................197
Exchanging Links .........................................206
Requesting Links..........................................207
Evaluating the Quality of a Link ..................216
Free Links & Buying Links ............................218
Waiting for Results.......................................232
Customizing Your Browser for SEO..............233
Interactive Elements....................................234
Some Notes...................................................237
Viral Marketing & the Social Web.......................238
Problems with Manufacturing Relevancy.....238
Real versus Artificial ....................................239
Things Google Can Track .............................241
My Tinfoil Hat Theories…..............................244
Is Your Site Future Ready?...........................245
Don’t Discount the Present Opportunity......245
Blurring Editorial vs Ads & Editors vs Users.250
Market Edges................................................253
Resources.....................................................253
Some Notes...................................................255
Monitoring Results ..............................................257
4
When Results Don’t Show ...........................257
SEO Worst Practice Manual .........................258
Other Problems ............................................263
Speeding Things Up: Paid Inclusion ...........267
Other Search Engines ..................................269
Interactive Elements....................................271
Pay-Per-Click .......................................................274
Before You Start ..........................................274
What is Pay-Per-Click? ................................276
Yahoo! Search Marketing.............................278
Ad Writing Tips ............................................284
Customer Tracking and Bid Management……..288
Earning (and Buying) Trust..........................290
Google AdWords...........................................292
Bonus Info: How to Improve CTR and Slash Google AdWords Costs to Maximize Profits…………..296
Microsoft adCenter.......................................309
Resources Cited............................................310
Some Notes...................................................314
Hiring a Search Engine Optimizer .....................315
The Goal of this e-book.................................315
What are My Goals?......................................315
SEO Business Models....................................316
More Information on Buying SEO Services...320
Resources.....................................................321
Selling SEO Services...........................................322
Online Auctions.............................................322
Forums..........................................................323
Writing Articles.............................................323
Ideal Clients..................................................324
Where to find Clients....................................324
Questions to Ask Clients...............................325
Being Your Size.............................................326
Contracting & Outsourcing...........................327
Cold Calling...................................................327
Niche: SEO Guy – Real Estate.......................327
Sales Cycle....................................................328
Contracts......................................................328
Reports.........................................................329
Dependency on Free Traffic..........................329
Affiliate Sites & Passive Income Streams.....330
Resources ....................................................330
5
Author’s Note Before getting too far into SEO, think
about whether the idea you have is
Chapter 3, General Internet Topics, one that will be easy to spread. If it is
covers many non-search related not, think of how you can transform
Internet topics. I include this because your concept into something that is
if you do well with many of the “non- easier to disseminate throughout the
search” related topics it becomes far Internet.
easier to build a linking campaign and
achieve top search engine placement. It is usually far easier and far more
profitable to create an idea worth
For competitive phrases, link spreading than it is to spread an idea
popularity and the words in those not worth spreading.
links are the single most important
part of Search Engine Disclaimer: Since search engines are
Optimization (SEO). But to get the constantly changing while still keeping
right types of people to want to vote secret their algorithms, there is no way
for you your site needs to do many to know the exact algorithms at any
things well. given time. However, due to data
collected through observations of
With most websites, conversion and search engines over the past several
profit are more important than the years, it is my hope that this book will
sheer amount of traffic you get. teach you how to make informed
Making small changes within your site observations and decisions as search
can double or triple your conversion engines continue to change. With
rate. If you do everything else enough experience, one can discern
correctly, you do not need to put as patterns in the search engine puzzle,
much effort into SEO. and as a result, figure out how the
process works. This guide was created
If you already know the topics covered to help you learn to identify those
in Chapter 3, feel free to skip over patterns and solve the puzzle.
them. More than trying to answer all
questions about the web, Chapter 3 is While following this guide should help
there to help point you toward improve your rankings, I, the author
answers to other Internet business- of this book, shall not be held
related questions you may have. responsible for damages because of
the use (or misuse) of this information.
6
Quick Summary of Do-It-
Yourself SEO Tips
Many people who buy this book will never read it in its entirety. To help whet your
palate and ensure you get some value out of this text (and, therefore, read the
whole thing), here is a quick-start checklist highlighting the most important aspects
of search engine optimization and Internet marketing. When looking to start with
search engine optimization, consider the following issues:
SEO Tools
Oftentimes using the right tools can save you both time and money. I have created
a free PDF checklist of all the SEO tools I use. You may download it here:

http://www.seobook.com/seo-tools.pdf
Picking a Product
You may read this title and think that you have already accomplished this step,
and that your product (or your vision for your product) is already refined,
wrapped, and ready for purchase. However, there are many key questions that
should be considered before bringing your wares or service to customers:

• Are you interested in the product you are trying to sell? If not, why not choose
a different product?
The Internet makes marketing anything a possibility. You are far more
likely to succeed if you are interested in what you are trying to sell. Also, it is
far easier to sell people what they want than to get them to want your product.
Create something the market wants.
• Is the marketplace for your product oversaturated?
Examples: Posters, credit cards, prescription drugs, hosting, generic site
design, and ink refills are all oversaturated markets. Breaking into these
markets can be exceptionally difficult, so think carefully about what would
make your product different and needed.
• Is the product something people would want to order over the web?
• Is there something you can do to make yourself different than everyone else
on the market? (Please note: “cheaper” usually is not a legitimate
branding/business model for most websites in a hyper-competitive market.)
Example: No other e-book covering SEO was supported by a blog that
keeps up with the SEO industry every day (at least, not when I first wrote this
one).
Another example: In 2002, I created a SEO “worst practices” directory.
To this day, nobody else has made a site like it. It earned me thousands in the
first year with a marketing budget well under $100.

7
In the end, ask yourself -- Would people want to link to your site without you
asking them to? If not, what creative or original ideas can you add to your site
to make people want to link to it?
Picking a Domain Name
Finding the right domain name can be a tricky business, and indeed, can mean
the difference between success and failure in the online marketplace. As such,
it is important to consider the following before choosing a domain name:

• FOR NEW SITES: Depending on your branding angle, pick a domain name
that is either highly brandable (meaning that it can be easily and positively
associated with your product or service) or has your primary keywords in it.
Use a short and memorable domain name. It is fine if it does not have your
keywords in it if it is memorable. For serious, long-term websites, a memorable
domain name will be one of the key ingredients to success.
• If you are going to be working in competitive fields, or if you will have large
sites, you may want to use a different domain for each different language you
are targeting.
Examples of domain names I own: BlackHatSEO.com,
SEOBook.com, FattyWeightLoss.com, and Threadwatch.org
Domain Registration & Hosting
Once you have selected a domain name, you must make sure that it is
available, and then register it. After your domain name has been registered,
you must find a reliable host for your website.

• Register your domain with an ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers) accredited registrar. I use GoDaddy.
• Register as a .com if possible, if you have a global market. If you cannot get a
.com, but a great .net or .org is still available, it might be worth it to register
one of those instead of registering a longer (and less memorable) .com domain.
• If you are targeting a specific country or language, register a domain name in
that country’s top-level domain designation (e.g., buy a co.uk website for a
U.K.-targeted site). Also buy the .com version of your domain name and point
it at your country-specific location.
• Oftentimes certain directories and search engines will either be biased toward
local sites will or only let local sites in the index. “Local” may mean ending
with a local domain and/or being hosted on a server in that country.
• Host your site with a reliable host. I recommend DreamHost or Pair.com.
• For dynamic sites, make sure your host supports the technology you will be
using (such as ASP or PHP) before spending money.
8
Keyword Selection
Keywords are what help your site get recognized by Internet search engines,
and as a result, help would-be customers find your Internet presence. There
are many strategies that can be employed to ensure the likelihood of your
website coming up in keyword searches:

• Use a keyword tool to help you find the most targeted keywords for your site.
The tool at http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/ is free and cross-references
just about every useful keyword research tool on the market.
• Pick themes or keyword baskets around which you can optimize the various
sections of your site.
• Targeting keyword phrases is a much better idea than trying to target individual
words. Keyword phrases tend to be easier to rank well for AND they typically
convert far better than individual words.
• Target different keyword phrases on each page.
• Target no more than one or two primary and two or three secondary keyword
phrases per page.
• If you generate hundreds (or even thousands) of pages of content, make sure
they read well and have unique content. Over time, if people cite your content,
your page will start to rank for many different terms as long as it is unique and
targeted around a theme.
Page Optimization
Page optimization is the process of making sure that your website functions in
the most effective way possible in relation to search engines. The following
are steps you can take to optimize your page:

• Use your keywords in your page title. Place the most important keyword
phrase close to the beginning of the page title. Do not put your site title on
every page of your site unless you are really trying to brand that name. In that
scenario, it still is usually best to place the site name at the end of the page
titles.
• Shorter site titles are usually better than really long ones.
• Sometimes I overlap related keyword phrases in the page title. Overlapping
keyword phrases in the page title can help you pick up multiple search phrases.
For example, professional search engine marketing services helps me obtain good
rankings for (1) search engine marketing, (2) professional search engine marketing, (3)
search engine marketing services, and (4) professional search engine marketing services.
• Meta tags are not extremely important, but they can help some. The meta
description should be a sentence to a paragraph describing the page contents.
The meta description tag can be seen in some search results, so you want to
write it for human eyes and for it be compelling.
• The meta keywords tag is probably not worth the time to make, but if you do
make one, it should contain your primary keyword and its common
misspellings and synonyms. Each keyword phrase in the keywords tag should
be comma separated.
9
• Use a single, descriptive H1 header on your page containing the keyword
phrases similar to those you targeted in the page title. This helps reinforce the
page title.
• Use descriptive subheaders (H2 or H3) before every paragraph or every few
paragraphs. This improves usability and helps define what the page is about to
search engines without making the page look like it was written for a search
engine.
• Use bulleted lists and bolding to break up content and make it easier to read.
• Write your content for human consumption. If you write exclusively for
search engines, the pages will read poorly and nobody will want to look at
them.
Home Page Optimization
In addition to page optimization for search engines, it is also important to
optimize your site's home page for customers in order to make sure it
functions efficiently.

• Make sure your home page builds credibility and directs consumers to the
most important parts of your site.
• Target your most competitive keyword phrase with the home page or with a
page that is directly linked to from the home page.
• Link to the major theme pages from your home page.
• Link to your home page from every page of your site. Include your site name
and/or the home page’s primary keyword phrase in the text links pointing to
it.
• If you think your site is being filtered out of the search results for being too
focused on a word or phrase, you may want to make the link to your home
page just say something like “home”.
Site Optimization
Your home page is just the starting point for what will probably be a very
multi-layered and multifaceted website. As such, it is important to look at
every page your site contains to ensure a cohesive, streamlined design that
works well with search engines as well as customers. Keep the following in
mind:

• Use text-based navigation.
• If you use graphic navigation, use descriptive alt text for your image links, and
link to your primary pages from every page of your site using footer text links.
• Use descriptive/keyword-rich breadcrumb navigation to help search engines
understand the structure of your site.
e.g., home page link(use keywords in it) > level 1 > level 2 >
page I am on
• Use a site map to help search engines spider through your site.
10