Search Engine Optimization How-to Guide

How-to Guides on SEO (search engine optimization)

 

Because there is so much to know about SEO, we've written and organized the MarketingZone how-to articles on SEO in this way:

This article, Search Engine Optimization How-to Guide, covers our lessons learned and what we've found to be the things that are the best return on our time to increase natural (free) search traffic. 

• SEO Basics - click here if you are new to SEO and want to understand the terms and how to set up your site to get found by the search engines
• Keyword Research How-to Guide
  
• SEO Local - specific tips if you are concerned only with getting local visitors from your city or town to your website
• SEO Blacklisting - just as important as knowing how to optimize your site for the search engines is knowing what can get you blacklisted by the search engines.
• How to Get Backlinks - these are like endorsements in a political campaign.  They're other sites linking to your website or blog.  The more reputable the site, the better for you. Learn what you can do to get more sites to link to yours.
• How to Select and Hire a Reputable SEO Expert - if you don't want to learn how to do this yourself and you want to hire someone (a freelancer or an agency that specializes in search optimization), then you want to read this article.  It's like hiring someone to work on your customer database or Quickbooks.  You have to really trust them.  They can do your business a lot of damage that you won't learn about until after they're gone and paid.
• SEO Advanced - we're facilitating a discussion on SEO advanced techniques  among the MarketingZone member community to share tips.  As we find relevant advanced articles on SEO, we add them to the Clipping Zone in this article.
• How to Increase Website Traffic - Quality website visitors are people who will buy something or ask for a price quote or download a report to learn more about what you are selling.  This MarketingZone how-to guide covers how to increase website traffic for qualified buyers at the lowest cost.
• Search Engine Optimization Audit Checklist - if you have an existing website, this is a useful article to help you check to make sure things are set up properly.

Google has introduced a new search algorithm update to reward "fresh content".  Learn about the pros and cons and what the implications are for you as a small business. 

• Pros and Cons of Google Search Update - November 2011 from the MarketingZone.com blog with comments from small business owners and search experts and agencies on this change

What we've learned about SEO

 

1.  SEO experts can't accurately forecast search results (the number of visitors you'll get) for a new site

Since any forecast is essentially assumptions, we thought they could make valid assumptions about what would happen.  Wrong.  SEO experts have told us "nobody can forecast search for a new site." 

What they do instead is analyze historical data and from that data make assumptions and a projection of what may happen. This seems odd to us since experts can forecast direct mail, email response rates and ad click thru rates. 

2.  Only Google (or Bing or Yahoo!) knows the criteria for what it takes to rank highly on their search engine.  Everyone else is guessing.

Even though the search engine companies provide guidelines and some Do's and Don'ts for SEO, these are very general and broad and they leave a lot of room for interpretation.  It's the equivalent of the search engine companies (Google and Bing) telling someone who wants to lose weight, "Eat less and exercise more."  

3.  Google says they have 200+ variables in their secret proprietary search algorithm and they are continually tweaking it.   Bing has another one.  Yahoo a third.

It's like the stock market where you make intelligent "guesses", learn through trial and error, some strategy, and hope you get lucky.

4.  To get ranked highly on Google, you need to do 200 things right without knowing exactly what those 200 things are. 

It's also a balancing act;  if you do too much in one area, it may negatively impact you in another area.  You never are completely certain how you are being "graded" and the grading system changes. 

Know this:  lots of media coverage on one thing that can help you get ranked higher on search.  Don't believe it.  It's like the women's magazines that have an article about "Eat a grapefruit a day to lose ten pounds." 

 

5.  Some of the best articles are way, way back on Google search results...but most people will only click on articles posted on page #1.

From our experience: It's humiliating to have an article on eHow listed as the #1 search result when our MarketingZone article on the same topic that is 10X better and is continually updated is listed on page #15.  Case in point: 

• How to Market Yourself & Your Business on LinkedIn by MarketingZone.com - this is one of our most popular articles but that's because of word of mouth, not because of people finding it on the search engines.  Instead Google shows a "lite" article on eHow that makes Google money because it has search ads on it.

 

Sorry for the rant but the insight for small businesses is this:  your article(s) most likely won't ever get listed on page #1 on search.  You will have to do the work (or pay for search ads) to get visibility for your articles.  

 

TIP:   there is one way we know to get to page #1 on search...

6.  If you name your website or blog using popular and relevant keywords that people search for related to what you sell or offer, you will be guaranteed of free website visitors who find your site or blog through search when someone searches for those exact terms.  For instance, someone named their website "fishing.com".  There are more than 9 million searches done in the U.S. each month on "fishing".  Their website is listed #3 on the first page of search so they are seen by these 9 million (and 20 million people globally) searching for this term.  This is a free way to attract people to your website.  Naming Your Website explains this.

7.  SEO seems relatively straightforward but it isn't. 

Search engine optimization is a complex and sophisticated discipline, but there are some fundamentals that every small business should know and do. We review those in this how-to guide on search optimization. 

From our experience:  SEO (search engine optimization) experts often don't agree and have different beliefs about what works and what doesn't.

 

 

8.  Many of the things SEO experts share to do are "must do" and others are "nice to do." They often can't answer the question:  If we do this, how much of an increase in website traffic should we expect to get?  Since they don't know Google's proprietary algorithm, they don't know.  They guess and they use their past history in working on other sites and for other clients.

9.  The results of your SEO efforts are relative to your competition, e.g., other sites competing for the same keyword search.  You may be doing a good job with SEO, and your competitors can do the same or better.  How Google decides to rank your site versus their sites, you just don't know.

10.  Sometimes, SEO consultants/agencies want to charge you for doing the equivalent of putting up crown molding in a home.  Sure, crown molding improves how a room looks but how much does all that time, effort and money impact the value of your home?  And how does that compare with just putting on a fresh coat of paint?  From our experience, you as the business owner need to find people you can trust and focus on the 20% that will get you 80% return for SEO so you don't end up doing the equivalent of "polishing the scaffolding."

 

Know this:  We've hired and gotten advice from a lot of SEO experts. We've read everything we can get our hands on related to this subject.  We've gotten some bad advice and learned through the school of hard knocks who we can trust.  We hope you will benefit from our "lessons learned."