SEO Tricks

Last-Minute Tips for Christmas Optimization Success

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/laptop-and-presents.jpg” alt=”laptop and presents for christmas” title=”laptop and presents for christmas” width=”200″ height=”150″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-13057″ />So it’s Christmastime again, and you’re not quite sure how to get Christmas shoppers to your site from the search engines. Or perhaps you’re just wondering if it’s even worth your time optimizing for.

Actually, it’s really easy to get your site in front of millions Christmas shoppers within just a few minutes, even if you’re not offering any Christmas specials this year.

For some of you it may be too late to search engine optimize your website for Christmas, but it’s definitely not too late to create a page for New Years and other Holidays in the future.

Basic Website Optimization Steps for X-Mas

1. Copy your best-selling product or service page and name it {product or service}-christmas-{current year}.extenstion(html, php, etc.)
2. Change the title tag to include “Christmas” and “{current year}”. Ex.: Hot Apple iPad 2 Deal Christmas 2011
3. Modify the Meta-Description to include the word “Christmas” and “{current year}”
4. Update the page heading to at least include the word “Christmas”
5. Add an XMAS related stock photo or colors to the page
6. Update the page text to include “Christmas”, “{current year}” and other relevant seasonal keywords
7. Write a related blog post and link it to your new page using at least the product or service name and “Christmas” in the anchor text.
8. Share the new page on your favorite social media sites

I realize this post is probably a bit late for many of you to fully take advantage of Christmas, but it’s really fairly effortless to immediately start receiving X-Mas <a href="http://f019f51vaby49z23ust2v-t99u.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=SEORANK”>traffic to your site from the search engines. You can follow these simple steps to optimize your site for New Years as well as many other holidays in the future too.

If you’re able to offer special pricing or terms specific to your holiday page, you’re definitely going to increase your conversions. But if not, there’s really no reason you shouldn’t be able to take advantage of all the seasonal deal shoppers too.

If you have the time and want to make a lot more sales, simply repeat this process for each of your best products and services.

Advanced Search Engine Optimization Tactics for XMas and New Years

When you have more time or run a site that depends on seasonal shoppers, here’s some tips for skyrocketing those holiday pages in the SERPs so that you can maximize you holiday search <a href="http://f019f51vaby49z23ust2v-t99u.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=SEORANK”>traffic.

Follow the steps mentioned above, plus:

• Redirect last years holiday pages to this years to get any previously earned link-juice flowing to the right pages. i.e., redirect your iPad 1 Christmas 2010 holiday page to your iPad 2 page for this year.
• Write a guest post on a related site linking it to your new holiday page
• Locate and advertise with a related site that allows DoFollow banner ads and link the banner back to your new holiday page
• Link to your holiday pages from multiple other locations on your site using seasonal and other keyword variations in the anchor text
• Update any forum signatures to point to your new holiday specials page
• Share it on Google+
• If it’s a really good deal then Digg it
• Write a Squidoo lens or use your other favorite article sharing website to promote and link back to it
• Write a press release about the special offer and link back to it. There are several free <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/press-releases-websites”>press release websites.
• Bookmark it
• Update your company’s Google Places page to include your holiday offers
• Create a <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/backpage-sponsored-ads”>sponsored online classified ad

And so on…

The key things to remember are updating your title and description meta tags, use keyword variants in the anchor text of any backlinks, writing relevant page headings, and creating sufficient unique page text.

By starting with your top-selling product or service and writing a quick blog post you could literally be raking in the sales this holiday in under an hour!

And it can really be as simple as that.

Have some organic search optimization tips to share for the holidays?

Join us on <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/GooglePlus-rssfooter”>Google+

<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SEOrankings/~4/UiWVhWladHU” height=”1″ width=”1″ />

Top 10 SEO Apps for iPad

Search Engine Optimization is one of the best ways to get your website or blog ranked within the search engines. And if you have an Apple iPad with mobile broadband you can perform SEO tasks right through your device, from just about anywhere, using one of these top search engine marketing apps:

Google Analytics for iPad

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/google-analytics-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”google analytics ipad app” title=”google analytics ipad app” width=”48″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12852″ />Google Analytics is the premier web analyzer for blogs and other websites. If you need an app that will give you up to date stats on your blog or website, Google Analytics is the app for you. This app will give you charts and stats through reports to the iPad’s full screen mode. The standard version will give you ten data rows. If you want more, you can upgrade to the fully featured version at around 7 dollars.

Get Google Analytics through iTunes.

WordPress for iPad

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/wordpress-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”wordpress ipad app” title=”wordpress ipad app” width=”54″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12855″ />Do you have a blog or website that uses the WordPress theme? WordPress For iPad is one of the best resources for changing a link or even posting a new article to your blog. If you are the kind of blogger that loves reading comments by their readers, this is an excellent app to have. This will also allow you to change keywords on a whim if the competition drops for a certain trending keyword.

Get WordPress through iTunes.

SEM Calculator

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/sem-calculator-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”sem calculator ipad app” title=”sem calculator ipad app” width=”35″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12858″ />The SEM Calculator is essential for SEO because it allow a user to analyze every aspect of their marketing. You have the ability to work with your impressions or Cost Per Action campaigns. If you use Adsense or affiliate marketing on your blog, this calculator can give you information on what campaigns are working and what campaigns aren’t working.

Get SEM Calculator through iTunes.

Website SEO Analyser by Koozai

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/koozai-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”koozai website SEO analyser ipad app” title=”koozai website SEO analyser ipad app” width=”33″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12859″ />There are a lot of website analyzers on the market, but Website Analyzer by Koozia is one of the best. This app will give you all of the information about your site’s inbound links and the on page factors of your content. This is also a great app for checking the inbound links and domain information for any of your competitors.

Get Koozai through <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/website-SEO-analyser/id384402373?mt=8″>iTunes.

HootSuite

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/hootsuite-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”hootsuite ipad app” title=”hootsuite ipad app” width=”222″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12875″ />HootSuite is a great app for people who use social media as backlinks for their websites or blogs. If you are using social media to promote your sites, you can use the HootSuite app to link all of your social media profiles together. This gives you a link between Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Having all of your social media profiles linked together is one of the best ways to build backlinks and get <a href="http://f019f51vaby49z23ust2v-t99u.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=SEORANK”>traffic to your site.

Get HootSuite through iTunes.

SERPS

<a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/serps-ipad-app.jpg”><img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/serps-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”serps ipad app” title=”serps ipad app” width=”50″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12962″ />Would you like to know how your blog or website is stacking up online? SERPS gives you an easy way to check your page rank from your iPad. This is a fairly limited app, but it definitely serves its purpose when you need to know your rankings on the fly.

Get SERPS through iTunes.

Analytics HD

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/analytics-hd-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”analytics hd ipad app” title=”analytics hd ipad app” width=”64″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12868″ />This is not a free app, but paying for it is a great way to get more detailed reports than Google Analytics will give you. Analytics HD gives you more options for charts and graphs than the standard Google Analytics. This app is also designed for the resolution output on your iPad so you will get better coloring throughout the graphs. This app is offered for 4.99 in the App Store.

Get Analytics HD through iTunes.

Kindle

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/kindle-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”kindle ipad app” title=”kindle ipad app” width=”52″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12869″ />Do you love reading ebooks about SEO, Internet marketing or the latest trends in the industry? If you had a Kindle in the past, you can transfer all of your Kindle based ebooks to your iPad with this app. Since the Kindle uses a special format, you normally would not be able to read through your Kindle based ebooks. Kindle is offered through the App Store for free through Amazon.

Get Kindle through iTunes.

Dragon Dictation

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/dragon-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”dragon dictation ipad app” title=”dragon dictation ipad app” width=”51″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12872″ />Do you need to post a new article to your blog or website but don’t have the time to type it out? Use Dragon Dictate to dictate the article directly to your iPad. When you first set up the app, you will need to read through a paragraph in order to allow the app to get used to your voice. The calibration will take you about 20 minutes. Once you have completed this, you will be able to dictate notes or a whole blog post using your voice. This is a free app offered through the App Store.

Get Dragon through iTunes.

DropBox

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/dropbox-ipad-app.jpg” alt=”dropbox ipad app” title=”dropbox ipad app” width=”50″ height=”50″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12873″ />Dropbox is a great app for storing data on a cloud server. Cloud servers have become popular for computers, but with the implementation of mobile broadband, iPad users can now take advantage of it too. If you have been working on a post and want to access it from another computer, use DropBox. Setting up your own cloud server through the app will take you a couple minutes. Don’t confuse this for an offline backup because there is a limit to the amount of data storage you can use. This is another free mobile broadband app from the App Store.

Get Dropbox through iTunes.

What’s your favorite SEO app for the Apple iPad?

Article written by Spencer Hogg from the mobile broadband site Broadband Expert.

Join us on <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/GooglePlus-rssfooter”>Google+

<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SEOrankings/~4/LyBS3ci4r90″ height=”1″ width=”1″ />

Benefiting from the Google Freshness Update

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/google-freshness-update.jpg” alt=”google freshness update” title=”google freshness update” width=”200″ height=”133″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12895″ />On November 3, 2011 Google implemented its latest update to the Caffeine algorithm appropriately named The Google Freshness Update.

This update to the search algorithm focuses on rewarding websites that offer fresh content. Not surprisingly news websites did very well, some better than others but we will get to that later.

News Sites and Other Winners

News sites generally update their content by the day, hour and some by the minute. Celebrity news and gossip sites have also done well by the same reasoning.

There is more to the Update than just freshness, based on results of a SearchMetrics analysis. Brand names like Coke, Hotels.com and Dominos.com also gained in visibility or ranking after the update even though they don’t update their content any more than the average website.
It is possible that <a href="http://www.SEOptimise.com/blog/2011/11/google-freshness-update-what-it-means-for-your-brand.html”>recent information on product releases or product reviews may have had something to do with it.

This could also be a form of SEO content strategy going forward (product reviews).

The SearchMetrics analysis is based on keywords and not <a href="http://f019f51vaby49z23ust2v-t99u.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=SEORANK”>traffic gain or loss.

Purpose of Google’s Freshness Update

The Freshness Update is Google’s first step in developing an algorithm that can differentiate between specific search terms, that require up to date information (or a specific date) and general search terms.

For some webmasters who have relied on <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/tools/backlink-checker”>link popularity in the past the update could pose a serious problem. They would obviously have to consider changing their SEO strategy to include higher quality, fresh content.

Safeguarding Your Website

1. The best way to safeguard against this and any future updates to the Caffeine algorithm is to make sure your site only has high quality content that is relevant to your website’s purpose.
2. Keep your ads to a minimum and keep them out of your users face– there is nothing more frustrating to users than an annoying and distracting advertisement.
3. Keep your main content front and center, above the fold and easily distinguishable from your advertisements.
4. Not to mention keeping your website maintained, check to make sure all your links work properly and make sure your copyright date is no more than two years old.

That being said, take advantage of some of the web analytics software on the market to help you find which pages your users like and dislike. The software can keep track of things like number of page views, bounce rate and exit rate.

Another safeguard against deranking is to make sure you have enough content on the page to satisfy your user. Thin content of 200 to 300 words that does not adequately cover a subject is a major no-no in Google’s eyes.

Look at the webpage from the user’s point of view. The Caffeine algorithm is also getting better at picking up duplicate and spun content and nothing will get you barred from Google quicker than plagiarism.

How to Really Benefit from the Freshness Update

Earlier I mentioned that some news organizations profited from the Freshness Update while others did not.

It seems there is a certain amount of bias in the algorithm that favors membership in Google news. So if you are a news provider joining the network may be prudent. The most unfortunate loser affected by the Google Freshness Update are small businesses. These businesses set up their website for the benefit of their customers but do not update it on a regular basis or have the branding of a large corporation.

However, there are a few things a small business can do in the near term to take advantage of the change. Basically what it boils down to is providing new content and when you upload that content ensure that it is properly dated, preferably beneath the title of the article.

A small business can also create a blog on their website that will be continually updated each time a blog or comment is posted. A forum could also be useful for some small businesses; as well as a question and answer page and setting up a social network. Adding your own social news section is also a viable option for most small businesses and you will receive updated content each time a story is posted.

Blog updates sent via <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/software/aweber”>Aweber.

<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SEOrankings/~4/duxvsZrBgiQ” height=”1″ width=”1″ />

Getting Slapped by a Google Panda Update

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/panda-tongue-out.jpg” alt=”panda” title=”panda” width=”200″ height=”150″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12671″ />If you’ve been running a website for any length of time then you’re probably getting used to watching your <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/tools/search-engine-ranking-checker”>search engine rankings fluctuate slightly, day in and day out.

But have you ever had your rankings fall off the grid after major Google update? Or even worse yet – had a web site penalized before?

Well I have!

And unfortunately it can happen to you too…

So I’m gonna share my experience with you in hopes it will help you avoid getting hit negatively by a Google Panda update and fix your site if you do.

Google Panda Update 2.5.2

Most recently I had two sites hit hard by a “minor” Google Panda Update, which was update 2.5.2 on October 13th, 2011.

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/panda-update-stats-10142011-1.jpg” alt=”google panda update stats from 10/14/2011 – 1″ title=”google panda update stats from 10/14/2011 – 1″ width=”600″ height=”171″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-12676″ />

And it’s a bit unfortunate because it’s already costing me an extra $1,000/mo or so.

I first noticed the significant drop in <a href="http://f019f51vaby49z23ust2v-t99u.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=SEORANK”>traffic on one of these top AdSense supported websites, and was quick to attribute it to one of the many testing changes I had been making over the last couple of weeks. However, after checking another AdSense supported site I immediately recognized the destruction of that site’s rankings too.

Luckily it hadn’t affected any of my other active websites though. And coincidentally, none of them are supported by Google AdSense either…

Which is actually one of the many benefits of running multiple websites – you have a much better chance at identifying “real” algorithm changes and ranking factors than you would if you were only working with a website or two.

Plus you’re business isn’t demolished when you’re hit by one of these updates either.

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/panda-update-stats-10142011-2.jpg” alt=”google panda update stats 10/14/2011 – 2″ title=”google panda update stats 10/14/2011 – 2″ width=”600″ height=”119″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-12677″ />

But getting back to what happened here, and since I was “lucky” enough to have two websites hit by the exact same update, it allowed me to compare the two sites and identify some existing patterns.

Recognizable Patterns

Potentially negative patterns that immediately stood out to me:

• Both sites were primarily supported by AdSense
• They had 3 or more ad units each
• Not a significant number of backlinks
• Aren’t the most visually appealing
• Informational only
• Less than a year old
• Directory / list type information
• Low subscriber count

With a few other patterns I’m considering too. But I think one or some of these in combination are the primary culprits.

Although I’ll admit these sites would probably be <a href="http://www.SEOmoz.org/blog/16-insights-into-googles-rating-guidelines”>considered lower-quality by most people at first glance, one of them has been “naturally” linked to quite often as great reference source, and both of them provide the most up-to-date, comprehensive information in their respective niches.

In addition to that, here are some other positive aspects:

• Content is completely unique (passed Copyscape)
• Very relevant to the top queries they’re showing up for
• Thick with textual content
• No “spammy” links

What’s funny is the sites that are now showing up for the top queries aren’t nearly as relevant as the ones that used to, but are much more authoritative and generally have less ads on them too.

Which I’m not sure how that necessarily improves user-experience, since they’ll now have to dig through several more search result to find the most current information on these topics, but I guess that’s for Google to figure out.

Getting Back to Normal

Although no one besides the folks at Google can be certain why this has happened, what I can do is share with you what steps I take to get these sites “back to normal”.

Yes, I’ve read the million other articles telling me what it could “possibly” be, but most of it’s just the same old stuff people have been saying after every update since the beginning of time. I couldn’t find many “real” examples of what someone did to revive their site after a Google Panda update, and I don’t want to just regurgitate the same old speculative information to you.

Rather, I want to share with you what “really” happened, “known” patterns, and “actual” improvements and / or changes made.

So here’s what I’ve done so far: I’ve gutted them of their AdSense code, even though Google keeps emailing me there is still room for more ad placements on my sites. Gave both of them a logo, and completely redesigned one of them – moving it from an UGLY static HTML website to a WordPress site with a much nicer customized theme.

Enough time hasn’t passed yet to know whether these changes will have any affect or not, but I will definitely post future updates regarding the progress of them so you can get a better idea of what I did and what you might want do if you ever have to deal with this issue too…

But what about you – have you been hit recently by one of the Google Panda updates? Were you able to get your site “healthy” again? What did you do?

Would love to hear your experience and thoughts.

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE NOW by <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/free-SEO-ebook”>downloading our free eBook so you don’t miss helpful updates regarding this topic!

Blog updates sent via <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/software/aweber”>Aweber.

<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SEOrankings/~4/xJM1nuseNDA” height=”1″ width=”1″ />

Simplify Your SEO Business

<img src="http://www.SEOrankings.com/wp-content/uploads/money-quality-time-dice.jpg” alt=”save money, quality, time dice” title=”red money, quality, time dice” width=”200″ height=”150″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-12642″ />Well the results are in and it’s clear I’m not the only who’s struggled with time-management issues while running an SEO business online. Luckily, there are a ton of resources and tools to make our lives easier. I’m gonna share a few of the things that REALLY helped free up time and take my business to the next level.

Don’t worry, I’ll keep the recommend resource list light because the last thing I want to do is have you thinking you have to run out learn a bunch of new tools.

Here are some great ways to lighten you load:

Automate

Many important search engine optimization tasks can be done for us automatically using some handy tools. You can schedule them to run, report and email automatically, or run them manually when you need to.

Common SEO tasks that can be automated:

• Website Auditing
• Rank Tracking
• <a href="http://f019f51vaby49z23ust2v-t99u.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=SEORANK”>traffic Reporting
• Link Partnerships
• Competitor Tracking

SEO related items that can be automated to:

• Lead Generation & Nurturing
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Monitoring

Although I’ve never used them, I wanted to provide you with ONE tool that can automate the highest number of these tasks for you, and came up with HubSpot. They can run a bit on the expensive side, but do offer an all-in-one solution that could end up saving you substantially more time and money in the long-run. However, <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/SEOmoz-pro-review”>SEOmoz is a much more affordable alternative and possibly better overall solution for most SEOs. Otherwise you can check out some of the other <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/resources”>SEO tools and resources I’m familiar with and recommend.

Outsource

Even though the popularity of outsourcing is growing, I think many small business owners still struggle with the thought of doing it. Especially when it comes to SEO. I used to think there is no way I could outsource search engine optimization. because I definitely didn’t have time to be training anyone, and I didn’t feel comfortable they were going to keep mine and my clients’ websites out of trouble.

Although I think these are very legitimate concerns, here are some tasks that can be easily outsourced by transcribing your processes up front and passing them along as simple guidelines to follow.

• Competitive Research
• Link Building
• Website Optimization
• Keyword Research
• Content Creation / Blogging

SEO related tasks that can be easily outsourced too:

• Brand Management
• Tech Support
• Lead Generation and Nurturing
• Graphic Design
• Website Development
• Video Creation
• Social Media Marketing

Actually just about anything can be outsourced in today’s Internet age. When I finally learned to outsource projects it was the single best thing I could ever do for my business. The quality of my services actually improved because I wasn’t trying to “do-it-all” myself. Websites like oDesk have made it super easy for me. I recommend starting with the items that are easiest to outsource first, then moving on to the ones you like the least. This will help you run a successful business that allows you to work on the things you love most.

What are some ways you’ve been able to simplify your business?

Blog updates sent via <a href="http://www.SEOrankings.com/software/aweber”>Aweber.

<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SEOrankings/~4/hgmLaj75Hl4″ height=”1″ width=”1″ />