Search Engine Optimisation
How Search Engine Rankings & User Behaviour Affect Website Traffic
We all want to be number 1 on Google. For most people that is the only target, but what does that actually mean in terms of results, and how do the different ranks affect traffic to your website?
There have been a number of research experiments conducted by universities over the last decade testing user behaviour on a number of search engines with many using methods unique from the others. However, one technique has been more successful than others – eye-tracking.
Simply put, eye-tracking is a type of software that records and measures eye movements. This method has been used in several experiments for measuring attention given to each site in a search engine results page.
Of these tests, only a few tracked the searchers’ click rates for each position, and of these only one was conducted using Google (‘Eye-Tracking Analysis of User Behavior in WWW Search’). And let’s face it; Google is the most popular english-language search engine around. It has even become a part of our language (have you ‘Googled’ something before?)
In the above experiment, the researchers at Cornell University used a total of 397 queries and recorded the average attention time and number of clicks given to each of the 10 search results on the first page of each query, and the first result on the second page.
Google SEO Guide & Mindmap
Google has released a ‘Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide‘ for website owners who want to improve their website’s ability to rank in Google’s search engine.
The newly released guide mostly covers on-page optimisation, and only briefly talks about link building strategies, which are the real key to SEO. Reading this guide put a smile on my face as it reaffirms that our on-page optimisation strategy is right on the money.
Here is a mindmap of what the SEO guide covers:
You can download the Google SEO Guide Mindmap here.
11 of the Best (Free) SEO Tools and How to Use Them
Just as a there are tools which make the process of building a house easier, there are tools which make the process of ranking a website at the top of a search engine easier.
Every seasoned SEO professional has their own arsenal of SEO tools which they use every day to help them rank websites. It saves time, effort and provides a strong advantage against those competitors who do not use the same tools.
Here are 11 of the SEO tools which I use on a regular basis to rank websites at the top of the search engines. You’ll note that there is a strong focus on Google – this is because ranking a website at the top of Google will, in my experience, drive anywhere between 10x and 100x the traffic of a top ranking in Yahoo or MSN combined.
1. Google Adwords Keyword Tool – this is a free tool provided by Google, which provides keyword suggestions based on ‘descriptive words’ or ‘website content’. Although this tool is made to assist Google Adwords advertisers, you can use it to research SEO keywords as well, by selecting ‘Exact’ from the ‘Match Type’ drop down menu. The best thing about this tool is that you can see estimated traffic volumes for exact match phrases within any country where Google has a search engine. And what better place to get keyword suggestions than from the search engine which controls the lion share of search engine traffic online?
2. Google Adwords Traffic Estimator – this is a free tool provided by Google, which provides Adwords advertisers with an estimated cost of running a PPC campaign using specific keyword phrases. Use it like this: export the exact match keywords from the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, paste them into the Google Traffic Estimator, select the country you are optimising in, run the search and then sort the keywords in descending order by ‘estimated cost per day’. This is a great way of identifying the keywords which may have high traffic volumes but don’t convert very well, because those phrases which do not produce revenue for advertisers will have a low cost-per-click and an overall lower estimated cost per day as a result.
3. Google Webmaster Tools – this is a free service provided by Google to provide information to website owners about how Google views their website. You can see the top search queries which produce traffic for your site, as well as the top keyword rankings which you have. You can also see how many back links each page on your site has, as well as which sites are linking to each page. Other features include uploading an XML sitemap, generating robots.txt files, removing URLs and finding broken URLs on your website. Use every tool available in the Google Webmaster Tools service.
Organic Backlinks - Search Engine Gold
With search engine algorithms ever changing, it is difficult to know what will be considered valuable by search engines in the future. In saying that, we touch upon a very common discussion regarding link building; is it better to build a large quantity of back links or spend more time to get better quality back links?
If you are involved in any kind of search engine optimisation you should constantly be considering how to spend your time to get the best results and, if you are as busy as most people, you may not be able to use both methods of link building. Now many online marketers may still be advising you that the number of links is what search engines value the most, and they will proceed to build as many links as possible, as quickly as possible, and by any means necessary. But, with the release of Google’s updated Historical Data Patent in March this year, it is clear that this is not the case.
In this document it is stated, among many other things, that the dates on which the back links first appeared for the search engine are taken into account when valuing a website. This means that if too many links are detected at times very near to each other, the algorithm may consider these links are the result of SPAM.
In addition, when building a large number of back links without considering where these links are coming from, there is always the possible issue that these links can be dropped at any time, for any reason. In the patent document, this is suggested as a means of devaluing a website. If back links disappear to quickly, the search engine may consider your website to have become “stale”, or non-valuable to its readers.
Aside from the rate of back link build-up, search engines also consider the content of the site from which a link is received. The more valuable the content on the link source website, the more valuable the link to your site. And the more related the content is to your site, the better.
10 Link Building Strategies for Higher Search Engine Rankings
When it comes to search engine optimization, getting other websites to link to your website is the most important factor in achieving top search engine rankings. Here is a list of 10 link building strategies which you should be implementing for top search engine rankings (in no particular order):
1. Write quality articles – write quality articles that other websites will want to post on their websites and link to. The higher the quality of the article, the more one-way links you’ll get. The best articles to write are ‘how-to’ and informational articles. Stay away from self-promotion.
2. Start a Wordpress blog – setup a Wordpress blog on your website and post articles to it once per week. It’s a great way to build the size of your website, keep your website content fresh and get incoming links. Plus Google loves Wordpress!
3. Syndicate your articles online – take the articles that you’ve posted to your blog and syndicate them on article directories such as Ezine Articles and Go Articles, so that other website owners can post them on their websites.
4. Submit your website to online directories – submit your website to free SEO friendly website directories for a quick way to start building one-way links to your website.
SEO Video - How to Use Google’s Keyword Tools for SEO
If you are currently implementing search engine optimization (SEO) for your website or are thinking about it, then this article will be worth tens of thousands of dollars for you.
Conducting effective keyword research from an SEO perspective is critical, because the next 12 months of SEO activities and investment will be focused on the words you identify before you start optimising.
The key to a successful SEO campaign is selecting keywords where a top ranking will earn you more profit per month than the cost of achieving and maintaining those rankings.
If you get it wrong, you could spend tens of thousands of dollars on achieving a top 10 ranking, only to find that the top ranking is not making you any money!
I’ve seen it many times… businesses optimising their site for a keyword which has high number of people searching those keywords, but an extremely low number of people actually buying.
Here are step by step instructional videos on how to use Google’s keyword research tools to identify highest value keyword phrases:
The Real Value of Search Engine Optimization (Video)
Optimising Your Video And Images For Search Engines
In order to be recognised on major search engines including Google, Yahoo, MSN, and others, you have to utilise SEO, or search engine optimization, when creating web content. While many people are able to do this using keywords and phrases in their written content, they oftentimes forget to add keywords to their visual content.
By not adding keywords to video, graphics, pictures, charts, and other images, you are missing out on a good opportunity for increased exposure on the Internet.
TYPES OF IMAGE OPTIMISATION
There are two types of image optimization that you can use in order to have your images picked up by web spiders that are looking for keywords. You should take advantage of both when optimizing your images:
• HTML Attributes – When uploading an image or video, you will be asked to tag it with a name or phrase so it can be found easily in the code.
Are Link Exchanges Worth It?
When it comes to SEO, the new trend is to create back links or links that are placed on another web site so people and search engines will be able to find your site easily on the web. But you should trade links with every website that invites you to? While there are a number of ways to create back links that don’t include linking to another small business website, it is the easiest way to attract online attention.
Other ways to create back links online include:
• Creating a blog and attaching your URL address to each post
• Making comments on other blogs and leaving your URL
• Submitting articles online and including your URL in the byline
• Adding your URL to your email signature
• Joining social networking sites and including your URL in your profile page
As you can see, there are a number of ways to create back links, but each will require a little bit of your time. Link exchanges are very easy in comparison, but you should do your homework before agreeing to swap.
HOW TO JUDGE A GOOD LINK AND A BAD LINK
Wikipedia & Search Engine Optimisation - #2 Is The New #1
If you have tried searching for a topic using Google lately, you may have noticed that Wikipedia entries are ranking higher and higher, many times ranking in the number one and number two positions. While Wikipedia has a reputation for being less than factual in the information they present, many people have found their articles useful.
Anyone with an interest in a topic can write an article and submit it to the Wikipedia database. If another person wants to add to it, they can edit sections and upload new information. Even though all sources must be documented, this has not stopped inaccurate information from being published online.
Why is Wikipedia Ranked #1?
This is the main topic of discussion among those in the search engine optimisation community who carefully follow each trend and method of increasing their ranking on search engines. There are several reasons as to why Wikipedia is ranking #1 more often:
- Wikipedia has thousands of pages that are keyword rich and have high PageRank
- Wikipedia has excellent internal linking structure, with every page on Wikipedia linking to many other Wikipedia pages
- Most of the internal links in Wikipedia are contextual, meaning that they are located within the content, rather than through menus
- Many other websites link to Wikipedia pages as a reference source, passing PageRank
- Wikipedia does not pass any PageRank to external sites
