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Google’s Penguin Update

April 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the most comprehensive updates from Google made waves on the Internet in April 2012.

Google is continually working to create a relevant and credible search experience for its users and this update continues the tradition. The main goal of this update is to penalize websites that are “spammy” and attempt to “cheat” the search engine by utilizing techniques that are considered to be unacceptable. The focus is on what is being termed “over-optimized” websites: those that are targeted more toward search engines and not human readers.

Dubbed “Penguin”, this is an “algorithmic” update and if your website  has been affected, you need to take corrective action immediately. After corrective action is taken, and once the Google bots re-crawls your website, there is a good chance that it will start to rank again – as long as the offending items are corrected as needed and your approach is genuine.

Read the official blog post on Google’s Webmaster Central Blog: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.in/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.html

Watch out for the following:

-Website content with excessive number of references to your main keywords
-Website content that appears to be developed for search engines and not for human visitors
-An unnatural link structure where the link distribution is perceived as spammy
-The bulk of your inbound links come from blog comments or forums
-Website content that is duplicated, copied or scraped from other sites or pages
-An excessive number inbound links that originate from your own site
-An unnatural distribution of anchor text tags
-Website content is stale as in old and not regularly updated
-Duplicate content across more than 1 domain(s)
-Not having enough content “above-the-fold” ie before having to scroll down
-Multiple domains with substantially duplicated content
-Doorway pages that were created just for search engines

So, what can you do to avoid being “dinged” by Google?

“Spammy” Techniques – if your website is over-optimized, immediately take steps to remove as much of the over-optimization as you can.  Avoid techniques such as cloaking or keyword stuffing like the plague – such techniques are sure to get your site removed from the Google Index. And, if you have an excessive number of keywords (high keyword density) in your content, Google will see this as keyword stuffing. Use synonyms if possible – the Google search algorithms are smart enough to understand synonyms and establish relevance.

Quality – focus on quality – the key is for existing customers to share your content across their properties. So take immediate action to correct spelling mistakes, typos, bad grammar and other readability problems with your content – show Google that you are interested in genuine content and do not want to be mediocre.

Content - Publish genuine & meaningful content – if you don’t have a blog, add one in short order. Establish a regular blogging frequency and no matter what, stick with it. Add a FAQs page and update it often. Add an educational content where you provide meaningful content to help your visitors.

Video – Use video strategically to publish even more relevant and meaningful content – syndicate video via sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Smugmug and others.

Social Media – Give social media the attention it actually deserves: update your social presence regularly and do itsuch that you really mean it and don’t be perfunctory.  At the very least, build a complete Facebook and Google+ profile. And look into Pinterest, currently the 3rd largest social media network, behind Facebook and Twitter.

Google+ – this one is a given – since Google+ is a Google property, it would make sense if it received a bit more interest than Facebook, Twitter and others so create a G+ profile and regularly post content on it

Meta Tags – do not repeat keywords in your title tag, enforce the 65 character limit and enforce the 150 character meta description limit.

Think outside the box – you may not feel that social media is a good fit for your business and for the life of you, you cannot imagine how to leverage social media. Believe it or not, 9 times out of 10,there is a fit; and it generally takes some thinking outside the box. So, take the time to come up with ideas on how to be different with social media, especially within your industry.

And more than anything, if Google-got-you, don’t fret. Take genuine corrective action and before you know it, your website will be back where it was. Don’t take this as a negative update, rather, take this as a challenge and make your organization stand out even more than before by focusing on meaningful, relevant and great content!

So, how has your business been affected by the Google Penguin?

Filed Under: Featured Content, Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: , ,

When Should I stop my SEO Campaign?

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For a lot of marketing and operations executives, it is but normal to start to question the recurring expense of SEO, especially if it has gone on for what may seem to be an “extended” time. Note: the real definition of “extended” is highly subjective and hence we will not attempt to qualify it!

Therefore, it is a bit of a difficult question to answer. If you were to do some research, you would find that some professionals say “never”;  others will say” depends” and yet others may say “” …sure…”

It really depends on several key factors – be sure to take the time to understand each point (and resulting consequences) before making a decision to stop your SEO campaign.

Search Industry Trends

Search algorithms are continually changing and evolving as search engines work to provide what they term to be “the most credible experience” for their users. Here is a video posted on Google’s You Tube channel – you will see that Google made over 500 changes & adjustments to its ranking algorithms in 2011 alone – that is more than 1 update every single day!

“What does this mean to me?”, you might ask. Well, unless you are continually and deeply involved in the world of Internet marketing and SEO, there is a distinct possibility that you will not find out about most (or a lot) of these changes or updates as and when they happen. On the other hand, most (we wish it were all) Internet marketing professionals keep their fingers on the pulse of the industry and become  aware of changes and updates very quickly. And thus, they are able to adjust/modify/update SEO work  quickly.

As of the writing of this article, in an unprecedented move, Google has released a limited amount of insight about the changes they will be rolling out to their algorithms in 2012. One of the changes talks about deprecating the value of anchor text links that has been a core aspect of SEO for the last several years! Algorithm changes do not necessarily affect the rank of a website immediately; in fact, some changes may never affect the rank at all and some changes may have a drastic affect. It ultimately depends on what the search engine is trying to accomplish and how your website is categorized.

As a business owner, executive, managing director or decision maker, it is generally not your responsibility to keep on top of what is happening in the world of Internet marketing; rather, it is the responsibility of your Internet marketing 0r SEO company – after all,  that  is one of the reasons you hired them in the first place!  So, it is their responsibility to keep track of changes and updates to search engine algorithms and to continually adjust your SEO campaign(s) to make sure that your website continues to do well despite search engine algorithm changes and updates – within reason!

Return on Investment (ROI)

There are two type of ROI to consider – the first is the number of leads your website generates, how many of these leads convert to prospects and how many prospects go on to become customers. SEO is a strategic process – and therefore, it must be given due consideration and time. Approaching SEO from a tactical perspective is a mistake and can cost a significant amount of money with low return on investment (ROI).

Example 1

Let’s work backwards. Acme Corporation has projected gross annual revenues of $5,000,000 for 2012. Their average sale is worth $10,000 and based on that, they need to close some 500 sales in 2012 to reach that number. Now, in their industry, the cost of each lead is about $120 and they typically convert 10% of the leads they generate. So, they will need to generate about 5,000 leads and at $120 per lead, their marketing cost will total $600,000 which is about 12% of their overall marketing budget. They have historically established that they generate some 50% of their leads from the Internet. So, they have established a budget of $300,000 for Internet marketing. Of this total amount, they have allocated 25% to SEO and the balance to other Internet marketing activities. Essentially, they have allocated $75,000 to SEO – so a total of about $6,000 per month on SEO. As long as they spend $6,000 per month (or less) on SEO and continue to generate at least 125 (or more) sales directly as a result of SEO, they are good to go!

Example 2

The second type of ROI is non-tangible i.e. it is not the number of leads, rather it is about the credibility of your business, organization, group or website – especially if you are trying to position yourself as a leader in your industry or sector. Why does this matter? It actually matters a great deal! If you state that you are a leader in your area of expertise but if your website does not rank in the top 10 keywords do you not think that your credibility will be affected? Let us take a real life example. Go to google.com and search for “cola beverage” or “cola drink”. You will fully expect to see www.coca-cola.com in the top 5 search results and if you did not, you would be pretty surprised. How many leads to you think www.coca-cola.com generates from the web? Probably none – but they continually do SEO to maintain top rank for keywords that matter to their business. Similarly, take the example of “lawn fertilizer” – if you do not see the Scott’s website pop up in the top 3 (at least in the US), you would be surprised! So, ongoing SEO is a must to maintain your organization’s credibility!

Pricing

There have been significant changes in the SEO world over the last couple of years where the responsibilities of an SEO expert have evolved significantly and cost factors have increased correspondingly. It is very possible that you may have been grandfathered into your SEO company’s pricing structure. Therefore, before you stop your SEO be sure to look into current pricing – because, when you do go back to your existing vendor, or to a new vendor to re-start SEO (which is something that you will inadvertently need to do), there is a very good chance that you will end up spending more.

Competition

Evaluate your competition. If you suspend or stop your SEO efforts, what are the chances that your competitors will “move” ahead of you on the search engines? We are not saying that you should not quit, rather, we are saying that you should make sure you do not lose business to your competition. Realize that this “loss” is intangible – because it is something that you are not going to be able to measure. This applies in both cases: whether you generate leads, or whether you wish to establish credibility or both. Do you think your competitors will “quit” SEO? Probably not! So, quit your SEO when your competitors quit their digital marketing initiatives. Your competition wants to make every effort to stay ahead of the game and it is highly likely that they will not stop their SEO efforts. So, should you take a chance by quitting?

Conclusion

It would be best to thoroughly evaluate the value and outcome of your SEO efforts, whether performed internally, or outsourced before making a decision to  terminate your efforts. Most companies do not arbitrarily stop or terminate their SEO efforts: some of them will continue SEO, some will divert funds into other digital marketing channels, yet others will add/update  search terms to continue their dominance on the search engines.

We highly recommend that you candidly and openly discuss your digital marketing goals and strategy with your Internet marketing company;  so take the time to have a candid discussion with your SEO company before making any sort of a decision that can have a detrimental effort.

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization

Optimizing Website Performance

January 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

Website performance can often be overlooked during the design and development process. The amount of time it takes for a website to “load” impacts most everything from the user’s experience to search engine crawl rates and can also affect the website rank on search engines.

High performing web destinations are generally rewarded with longer lasting visits leading to more conversions and ultimately, to increased profits. Therefore it is important to take necessary steps to make your web presence – whether it is a website, a web application, an e-commerce site or a blog – load as fast as possible.

Since this article is dedicated to optimizing the front end of your website, we will leave the back end improvements to the technology gurus at your website hosting company or at your IT department.

When it comes to website (front-end) optimization, here are some tips that can help:

Start by measuring the loading speed of your site. There are several tools available that will help you to measure and establish performance benchmarks.

Yahoo’s YSlow

The venerable YSlow tool from Yahoo still shines and has been around for several years. It also offers extensions for Firefox and Chrome and suggests ways to improve website performance.

Above: Yahoo’s YSlow Screenshot

Google’s Page Speed

Google Page Speed is an open source set of performance tools that can analyze your website for loading speed issues. Not only does Google’s Page Speed include tools that measure website performance, it also includes extensions for Firefox and Chrome. And what’s even better is that you can also do an analysis for mobile performance as well.

Above: Google Page Speed Screenshot

ShowSlow

ShowSlow is another open source tool that monitors website performance by capturing multiple website performance metrics from Yahoo’s YSlow, Google’s Page Speed and dynaTrace AJAX rankings and graphics to help website developers understand how performance is affected by design and development changes.

Above: Slow Speed Screenshot

WebPageTest.org

WebPageTest.org provides a waterfall view of a website’s load performance and provides suggestions for improvements along with an optimization checklist

 

Above: Web Page Test Screenshot

After you have measured page load speed and current website optimization status, let us look at what changes can be made to improve the performance of the website. Start by focusing on the following areas – you can work with you website designers and developers on this pretty much immediately.

Please note that many website designers and developers may not offer detailed website load time optimization in the design & development part of the project, rather, they may offer this as an add-on or additional service at a later date.

Reduce number of HTTP requests

The most apparent load time optimization tip is to minimize the number of HTTP requests made to the web server. A lot of time is spent downloading components from the web server (images, graphics, style sheets & scripts) and simplifying the design can reduce the number of these HTTP requests.

Expires Headers

If your website is not continually changing and being updated, you can make the non-changing components such as images, style sheets and scripts cacheable. This can also serve to reduce the number of HTTP requests. Try to add a far futures expires header with an expiration date in the future to see if this improves load time

CSS Sprites

CSS sprites allow you to combing background images into one single image by using the CSS properties such as “background-image” and “background-position” to adjust how the image displays on your site. You can also use image maps to reduce the number of HTTP requests made to load multiple images.

Multiple Style sheets

If there are multiple style sheets attached to your website, you can reduce the number of HTTP requests by combining them into a single CSS file to speed up loading times.

Compress Site Components

In addition to reducing the number of HTTP requests, you can also compress certain components such as scripts and CSS style sheets on the website to improve lading times. The most popular and effective compression method is Gzip. This is  followed by deflate as a second most popular option.

Code Minification

Code minification removes all unnecessary “white space” such as spaces, new lines and tabs and this in turn reduces load time because the amount of time to download the file is reduced and that improves website performance. Popular tools to minify JavsScript files include JSmin and YUI compressor.

HTTP Redirects

Keep HTTP redirects to a minimum and use then only when necessary. There are times when one or more redirects are required (for example, when you move a website or restructuring the structure) – know that redirects will cause a website to load slower as the browser will go through the process to load the original page and then go through the process to load the re-directed page.

In summary, website load time optimization is a complex subject and it is best to test and the improve performance incrementally and then to repeat the process as needed and desired. Website optimization takes time and patience; and if you do invest the time to optimize your website, the results can indeed be gratifying.

Other suggestions include the reduction of the number of DNS lookups, elimination of CSS expressions, moving JavaScript and CSS to external locations and more.

The above tips will get you started with the process of optimizing your site; if you want to delve deeper into the process, consider approaching each of the following as an independent project as part of the website load process. Remember, web pages are typically loaded in sequence and some of the steps can repeat multiple times.

 

Above: Website Loading Process in Detail

You could tackle each of the above steps of the loading process as a single smaller project. Remember to continue to test your site performance and to make incremental updates to improve the performance.

Regardless of what approach you take, at the very least, we recommend that you get started with the steps outlined in this article.

Filed Under: Featured Content, Search Engine Optimization, Website Development Tagged With:

How is SEO Priced?

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

SEO pricing is a complex issue to tackle as it depends on many factors. Based on your industry, your competition, your organization’s geographic penetration, SEO can cost anywhere from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars or more. Furthermore, the cost of SEO also depends on the project model followed by your SEO vendor of choice.

SEO Project Models

Fixed cost – a fixed project cost includes a specific set of activities and generally lasts a finite, pre-determined time. The cost of the project may be payable in several installments. Upon conclusion of the project, you have the option to extend, or engage in a new project.

Fixed cost plus monthly retainer – generally, a fixed, one-time cost for work such as onsite optimization followed by a monthly cost for ongoing optimization with a pre-determined duration of the project so there is no abuse such as “your rank will drop if you stop SEO”.

Performance based – where the charges apply once your website starts to rank at a certain predetermined position on a search engine(s) of choice and these rates go up as the rank of your website increases from the 20s to the top 3s.

Hourly – a fixed hourly rate is charged for work performed; this rate depends on how your vendor of choice is positioned in the SEO playing field.

Individual Services – some SEO vendors will split a project into several chunks: initial audit, on-page optimization, keyword research, link building and charge either on an hourly basis, or on a fixed-cost basis for each chunk. This allows you the flexibility of engaging in one or more of the “chunks”. The type of vendor you select further adds to the pricing equation.

Types of SEO Vendors

Freelance SEO Experts – most freelancers are good but again, we suggest that you do you homework before signing on the dotted line. Remember, it is the overall approach – the team approach – that counts and most freelancers are not team oriented given that they are freelancers. Hiring a freelancer can be the most economical option.

Offshore SEO Companies – the ones that offer to “do” your SEO starting at $199 per month – a lot of these are link building factories located outside the USA. Proceed with caution and make sure you check previous work and references before engaging.

Web Development & Internet Marketing Companies – typically midrange pricing – that offer the best of the breed in expertise in design  & development as well as digital marketing

Dedicated Internet Marketing Agencies – usually pricey…these will have access to the right team(s) and expertise but they tend to be pricey and they prefer to work with larger clients.

SEO Pricing

In most cases, SEO starts with an audit (or assessment) of your website, followed by keyword research & selection. One-time on-page optimization such as updates, changes and modifications to your website and content updates come next – these are all part of on-page (on-website) optimization. Off-website work focuses on ongoing link building and may also include ongoing social media/profile optimization. Ongoing work also includes monitoring and reporting.

Let us look at the steps of SEO one by one:

SEO Audit

Typical Effort Type
8 to 20 hours One-time

A typical SEO audit can take anywhere from 8 to 20 hours to complete and depends on factors such as the complexity of your website, competitiveness on search engines, how well the website is designed/developed and whether it has been optimized previously or not…it is also affected by the regularity of content updates, social media presence and many others.

Keyword Strategy, Research & Optimization

Typical Effort Type
8 to 40 hours One-time

A solid keyword strategy is critical for the success of SEO. Keyword research is a time-consuming affair; time should be invested in this part of the process given the importance of selecting proper keywords. Coming up with the proper keywords can take anywhere from 8 to 40 hours.

On-page (on-site) optimization

Typical Effort Type
0 to 60 hours One-time

Depending on the outcome of the SEO audit and keyword research, this step can take anywhere from 0 to 60 hours to complete. On-page or on-site optimization refers to structural updates or changes that need to be made to the website itself, hence the term “on-page” or “on-site”. Not all websites need the same amount of updates; in rare cases, zero updates may be needed.

Off-page (off-site) Optimization

Typical Effort Type
18 to 80 hours per month Ongoing

Off-page optimization depends on the number of keywords being promoted; the geographic reach (i.e. local, regional, national or international) and competitiveness of the keywords and the industry. Ongoing off-page optimization can take anywhere from 18 to 80 hours per month.

Monitoring and Reporting

Typical Effort Type
6 to 12 hours per month Ongoing

Without monitoring and reporting it would be difficult to assess the effectiveness of the effort(s). It is important to monitor visitor traffic, behavior and search patterns on a regular basis so that SEO efforts can be adjusted as needed and keywords can be changed when required. Ongoing Monitoring and Reporting generally requires 6 to 12 hours per month.

Conclusion

Typical Effort Type
16 to 120 hours One-time
24 to 92 hours per month Ongoing

SEO pricing varies and is highly dependent on the agency or company you choose to work with. As an example, top SEO agencies can charge tens of thousands of dollars just for their SEO audit and an annual SEO contract can run in the low 7 figures.

There is no hard and fast rule to SEO pricing – but remember the old adage – cheaper is generally not better and at the same time, the most expensive option may also not necessarily be the best.

 

Filed Under: Featured Content, Search Engine Optimization Tagged With:

Just a nice Website is not Enough!

December 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

There are over 250 million websites on the Internet and your website is just one of them. Unless your organization has brand recognition (such as cnn.com, or disney.com), your website is not going to be easily “found” by your prospective customers and general visitors.

Questions to Consider:

-How do you plan to get Internet visitors (potential customers) to find your website on the Internet?
-Once they find you, how do you intend to keep them on your website and not cause them to leave?
-Finally, what do you have in place that can convert these visitor into potential “leads”?

In this day and age, most people turn to the search engines on the Internet to find what they are looking for. They look to the Internet to find information, entertainment, news, research and a lot more. On top of that, they expect websites to load quickly and to serve up what they are looking for with alacrity…and if a website is not well designed, is unattractive and does not have relevant, unique and meaningful content, the simply leave.

Search engines are constantly improving and adjusting their search algorithms to make sure that they maintain relevance and credibility for search results. The result is that your website has to satisfy both your website visitors and the search engines!!

There are no shortcuts if you want your website to edge out your competitors.

At the very least, you website should:

-be attractive and visually pleasing with information that is easy to find
-have relevant and meaningful content that piques the interest of website visitors
-have properly structured landing pages with clear call(s) to action that lead visitors to take action
-be optimized to rank high on search engines using ethical SEO (search engine optimization)
-be build such that information is easily found without having to search  for it
-make minimal use of distracting elements such as flash or overly large imagery
-work properly on all major browsers and have no broken links and missing elements
-use effective technology that enhances the user experience without being cumbersome
-be easy to update, manage and keep current without having to rely on your developers for updates.

If your website is not generating the results that you want it to, take a serious look at its overall effectiveness and start by addressing the items listed above.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Slider, Website Development Tagged With:

Understanding the SEO Process

November 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The main purpose of SEO is to increase the popularity of your website by increasing the number of links that point to that website: essentially, SEO is all about strategically increasing the number of “incoming” or “inbound” links.

SEO can be confusing and can also be difficult to understand…and if you are considering hiring an online marketing company to help market your website on the Internet via Search Engine Optimization (SEO), take some time to understand how SEO  works so you can gain most benefit from your SEO campaigns. (PS – If you haven’t read our introductory article about SEO, take a moment to read What is Search Engine Optimization).

Visual Overview of SEO

SEO follows a structured and methodical approach. Most SEO companies will use variations of the above process but ultimately, it is the result that matters.

Step 1 – SEO Audit

Various tools are used to examine the structure and construction of your website and to determine its search engine rank and to look at the factors that determine its rank.

  • Design Review: whether your website is visually pleasing with an attractive, uncluttered and relevant design – i.e. look and feel
  • Structural Analysis: how well the website is constructed and how easy is it to find information without having to hunt for it
  • Content Analysis: content relevance and authoritativeness; also check for content duplication on your website
  • SEO Metrics: determine your website’s current rank and other metrics such as traffic stats, visitor behavior, social media popularity and much more
  • On-Page Analysis: type and number of changes required (if any) to the actual website itself to make is search engine friendly
  • Social Presence: social media and social channel presence; look for relevant social network profiles and how they link to your website
  • Benchmarking: capture initial stats & metrics so these can be compared against results of ongoing SEO campaigns to track the effectiveness of SEO
  • Estimates: estimate of effort required to (1) update the website and (2) to reach the intended SEO goal(s) and (3) duration of ongoing activities

Step 2 – Keyword Strategy, Research & Optimization

Keywords (also known as search terms) are at the heart of any SEO campaign. Prior to starting SEO, keywords are researched, identified and locked down: most Internet users type keywords (search terms) to locate information in search engines and that is how they will find your website as well. Keyword research and optimization depends on a few factors:

  • Products/Services: what services you offer and what products you are looking to sell
  • Competitors: it is especially important is to look at competing websites to find out keywords they are promoting and how that ties in with your website
  • Target Audience: the type of user you wish to target (to find online trends that may affect that particular user base) so keywords can be adjusted
  • Content Strategy: whether you already written the content, or whether it is work in progress and who is writing the content (see article on copywriting)

Step 3 – On-page (on-site) optimization

On-page or on-site optimization refers to structural updates or changes that need to be made to the website itself, hence the term “on-page” or “on-site”

A website that is being considered for SEO generally requires some updates to make it more SEO friendly. Such changes can include

  • Optimize Keywords: update website source code (meta data), title tags, content and other areas to include relevant keywords
  • Optimize Content: update and edit content, as required, to include selected keywords; generate inline links to optimize content for Bing
  • Structural Modifications: optimize the structure so that it is SEO friendly; rename and optimize internal page and URL names and more
  • Internal and Links: make sure that there are no broken internal or external links; update/create internal links as required
  • Website Performance Optimization: optimize website load times to boost performance; reduce image size and overall page weight, as needed
  • Analytics: add analytics (visitor tracking) to track visitor search patterns, activities, visits and much more – best to use Google Analytics or similar tool

Step 4 – Off-page (off-site) Optimization

Off-page optimization refers to activities focused on increasing the popularity of a website that are external to the website itself, hence the term “off-page” or “off-site”

Off-page optimization is labor intensive because it is an ongoing part of SEO. The goal is to organically grow the popularity of a website by increasing the number of incoming links, social media mentions, visitor traffic and other activities. Search engine algorithms are extremely sophisticated and search engines are known to blacklist website optimizers that engage in nefarious SEO practices (also known as spamming the search engine) so it is best to do SEO carefully, ethically and properly. Off-page activities include:

  • Manual Link Building: increasing inbound links to your website via directory submissions, one-way link building, direct and indirect links and much more
  • Content Syndication: additional links obtained via article syndication, video syndication, PR (press release) posting and more
  • Blog & Forum Posting: depending on your industry and products and services, blog and forum posting can lead to more incoming links
  • Social Bookmarking: social bookmarking is a powerful technique to generate more links to your website via sites such as Digg, Reditt, Stumbleupon etc
  • Social Media Optimization: social media profiles on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and others to create relevant and meaningful inbound links
  • RSS Feeds: Allowing people to syndicate (make material available to multiple other websites) content from your website

 Step 5 – Monitoring and Reporting

Monitoring and reporting are an critical part of SEO – it is important to watch and track the effectiveness of your SEO campaign and the results it is producing. There are many tools that are available to monitor traffic, search patters, visitor trends and their behavior on your website. Such tools also provide data about what keywords (search terms) are being used to find your website and lots more. SEO Reports are probably the most required “output” from your SEO company – these reports will show you how well your website is doing and what to expect in the future.

  • Analytics Monitoring: track and view analytics reports to make sure SEO is producing the proper results
  • Keyword (search term) Monitoring: monitor and track keywords and adjust them in your SEO campaigns for best results
  • SEO Reports: produce regular SEO reports to track the effectiveness of the SEO work
  • Ongoing Follow-ups: Conference calls or meetings to discuss previous SEO results and planned activities

Conclusion

To the uninitiated, SEO can be a little daunting; however, it is our hope that we have simplified the process so it is easy to understand and track especially if you are considering SEO for your website.

 

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With:

SEO has Evolved Tremendously!

November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Search Engine Optimization has evolved tremendously over the course of the last few years.

What was a rather finite set of tasks has evolved into a larger set of responsibilities.

Read more about the evolution of SEO on the Arnima Blog.

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With:

What is Search Engine Optimization?

November 7, 2011 By 4 Comments

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a core part of Internet Marketing. Most, if not all, of us turn to search engines (such as Google, Bing and others) to find information. To “google it” has become part of the language of millions…whether we are at home, or on the road, we immediately turn to the Internet to find what we are looking for…

Now, for a website to be “found” on a particular search engine, it has to be listed in the “index” of that search engine and it also has to appear in search results. Currently, there are two ways for a website to start to appear high on search results. The first way is for the website to gain in popularity based on public interest over a short period (known as going viral) and the second way is for the website to be optimized for search engines via SEO. There are few websites (and topics) that go viral; the most common way for most websites to get up in the search engine results is for them to be properly and ethically optimized for search engines. Anything less than top 10 placement is not going to drive the results that you are looking for. Most people do not go to page 2 of search engine result pages unless they cannot find that they are looking for. And, folks, that happens rarely!

The overall aim for SEO is to increase the volume and quality of traffic to your website by improving its search engine rank and this is accomplished by increasing the popularity of the website over time. Typical SEO efforts start with an online marketing strategy that allows your customers and visitors to find your business and engage with it. Keywords (search terms) are used by people to find your website on search engines and these keywords become part of your content. Content refers to any material that is published on a website and includes verbiage, graphics, images, videos, articles, white papers, case studies and much more.

With the advent of social networks, social channels are now used as signals to measure the authority of the content and therefore, by default, the website. Facebook “likes” and Google “+1′s” are indicators of how relevant and authoritative that content is and that affects the search engine rank of a website. SEO efforts need to be measured continually and the online marketing strategy needs to be adjusted accordingly.

You also need to track your visitor’s behavior and use that to optimize your SEO. Finally, you need to report on your efforts to gain a clear picture of the results of your efforts.

Search Engine Optimization is a true and tried approach to Internet marketing and is known to drive serious results.

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization, Slider Tagged With:

Welcome to the Arnima Learning Center

October 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Hello there, this is Rajeev Ratra with Arnima Design. I am very excited to share with you the launch our Learning Center which is designed to become a source of reference material that will help you extract the most from your online presence. Whether you are considering getting a new website, or getting an existing website redesigned, or maybe you already have a website, it is our hope that our learning center will provide short, meaningful and up-to-date material that you can use to your maximum benefit and advantage.

Our plan is to break this material up into short segments that will tackle some of the most important questions that you may have when it comes to online presence.

If you have any specific topics that you would like for us to cover, please feel free to submit a request for content and we will do our very best to fulfill your request.

Filed Under: Featured Content, Internet Marketing, Intro, Resources, Search Engine Optimization, Slider, Web Solutions, Website Development Tagged With: ,