Search Engine Optimization -- Charlotte, NC

Oh Nelly. Meg has broken her rules again.

2009-07-13T22:25:00.004-04:00

I have this rule. It is that if you are going to blog, you need to update your blog regularly. It seems that I not only have broken this "Meg's Cardinal Rule of Blogging", but tend to blog about breaking the rule often. (It is an embarrassing fact, but true). However, in my defense, I HAVE been blogging....just not about SEO....

Blogging for Search Engine Optimization is a wonderful tool to promote you, your business site, your business... blogging is a way to connect with your clients, fans, family and friends. It is comfortable, creative, casual.... a place to spew alliteration and enthral your readers with your aptitude and adeptness in your comfort with the English language---and unabashedly admit that punctuation was never a strong-point!

Several years ago I met a woman who was starting a business blogging business. (Yes, I know that sounds funny... but that is what she had... and ironically what I now have).

Now, this lady was VERY excited about this venture. And I thought she was NUTS! All I knew about blogging is that it is what the kids were doing it to share silly stories about their day at school, to vent about youthful romances gone bad and share morbid hormonally charged poems. How could a business think of having something so "unprofessional."

The evolution of blogs from then to now is interesting. They are still a venue for high school heart-break stories, and pictures of family and friends shared, but blogging does have a business purpose.... and a powerful one! Blogs have evolved into THE most cost-effective, powerful marketing tool!

Blogging is a way to get content online- quick, easily, and often in a fun way. People want to know that they are dealing with REAL people and blogging gives a consumer a face and a voice with which to work.

Whether you are selling conveyor belts or real estate, having a blog gives you credibility. It is an introduction to you and your business, how you do business and what sets you apart.

And blog often.

ANd don't let me forget it.

Meghan Wier

SEO: Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing a website to achieve the best results for targeted keyphrases on chosen search engines.

Writing for the Web

2008-03-23T22:40:00.000-04:00

Writing for the Web

There are plenty of obvious reason you need good text on your website—you need to let your customers and potential customers know who you are and what you do. And those web visitors are going to visit your site and read what your content—well actually, the majority of them are going to just scan your content! So how do you give them the content they need, in a way that they will read it, or at least get the point while they scan it?

Here are some tips to consider when writing for the web visitor:

Use links on keywords: Make the important keywords link to the inside pages of your site, (for example: on your home page when you list your services, make each service a link to the page that gives more information about that service).

Use clear headings: Make your headings simple, and obvious. These will be one of the few things read by almost every visitor to that page.

Use bulleted lists: Quick and too the point is best—keep the visitor’s attention!

Start with the conclusion: Remember that your website visitor will read the content at the top first. If they are really interested they will click a link to another page or keep reading.

Be trustworthy: Write honestly and with personality. This is your chance to get the respect and interest of your potential clients, patients or customers. The website visitor wants to get to know you, and trust that what you are saying is true.

As you research how to write good content on the web, you will find plenty of information, some of it good and much of it bad. In addition to writing well, and clearly for the human-being visitor, it is also equally important to consider how a search engine reads the content. Content is an important factor in how and where your website is ranked, so knowing what the search engines are looking for will get you the much-sought-after qualified traffic.

Here are some tips to consider when writing for the search engines:

Use keywords: Think carefully, even research the best keywords for your site. Then make sure that they are included in your text frequently and appropriately. (A good rule of thumb is to use a 4-7% keyword density)

Do not “Spam”: As much as including your website keywords in your site frequently is important; not listing those keywords in a long string, or over and over again is also important. Should you choose to employ this tactic, you may found that the search engines lower your rankings, or ban you entirely. I usually limit my lists to three or four keywords in a row if I must, (for example: keywords, keyphrases, and targeted key words).

Use H1 tags: When writing a clear and simple heading for the page, put it in H1 tags. This will tell the search engines that it needs special attention and in important to the site.

Link from your keywords: Linking from your keywords is a way to tell the search engines that the keyword is important, and lead them to a new page with more important information.

Stay of topic: The search engine will look for content that has similar phrases and theme. So stay on topic use each page to give as targeted an explanation as possible.

You will find a lot of advice on writing for the web, and a lot of the time the information you get for writing for the human being will be at odds with what you will read about writing for the search engines, but if you follow the tips above, you should be able to produce well-written, search engine –and visitor friendly content.

© Meghan Wier 2008

Choosing a Domain Name

2007-11-07T18:29:00.000-05:00

Choosing a domain name is easy. Getting that domain name is another issue! With so many websites out there, and so many domains already bought, you may find it difficult to get your first choice.

----Whenever possible I recommend buying a ".com" These are harder to come by now unless you get a little creative, however, we have all been trained to type ".com" at the end of an address. If you need to settle for the ".net" (which is generally my second choice), Make sure that the .com version isn't a competetor and that their site doesn't contain anything distasteful. When possible, work out an agreement for that site owner to forward any email they may get that is meant for you, and perhaps even add links to both sites directing people who landed on the wrong one.

----For search engine purposes, I like to see domains that have the main keywords of the business in them. For example www.casinopartyny.com They, not unexpectedly, do casino style parties in NY, NYC and NJ. The domain is easy to remember, and helps their rankings by containing keywords. If you are able to do this remember to add the same keyphrases in the H1 and titles for good SEO.

----I am not a fan of dashes. However, it does sometimes help get the words in the domain you are looking for. Remember to keep it as simple as possible. There is credibility in having a shorter, easier domain.

---Buying multiple domains is a popular way to cover a lot of issues, such as a difficult to spell company name, or multiple product offerings or locations. That said, dozens of domains pointing to the same site (and same page), can cause a problem with some of the search engines. There are legitimate reasons for owning and using more than one domain, but make sure yours is one of them. And unless you are a big corporation, keep it to about 6 or less.

---Do not go around buying the domains names of your competetors or celebrities and pointing them to your site. That is called cyber-squating, and you can be sued for it. Unless you have a right to the name (if you have been doing business under that name for some time) or if it is you (I am Meghan Wier -- I own www.meghanwier.com), you should stick to describing what you do, and where you are - (i.e. seo rochester), or a combination of who, what, and where.

Domain choosing can be a tough -- but oh-so-important aspect of business. Think carefully about what people would search on, if your company name is recognized and memorable, and what your competition is doing in order to make the best decisions.

If you have any questions on choosing a domain, I would be happy to assist you. Just comment here, or email me at meg-at-meghanwier.com

Spelling Errors - Bad for SEO

2007-05-21T08:55:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had that "Duh!" moment when working on your site... I just did. And I hate when this happens. I was editing a client's site today when I came across a slew of spelling errors that either they or their developer left in the site. My edits were about 85 pages long, so this was a huge site. And almost every other page had a spelling error on it. Some times they were biggies, sometimes not. But in the cases where a keyphrase was misspelled, it was obviously having negative effects on the rankings.

Now I am a fast typist as I am sure many of you are too - - it is the world in which we live... spelling and typos are common, (as is bad grammar--this entry as evidence...) In fact we purposely abbreviate and misspell words all the time as we type - (UR soooooo right MW!) But search engines are fickle and if someone wrote "Team Building NY," they will so you a site about team building... not "Team Builing."

So how does this relate to me... well I just realized for a month now I left the typo "Charltte" on my SEO blog, instead of "Charlotte"!

DUH!

-- NOTE: spelling errors CAN work on your side if the searcher mis-types... but do you want to take that chance and look like you made a mistake or are sloppy? Think of ways to include spelling variations on keyphrases, but be careful to be consistant and correct in your spelling.

- MW

Why Aren't I Ranking?? Explaination

2007-03-31T21:03:00.000-04:00

I heard today from a long-time customer who is suddendly very concerned that she is not ranking well for a particular keyphase. And it made me think of all the other people who wonder why they aren't #1 for "Widget".

So here is a brief explaination - although each site is of course different. This should give you some idea as to why your site is on page 5 instead of #1 on Google (or Yahoo, MSN, AOL, etc.)

1) Your site does not say a particular phrase enough. If your site is about Blue frogs and you refer to the "Blue Frogs" once... and your competition says "blue frogs" on the site 6 times -- that is likely the reason they out-rank you.

2) Your Domain does not include the Keyphrase. (Such as "Home Inspection Rochester") Now this is a tricky one -- but if your domain is "homeinspectionrochester.com" then you will come up higher (on average - all else being equal) than someone who does not have home - inspection - rochester in their phrases.

3) Your Page Rank is low. If your PR is less than that of your competitors -- this may cause your site to be lower than that of your competition. Get more links to your site - and your PR will go up - and then so will your site.

--Now there are other reason - but these are the biggies. Let me know if you have a specific question and I would be happy to do a quick site analysis for you.

Take Care - Meg
meghanwier@meghanwier.com

What is SEO?

2007-01-28T12:31:00.000-05:00

I was asked in the previous post what SEO is and I thought that it was a great question that I should answer here, intead of the answer getting lost in the comment section.

So thanks for the question!

SEO - or Search Engine Optimization is the process by which a site is "tuned" so that it appears at the top of the search engines. Since there are so many sites on the Web now, it is easy for your site to be lost--never to appear when someone is looking for your product or service.

There are several basic ways to tune your website - and one is to increase its page rank. Page Rank is a 1-10 ranking that Google employes determing what sites are of the highest "quality." Quality in this case is based on how many sites link to it, and what their Page Rank is. I like to think of this like the high school cafeteria... the "cool" kids all sit together. If these kids invite a "regular" kid to sit with them, that kid's "coolness" increases. Same with the Web. You are judged by the company you keep.

So - you can go around and ask all your friends to link to you, and you can even pay for links, but the most qualified links will be the similar ones. Now there is a long and complicated algorithm that explains this -- but essentially if you sell Blue Widgets, you want sites about widgets, especially blue widgets to link to you.

--and sometimes this is difficult. Perhaps there aren't too many "history of the blue widget" sites around.

This is where blogging comes in. Blogging is cheap or free as long as you have the time to do it. You can create a blog on Blogger for example (Google's blog creator) in a matter of minutes and start posting. You can post every scrap of information about blue widgets that there is. You can post things that you might not include in a corporate site (generally people want you to get to the point as quickly as possible on a corporate/retail site), and eventually this blog will become a resource - people will link to it, and through that you can link to your corporate blog. This whole process takes 6 months to see decent results - so it isn't for the over-extended, or the easily distracted. But even then, there are people who will manage these blogs for you. This is a very effective method for increasing web traffic. I have found that most companies have the information already - it is just a matter or re-purposing it in a FAQ format, or an Ask the Expert format... or even a "day in the life of the blue widget manager" format. Be creative and link to the corporate site when appropriate. And just a tip... link to the inside pages too!

Have questions? Feel free to ask. meg@meghanwier.com
Email Meg

SEO and blogging

2007-01-27T19:27:00.000-05:00

Blogging continues to grow for both personal and corporate and purposes. Newspapers across the country have implemented "Citizen Bloggers"--regular people asked to blog about community issues and events for the newspapers, and the public asked to contribute to these discussions.

With the influx of information, blog and otherwise on the Web, it is increasingly difficult to make your message stand out. That is why a comprehensive Internet Marketing Strategy is important to anyone looking to be competetive online. Blogging is just one aspect of this and it isn't right for every business. For some ideas on how you can increase your rankings and SEO on your site through the use of business blogging, feel free to contact me, or take a look at the Ask Dr. Ellie Blog.

Dr. Ellie Phillips is using her blog to answer common questions about preventative dental care and the use of Xylitol. This inexpensive and non-traditional way to reach customers has allowed Dr. Phillips and other professionals to drive traffic both to their sites and to their fron't doors.

I look forward to hearing how your business blog is working for you!

Meghan Wier
Author - Writer - Web Consultant

Quality vs. Quantity - The Web content debate

2006-12-05T23:34:00.000-05:00

Every day more and more Web content is added to the Internet. And a lot of it is just plain drivel. With the advent of blogs, content managers, free web hosting of audio and video, and social networking sites, the Internet is full of a lot of garbage.

However, as a corporate website owner, you have to make your site stand out above all of those other sites, not only in the content that you provide, but how the site is ranked on the search engines.

One of the ways - one of the most effective ways-- is quantity. Quantity of information and quantity of time each targeted phrase is used. The problem with this approach is that the human reader has all of that information to fish through, and may get bored and leave before they get to your message and the information they are searching for. Also, new sites/blogs/garbage information is being added to the Web every day. You would have to add more information to your site each day just to keep up. All the while muddying up your message.

Then there is quality. Writing the best information for the human reader, in an easy and accessible way. This way is great for the visitor---that is if you can get them to the site in the first place.

--which brings you back to quantity.

So the key is to marry the two. Write the site for the visitor. Get all the marketing heads together, do the focus groups. Make the navigation easy. Make the content easy to read.

THEN... go in and add several pages of background info. If your product is phones, add more pages about the history of phones, phone plans, phone types, etc. Whatever is appropriate. Put these pages in the site, but not in the main navigation. Use good internal linking. Consider a blog format where suitable - or a news and events section. This gives a good place for additional content that is easy to add into the site. Also, look at the code (H1 tags, alt text, titles) and determine if your side can be optimized on the backend.

Today's SEO Tip: Your site needs to be found. Then you need to keep people there. Marry quality information and quantity of targeted copy.

For more information on writing for the Web, contact Meghan Wier, at meg@rochester.rr.com.

SEO Tips for Rochester and Beyond

2006-08-22T18:57:00.000-04:00

SEO Tips

I was reminded today of how important up-to-date content is on a site and it dawned on me that I have negligent in keeping my SEO Rochester blog up-to-date. The point here is that we all forget to keep out sites updated. We get busy. Things happen, but be it a blog or a fancy corporate site, keeping content fresh is important on several levels.

Here are some SEO Tips to remember when updating your site:

1) A link's importance will degrade over time, so when you create a new update for your site, look for opportunities to link within the site, (or to another site or blog)

2) Remember your H1 tags. Like that big one I have at the top of this page. Is it ugly?... maybe, but a good heading acts as , well, a good heading...it also helps in SEO, so if you can get one in, do so.

3) Keyword density is still important! It may be THE most important SEO basic. So after you update your site, look through to make sure you have included your targeted phrase(s) enough times.

For more SEO tips, go to http://www.biznetix.net/seo_tips.asp

Do you have any SEO Tips that you would like to share? Please Comment.

Myspace as a vehicle for SEO

2006-07-09T09:39:00.000-04:00

I have created a myspace page - just like all the highschool students and grown men wanting to prenend they are highschool students.

My theory is that this growing community will be a great place to manage and direct traffic to other websites and potentially gain PR, (Google Page Rank).

That said I am finding that between the blogs, the websites and the myspace site, I have a lot of work to do that is peripheral to the general SEO tuning that I do, but I still believe that for the small business that is having trouble with an effective linking strategy, blogs are the way to go... and myspace is essentially a glorified blog with more users right now than just about any other similar "community".

...A good point here would be that Myspace could best be used for that particular demographic-- teens and young adults. (Of course, that is the demo that many businesses are looking to capture.)

I will let yo know how that goes but check out the Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/megbiz8

and the Myspace blog: http://blog.myspace.com

linking strategy

2006-04-20T22:23:00.000-04:00

I was asked to day to put together a linking strategy that we can implement for our clients who need to increase pagerank... and so I thought I would try to work something out, at least in part here.

The challenge is that even though we could go out and buy links - I hate that idea. I think it is a little shady and not valuable ultimately because often times these site don't have decent page rank and link to too many other sites. Also unless these sites have a similar theme and keyphrases it isnt likely to be worth the effort or money.

So here is what I am going to start with... We have a site that promotes a contest that we did a while back and we are going to update it and run the contest again in Spring of 2007. www.extremewebmakeover.com has a page rank of 1 - so it needs a lot of work.

My first step is to write about the Extreme Web Makeover Contest here on this blog. Let me tell you a little about this great contest... we will be taking applications from businesses who believe they need to revamp their websites but dont have the time or financial resources to make this happen in a way that would like. We will take a site and transform it into an attractive and functional website - and extreme makeover for your website!

The next steps are to get some more links - I will link it from the BizNetix site and the MeghanWier site and move from there.

A link strategy is difficult when there are no obiousl vendors or clients, but I think I can get a workable reproducable link strategy together, and Ill check back in and let you know how we are doing.

Are you in the Driver's Seat - Part 1

2006-04-20T22:04:00.000-04:00

Search Engine Optimization was not something I thought about much before 5 years ago—in fact not many people even knew what SEO was. But today, Search Engine Optimization is a hot topic in businesses around the world, and a critical element for online success.

The World Wide Web is now a multi-layered, multi-use, and multi-media environment used by an estimated 450 million users around the world. Many new and exciting technologies can spice up a website, from sound and graphics to flash animation, but these enhancements and the other subtle nuances of how a site functions can have a serious effect on the bottom line. Search Engines’ spiders only index the text of a website. All the bells and whistles used by many web designers to increase the “wow factor” of a site can negatively affect their Search Engine rankings. And without good rankings, many businesses cannot succeed, no matter how pretty their website is!

When looking at Search Engine Optimization for your own site, it is important to consider the value of all of the design and development factors and how to marry them into a Search Engine friendly site, even before you go about the process of tuning your site. If you were going to build the “ideal” high-ranking website it would contain nothing but text. But for human beings searching the Web, this kind of site would drive us to distraction, bore us, and cause us to click away faster than you can say “SEO”. As a site owner, it is your job to educate yourself on how the Search Engines handle the elements of your site, and how to modify your site to get the most out of your website investment.

Since there are many factors in every website: the content, the links into and within the site, the domain name, the headings and much, much more, every Search Engine uses a unique formula, called an algorithm to determine a site’s ranking. Search Engines’ algorithm weighs the different factors, and by constantly refining and improving their algorithms, the Search Engines work towards giving their visitors the most relevant results—and making my job more difficult!

For most sites, in order to achieve a top 10 – or “first page” position on the major Search Engines, Search Engine optimization experts like myself are hired and these experts must invest a lot of time learning about the different algorithms, and studying up on the frequent changes to the engines’ formulas. So, how can you put together and optimize a site that will be found in the top ranking positions and drive prospects and customers to your virtual door—and keep them there?

The answer is amazingly easy. The basics of SEO are just that—basic. There are many things that you can do to increase your ranking, without needing to be an SEO guru. But it does take a little planning, a bit of knowledge and a lot of patience to optimize your site. Initial Search Engine Optimization can be done by nearly anyone willing to take the time to learn about their site, the Web and the engines. Honestly, the hardest part is just doing it.

Today, there are thousands of companies with websites, and you can be sure that many if not all of your competitors are online. However, with some work, it is still possible to optimize your site, become an e-force in your industry, and capture the online market. Being a successful internet presence involves much more than designing a beautiful website or even having the “perfect” product. Since the majority of Web traffic comes from the Search Engines, it is imperative to have a strong Search Engine optimization strategy, and the ability to carry it out. Unless your site is ranked high enough to be found—within the first or second page—none of the traffic will come to you, and instead it will go to your competition.

And no one wants that!

There are 5 basics in the SEO process:
1. Keyphrases
2. Code
3. Content
4. Links
5. Measurement

These basics may change over time, and their importance varies from Engine to Engine, but the principles stay the same. A well-optimized site will contain these elements, and in most cases, proper attention to just these factors will give you the edge you need to succeed.

I am going to walk through these steps and ways for anyone to do the initial tuning on their site. These key basics are just some of what an optimization professional would do; however, they are currently the most valuable elements, and the easiest for the average person to implement in their own site.

To read this entire paper click here

(c) 2006 Meghan Wier "Are You in the Driver's Seat?"

Search Engine Seminars

2006-03-14T14:41:00.000-05:00

Meghan Wier will be giving a presentation for the eBusiness Association on Search Engine Optimization on March 30th at 7:30AM at Mario's Via Abruzzi in Pittsford, NY. You can register at www.ebusinessassociation.org.

The presentation is called "Are you in the Driver's Seat?" and will focus on the 5 major aspects of SEO -- Linking, Keywords, Content, Code, and Measurement.

The World Wide Web is now a multi-layered, multi-use, and multi-media environment used by an estimated 450 million surfers around the world*. Many new and exciting technologies can spice up a website, from sound and graphics to flash animation, but these enhancements and the other subtle nuances of how your site functions can have a serious effect on your bottom line. Search engines’ spiders only index the text of a website and the some of the underlying code. All the bells and whistles used by many web designers to increase the “wow factor” of the sites can negatively affect their search engine rankings. When looking at Search Engine Optimization for your site, it is important to consider the importance of the design factors and how to marry them into a Search Engine friendly site.

REGISTER HERE

Search Engine Optimization - Basics Matter

2006-02-12T22:34:00.000-05:00

There is a ton of information on the Web about Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing - enough to make even this seasoned optimizer a bit glossy-eyed. But the thing about SEO and SEM is that it is the basics that matter - and they are often forgotten.

I am not a programmer. I don't like code, and the real programmers don't like it when I go in and muck it up. I am like that dude in the Matrix who can read through it - sort-of - and see what is going on behind it, but don't think for a second I can or should come up with my own.

From an SEO stand-point that actually gives me an advantage. I don't get caught up in the tweaking of said code... short of instructing on the proper use of tags, or frames vs. no frames, flash vs. no flash - I stay out. My strength is in the basics - content, linking, flow, PR, alt text and the like.

I have been working on with The Filter Store Web site for a few years now. It may be the site I have been doing SEO on continuously-- for the longest. It is a site that came to me already designed and developed. It is not an attractive site, and at this point is a bit dated. And yet, the client is quite happy with it and has refused my attempts to get them to redesign - because they are already bringing in plenty of business, and do not want to get any more! The SEO is working.

This is a simple site. It is big though, with lots of pages, and keyword-rich text. The site is full of inner-links - like a crazy spider-web. There are not a lot of outside links - although I wish there were, and I will be working on this... (uh - starting now). Mostly this site just has great content for its phrases. It is the basic things like that that make good SEO. I can't control the look of this site, The code would take more time and effort than the client would want me to spend, but with the basics, this site is producing results.

The Filter Store site is plain but effective, and sometimes this is what matters. Good SEO is about providing quality information in a quality manner.

SEO - Meg's "Duh" Moment

2006-02-03T21:47:00.000-05:00

So I am not keen on public speaking. Not keen and not good at... although that doesn't stop me from accepting invitations to do so, it just sometimes stops repeat invitations from coming in...

The other day I was asked by the Director of BNI in my area to give a little update/speech on Power Groups at an awards lunch. It was a last minute request, albeit for a short little report, but it put this introvert-shy girl into a tailspin.

Ok - I thought... "where to find good information on BNI power groups..quick! - .ah, the internet..."

(that was sarcasm, not the "duh" moment I was referring to).

So I found this great article really quickly, and it was SO relevant--well written, informative, to the point... it was perfect. So I printed it out and as I am reading through it I get to the end... and it says "(c) 2004 Meghan Wier"

whoops... that's me.

Well, I guess I am a pretty good source on that subject. That is why I was asked to talk about it. But the problem with having a working knowledge on Search Engine Optimization and an annoying habit of writing stuff down, I have created a library of information online - much of which is now out-ranking other really great (but not as optimized) sites.

Usually this is their loss. I will gladly help them out-rank me for a small nominal fee. But until then I am going to have to try to remember what it is that I have written about...

But if I forget, I know where to find it. The Internet of course.

To see my article on BNI power groups - click here.

Meghan Wier
Insomniac, Author and Crazed Search Engine Optimizer
Rochester, NY

Search Engine Optimization - waiting and not waiting for results

2006-02-03T14:20:00.000-05:00

Search Engine Optimization is a lot about time - and about a lot of time. It takes time to be indexed and re-indexed. It takes time to get good page rank on Google. It takes time to move up in positioning. It takes time to build a quality, content rich site.

And while you are waiting the months that that takes... well you can really wait. Sitting back and waiting can completely sabotage your chances of reaching the top of the search engines... at least for some time...

Page rank will degrade over time, content will become stale, algorithms change - Search Engines Change, get bought out, move on, etc... You need to continue working to get your site to the top of the engines, even as you are waiting to be noticed by the engines at all.

As of today (Feb 3rd 2006) Google has given me the great gift of top ten ranking (6th) for the term "SEO Expert Rochester" - Not too bad. (Thank you GOOGLE GODS!) Some of my linking site - directories and feed sites are starting to show as well. I like that - but it has taken a lot of work, and a lot of time.

Search Engine Optimization - and expertise in SEO is not something that comes easy, but it can be done with enough persistence - and patience. Your site will benefit from the attention you give it, and the work you put in. And when your site benefits from good SEO, your business will benefit from good SEO.

Meghan Wier
SEO Expert in Rochester, NY
and author of:
Confessions of an Introvert, now available on Amazon.com, and BarnesandNoble.com

Jagger update - Here is what I know (and what I think)

2006-01-08T10:44:00.000-05:00

I received a comment from someone who wanted to know more about Jagger, or rather what I thought about Jagger - and while I am not sure I can tell you much more than the info that is out there, but I will see what I can do. Truth is, since this only happened a short time ago, the repercussions are still being felt and realized.

FYI - This site is an apparent victim to the de-emphasis on blogs (read more below)...

Background: A couple months ago Google went through another algorithm change - they called it Jagger. Thought to be the most complex change to the engine's determinination of who gets to be where and why, Jagger is having far reaching effects. This change lasted weeks as changes were made, remade, undone, tweaked, retweaked and seems to now have settled in.

The one change that is most obvious to me is in how blogs are indexed, and how Google is managing blog spam. (Since I have a slew of blogs I feel this one big-time). Not coincidentally Google's blog app "Blogger" implemented a function that allows blog owners to moderate comments. A huge step in my mind. Since Blog spam caught on as a way for people to gain easy PR through commenting on other's high PR blogs, blogs were fast becomming the highest ranked results for many keyphrases. Because of the nature of blogs, these results were not always of the best quality. I also believe that in the Jagger algorithm update, blogs are not given equal status to other sites, and this has affected a lot of people utilizing blogs as a way to drive traffic to other sites (like me).

Another change in the Jagger update is in how links are rated. In-bound links have long been a way to gain PR, but I have been telling my clients for months to find link partners with relevancy. If you are a site about search engine optimization, have other sites about SEO linking to you. It is nice that your cousin has an auto-body shop and his site links to yours, but quality relevant links are more meaningful. I truely haven't seen out-bound links having the same effect yet, although there is considerable "buzz" that these are now being added into the mix as well. My advice - go for quality and relevancy inbound and outbound - it can't hurt, and you will have a site that is a tool, and a resource for your human visitors.

Fact is, Google is a business. They don't necessarily care if your business suffers because they shuffle things around a bit. They are protecting their interests with this update - and they will continue to update, tweak, re-align, and just plain do-over as much as they want, as long as they can make the engine better in their minds and keep it a profitable enterprise.

There seems to also be the obvious effect that this change has had on the sites abusing adsense. Again - Google is a business, and they are looking at ways that people are trying to take advantage, and absue their Adsense. So any site that is a fake directory - not relevant, or using auto-content and auto-links will likely be penalized. Now - I have no idea how they can do this, but they have a huge team of people way smarter than myself working on this. If it isn't comprehensive in this change, believe me, it will be in the next one. Google is now seeking reports from anyone who finds a "spam" adsense site. So, be warned... if they haven't caught ya yet, they will.

Another thing: For a while Page Rank seemed to lose its importance, with this update PR is again on the radar. The emphasis on relevancy will likely throw everyone's PR up in the air, and those with good links will ultimately win.

That all said, this whole algorithm thing isn't perfect. There are a ton of factors, some so reletively small, they will never show up on our radars unless we have a site heavy in one of them and stumble over it. Some people with great sites w/ quality and relevancy and super content and great tags, etc. are still gonna get screwed. But Google will sort it out, the good ones back up and throw the bad ones back down. But it will take time. And just when it is all sorted out, they will decided to do it again.

Do yourself a favor and remember that organic SEO is not the only way to drive traffic. Buy an adwords campaign, send out an email campaign, get some media attention... heck - send out a damn postcard. A good marketer cannot rely on Google to keep them in business. A good marketer will utilize the power of Google, (and Yahoo who also does these little "tweaks regularly - and the other engines and directories) to build their business.

And most of all please remember that quality will win. Don't try to beat Google - they have more to gain and more to lose than you - and they have the money to make sure they keep theirs. Play their game. Think about how you can give the Google Searcher the best information on your product/service. Put together comprehensive up to date, quality information.... that is afterall what a site is (or was) supposed to do.

-Meg
www.meghanwier.com/seo.asp

SEO Rochester, Content and Domains

2005-11-26T07:32:00.000-05:00

Two of the most important factors in search engine optimization (SEO) are content and proper domain name choice. While trends, and minor tweak ideas in SEO will come and go--these two factors remain to me the strongest and best opportunities to achieve high rankings and even more importantly, convert that traffic into great customers.

After doing keyword research (I like starting with Good Keywords, it is free to download), and determining if your keyphrases are appropriate for your site. One of the things that amazes me is that people consistently think that if they are a wedding planner that they might actually be able to rank on the first page for a term like "wedding". They can't--there is too much competition willing to spend far more money than the average business has to spend on SEO. Furthermore... why would they want to have first page rankings on "wedding"? They would be inundated with traffic from all over the world - and those people would look at the home page of the site for about 6 seconds before they realized that the wedding planner in Rochester will not be able to help them in Boulder Colorado, or Hong Kong. That same wedding planner would be much better off focusing their attention on keyphrases such as "wedding receptions rochester", unique wedding planning NY"," wedding planner rochester", or even digging deeply into the specific geographic regions or towns within a bigger city--"weddings brighton", wedding planning fairport"-- by gaining ranking on the specifics, you will not only get to the top of the engines but you will have a higher conversion rate as well. Good Keywords will help you with keyphrase ideas as well as tell you how many actual searches were made on a particular keyphrase last month on engines.

Once your keyphrase reaserch is complete (and as a word of warning - I spend 10-15 hours per site doing the keyphrase research), you can begin to incorporate those keyphrases, (choose about 20 for a small to mid-sized company) into your site. Dont forget to include them in your titles, descriptions, headings, alt tags etc., but remember, content is king. Make sure to weave those keyphrases into your content on the appropriate pages. And here is the trick... there will still be... and likely more...people (yes people) reading your site, so your content has to remain well-written. Bulleted lists, small content blocks, white space, etc. is also important to keep your site easy to read. If you need assistance marrying content and SEO writing, hire a copywriter...and not just a regular copywriter, but one who has experience 1) writing for the web and 2) writing for search engines. A regular copywriter may not have the background in dealing with the short attention spans of the web-reader and the needs of the engines to have those keyphrases, occassional carefully crafted redundancy, and gently re-worded messages. (As in: do not use this blog page as an example of easy-readability... it isn't).

Along with the research and the good writing comes bulk. The more (good) content rich a site is, the "stickier" it will be to the visitors and the more "magnetic" it will be to the engines. Consider additional pages as sub-nav to draw in more engines to your site. As an example, as a wedding planner in Rochester NY, the majority of the site might cover your services, testimonials, and contact information, but adding pages about specific locations within Rochester, and about Rochester and Rochester events and Rochester Hotels, and even famous people who were married in Rochester will establish your site as a resource on Rochester and Rochester weddings.

And last but not least... (at least for today), chose your domain name wisely. If a domain is available that includes your targeted keyphrase, grab it. rochesterweddings, wedding_planning, etc. can all be used if there is an availablility, and will give you an edge over the person who chooses suzies_festivities.

Good luck, and as always, remember that there is assistance available from a variety of great rochester seo companies out there. --I of course am a little biased towards BizNetix, but there are several reputable companies and seo professionals to help you.

And - you can always email me as well with questions: meg@rochester.rr.com

- Meghan Wier

Search Engine Results for "SEO Rochester"

2005-09-20T12:05:00.000-04:00

I have been indexed pretty quicky for this blog about search engine optimization - and I am doing pretty well on MSN. Google hasn't quite caught up, but they will and yahoo likes me decently enough.

I mention this because while I intend to continue to post useful information on SEO and SEO services in Rochester, if you are seeking a company to do SEO for you, (and that is my recommendation to anyone in a highly competetive market, looking to do some serious optimization) Go to BizNetix. They can handle your SEO needs at a variety of levels. They are the experts. The info here is for the casual tinkerer looking to learn more, or the SEO Pro seeking updated information and new ideas. SEO is a full time job. (Believe me!) - THANKS - meg

SEO and Geographic information

2005-09-15T20:16:00.000-04:00

Orinally posted in Ramblings of an Insomniac

Geographic Information, and its Importance for SEO

Very often someone will come to me looking to come up high on the search engines for a really broad term - like "gift baskets". And I have to be the person who brings them down to Earth... because 1) Most small business will have a hard time coming up for such a broad search term, (they don't have the money to compete) and 2) If they were to get this placement, it is likely that the majority of people who visit the site would not convert to actual customers.When targeting keyphrases, it is important to chose phrases that will bring qualified traffic, and that they are obtainable. A good example is "Rochester SEO". Currently, BizNetix comes up pretty high in a Google Search for "SEO Rochester". However, on a search for just "SEO" places BizNetix somewhere - WAY out there....And, that is just fine. BizNetix would like people who visit the site to really be looking for them. People like to buy from local companies. By adding in the geographical word into the phrase, the likelyhood of the visitor staying and reading through the site... and even buying, rises considerably.This got me thinking. I have not given any specific geographical information in this blog much at all. Perhaps you are looking for "Meghan Wier" online- You will be able to find me on Google without a problem. (1) I have a pretty uncommon name, and 2) There is a lot of fairly public information on me out on the WWW, 3) I did it on purpose to use as an example to my clients... so I would hope that I am out there )--- I think there may even be a couple pics in the Google Image Directory (some of which are not even me, by the way).Anyhow, if you meet me out someplace, and I impress you with my wit and charm and incredible grasp of Internet Marketing, and remember just that my name is Meg, and that I do SEO in Rochester.... would you find me in Google? Yes... actually. (Try it out.), Ok, how about if you just remember my name is Meg and I live in Rochester....(Try it out). Nope... not a chance. You know why? Because of all the sites I have access to, I have never optimized my name and city. I guess I could write "Meg, Rochester, NY" at the end of all my blog posts... but more effective for me, and for your companies, would be to add additional information on the city or state you are doing business in (or wish to do business in).

Meghan Wier (Meg) is located in Rochester, NY, in the Upstate, NY Fingerlakes Region. Rochester is known for its Lilac Festival, Rochester Rhinos A-League Soccer Team, as well as the Rochester Amerks Hockey and Rochester Red Wings Baseball teams. Rochester is home to the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology, (RIT). Rochester is an easy drive to Buffalo, Syracuse, Niagara Falls, and the beautiful winery region of the Finger Lakes. Meg is a long-time Rochester resident, and is proud to call Upstate New York home

....you think that will do it? Maybe. But at least it is a start.-Meg, Rochester, NY

H1 Tags and SEO

2005-09-15T20:14:00.000-04:00

Post originally from Ramblings of an Insomniac.

H1 tags and SEO - one more step in the Optimization puzzle
Good article on H1 tags and SEO.http://www.cssinsider.com/entry/1234000530052553/The article focuses on Google's determination of rank based on H-tags... pretty good stuff.-Meg

Page Rank Further Explained

2005-09-15T20:10:00.000-04:00

This originally was posted on the Ramblings of an Insomniac site.

Page Rank Further Explained
I received a comment this morning from someone (Anonymous) who wanted to know why anyone should focus on Page Rank...The first thing I would like to say about that is please feel free to contact me at meg@rochester.rr.com with questions on search engine optimization. I will try to address your questions personally when time and the situation permits. While I love the comments, I am not always sure that the person interested in the answer is going to come back to the site for it. (If you don't feel comfortable posting your email on the Internet-like me - then leave a link to your Web site and your first name in the comment and I will track you down.) Ok, the question repeated:"I must be missing something with the whole pagerank thing. I mean, if I go after a keyword, and I get it to the top position in the search engines, why should I care at all about the pr that is going to show in the google bar. It shouldn't matter at all, to anyone. After all, the whole point is to grab those top positions, and you can do that just fine without having high google pr."My answer: Page Rank is just one of the many factors that goes into determining your organic placement on Google. (Let me repeat that for affect: PR IS a factor that determines where you appear on the Search Engines.) The reason to focus on PR is that it is easy to affect as it is determined by links, and quality of links into your site. To the visitor's comment on how high positions can be grabbed without high page rank - yes! absolutely that is true. To be #1 on Google for the term "meghan wier", my site doesn't have to have a high PR at all... because there is hardly any competition. For a broader, or more highly sought after term, such as "Web design", the current highest ranking site (9/3/05) has a PR of 7. Trust me, if they had a 2, they wouln't even be on the first page... no matter how hard they tunred their site!Of course Page Rank is not the only factor, but it is a BIG one. If two sites are built similarly, and have similar tuning, their only distinguishing factor may come down to who your friends are - and to Google, that mean who links to you.Anonymous, I hope this answers your question on the importance of Page Rank - the rest of you out there... please do feel free to ask me via email, or leave your contact info for me and I will do my best to help you out.... on a side note, I have been getting an influx of comments lately, a lot of "blog-spam". While I apreciate the interest in piggy-backing on my site, why don't you check out my Page Rank... which, in case you don't have a Google Tool Bar is a "1". And while I am working on getting that up, and no doubt I will... my PR is not going to rocket your PR anywhere. (Or drive any traffic to you what so ever). So go hop onto another site with a 3 or a 4... and stop getting my hopes up that I actually have people reading this blog! - (Oh, an I know when you are tring to be tricky about it... "I love your blog, check out my home loans site, I think you will find it interesting" - BS - you know I wont.)-meg

Google Information for Webmasters

2005-09-15T20:08:00.000-04:00

Google gives some basic information for webmasters, website owners considering using an SEO company to optimize their websites - http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html

I of course recommend BizNetix for SEO in Rochester and beyond.

-meg

First post - about SEO Rochester

2005-09-15T19:58:00.000-04:00

I have started this blog because I am finding that I am writing an awful lot about search engine optimization (seo) in my personal blog. And while I will continue to do so, I wanted to move some content (or in some cases duplicate it) on a separate SEO blog to be a bit easier to read for those who could care less about my shopping lists and information about my book. So enjoy - feel free to comment, and let me know what you think about this blog.
-Meghan