Posts Tagged ‘Ethical Search Engine Optimization’

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Getting back in to Google’s Good Graces with Ethical SEO

Sunday, December 28th, 2008

OK, so you’ve used a bunch of shady SEO tactics and you can’t find yourself on Google’s results page. Or maybe you’ve hired an unethical SEO firm and again, you’re nowhere to be found when you search for your targeted keywords. What gives?

You’ve probably been blacklisted by Google. We’ve seen it happen all too often. It’s usually the result of Webmasters using dangerous and unscrupulous SEO techniques, or businesses who hire fly-by-night SEO firms who employ those same practices. That’s why it’s important to choose an ethical SEO firm when looking to boost your Google rankings.

But let’s get back to that blacklisted site. Is all hope lost? Fortunately, no. Google believes in forgiveness, and you can ask them to reconsider your site. But it’s important that you’ve purged all that nasty, dangerous stuff from your site before resubmitting it. A good, ethical SEO firm will know what needs to go and what ethical SEO techniques can stay.

It may take time after resubmitting to get ranked by Google, but if you keep up with ethical SEO, you should see your rankings steadily rise.

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Two Unbelievably Easy—and Oft-Ignored—Methods for Website Search Engine Optimization and Placement

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Many people put their Web site copy through the often complex process of search engine optimization and placement and are happy with what they see. After search engine optimization and placement, all copy on a Web site should be clear, crisp and geared toward delivering maximum search results.

But chances are you haven’t done everything you could.

There are two areas common to Web sites that are often overlooked when it comes to search engine optimization and placement. And that’s troubling, considering how easy they are to recognize and how easy they are to optimize.

The first easy search engine optimization and placement fix would be adding text to alt tags. You may have seen alt tags. Those are the little windows that appear when your mouse hovers over graphics. Unlike other Web site bells and whistles, alt tags appear as if they’re here to stay. That’s because they are both helpful and unobtrusive, so getting in the habit of using alt tags when working towards search engine optimization and placement is a good idea. Alt tags can also be used in email graphics as well, which is helpful as more and more people now read email on smart phones that either don’t show graphics or render graphics incorrectly.

Another oft-overlooked opportunity for search engine optimization and placement in Web copy is in the captions area below photos. They’re not just for newspapers. A descriptive caption will get read—at least that’s what research shows. Since the best captions are concise and packed with information, users often look at captions before reading the body of Web copy. And that makes them great for search engine optimization and placement. Don’t just feature an image of your business with the text “our business” below. Write a descriptive sentence or two about your business story. Or thank the visitor. Or post your hours of operation. It really doesn’t matter what you do, just as long as you optimize your caption space.

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Google’s New Search Blurbs Project May Change Search Engine Placement Strategies

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Are you one of the lucky, randomly-selected Web users who has been selected by Google to test drive the newest “search blurbs” feature? If you’re not, don’t worry—we’re not either. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t cover the latest experiment to come out of Google’s labs, as it’s sure to have some effect on search engine placement strategies if it’s ever implemented as an option for all Google users.

So what is this search blurbs project? It’s Google’s attempt to let users tailor what they see on the search results page. Right now when you, and just about everyone else, searches for something on Google, they get a list of Web sites. Each has a short summary that, ideally, gives a description of what that Web site offers. Since it’s usually the first thing a user reads about a particular Web site, it’s also a section that gets a lot of attention from those of us specializing in search engine placement strategies.

However, sometimes that summary can look like gibberish and some Webmasters decide to make no attempt at writing coherent sentences and just list keywords, hoping that it will boost their site in the rankings. That’s really not a very good technique in search engine placement strategies, but it’s still one that appears all too often in Google search results.

The search blurbs test-users now have the option of either seeing search results with no summary underneath, seeing a 161 character summary, or seeing a 638 character summary. If it’s ever released, and there’s no guarantee that it will be, that means users will be able to change their search blurbs, or summary settings, as they see fit. Moreover, it could have specialists in search engine placement strategies scrambling to find the best way to utilize the longer, 638 character summary. If a user doesn’t think summaries will help her find the right page in her search, she can turn them off. If she wants lots of information from the search results, then she can select the 638 character option.

This may change a lot of search engine placement strategies with regard to the summary feature of a Web page. It’s something that we will certainly be watching closely.

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