Pimp My Keywords

Five Ways to Ensure a Happy Marriage Between SEO and Content Strategy

By Camella Lobo
Content and Social Media Strategist

Getting the best use out of a website's content is one of the key principles behind an effective content strategy. And from an SEO's perspective, making the most of a website's content means populating it with keywords to drive traffic. Two very different utilities for the same set of little ol' words.

Here are some tips that help our team work together to achieve our clients' web content objectives:

1. Focus cold, hard SEO efforts on metadata and paid search ads.

The eternal battle between using enough keywords and creating meaningful content that sounds natural will wage on for an eternity, or at least until Google changes its algorithms. (Not likely in the near future.) Start with making the best use of your metadata and paid search ads. Write title tags and page descriptions that include not only keywords, but the keywords you want to rank for on each page. The more effort you put into optimizing your metadata, the more room you have to create content unscathed by awkward keyword repetition and blandness.

2. Create a keyword map for content in the beginning.

The best way to make sure SEO efforts don't interfere with the quality of your content (and vice versa) is to consider SEO in the very beginning stages of a web project. SEOs, like writers and content strategists, don't enjoy being handed a website to optimize at the very end of a project. Like content, keywords should be mapped out alongside the architecture of the site as it is developed. This requires the content strategist or writer to work very closely with an SEO to make sure both needs are being met, and in the right areas. When you involve the SEO in the beginning, you are in control of where and how keywords appear in your content. If you involve SEO in the end of a project, you wind up having less control over the context in which those keywords appear. Not to mention you create more work for yourself when you have to change what you've written to accommodate new keywords.

3. Stay current on the terms and search trends around your website.

Set up good old fashioned Google alerts to monitor keywords and use free social media monitoring tools and the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to keep up to date on the terms most relevant to your subject matter. This will help you govern your existing content, as well. If you're constantly staying up to date on the content on your site, your search ranking should follow suit. (Plus, the more you update your website's pages, the more often your site is crawled by search engines.) This goes to show just how well content strategy and SEO can work together to keep content fresh and relevant. It's a win win!

4. Create consistent content and update it often.

If part of your content strategy is consistently updating your website by means of a blog, this is a great opportunity to create content in an attempt to rank for your keywords. Not to mention, the context in which you are writing blog posts allows for more flexibility in your writing as it pertains to naturally including those keywords several times. For example, if you're writing a post about the popularity of designer BPA-free aluminum water bottles, you have more chances to work that long-tail keyword in than you would on a product page. Obviously saying designer BPA-free aluminum water bottles five times on a website page would just be weird, no matter how natural you tried to make it sound.

5. Use an Editorial Calendar for SEO.

Speaking of creating and updating content consistently, an editorial calendar can be used for more than just blog posts and updating site pages. Create an editorial calendar for SEO and blog posts together. Target keywords around events or times of the year that are relevant to your brand, company or product. For instance, if you sell outdoor gear, focus your SEO efforts on snowshoes as winter approaches. Pay per click ads have relied on this tactic for some time, so why not a blog post? It sounds simple, but people miss these opportunities all of the time. Of course, you don't want to plan your SEO calendar too far in advance because keyword trends change, but planning keywords a good 30 days out should put you in the right place.

For more information, visit Internet Exposure, a Minneapolis web design agency.

Jingle Bells: SEO Style

For those of you who love Christmas carols; check out our version of Jingle Bells:

Dashing through the web

In an SEO kinda way

Up in the rankings we go

Laughing all the way

HA HA HA

Hear the twitter sing

Make the writers write

What fun it is to meta-tag

Late into the night

 

Purple Trout, Purple Trout

Keywords all the way

Oh what fun it is to see

Your links go up and stay HEY!

Purple Trout, Purple Trout

Keywords all the way

Casting a wider Internet

Ups your rankings every day

 

Since Christmas time is here

And website hits are low

Don’t worry, have no fear

Local splash makes rankings glow

PPC will help you too

And social media bonds

Your comp-e-tition won’t have a clue

When your clientele responds!

 

OHHH Purple Trout, Purple Trout

Keywords all the way

Oh what fun it is to see

Your links go up and stay

Purple Trout, Purple Trout

Keywords all the way

Casting a wider Internet

Ups your rankings every day!

(Photo by: anneh632)

 

Avoid These SEO Turkeys

Turkey is great for Thanksgiving, but are you an SEO turkey? Here are a few SEO turkeys and stale techniques:

• Black Hat SEO Techniques. Do not use the "hidden keyword" trick in your website, or other unethical methods. Not only are you a turkey, but you're  taking a big chance in getting your website punished - or even banned - by  search engines. For the record, the hidden keyword trick is not only a old tactic and unethical, but it doesn't even work anymore. Guess what? Some SEO firms still try to use this trick in order to obtain higher rankings in search engines.
  
  
• If you're a local business and you're not taking advantage of local SEO opportunities, then you and/or your SEO firm is a big turkey. No dessert for you! Get to work on registering your business name and location with Google Places, Bing Maps and other local maps. It's free and it's becoming more and more important to be listed in local maps.
  
  
• If you're not doing link building, then you're a turkey. Link building is the process by which other websites publish an link on their site (or blog) pointing back to your website. Link building is a very important element in SEO. It takes a lot of hard work to earn quality links, but it's a necessity.
  
  
• Turkeys do not update their company's website; add fresh content or optimize it for your targeted keywords. Don't ignore your website. Your potential customers are going to the Internet to search for your products and services. Customers must find you before they can buy from you.
  
  
• If you're an SEO firm or a "consultant" - who claims to be certified in search engine optimization, you're a turkey who should be ashamed and hide from the butcher. Granted, you might have attended a class and earned a certificate perfect for framing, but no search engine - including Google - offers a certification in SEO. You can, however, earn certifications in Google for Adwords. Businesses are fooled by this con very day.
  
  
• Another turkey is anyone who claims to be a social media expert. All of a sudden, it seems as if everyone is a social media expert. Ironically, some of them used to be search engine optimization experts a few years ago.

Enjoy your holiday and watch out for these tasteless turkeys.

Purple Trout Offers New Service Guaranteed To Drastically Improve Local Map Rankings In Six Weeks

Purple Trout, LLC has partnered with Local Splash, a local map optimization firm, to help businesses improve their map search engine rankings.

Internet mapping tools have increasingly become a vital marketing resource for local businesses. Consumers often rely on Google Places (formerly Google Maps) and other mapping applications when searching for a particular type of business in their local area.

"It's all about local businesses being found in Google and other search engines," Purple Trout President Steve Phillips said. "The competition is fierce, and businesses need to take advantage of the tools and services that can move them up higher in search engines."

Being a Local Splash authorized reseller enables Purple Trout to use tools and strategies that have a solid track record of getting clients first page placement on local map searches. Purple Trout and Local Splash guarantee similar results within six weeks of client account set-up, or basic service will be free until first page visibility is accomplished.

In order to maximize local mapping presence, Local Splash creates a directory for each client featuring key attributes and vital information about the company's products, services, hours of operation, address, etc. The information is distributed to all major search engine sites, Internet data providers and directories in a format guaranteeing Purple Trout clients are optimally positioned in map searches relevant to their business.

"Local Splash is excited about our partnership with Purple Trout SEO," Local Splash Director of Business Development Michael Orefice said."This will be a mutually beneficial relationship that will make Local Splash’s affordable and effective local SEO services available to more businesses across America."

Companies using Local Splash map services tend to see improvements in their search engine rankings in approximately 14 days on some sites, and up to 60 days on others.  

"It used to be said your business needed to be found in the Top 30 positions in Google search; then, it changed to the Top 10," said Phillips. "Now, however, you need to be at the top of search results. And, since Google is placing more emphasis on its Places feature, which is listed at the top of local search results, it is imperative businesses are included in Google Places and other mapping services."

Business information is also placed on websites and directories such as Yelp and Google Places where consumers frequently provide feedback on company services. Purple Trout clients can update company information through an online tool that also allows users to review performance reports and upload photos. For more information on all Purple Trout SEO services, visit www.purpletrout.com or call (866) 837-7095.

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About Purple Trout, LLC:

Headquartered in Newport, Kentucky, Purple Trout, LLC is a search engine marketing firm helping companies strengthen their presence on the Internet. Services include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and multilingual SEO services, Online Reputation Management (ORM), Social Media Monitoring (SMM) and local map optimization. For more information, visit www.purpletrout.com.

About Local Splash:

Local Splash is part of Relevant Ads, Inc. and is headquartered in Santa Ana, California. Services include local map ranking optimization for local and national clients targeting customers by geographic areas. Local Splash ranks # 113 on Inc. Magazine’s "2010 list of fastest growing companies in America." To learn more about Local Splash, visit www.localsplash.com.

The Dynamic Duo Debut at Purple Trout

Hey everyone! We're Kristin Bednarski and Sarah Groneck, the new SEO/SMO writers at Purple Trout, LLC. From here on out, we'll be blogging every Friday about all things social media, including things we've learned, tips we've come up with, and facts and information regarding your favorite social media venues.

Feel free to ask us any questions or make any suggestions, and we'll try to speedily respond on this blog.

Our first post will debut next Friday, and we're looking forward to exploring the wonderful world that is social media.

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 121

Recently, Google's Eric Schmidt made note of Google's 200 ranking factors in determining search enging rankings.

Of course, Google's not going to reveal their business secrets by publishing their search engine algorithms. Instead, Google has revealed some factors that are important in determining page ranking position. They include:

• The presence of a search term in the HTML title tag. Yes, you need much more here than "Home" and "About Us" and/or the name of your business.
• The presence of a search term in the HTML body copy. If you're targeting the keyword "strawberries" on a specific page, then you need to be mentioning the keyword in your page content.
• Search terms in bold typeface.
• Search terms in header tags (H1, H2, etc.).
• The presence of a search term in anchor text links. Like this: SEO.
• The PageRank of a page.
• The PageRank of the entire domain.
• The speed (load time) of the website.

Remember, there are 200 factors. Doing the aforementioned points is a great start!

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 120

When it comes to SEO, content is much more than text. In fact, content includes everything that can be optimized on your website, including graphics, photographs, videos, PDF files, etc.

Don't forget to:

• Use proper ALT tags for your graphics and photos.
• Use proper keywords in your image names. For example, "pool-cues.jpg" is much better than "pc123.jpg".
• For videos, make sure you're completing all file properties for the video using keywords where appropriate. For YouTube, you'll want to create a link back to your website.
• PDF files are often overlooked for optimization. They should also include a proper title, description, keywords in the PDF file properties.

If you're overlooking these elements, you're missing out on some potential SEO opportunities that may be making a difference in keyword rank.

What's New At Purple Trout?

While we'd much rather post here helpful tips, advice and information on search engine optimization, social media and how to earn more traffic to your website, we'd thought we'd pause for a brief post of what's new at Purple Trout, LLC.

A few weeks ago, we attended Search Engine Strategies in San Francisco, CA to learn of new ideas, strategies, etc., in the world of search engines. Attending national conferences is one of the ways we stay up on what's new in the industry. In turn, we change and implement strategies with our clients and share information with our readers.

During the four-day conference, we talked to Bing and learned more of its merger with Yahoo; attended many sessions on link building strategies and opportunities and how search engines value (or de-value) inbound links to websites. We also heard speakers talk about how "brands in the social media world need to balance their plan with strong search engine optimization" and more.

At Purple Trout, LLC, we're helping our clients focus on local, national and international search, depending on their business needs. Traffic to our clients' websites continues to increase and search engine rankings in Google, Yahoo and Bing continue to improve. 

Lately, we've added new employees at our office in Newport, Kentucky and virtually. Since our clients are national and international, there's no reason why our talent and team can't be based in other U.S. cities as well.

As of today, we have added four new employees to our local pond over the last eight days, including two SEO writers, an SEO specialist and an administrative assistant. We have also welcomed talent virtually in two meta tag code writers (from Northern Kentucky and Missouri); a Pay Per Click specialist (Iowa) and two more SEO writers (from Louisiana and Texas).

We feel very fortunate to continue to grow and provide strong SEO services to our clients in the current economic climate.

Soon, we'll be adding new services and partnerships to our firm.

Come and grow with us.

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 117

One of the many presentations I attended at Search Engine Strategies Conference, San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, included a great session by the folks at Wpromote Inc. called "Ten Things To Supercharge Your SEM Campaigns."

1. Test everything. Test button color, text, headlines, images, etc.
2. Do PPC (Pay Per Click) and remarketing. Remarketing is the technology by which you drop a cookie on your site visitors and "follow them" to other web pages where your ad will eventually appear in front of their face again. Very effective.
3. Use the Google Content Network in PPC. When you find winner keywords, go big. When you find loser keywords, make them into negative keywords.
4. With PPC keywords and ad grouping, you're better off grouping by either services or grouping by city (group by location is the way to go).
5. Go for out of the box thinking on link building. Great links are closer than you think. Vendors, partners, users, friends, customers, stores, etc.
6. Creating amazing SEO content. You have control over your website's content. Do something with it. Adopt a page a day mentality to improve your website's content. Ideas can include a blog, resources, FAQs, articles. Be a thought leader when it comes to your website's content. 
7. Be timely, seasonal and hip. Why not try something different? For example, for the holidays, use art work or a seasonal header on your website's home page? Change your colors; add some new artwork and see what happens.
8. Craft the perfect message. Use your website data for analysis. Using the proper keywords + ad + landing page = reinforcing what the user wants to see.
9. Use Google Insights to help find good keywords (and negative keywords as well).
10. Me, You & Social Media. Start with what is being said about you. Use Google Alerts; search Twitter; ScoutLabs.com; ViralHeat.com to monitor the chatter. Then, create a strategic message and integrate it into your website. Consider Facebook and StumbleUpon ads.

Should You Consider PPC In Your Search Strategy?

First, what is PPC (pay per click)?

PPC is an internet advertising model used on search engines (and other websites). As an advertiser, you bid on a keyword or keyword phrase that your target market would search for and you pay each time someone clicks on your ad.

One common question we hear all the time (and perhaps a question you've asked yourself a time or two):

Should I consider starting a Pay Per Click advertising campaign in Google and/or other search engines?

This depends on:

• Do you need immediate results? If your website is not ranked high organically, then a PPC campaign is indeed a way to get some "action" quickly by getting your ads placed on the first page of Google or other search engines. Of course, this means you may have to out-bid other higher paying competitors.
• What's your budget? PPC is not for weak wallets. It can be effective and affordable, but you'll not going to stomp the competition on a $100 per month budget. And, depending on the keywords you wish to target, some cost per click fees may be more than you bargain for.
• What's your marketing plan? PPC can be an effective tool when used in conjunction with other marketing techniques such as e-newsletters; writing a blog; link building; article writing; organic search engine optimization, etc.
• When pairing up PPC with SEO, a strategy could consist of using one to compliment the other. For example, keywords that are not ranked high organically can be targeted in PPC campaigns. Then, as keyword improve in organic search results, keywords and budgets could change in PPC campaigns.

Still, statistics show consumers are more likely to click an organic search result than click an ad. Why? Because we all know it's an ad! However, a well-written and convincing ad can still earn good clicks.

Facebook, unlike most search engines, offers PPC and CPM (Cost Per Thousand), meaning you pay based on impressions, or how many times your ad appears. This can be effective getting your name, product or service in front of thousands of customers quickly with no additional charges based on ad clicks.

Where do you start?

With little or no experience in PPC or CPM, it is recommended that you start slow and pay low. Don't break the bank. Start with a small campaign and learn the ropes. Get a feel for setting up a campaign; bidding on keywords; writing ads; reading reports, etc.

If you've already started a campaign, you may want to look at our blog post on improving your PPC campaign.