Pimp My Keywords

Get Ready For Another Google Panda Update

By Steve Phillips
President
Purple Trout, LLC

It appears Google has started a new update (some are calling it "Google Panda Update 2.2" in reference to the original update on February 24, 2011 which affected 12% of all websites in the Google index).

The original Panda update targeted low-quality websites publishing low-quality content. This algorithm change caused several online websites to lose search engine rankings and a ton of traffic. Most penalized were using duplicate content or software programs (called "scrapers") to collect pieces of content from other websites in an attempt to produce a new article.

Read: How To Avoid Penalties From Panda Updates.

Ten Ways To Earn More Links

By Steve Phillips
President
Purple Trout, LLC

Since link building is a very important part of ongoing search engine optimization, we frequently are asked the following question:

"How do I get more links?"

Link building (also known as inbound links, linking, etc.) is the process by which another website, blog, social media account and/or other, creates a link pointing back to your website. While inbound links from high quality, relevant websites impress search engines, it is also important to note that effective link building generates more traffic to your website.

Here are 10 ideas on how to earn more inbound links:

1. Content is king, so write great content for your website, blog, etc.
2. Create an e-book or guide and give it away for free.
3. Write a white paper on an industry-related topic. It should be educational and helpful.
4. Write articles for your website.
5. Write articles for on-line magazines. Most sites will print a short bio with the article and allow a link back to your website.
6. Blog and blog frequently. Writing once a month or once a week isn't enough to get anyone's attention, let alone earn a link.
   
   
7. Write a guest blog.
8. Write a book or a manual and sell it.
9. Write press releases, but only as they specifically deal with your company or your industry.
   
   
10. Create and publish informational videos, podcasts and presentations.

Above all, be creative, informative and educational.

Each Web Page Is A Different SEO Opportuntiy

Every business would like to see their website ranked No. 1 in Google. 

However, you have more opportunities for higher rankings than you think as Google ranks web pages and not websites. Each page of your website is a separate opportunity for higher placement in search engines.

For example, let's say your website has 10 web pages with each page focusing on a different theme, product, service, etc. That's 10 different chances for higher search engine rankings. If you're targeting 10 keywords, then you can focus on one keyword per page.

Treat each page of your website like it's a one-page website. It should stand alone and be optimized on its own merit, content, keywords, links, etc. 

Too many times website owners try to stuff all their keywords on the home page. They cram the Page Title, content, ALT tags, links, etc. with a ton of keywords thinking "let's get my website ranked No. 1 in Google."

But what about the other pages? What keywords do you incorporate in those pages?

When potential customers are searching targeted keywords they want to "land" on the page with the correct information. If they don't, they'll click the browser's "back" button and try something else. This is true for search engines, social media, pay per click, etc.

The "purple widgets" page should target keywords about "purple widgets" and the "green widgets" page should target keywords about "green widgets" and so on. If you post a Tweet about "green widgets" the Twitter link should point to the "green widgets" page and not the home page of your website.

Improving content and optimization on each page of your website will greatly increase ranking opportunities, inbound traffic and conversions.

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Purple Trout, LLC lives, sleeps, breathes and even eats search engine optimization. Visit our website for more information and to receive a free, no-obligation SEO Analysis of your company's website.

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 150

A few quick tips on Google and content:

• Google is paying attention to fresh, updated and real-time content.
• You don't need to update your website every day. Instead, create a feed on your site and pull in your daily social media posts from Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Create a blog and syndicate it.
• Earn citations and blog comments.
• Create a "newsroom" page on your website for your press releases and industry news.

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.

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. 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.

Keywords and your Website's Content

As the saying goes, “Content is king”, so I guess that makes me – Erin, SEO writer at Purple Trout – a pretty special fishy!

The content on your website is the key to boosting your search engine rankings.  Whether you are starting a new website or helping people find your current one, your content will help your company achieve its goals!

The more content on your website, the better your rankings will be. 

Consider this, search engines need to believe your website is a good result for a searcher’s query.  If your website is full of Flash and flying graphics, that doesn’t tell the search engine what you are all about.

Every page that includes words – be it product descriptions, your company history or an explanation of the services you provide – offers a new opportunity to tell search engines why your site is the best result for your targeted keywords. 

Take a hard look at all of your web content, including Meta and ALT tags, and see where you can seamlessly work in keywords.

Making your current content keyword-rich is only the first step in the process.  Creating new content is also vital!  When you begin making changes to your website, search engine spiders will take notice and crawl the changed pages. 

The more often they crawl your website, the more your rankings will climb.

New content doesn’t need to mean a page with an in-depth, hard hitting article on the latest trends in your industry.  Make the process easy on yourself by publishing press releases, letters from the CEO and keyword rich articles.

Every piece of new content, every additional place a keyword appears on your website will help your rankings.

So, what should you take away from this?

Start by taking a critical look at your website. 

• Do you have content on every page – yes, every single page?
• Does that content include your keywords?
• Are you constantly adding new, keyword rich content to your website?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, it’s time to get optimizing!

- Erin

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 110

You can make your search engine optimization efforts much easier if you follow three simple steps:

Test, Tweak, Check

In other words, you're never going to stop optimizing your website. You're always going to be working hard to make improvements – including adding new, keyword-rich content to your website; earning valuable and relevant inbound links; and seeking other SEO improvements.

You'll also need to check the seeds you've been sowing. Have rankings improved? Did your website earn more relevant inbound links? Has traffic gone up? What about sales and lead generation as a result of your website improvements?

The best SEO strategy is simply to have an SEO strategy.

This should include:

• Setting SEO baselines, including targeted keywords; current website rankings in Google, Yahoo and Bing; current inbound link count; and traffic numbers from the previous 30 days.
  
• Setting some realistic goals for the next 30 days. Target five keywords and not your entire list. Set traffic and inbound link goals. Again, be realistic.
  
• Breaking down your goals into small steps and determine what needs to be done in order to reach all expectations. Start with the little things first, such as Page Titles, ALT tags and Header tags. Look for strong, relvant linking opportunities. Improve website content on one or two pages. The small things will make a BIG difference.
  
• Measuring your results. Don't expect to see major improvements immediately. Give the search engines 2-4 weeks (sometimes more) to respond to your work.
  
• Seeking improvement. Always look to improve. Day after day. Week after week.

Image by Danard Vincente

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 107

In the SEO world, there's a huge difference between being ranked No. 100 in Google and being ranked in the Top 30.

If your website isn't in the Top 30, you might as well concede there are many unfinished SEO elements left to complete. You're either failing on targeted keyword, good content, link building, etc.

If your website is ranked high, how do you make it better? What's the difference between Top 30, Top 20 and Top 10?

Let's keep it simple: you only need to be a little bit better than the website ranked ahead of you.

Here are some strategies we implement with our clients in looking for better rankings and constant improvement:

• Look at each individual keyword in your website. Do you have content to support the keyword? Perhaps, you need to revise your content; create a new page to support the targeted keyword; write an article surrounding the targeted keyword; write a blog post; etc.
• Are you Page Titles and other meta tag codes strong?
• Are you using Alt tags?
• Are you utilizing Header tags (H1, H2, etc.) on the targeted keywords?
• Do you have anchor text on the targeted keyword within your website?
• How about external - and ongoing link building - from other websites to your website? Are you focusing link building efforts on the targeted keyword.

Remember, search engine optimization is NOT a "one-and-done" task. It never ends. Even if your website is ranked No. 1 in Google, you should never stop optimizing to enforce your ranking and internet presence.

Should you stop your SEO efforts, you're rankings will fall.

Keep working. Keep looking for improvements. Even minor improvements can make a BIG deal.