Organic SEO - October 2007 Archive
30 Oct 2007 at 10:20 by Joshua J. Steimle
The word "sitemap" has typically been used to describe a page on your website that has links to all the other pages on your site in one place, arranged in a hierarchical structure, like this. The sitemaps we talk about in this post are similar, in a sense, and yet completely different.
Both Google and Yahoo! allow you to upload an XML file, called a sitemap or sitemap file, that tells the search engines key information about your website. The benefit to you is that your site's pages get indexed more quickly and completely than they might otherwise. Yes, some experts say to use the sitemap feature with caution, but you're just a beginner, so carry on. Oh, and if you don't know what "XML" stands for, just ignore it. The important thing to understand is that for the purposes of this post, the "sitemap" is a specific file on your site.
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20 Oct 2007 at 14:09 by Joshua J. Steimle
A post on my personal blog regarding the practice I observed of an SEO firm creating blogs for no other apparent purpose than search engine optimization has caused enough controversy (i.e. at least one person has a different person than my own) to motivate me to expound on the matter. And thus I give you my opinion on good, better, and the best content for SEO purposes.
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16 Oct 2007 at 12:26 by Joshua J. Steimle
I don't have a specific recommendation for you. What I do have is a list of features you should look for if you're planning on building an ecommerce site that will depend on search engine optimization to attract customers and drive revenue.
Lest we cause any confusion, I am using the term "shopping cart" to refer to any of the software that is used for cataloging, organizing, or otherwise displaying products on an ecommerce site, in addition to the pages involved in the checkout process.
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16 Oct 2007 at 10:34 by Joshua J. Steimle
Interested in a lucrative career in the world of search engine optimization? Then don't sign up for any SEO classes or training programs and don't spend a dollar on educating yourself until you read my story on how I got started as an SEO professional.
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16 Oct 2007 at 09:46 by Joshua J. Steimle
If you're just starting out and trying to learn SEO basics then you might see a lot of low-end search engine optimization companies claiming to be able to submit your website to "200+ freakin' search engines!!!!!!!$#$%!!!!" Don't hire any of these companies. The fact they're saying this proves they don't know what they're doing.
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11 Oct 2007 at 15:00 by Joshua J. Steimle
The title tag is one of the primary means by which your website is categorized and ranked by search engines. It is one of the easiest things to change on your site and also nets some of the largest benefits and is therefore one of the first items you should look at when doing search engine optimization.
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10 Oct 2007 at 14:30 by Joshua J. Steimle
The following is a listing of paid directories you can use to quickly add some quality inbound links. If you've got any to add just post some comments.
Yahoo! Directory - Although it's out of alphabetical order I'm going to put the Yahoo! directory first in line because it's probably the most important directory to be listed in.
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10 Oct 2007 at 06:53 by Joshua J. Steimle
The "bounce rate", according to Google Analytics, is "the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page). Bounce Rate is a measure of visit quality and a high Bounce Rate generally indicates that site entrance (landing) pages aren't relevant to your visitors. You can minimize Bounce Rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy."
The question that needs to be asked is not what's the average bounce rate across all websites, or even all websites in my industry, but what's the bounce rate for my website, is it good or bad, and what, if anything, should I do about it?
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6 Oct 2007 at 22:03 by Joshua J. Steimle
You're just starting out and have almost no idea what search engine optimization is. All you know is you have a website and you need it to come up in Google for some keywords so you can make some scrilla. You're going to need some help, and one of the areas you'll need to learn about is SEO tools.
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1 Oct 2007 at 19:43 by Joshua J. Steimle
What is SEO? That's easy, it's an acronym for search engine optimization. Explaining what search engine optimization is will take slightly more time. Bear in mind this is for people who don't have a clue, so if you already know anything about SEO, this post is not for you. For those of you who aren't sure what a search engine and are wondering how one is optimized, read on.
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1 Oct 2007 at 17:06 by Joshua J. Steimle
Sure, the Overture Inventory Tool or Overture Keyword Selector was great, relatively speaking, and free, but the thing never worked that well, and occasionally, as in lately, doesn't work at all. Enter the Google Keyword Tool. As far as free SEO tools go, this is one of my favorites.
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1 Oct 2007 at 08:00 by Joshua J. Steimle
Incoming links, also call backlinks, inbound links, or “links from other sites”, are one of the primary means by which Google ranks websites. There are four ways in which incoming links can affect your website:
1. First of all, Google assumes the more incoming links a website has, the more important it is and therefore it should get ranked higher.
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