Getting the top rank in Google is difficult or is it?

Everyone in the world wants to be No.1. Nobody likes to be No.2. Everyone makes effort, the best effort, to get to the top position. Some succeed, some do not. And this process continues.
Same is the case in internet marketing. Every business hires the best professionals to design and promote their website in such a manner that it beats its competitors. So, what is the secret behind this, or say, what is the formula for success? Here a few tips on how to rank high on Google:

1. Choose your keyword carefully. Analyze your site and make a list of top 25-30 keywords. Then target the keywords for the relevant pages. Target 5 keywords for each page. There is no need to have unique targeted keywords for each page. You can use a single keyword for many pages, but make sure to see that it is relevant.
2. Create Title for each page. Always start the Title with the primary keyword. Keep the Title within the limit of 60-80 characters.
3. Create a catchy description. Make use of the top keywords and domain name in the description. The limit is 160-200 characters.
4. Go for keyword popularity. Do directory submissions, bookmarking, article submissions, link building, etc.

All the above steps will help to rank in Google at a high position. The quantity and quality of links will help you get listing on the first page. But, that’s not enough. We’re never satisfied, not when someone is ahead of us. If your target is to get on the first page, you can follow normal technique. But, if you’re targeting top position, it becomes a different ball game. So, what else is required to get on the top? The answer is simple: “Nothing”.  You need to follow same techniques of internet marketing, but with a different approach. Here are the steps:

1. Select top keywords and the relevant landing pages.
2. Don’t do submissions blindly. Do 20-25 directory submissions for each keyword and a total of 100 submissions per day. Make sure to submit the relevant category.
3. Before submissions, do check that the directory is in cache or not. If it’s not in cache, it’s useless.
4. Submit in the category which is relevant, may be not too relevant, but has a high page rank. Like, if your site is related to business consultancy, you can submit in the business category itself. No need to go into deeper category.
5. Apply similar technique for bookmarking. You can use two keywords in the title.
6. For articles, use two links in the body and two links in the author resource. But use only two keywords in total. Means, target same keyword for different pages. Like, use Business Consultant and target the home page in the body and an inner in the resource.
7. Increase the keyword popularity by posting in forums and twitter,i.e., social media optimization.
8. Ping the site to search engines using pingler.com and addme.com.
9. Build links only for those keywords that have high competition.
10. Create a blog for your site and post contents at a space of 5-7 days. Make use of the top keywords in the body and invite comments. You can even make comment yourself through a different ID and using a different, yet relevant keyword.

Try these steps, you’ll get quick results. But, keep one thing in mind, don’t overdo anything. Just do that much which will improve back link of your site up to about 100 per day.

If you need any more tips, you can write in to me at skumar.manish@aol.in.

SEO and SEM: One and the same thing?

I’m sure you all are aware of SEO and SEM and know what they do. There is a debate about the actual purpose of both and whether they are same or are two different methods meant for the same thing. It is believed that both are a part of internet marketing and are meant to increase site visibility and traffic. It is true to some extent. But, actually there is a big difference between the two. Not that one is free and other is paid, that is very obvious and not needed to be pointed out. Here is the real picture of the two.

Internet marketing consists of SEO, SEM and SMO. This was initially. Now, SEM is the sole technique left. SEO is a part of SEM now which does the same thing, but for free listings. And SMO is now a part of SEO. So, the whole picture is:

SEM

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SEO

|

SMO

The whole process of SEM is to increase visitors and traffic for a website. It works towards this target through paid listings, i.e. the sponsored listings on Google, Yahoo and Bing come through SEM. There are no free methods involved here. SEM includes PPC and CPC and it’s about running and managing a campaign for which one needs to pay.

SEO, on the other hand works toward the same target of increasing visitors and traffic, but with all the free methods. No payment is required to be made for any method. The site visibility is increased by building free links, directory submissions, article submissions, blog commenting, bookmarking, forum postings, etc. Now, it also includes social media techniques like, Facebook and Twitter profile creation and optimization, business profile management, etc. All these methods are free and result in site appearing in the first page of search engine. This is targeted towards getting listings in normal listings.

SEO not only increases visitors, but also the keyword ranking and site Page Rank. SEM, on the other hand, focuses more on traffics. That is why, 70 percent of traffic is brought by SEM and SEO contributes only 30 percent. So, actually what the reality is that SEM is the main technique – a bigger platform which includes SEO.

How to Choose a Good Title for a Web Page?

Many times people under-estimate the importance of the title of a web page. They just concentrate on the content of the site and think that they can put any title that they like. This is where they are wrong. Title is very much important as search engines first see the title and then the content. A title not relevant to the content and not catchy will have little value. So, how to choose a good title? Here are some tips:

1. Clear: Try to be more clear. Title is just like a headline for a news story. By seeing the title, one must get the clear picture about the whole web page.

2. Catchy: A title must be catchy and tempting. Make sure it is attractive. A catchy title ensures that a searcher is tempted to visit the site.

3. Don't focus on the company name: Most people just use the company name in the title thinking that they can profit from this. This is a misconception. Using the company name is wrong practice. You can use it in the URL. Or if you want to use it in the title, put it at the end, if and only if its in the URL. Eg.

SEO Professional, SEO Blog | seo-problog

4. Different title for different pages: Some people use the same title for all the pages. This another wrong practice. Each page is different from the other as contents differ. Title is decided on the basis of the content. So, keeping same title for all the pages may bring the major page high in the ranking, but all other pages have to suffer.

5. Long tail keywords: Use mostly long tail keywords. This way you can target more keywords at at same time. If you see, long tail keywords are the real reason behind the success of a lot of web pages.

So, give a deep though before choosing the title. Don't just go by what is the normal practice these days. Do what is best and right. Do a proper keyword analysis and choose the title using the keywords. And my friends, that is the real SEO.

Change in SEO Techniques in 2011

To start with, there is no set rules and techniques for SEO. Every professional has own method of dealing with the website issues and SEO. A good technique for one may not be as useful for another. But, still there are methods that is followed by most of the professionals and companies, or should I say were being used. The algo change by Google has forced the changes in SEO techniques.

Here are the latest developments in SEO:

1.Link exchange and paid linking has no value now. The links acquired through these methods do not show up in the back-link in Google. So, companies either opt for third party linking or go for one way linking.

2. Role of directory submissions has increased. Most companies put stress on directory submissions to get as many links as possible in a day.

3. Building links has become the priority now. Here is when all the off-page activity comes in picture. Forums, SBM and blog commenting have a vital role to play.

4. Companies now focus on local listing and localized optimization. Getting ranking in local search engine is now more important. Getting back-links from .com site will improve ranking in Google.com, but not in .ca, even if your site is of .ca domain.

5. But the most effected method is SMO. It has become the main part in internet marketing. Although it's not new, but it's importance has surely increased. People now concentrate more on social media and how to popularize site on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. This has happened because the focus is now on increasing visits, and ranking will increase automatically.

7. There is another method that is being readily used. That is Video optimization. Here, some videos relating to the site or business is uploaded to promote it and get comments.

6. Coming to on-page, originality in content and keyword density in more important. Meta description is not that important. If you don't put a description also, even then your site may rank well, if your title and page content is good, original and relevant.

Overall, the role of SEO has become more important. The discussion was there that SEO has a fading future. But the latest updates have stopped such voices. This development is a step towards the concept that SEO helps in increasing sale.

New developments by Google - A challenge for SEO.

Everyday, challenges for SEO are increasing, Google has come up with some new developments.

First 'Google Instant' was developed. This gives users various keyword options related to the keyword typed in the search box. This has to be kept in mind while doing keyword analysis and thinking has to be like a general user, which actually should be the approach.

Recently, Google came up with a new algorithm which now will rank all copied content sites very low. But, this is actually a good thing. A perfect and permanent solution has still not been found. It is expected that this new algorithm will identify the 'Content Farms'. So, all those who copy contents from other sites, now you need to be more creative and original.

Though the task has become tougher for SEO, but this will only improve it. And, after all, change is the actual nature of technology. New technique developed today may become obsolete tomorrow. So, Google is only making you ready for that.