With each passing year I fear Search Engine “Experts” more and more. I rank them as modern snake oil sales*, at best. Typically a project brings in an “Expert” who has the personality of gum stuck to my shoe and siphons money from my employers riding on the results of others and contributing little.
* Large enterprise SEO not withstanding. I am talking about the various fly-by-night SEO companies who come in using destructive methods to get fast results at the expense of the small business.
In this post I want to discuss how search engines work and why I advocate against using SEO “experts” until a site is live for 6-12 months minimum with a rich collection of valid content.
Assumption : You have a web programmer and coder like me who will write solid code, coach the staff, and encourage good work.
Meta Tags & Description :
Truth : Not too valuable. Estimated at 5% of overall ranking calculation
Reality : Do well, don’t focus on them too much. This data should reflect the content of the page. This is not worth discussing as you should reference your content and move on.
References : http://seotradenews.com/google-meta-keyword-tag/ :
“Google’s Matt Cutts confirmed what many in the SEO community have known for quite some time: Google doesn’t use the meta keywords tag in their rankings” source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK7IPbnmvVU also http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html
The DOM – Document Object Model (wiki) :
This is the framework of web-site data and the organization underneath. Clean online documents support parsing by search engines as well as readability by humans. In short, this is the “Letter” and “Magazine” format. Generally you write content (most format) like this:
- Title
- Introduction
- Image(s), media, list
- Supporting items
- Possible additional information and references
- Conclusion
- Closing information
With the DOM Validating and the content ensure the search engines will be happy just as the humans will be able to read and enjoy!
The DOM part 2 :
Search Engine success has a lot to do with honesty. So here are a number of things available to increase correlation in the search engine rankings:
- Title : This shows up in the “blue bar” or tab of the browser. Should be short and reflect the content. Don’t over think or stuff data in there
- URI/URL : The location on the web of content should also be coordinated with the written work. So your article called “How I love horses and caring for them in the heat of the summer” should have a web location like this yoursite.com/content/how-i-love-horses-and-care-instructions-for-them-in-the-heat.html
- Doesn’t hurt to have “horse” in the domain name either.
- Cross Linking : Use of category listings, tags, and taxonomic functions should reflect the content. (Tags vs Categories via WordPress). Regarding your horse article the tags should include care, horse, heat, summer, and instruction. Consider categories such as horse care and maintenance. These methods allow for crossover of content and create more legitimate “unique” instances in the Search Engine parse. With these elements properly displayed in the DOM you are adding to your success.
Back Linking :
…a back link is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node…
This is critical, but don’t go overboard. Back linking is simply an external link back to your site. I consider the origins to be in the “forum” era where you would put a link to your site or project in your signature. This contributes to traffic as you are once removed (via that link) from a higher traffic page (the forum).
This has evolved in the blog era with comments where most every major blogging platform allows for the site reference in the comment or input you provide. Remember that most of the respectable blogs are managed by real people, I know, hard to believe. So make good comments and participate in a positive manner.
Additionally, many social networks allow for similar actions, such as YouTube where comments, and more specifically, descriptions allow links to your site.
There are other means of back linking, but here is the caution. Use back links wisely! If you back link in a “spammy” way you will loose SEO ranking. If you are writing about horses (as the example goes) be sure and comment or post in other sites and areas with pertinence to your content, like a horse care forum.
Finding high traffic blogs and putting in a back link (for marketing purposes) is a bad idea. Google, and other search engines see what you are doing and have complicated mathematical formulas to weed out these crap attempts.
You will not only get down-ranked in the end, you will be wasting your time.
Internal Linkage :
Internal linkage is linking to other areas of your site. This is often abused and should be discouraged as an active front line method. Modern web publishing software will allow for category, tag, taxonomy, and other natural and valid systems to create positive internal references. Use these tools.
Do reference other articles and posts on your site to keep the reader engaged and on your site. This is good and appropriate. Use internal linkage to your readers advantage. Internal linkage should be a byproduct of good content. Any good writer will reach a point where previous work will support new work.
Correlation :
Things need to correlate, and this feeds into the “honest game” I specifically promote. Let’s talk about a typical post or entry and the parts humans think about.
The elements we worry about and how they fit into the picture:
- Title, an HTML element : Horse Care in the Heat
- Introduction aka content : I talk about horse care in the heat in a technical sense littered with key words and repeated ideas and topics.
- Meta Tags should include horse, heat, care, maintenance, instruction, and other key words from a technical sense (equine health, medication names, etc)
- URL/URI : site.com/content/horse-care-in-high-heat.html
- Outbound links and references should be placed in page and be valid. This contributes little in the beginning. With good traffic you stand a chance to get associated with the topic in the long run, and that is called winning.
- Tags and category listings will create internal linkage and thus multiple methods for the search engines to pick up on your content
- Think like your target traffic!!! What terms might people be using to find your content? Use those words in your content and in the categories, tags, and taxonomy as well as the URI/URL, title tag, and meta content
There’s so much more, but that is a good start. Here’s a simple list of keywords to write content around:
- horse
- care
- equine
- heat
Check this search out: http://www.google.com/search?q=horse+care+high+heat (“horse care high heat” was the search string Iyour results WILL vary*) notice all the bold in the results including the URI/URL and the title. Here’s a screen shot:
This is how Google operates. Remember, Google and all of the other search engines are supposed to deliver you to content as easily as possible!
* Your results will vary : Google and most search engines are no longer “linear”. Your search for “term X” is tweaked for you based on :
- Location
- History
- Beacon data (best example http://www.google.com/analytics/ technology)
A few tips, and things that the SEO “experts” don’t like.
Registrar : We don’t know how deep this goes, but the registrar information matters. Don’t worry about it in the early game. At the same time don’t use anything”funky” for your registrar information, such as your SEO “expert” as a contact (bad idea). This topic is a highly debatable topic and it leads to only one conclusion – own your web presence. If you are administering the site, or your company, that should be the owner. Period!
IP address is so important and generally over looked. Get a dedicated IP address for your site No Exceptions! You should disassociate with others on your server (as many of us use shared servers). I can not stress the importance of this enough!!! A dedicated IP address should cost about $5/month or $60/year and is a MUST! (If you are using Rackspace you will need to shell out a lot more)
Eliminate errors! Your typical SEO “expert” will have little knowledge of errors, and all the other things we, as web professionals and programmers, perform to make the site run. Any 404 error is bad. They must be fixed, and this is only the beginning. Only a real web professional can address and understand these errors. I keep HTTP Fox open and watch all the calls and responses.
Do not redirect front line and mission critical information. A redirect is any number of methods such as 302, 301, items like PHP’s header(), meta redirect, javascript, etc. Error code reference from w3.org is available if you want to go “deep”. Simply put, these tactics are most often relegated to the realm of scam and entrapment methods. Use of them will raise flags and generally there is no reason to employ them in front line marketing. (if you need to redirect for logistical reasons do it at the DNS level please)
Webrings are dangerous. They are generally a reason to get down ranked for the uninitiated. But then again some of them are honest and help rankings. This should never be a front line method. Do your content in an error free and valid site first, unassociate from any potentially dubious associations.
The Smell Test!
If it smells dirty, deceitful or dishonest it probably is! Some examples:
- Tiny text : Hiding tiny text in the page to fill content. BAD, the search engines know about this!
- Invisible text : Making lots of text on the page the same color as the background just to get parsed. BAD, search engines know about this!
- Title spamming : Putting a ton of keywords in the title tag. BAD, search engines know this!
- Dynamic Content swapping : Randomly swapping content in the context of a program. BAD – will raise flags for being unstable to humans. (The search engine parser will hit the content twice and get a different result raising the flag that you are manipulating content)
- Meta tag and description spamming : Putting a ton of tags in the html for the search engines. BAD! This will not mathematically work out in relation to the valid humanly visible content. Do an honest job!
- Creating massive forwarding sites is BAD! (proto web-ring)
- Forwarding and entrapment schemes : Bad – this pisses people off and the search engines know that you are actively blocking bounces (explained in a minute).
- The list goes on, these are some generally approachable ideas for the general public…
Google’s Goal : Deliver humans to valid content as easily and quickly as possible. (while gathering more information than anyone else to place better ads)
Not that complicated huh?
Google detects fails via various means. One of these is the bounce rate. A bounce is when you reach a site from a search engine result and then use the back button or re-search (conduct another search). This indicates the site (content) was weak and the browser (human) wants another option.
If there are a lot of bounces, you stand to drop in ranking. The content correlation to the search results provided is proving to be less valid.
Bounce is one of many metrics and methods that contribute to ranking. Google (in particular) owns the web, sees all, knows all, and takes action on all!
The Google Analytics protocol and service is an industry standard and allows Google to see trends and have scope unlike any other service or company. DO NOT DISCOUNT THIS EVER! you must play a fair game PERIOD!
Closing – Pay Per Click.
Pay per Click (PPC) is any variant of bidding on potential traffic. I have done considerable work in this realm. This is usually equivalent to flushing money down the toilet. Stay away from PPC with a new site, you should build organic traffic, have metrics, and make a very well educated decision on how to enter this market.
The educated decision is all about the understanding of the search and browsing habits of your target audience. This comes in time.
Once you have content, some traffic, a good idea on your traffic’s habits, and other 6 month and beyond ideas, yeah, do it! PPC pays off, but you need to manage it every day! This is not a “throw money at the problem type of solution”.
Off the record, through a few different and not so honest means I know and believe, beyond any reasonable doubt, that PPC will raise your ranking. A heavy campaign ($5000 US or more per month) will bump you up directly through the Google ranks. Up to 30% according to my resources (oh the stories behind this data). Yes, this is illegal, unethical, and so on. Like you are going to prove this and battle a giant?
Massive campaigns work mixing PPC with content and other methods. Massive campaigns are $5000+ (US) per month in PPC investment plus another $5000-15000 in staff and content generation. In the height of the Real Estate boom (ending in 2008) mortgage leads were selling for $20 and more PER CLICK! These banks and bankers walked away with so much dirty money (sub-prime money) because of all these dirty tactics. Funny how you can burn money to make money huh?
Don’t go there.
Hire a web professional you trust, do honest content, and work in segments of 6 months to a year with a 3, 5, and 10 year plan.
So….don’t hire a SEO “expert” EVER! Use a real web professional to filter out the 99% scum in the dedicated SEO marketplace.
The best SEO performance I have ever seen comes from programmers taking over the SEO for a site from a SEO “expert”. My experience and the first hand accounts of the scum bag techniques failing and the success of smart non-SEO “Experts” is why I wrote this article. I am sick of going through this diatribe over and over with all my clients as they meet some moron SEO “Expert” at the bar waiting to cash a check for a short term bump in the search engines only to be down-ranked later due to the dirty methods used by SEO professionals for short term results.