Outcome3 Search Engine Optimization Blog
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Changes To Google Webmaster Tools and Sitemaps
Written by Lyal Avery on June 11th, 2009Filed under:Google has announced that along with their upcoming update to Webmaster Tools that they'll be extending the Google XML Sitemap format.
The larger sitemap size is a bit of a funny announcement. Previously the Google Spam team has criticized sites for having too many pages. The webmaster team appears to recognize that some dynamic sites (such as MLS listing sites, or large aggregators) have *many* pages of content. It's good to see Google supporting these properties, as they're an important part of the online landscape. Here's to Google Spam getting on board!
The processing and time to live feature will help a lot. We've seen many of our customers setup an XML feed, and then wait for a few days before it gives feedback. This means that many never return to this very useful tool!
The biggest announcement our opinion is the change in the XML format to allow for more granular feature control. This means that a good SEO company can better dictate the importance of a given page on a site.
We're thinking of doing a review of the new features and a vidcast for effecient usage of Webmaster Tools. If this is something you'd like to see, please let us know!
Original link: here.
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Keyword Density and Search Engine Optimization
Written by Michael Brynjolfson on April 28th, 2009Filed under:How Can I Improve My Keyword Density?
Having the proper keyword density mixed with keyword prominence will help search engines determine what words are the most important to your page. Search engines look at your density to conclude what words in your content stand out the most.
Keyword density is usually calculated by taking the number of words on a page and then dividing the amount of times we see your keyword by the total. So if your word shows up 10 times and there are 200 words, that word’s density is %5. Seems pretty simple, huh.
Where it gets tricky is when you are trying to capture the long tail keywords. All big companies who have a lot of money and a ton of web presence are always going to be able to monopolize the single keywords. The competition for these words is like going up against an 80’s Mr. T when you are a 90’s Pauly Shore (or a Pauly Shore at anytime). That is why you have to concentrate on getting the most searched long tail keyword terms. These are the mixes of your favorite terms that contain 2-4 words. So instead of going for search optimization, we might go for Vancouver search engine optimization.
Now this is where keyword density gets a little harder. You want to keep your density around 5% for 2 words, 5% for 3 words and 4% for 4 words. But trying to do that and make it look organic can cause some problems. So for 2 word keyword terms, you take the total words on the page and divide that by 2. You then add up all the times you see your two word keyword term together. So if you see your 2 word term 5 times in 400 words you only see a density of %2.5…you might want to double the amount of times you include it in the copy.
There are many keyword tools out there to help you find what terms are the most prominent on your page. I recommend using a few different ones as some go through stages of being broken. Just search for keyword density tool and remember that comparing is always good.
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Creative Copywriting for the Web and
Books that Help
I have recently had the pleasure of taking a continuing studies class at SFU called The Art and Craft of Creative Selling taught by Hamish McIntosh. Hamish does a great job of mixing his vast professional experience with some of the technical aspects of copywriting and adds many examples of the different media where we see copy.
Hamish's copywriting class had given me a lot of different ways to approach copy with creativity but he admittedly didn't touch too much on the technical side of the game (which I should have probably taken a class called Technical Aspects of Copywriting for). Hamish took a lot of gems from an interesting, amusing and informative book he recommended to us called Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan. I definitely recommend this read for a person trying to get their creativity bug buzzing.
If you are trying to get into more of a technical mindset, I recommend reading Maria Veloso's book Web Copy that Sells. This book is far more technical and gets to the mechanical point of how to write copy for the web. It explains psychological triggers, the do's and don't, what words to use...etc.
One thing to always remember is how we live in an age of scanning. No one has time to read anymore (especially online), so we have to cater the copy to someone who wants a few words to stand out and a summing up of the point. Gone are the days of putting things in context and the giving of substance to back our thoughts up. We want the goods, the meat and potaters(in this day and age, the "salmon and arugula") and we want them NOW.
I will be going over these technical aspects in my next post entitled Copywriting for the Web - Writing Great Headlines.
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What is Twitter and Why is it Such a Big Deal?
Twitter is used for social networking in a very mini-blogger kind of way. Basically, you use it to update people in 140 characters or less on various things through-out your day/week/month depending on how often you want to update. Twitter is free and is a very easy way to update on the go. It is also an excellent way to put out little things you find here and there on the web: an interesting site, a Youtube video, a great blog about Twitter and so-on. Many use it for advertising their own wares, too.
Sending out tweets has become a main stream phenomenon as it has made its way to cartoons and even the Daily Show. We can see the truth in this with the amount of applications and sites dedicated to making Twitter much more usable. You can even co-ordinate all of your other social media with Twitter so when you update Facebook, it will do Twitter and vice-versa.
So how does one use this to their advantage, especially in business? It is a great way to connect to many people in many different businesses. You can search for certain key words and find people connected to the term you are searching for. You start to follow them and they are usually connected to like minded people that you can start to follow as well. Many, when followed, will follow you back (the courteous thing to do). When you have a question or a business you would like to know about, you post it and it usually gets answered promptly. Unfortunately, a lot of people will also create personas that tout their business or direct you to an affiliate site(maybe watch out for the hot girl who is trying to get you on Adult Friend Finder).
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Linkbait 101: Introduction to LinkBaiting
Written by Michael Brynjolfson on March 11th, 2009Filed under:What is Linkbait?
Linkbait is one of the great terms on the search engine optimization front. Linkbaiting in general is a bunch of practices used by website owners for getting more links directed at their pages to receive a better reputation from search engines. It is the art of getting people to talk about your site and content in their blogs, blog posts, bookmarks, social media links, their sites...etc. in order to get a buzz going about what you are offering. Linkbaiting often involves using hooks. There are many types of hooks which can be used: resource, opposing (or contrary), attack, news, and my favorite, humor.
With the resource hook, it is the giving of some knowledge, tool or experience to the public in which they find some value and can pass onto someone else. This includes some expert opinions, blogs on your niche or a widget that can be used to aid in a task. What you are reading right now could be considered a resource hook.
Opposing hooks involves telling other bloggers or companies how they are wrong. This often generates a link in the retaliation by the defamed party. You will get the "(your link) said my article was off base and this, my friend, is why I am right and YOU are wrong!"
You might get a similar response from the attack hook. Attacks are used when you know another site's weak spot and how to get to them in a way that makes them so mad that they have to link to your site just to bash back. it is similar to the opposing hook but is usually a lot more derogatory. But BE CAREFUL!!! This hook could backfire and land you and your site up a crappy creek with de-linking by some of the other sites who were linking to you.
The news hook is pretty self explanatory. It regards posts of the latest news and going ons in the world today. This hook could be the rehashing or grouping of recent publications or even local happenings. A great news hook is the exploitation of fraudulent or mis-representative articles.
Aaaaaaah the humor hook, the reason why I have linked to so many funny sites and will continue to do so. Funny is viral! It is the best thing out there you can use to get your site seen. Whether it is a joke, a video of your cat falling on its butt or a father getting hit in the groin, funny keeps on getting the most links and will continue to do so for as long as the net is around.
