SeoGenetic Blogs

With WordPress 2.3 launching this week, a bunch of themes and plugins needed updating. If you
’re not that familiar with PHP, this might present a slight problem. Not to worry, though - we’ve collected together 20+ tools for you to discover the secrets of PHP.

read more | digg story

Thanks to a unique algorithm that produces most relevant results to any given query, Google has become, indisputably, the best search engine on the Internet. On the last count, Google has indexed over 4 billion pages and tackles around 200 million searches a day! A cluster of 100 thousand servers are used to store, crunch and spew out the query res

read more | digg story

Some sites get their pages indexed in matter of moments while on other sites, it may take upto 10 weeks to get the pages indexed. Why does this happen what is the process of indexing of a site by search engine, the article goes on to explain some of the steps in indexing process of search engine.

read more | digg story

Hi I am Peter and today i am here to discussing one interested topic.About Google’s Search Engine algorithm.We all knows that Google has some automated algorithm and Google use that to list different sites on there search result.

read more | digg story

Algorithm
An algorithm is a set of finite, ordered steps for solving a mathematical problem. Each Search Engine uses a proprietary algorithm set to calculate the relevance of its indexed web pages to your particular Query. The result of this process is a list of sites ranked in the order that the search engine deemed most relevant. Search engine algorithms are closely guarded in order to prevent exploitation of algorithmic results. Search algorithms are also changed frequently to incorporate new data and improve relevancy.

Algorithmic Results
Algorithmic results are the ranked listings search engines provide in response to a Query. They are often referred to as Organic Listings in contrast to Paid Listings because their rank is based on relevancy rather than advertising revenue paid to the search engine. However, paid listings do appear alongside algorithmic results in many search engines, provided they are relevant. Improving a website’s unpaid algorithmic results is known as Natural Search Engine Optimization.

Alt Tag/Alt Text
An alt tag is the HTML text that appears while an image is loading or when a cursor is positioned over an image. Alt text is useful in Search Engine Optimization because it can include keywords that a search engine looks for in response to a query.

Analytics
Analytics refers to all the technology, programming, and data used in Search Engine Marketing to analyze a website’s performance or the success of an Internet marketing campaign.

Anchor Text
Also known as link text, anchor text is the visible, clickable text between the HTML anchor and tags. Clicking on anchor text activates a Hyperlink to another web site. Anchor text is very important in Search Engine Optimization because search engine algorithms consider the Hyperlink keywords as relevant to the Landing Page.

Backlinks
Also known as back link, backward link, or inbound links, backlinks are all of the links on other websites that direct the users who click on them to your site. Backlinks can significantly improve your site’s search rankings, particularly if they contain Anchor Text keywords relevant to your site and are located on sites with high Page Rank.

Banned
Also known as delisted or blacklisted, a banned site is a URL that has been removed from a search engine’s Index, typically for engaging in Black Hat SEO. Banned sites are ignored by search engines.

Banner Ad
A banner ad is a rectangular graphic advertisement. Banner ads are one of the commonest forms of online advertising. Their sizes vary, but most measure 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high. Clicking on a banner ad will direct you to the advertiser’s website or a designated Landing Page.

Black Hat SEO
Black hat SEO is the term used for unethical or deceptive optimization techniques. This includes Spam, Cloaking, or violating search engine rules in any way. If a search engine discovers a site engaging in black hat SEO it will remove that site from its Index.

Blacklisted
Also known as banned or delisted, a blacklisted site is a URL that has been removed from a search engine’s Index, typically for engaging in Black Hat SEO. Blacklisted sites are ignored by search engines.

Broken Link
Also known as a dead link, a broken link is a link that no longer points to an active destination or Landing Page. Search engines dislike broken links. Keeping all of your site’s links active is an important part of ongoing optimization.

Click Fraud
Click Fraud is the illegal practice of manipulating Cost-Per-Click (CPC) or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) revenue sharing agreements. There are numerous types of click fraud, but in a typical scenario the webmaster of a site that earns money from each click of the advertising links it publishes pays individuals a small fee to click those links. Companies thus pay for advertising to clients who had no intention of buying from them. Some companies have filed class action lawsuits alleging that ad publishers such as Google and Yahoo! have failed to aggressively confront click fraud because they benefit from increased CPC revenue.

Click-Through
Click-through refers to a single instance of a user clicking on an advertising link or site listing and moving to a Landing Page. A higher Click-Through Rate (CTR) is one of the primary goals of Search Engine Optimization.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through rate is the percentage of users who click on an advertising link or search engine site listing out of the total number of people who see it, i.e. four click-throughs out of ten views is a 40% CTR.

Cloaking
Cloaking is the presentation of alternative pages to a search engine Spider so that it will record different content for a URL than what a human browser would see. Cloaking is typically done to achieve a higher search engine position or to trick users into visiting a site. In such cases cloaking is considered to be Black Hat SEO and the offending URL could be Blacklisted. However, cloaking is sometimes used to deliver personalized content based on a browser’s IP address and/or user-agent HTTP header. Such cloaking should only be practiced with a search engine’s knowledge or it could be construed as black hat cloaking.

Contextual Link Inventory (CLI)
Search engines/advertising networks use their contextual link inventory to match keyword-relevant text-link advertising with site content. CLI is generated based on listings of website pages with content that the ad-server deems a relevant keyword match. Ad networks further refine CLI relevancy by monitoring the Click-Through Rate of the displayed ads.

Conversion
Conversion is the term used for any significant action a user takes while visiting a site, i.e. making a purchase, requesting information, or registering for an account.

Conversion Analytics
Conversion analytics is a branch of Analytics concerned specifically with conversion-related information from organic and paid search engine traffic, such as the keywords converts used in their queries, the type of conversion that resulted, landing page paths, search engine used, etc.

Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the next step up from Click-Through Rate. It’s the percentage of all site visitors who “convert” (make a purchase, register, request information, etc.). If three users buy products and one user requests a catalogue out of ten daily visitors, a site’s conversion rate is 40%.

Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA)
Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is a return on investment model in which return is measured by dividing total click/marketing costs by the number of Conversions achieved. Total acquisition costs ÷ number of conversions = CPA. CPA is also used as a synonym for Cost-Per-Action.

Cost-Per-Action (CPA)
In a cost-per-action advertising revenue system, advertisers are charged a Conversion-based fee, i.e. each time a user buys a product, opens an account, or requests a free trial. CPA is also known as cost-per-acquisition, though the term cost-per-acquisition can be confusing because it also refers to a return on investment model.

Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
Also known as pay-per-click or pay-for-performance, cost-per-click is an advertising revenue system used by search engines and ad networks in which advertising companies pay an agreed amount for each click of their ads. This Click-Through Rate-based payment structure is considered by some advertisers to be more cost-effective than the Cost-Per-Thousand payment structure, but it can at times lead to Click Fraud.

Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM)
Also known as cost-per-impression or CPM for cost-per-mille (mille is the Latin word for thousand), cost-per-thousand is an advertising revenue system used by search engines and ad networks in which advertising companies pay an agreed amount for every 1,000 users who see their ads, regardless of whether a click-through or conversion is achieved. CPM is typically used for Banner Ad sales, while Cost-Per-Click is typically used for text link advertising.

Crawler
Also known as Spider or Robot, a crawler is a search engine program that “crawls” the web, collecting data, following links, making copies of new and updated sites, and storing URLs in the search engine’s Index. This allows search engines to provide faster and more up-to-date listings.

Delisted
Also known as banned or blacklisted, a delisted site is a URL that has been removed from a search engine’s Index, typically for engaging in Black Hat SEO. Delisted sites are ignored by search engines.

Description Tag
Also known as a meta description tag, a description tag is a short HTML paragraph that provides search engines with a description of a page’s content for search engine Index purposes. The description tag is not displayed on the website itself, and may or may not be displayed in the search engine’s listing for that site. Search engines are now giving less importance to description tags in lieu of actual page content.

Directory
A directory is an Index of websites compiled by people rather than a Crawler. Directories can be general or divided into specific categories and subcategories. A directory’s servers provide relevant lists of registered sites in response to user queries. Directory Registration is thus an important method for building inbound links and improving SEO performance. However, the decision to include a site and its directory rank or categorization is determined by directory editors rather than an Algorithm. Some directories accept free submissions while others require payment for listing. The most popular directories include Yahoo!, The Open Directory Project, and LookSmart.

Doorway Page
Also known as a gateway page or jump page, a doorway page is a URL with minimal content designed to rank highly for a specific keyword and redirect visitors to a homepage or designated Landing Page. Some search engines frown on doorway pages as a softer form of Cloaking or Spam. However, doorway pages may be legitimate landing pages designed to measure the success of a promotional campaign, and they are commonly allowed in Paid Listings.

Dynamic Content
Dynamic content is web content such as Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) that are generated or changed based on database information or user activity. Web pages that remain the same for all visitors in every context contain “static content.” Many e-commerce sites create dynamic content based on purchase history and other factors. Search engines have a difficult time indexing dynamic content if the page includes a session ID number, and will typically ignore URLs that contain the variable “?”.Search engines will punish sites that use deceptive or invasive means to create dynamic content.

Flash Optimization
Flash is a vector graphics-based animation program developed by Macromedia. Most corporate sites feature Flash movies/animation, yet because search engine Crawlers were designed to index HTML text, sites that favor Flash over text are difficult or even impossible for crawlers to read. Flash Optimization is the process of reworking the Flash movie and surrounding HTML code to be more “crawlable” for Search Engines.

Gateway Page
Also known as a doorway page or jump page, a gateway page is a URL with minimal content designed to rank highly for a specific keyword and redirect visitors to a homepage or designated Landing Page. Some search engines frown on gateway pages as a softer form of Cloaking or Spam. However, gateway pages may be legitimate landing pages designed to measure the success of a promotional campaign, and they are commonly allowed in Paid Listings.

Geographical Targeting
Geographical targeting is the focusing of Search Engine Marketing on states, counties, cities and neighborhoods that are important to a company’s business. One basic aspect of geographical targeting is adding the names of relevant cities or streets to a site’s keywords, i.e. Hyde Street Chicago apartments. Another important element of geo-targeting is increasing your site’s presence on Local Search engines.

Geographic Segmentation
Geographic segmentation is the use of Analytics to categorize a site’s web traffic by the physical locations from which it originated.

Google AdSense
Google AdSense is an ad-serving program operated by Google that provides relevant text, image, and video-based advertisements to enrolled site owners. Advertisers register via Google AdWords and pay for ads on a Pay-Per-Click, Cost-Per-Thousand or Cost-Per-Action basis. This revenue is shared with Google AdSense host sites, typically on a PPC basis (which sometimes leads to Click Fraud). Google uses its search Algorithms and Contextual Link Inventory to display the most appropriate ads based on site content, Query relevancy, ad “quality scores,” and other factors.

Google AdWords
Google AdWords is the Keyword Submission program that determines the advertising rates and keywords used in the Google AdSense program. Advertisers bid on the keywords that are relevant to their businesses. Ranked ads then appear as sponsored links on Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) and Google AdSense host sites.

Graphical Search Inventory (GSI)
Graphical Search Inventory is the visual equivalent of Contextual Link Inventory. GSI is non-text-based advertising such as Banner Ads, pop-up ads, browser toolbars, animation, sound, video and other media that is synchronized to relevant Keyword queries.

Gray Hat SEO
Gray hat SEO refers to Search Engine Optimization strategies that fall in between Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO. Gray hat SEO techniques can be legitimate in some cases and illegitimate in others. Such techniques include Doorway Pages, Gateway Pages, Cloaking and duplicate content.

Hidden Text
Hidden text is a generally obsolete form of Black Hat SEO in which pages are filled with a large amount of text that is the same color as the background, rendering keywords invisible to the human eye but detectable to a search engine Crawler. Multiple Title Tags or HTML comments are alternative hidden text techniques. Hidden text is easily detectable by search engines and will result in Blacklisting or reduced Rank.

Hit
Hit is a somewhat misleading measure of traffic to a web site. One hit is recorded for each file request in a web server’s access log. If a user visits a page with four images, one hit will be recorded for each graphic image file plus another for the page’s HTML file. A better measure of traffic volume is the number of pages/HTML files accessed.

HTML
The acronym HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, the authoring language used to create pages on the World Wide Web. HTML is a set of codes or HTML tags that provide a web browser with directions on how to structure a web page’s information and features.

Hyperlink
Also known as link or HTML link, a hyperlink is an image or portion of text that when clicked on by a user opens another web page or jumps the browser to a different portion of the current page. Inbound Links with keyword-relevant Link Text are an important part of Search Engine Optimization Strategy.

Index
An index is a Search Engine’s database. It contains all of the information that a Crawler has identified, particularly copies of World Wide Web pages. When a user performs a Query, the search engine uses its indexed pages and Algorithm set to provide a ranked list of the most relevant pages. In the case of a Directory, the index consists of titles and summaries of registered sites that have been categorized by the directory’s editors.

Inbound Links
Also known as back link, backward link, or backlinks, inbound links are all of the links on other websites that direct the users who click on them to your site. Inbound links can significantly improve your site’s search rankings, particularly if they contain Anchor Text keywords relevant to your site and are located on sites with high Page Rank.

Impression
Also known as a page view, an impression is a single instance of an online advertisement being displayed. Search engines and ad networks use impression statistics to charge advertisers on a Cost-Per-Thousand (CPM) basis.

Internet Marketing
On a fundamental level, Internet marketing is using the Internet to advertise, communicate and sell goods and services. On an advanced level, Internet marketing is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is the use of targeted keywords, crawler-friendly site architecture, Search Engine Submissions and a well-developed link network to improve a site’s Position, Page Rank and Click-Through Rate.

Internet Marketing Consultant
Also known as SEO professionals or SEO specialists, Internet marketing consultants use their knowledge of Search Engine Optimization Strategy to improve their clients’ Position and Page Rank.

Internet Promotion
Also known as search engine promotion, website marketing or website promotion, Internet promotion refers to all methods employed by a company or individual to promote a website and increase its Position and Page Rank.

Keyword
Also known as search terms or query terms, keywords are the word(s) or phrase(s) a user enters into a search engine’s Query box. A Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranks indexed sites according to how relevant the Search Engine deems them to the searched keywords. One of the most important SEO Strategies companies can employ is to optimize their site pages with content that contains targeted keywords relevant to their products or industry.

Keyword Marketing
Keyword marketing is the use of keyword-optimized content and keyword-specific Link Text to emphasize a site’s relevancy to those terms and thereby increase Rank for related web queries. Keyword marketing can also be done through keyword-based ad programs such as Google AdSense. Keyword marketing is an essential component of Search Engine Optimization.

Keyword Submission
Keyword submission is an all-inclusive term for the keyword research/selection, bid cost assessment and budgeting that companies undertake to begin Pay-Per-Click keyword campaigns with advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Sponsored Search and Microsoft AdCenter.

Landing Page
The landing page is the page on which a visitor “lands” after clicking a search engine listing, email link, Banner Ad, Cost-Per-Click ad, or other ad/link. The landing page can be a site’s homepage, but is usually a page designed to appeal to users who Click-Through a specific ad or link. Landing pages are also used to monitor site traffic and measure an advertising campaign’s success. Well-designed landing pages that are relevant to a user’s keyword query will improve Conversion Rates and play a critical role in Search Engine Marketing.

Link
Also known as hyperlink or HTML link, a link is an image or portion of text that when clicked on by a user opens another web page or jumps the browser to a different portion of the current page. Inbound Links with keyword-relevant Link Text are an important part of Search Engine Optimization Strategy.

Link Baiting
Link baiting is the creation of content that incites users to link to your page from another website. The types of link bait vary tremendously, but they include highly informative articles or news stories, useful resources and sometimes controversial or sensationalistic content. Link baiting is a White Hat SEO technique used to help a site improve its Link Popularity and Page Rank. Some sites use link baiting as the centerpiece of a Website Marketing campaign.

Link Exchange
A link exchange is a quid pro quo arrangement or reciprocal link exchange between two sites. Reciprocal links usually lead to the home page of the associate site.

Link Farm
A link farm is a webpage or group of webpages that exist solely to increase the number of Backlinks in a site’s link network. A link farm is meant to increase a site’s PageRank or popularity and thus improve its search engine Position. However, link farms are considered a form of Spam and sites that rely on them are penalized by search engines.

Link Popularity
Link popularity is the measure of how popular a webpage is by the number of Backlinks it has. However, link popularity is not solely a matter of quantity. Page Rank is achieved when Backlinks are located on reputable, relevant sites rather than so-called Link Farms. Most search engines use link popularity as a factor in their Algorithmic Results.

Link Text
Also known as anchor text, link text is the visible, clickable text between the HTML anchor andtags. Clicking on link text activates a Hyperlink to another web site. Link text is very important in Search Engine Optimization because search engine algorithms consider the hyperlink keywords as relevant to the Landing Page.

Listings
Listings are the indexed sites that appear in ranked order on a Search Engine Results Page in response to a user Query.

Local Search
Local search refers to both the addition of geographical keywords (cities, streets, etc.) to Search Terms and the use of Yellow Pages-type Search Engines such as Google Maps, Yahoo! Local and AskCity to find business services in a particular zip code. Search Engine Placement Services use local SEO to help traditional “brick and mortar businesses” connect with customers in their community.

Marketing Analytics
Marketing analytics is a branch of Analytics concerned specifically with marketing-related information from organic and paid search engine traffic, such as Unique Visitors, keyword-generated sales, Cost-Per-Click advertising, Click Fraud, Search Engine Marketing, etc.

Meta Description Tag
Also known as a description Tag, a meta description tag is a short HTML paragraph that provides search engines with a description of a page’s content for search engine Index purposes. The meta description tag is not displayed on the website itself, and may or may not be displayed in the search engine’s listing for that site. Search engines are now giving less importance to meta description tags in lieu of actual page content.

Meta Keywords Tag
A meta keywords tag provides search engines with a list of keywords that are relevant to a webpage. This can improve search engine Rank for a page by ensuring it’s properly indexed. However, search engines are now giving less importance to meta keywords tags in lieu of actual page content.

Meta Robots Tag
A meta robots tag (named for a search engine Crawler or Robot) lets page authors prevent their webpages from being added to a search engine’s Index. Alternatives to a meta robots tag are Robots.txt files and password protection.

Meta Search Engine
A meta search engine derives its listings by running user queries through multiple other search engines and then summarizing the results. A meta search engine does not maintain its own Index. Listings are displayed by meta search engines either in aggregate or categorized by search engine source. An example of a meta search engine is Dogpile.com.

Meta Tags
Meta tags are HTML tags placed in a webpage that contain information for Crawlers and web browsers. Types of meta tag information include page descriptions (Description Tag), page-relevant keywords (Meta Keywords Tag), whether a page can be indexed (Meta Robots Tag), copyright, page refresh dates and redirection instructions.

Natural Listings (or Natural Optimization)
Also known as organic listings, natural listings are webpage listings that appear on a Search Engine Results Page solely because the search engine Algorithm deems them relevant to the Query. Natural listings can contain Paid Listings, but only if they fulfill the same requirements as natural listings. The best way to improve a site’s natural listing Position is through Natural Search Engine
Optimization.

Natural Search Engine Optimization
Also known as natural optimization, organic search engine optimization or white hat SEO, natural search engine optimization is the use of keyword-focused copy and tags, Crawler-friendly site architecture, Search Engine Submissions and a quality Backlinks network to improve a site’s Position, Page Rank and Click-Through Rate. Because about 80% of web users look at Natural Listings first, natural SEO offers a much greater chance of long-term business success than Paid Listings or Pay-Per-Click ad campaigns.

Optimization Services
Also known as Internet promotion, site optimization, or search engine placement service, optimization services are all of the methods a Search Engine Optimization Company uses to improve a site’s Position and Page Rank and increase its Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate.

Organic Listings (or Organic Optimization)
Also known as natural listings, organic listings are webpage listings that appear on a Search Engine Results Page solely because the search engine Algorithm deems them relevant to the Query. Organic listings can contain Paid Listings, but only if they fulfill the same requirements as organic listings. The best way to improve a site’s organic listing Position is through Natural Search Engine Optimization.

Outbound Links
Outbound links are all links from a particular webpage that lead to other pages, including pages in the same domain. An excessive number of outbound links can damage a site’s Search Engine Positioning because a Spider may perceive it as a Link Farm.

Page Rank (or PR)
PageRank is a link analysis algorithm developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. A number from one (lowest) to ten (highest) is assigned to a webpage as a measure of its importance, specifically the likelihood that a user will arrive at that page by randomly clicking Links. PageRank is not the same thing as Rank.

Paid Inclusion
Paid inclusion is an advertising program offered by some search engines in which a page is guaranteed inclusion in the Index in exchange for a fee. Unlike Paid Placement, the rank of paid inclusion pages is determined solely by the search engine Algorithm. Paid inclusion sites may or may not be labeled as advertisements depending on Search Engine policy.

Paid Listings
Paid Listings, as opposed to Natural Listings or Organic Listings, are sites that appear on a Results Page because money was paid to the search engine for inclusion and/or position. Paid listings is used as an all-inclusive term for the practices of Paid Inclusion and Paid Placement.

Paid Placement
Paid placement is a program in which advertisers’ listings are guaranteed to appear on a Results Page when particular Keywords are searched. The ranking of paid placement listings is determined by competitive bidding. Unlike Paid Inclusion listings, paid placement listings are usually displayed separately from Natural Listings and are labeled as advertisements or sponsored links. Google and Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) are two of the largest paid placement search networks.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Also known as cost-per-click or pay-for-performance, pay-per-click is an advertising revenue system used by search engines and ad networks in which advertising companies pay an agreed amount for each click of their ads. This Click-Through Rate-based payment structure is considered by some advertisers to be more cost-effective than the Cost-Per-Thousand payment structure, but it has at times led to Click Fraud.

Position
Also known as rank, position is the place a website occupies relative to the first listing on an Algorithmic Results page in response to a Keyword query. The first page displays Listings in the one through ten positions, the second page eleven through twenty, etc. Businesses trying to get their site into a top ten position will often employ a Professional Search Engine Optimization company. Consumer studies have shown that most search engine users click only on sites that occupy the top ten positions.

Position Reporting
Position reporting is the monitoring of daily changes in search engine Position for indexed URLs that have been optimized for specific keywords by a Search Engine Optimization Company. Position reporting is also used to generate a Search Engine Ranking Report.

Professional Search Engine Optimization
Professional search engine optimization is the modification of a website by an SEO company in order to increase its Position and Page Rank and improve its Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate.

Query
A query is a question or instance of questioning. A search engine query is a user’s request for the information (i.e. webpages) in a search engine’s Index that is most relevant to a Keyword or set of Search Terms. Query is sometimes used to mean the actual keywords a user enters in a search box.

Rank
Also known as position, rank is the place a website occupies relative to the first listing on an Algorithmic Results page in response to a Keyword query. The first page displays Listings in the one through ten positions, the second page eleven through twenty, etc. Businesses trying to get their site into a top-ten rank will often employ a Professional Search Engine Optimization company. Consumer studies have shown that most search engine users click only on sites that occupy a top-ten rank.

Reciprocal Link Exchange
A reciprocal link exchange is a quid pro quo arrangement or link exchange between two sites. Reciprocal links usually lead to the home page of the associate site.

Registration
Also known as search engine registration or search engine submission, registration is the submission of a URL to a Directory or Search Engine for inclusion in its Index. Registration is usually free but can also require payment. Registration is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.

Results Page
Also known as search engine results page, the results page is the collection of ranked Listings displayed in response to a search engine Query.

Robot
Also known as Crawler or Spider, a robot is a search engine program that “crawls” the web, collecting data, following links, making copies of new and updated sites, and storing URLs in the search engine’s Index. This allows search engines to provide faster and more up-to-date listings.

Robots.txt
Also known as robots exclusion protocol, Robots.txt is a text file stored in a site’s root directory that tells a search engine Crawler which site pages and sub-folders should not be included in the search engine Index. However, there is no guarantee that a Crawler will comply with this request. Robots.txt is an alternative to a Meta Robots Tag or password protection.

SEO Professional
Also known as Internet marketing consultant or SEO specialist, SEO professionals use their knowledge of Search Engine Optimization Strategy to improve their clients’ Position and Page Rank.

SEO Services
SEO services are all of the tools used by a Professional Search Engine Optimization company, including Analytics and Keyword Marketing.

SEO Specialist
Also known as Internet marketing consultant or SEO professional, SEO specialists use their knowledge of Search Engine Optimization Strategy to improve their clients’ Position and Page Rank.

SEO Strategies
SEO strategies are the techniques used in Search Engine Optimization to improve a site’s Position and Page Rank and increase its Click-Through Rate. A few SEO strategies are keyword research and content writing, optimized HTML code, and improved Geographical Targeting.

Search Engine
A search engine is a website that enables users to Query an Index of stored webpages gathered by a Crawler for information relevant to specific criteria expressed via a Keyword or Search Terms. The Rank of information/websites on the corresponding Search Engine Results Pages is determined by relevancy as measured by the search engine’s Algorithm and/or payment made to the search engine by indexed sites. Sites ranked solely by relevancy are known as Natural Listings or Organic Listings in contrast to Paid Listings.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search engine marketing is an inclusive term for all techniques used to market a website via search engines, including Pay-Per-Click advertising and Natural Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)
The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) is a non-profit professional association founded in 2003 to increase awareness of the benefits of search engine marketing and provide educational resources to members and consumers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is the modification of a website for the purpose of improving its natural Rank on Search Engine Results Pages. This is done through a combination of SEO strategies such as directory and search engine Submission, website optimization, content writing and improved Link quality. Please see our SEO services for details.

Search Engine Optimization Company (SEO Company)
A search engine optimization company employs SEO Strategies to improve a website’s Search Engine Placement.

Search Engine Optimization Consultants
Also known as SEO professionals or SEO specialists, search engine optimization consultants analyze a website’s Position and Keyword strength and offer solutions for improvement.

Search Engine Optimization Software Systems
Search engine optimization software systems enable marketers to generate site data and automatically customize Submission schedules. However, automated submissions should generally be avoided in favor of submissions catered to each search engine’s rules.

Search Engine Optimization Strategy
Search engine optimization strategy refers to the specific optimization plan an SEO company employs for the site promotion of an individual client.

Search Engine Placement
Search engine placement means the tactics used by Site Optimization firms to improve their clients’ Rank. The term search engine placement is sometimes used to mean the Position of a website on a Results Page.

Search Engine Placement Services
Also known as Internet promotion, optimization services or site optimization, search engine placement services are all of the methods a Search Engine Optimization Company uses to improve a site’s Position and Page Rank and increase its Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate.

Search Engine Positioning
The term search engine positioning can be used in two different ways. The first is to describe the ordering process of indexed websites being ranked by a search engine Algorithm in response to a Query. The second refers to the use of Search Engine Optimization to achieve a higher search engine Position.

Search Engine Promotion
Also known as Internet promotion, website marketing or website promotion, Internet promotion refers to all methods employed by a company or individual to promote a website and increase its Position and PageRank.

Search Engine Ranking Report
A search engine ranking report is a monthly, weekly or daily report of the Position of a company’s website Listing in relation to their top Keywords. Position Reporting enables companies to monitor the success of an SEO strategy or Cost-Per-Click advertising campaign.

Search Engine Registration
Also known as search engine submission or web submission, search engine registration is the submission of a URL to a Directory or Search Engine for inclusion in its Index. Registration is usually free but can also require payment. Search engine registration is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine Results Page (SERPs)
Also known as a results page, the search engine results page is the collection of ranked Listings displayed in response to a search engine Query.

Search Engine Submission
Also known as search engine registration or web submission, search engine submission is the submission of a URL to a Directory or Search Engine for inclusion in its Index. Registration is usually free but can also require payment. Search engine submission is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.

Search Terms
Also known as keywords or query terms, search terms are the word(s) or phrase(s) a user enters into a search engine’s Query box. A Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranks indexed sites according to how relevant the Search Engine deems them to the search terms that were queried. One of the most important SEO Strategies companies can employ is to optimize their site pages with content that contains targeted search terms relevant to their products or industry.

Shopping Search
Shopping search engines or search engines with a shopping feature (such as Google Product Search, formerly known as Froogle) allow users to comparison shop by providing lists of sellers and prices in response to a product Query. Some shopping search sites require Paid Inclusion or offer Paid Placement.

Site Optimization
Also known as Internet promotion, optimization services or search engine placement service, site optimization refers to all of the methods a Search Engine Optimization Company uses to improve a site’s Position and Page Rank and increase its Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate.

Spam
Spam refers to any and all Search Engine Marketing techniques that violate search engine guidelines or attempt to gain increased Rank for a site using content that is irrelevant, deceptive or of little value to users. Types of spam include Hidden Text, content that contains nonsensical Keyword repetition, deceptive Cloaking or numerous Doorway Pages that redirect users to the same Landing Page. If a search engine detects spamming the offending site will be Blacklisted or lose Position. Spam is a Black Hat SEO technique.

Spider
Also known as Crawler or Robot, a spider is a search engine program that “crawls” the web, collecting data, following links, making copies of new and updated sites, and storing URLs in the search engine’s Index. This allows search engines to provide faster and more up-to-date listings.

Submission
Also known as search engine registration or search engine submission, submission is the providing of a URL to a Directory or Search Engine for inclusion in its Index. Submission is usually free but can also require payment. Submission is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.

Title Tags
A title tag is an HTML tag which contains a sentence of text describing the contents of its associated webpage. Title tags are a very important part of Search Engine Optimization because they are frequently used as the text links that lead to sites from a search engine’s Results Page. The best title tags contain strategic keywords that will help a site be indexed properly and appeal to human search engine users.

Three-Way Link Exchange
A three-way link exchange is a Reciprocal Link Exchange established between three domains. However, unlike a two-way link exchange, not all three sites link to each other. Page A links to Page B and Page B links to Page C and Page C links to Page A. Page B does not post a reciprocal link to Page A and Page C does not post a reciprocal link to Page B. Three-way link exchanges are used by owners of multiple websites to increase the Link Popularity and Page Rank of new or smaller sites.

Unique Visitor
Unique visitor is a web traffic measuring term which means the registering of at least one hit on one page of a web site from a unique IP address during a specified report period (typically anywhere from twenty-four hours to a month). A subsequent hit(s) by the same IP address is not counted as a unique visitor during that report period. Unique visitor count can be an effective way of measuring the success of an SEO strategy.

Web Analytics
Web analytics is a branch of Analytics that uses web traffic records to study the behavior of website visitors. Data such as Unique Visitors, Hits, page views, and the connection between Landing Pages and Conversion Rates are used to improve a website or marketing campaign.

Website Marketing
Also known as Internet marketing, website marketing is using the Internet to advertise, communicate and sell goods and services. On an advanced level, website marketing is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is the use of targeted keywords, crawler-friendly site architecture, Search Engine Submissions and a well-developed link network to improve a site’s Position, Page Rank and Click-Through Rate.

Website Optimization
Also known as search engine optimization, website optimization is the modification of a website for the purpose of improving its natural Rank on Search Engine Results Pages. This is done through a combination of optimization strategies such as directory and search engine Submission, Keyword Marketing and improved Link quality.

Website Promotion
Website promotion refers to the marketing aspects of Search Engine Optimization, such as Keyword Submission, Paid Inclusion, and other techniques to increase a site’s exposure.

Website Promotion Services
Also known as search engine marketing, website promotion services is an inclusive term for all techniques used to market a website via search engines, including Pay-Per-Click advertising and Natural Search Engine Optimization.

Website Submission
Also known as search engine registration or search engine submission, website submission is the submission of a URL to a Directory or Search Engine for inclusion in its Index. Registration is usually free but can also require payment. Website submission is a basic but important part of Search Engine Optimization.

White Hat SEO
Also known as natural search engine optimization or organic search engine optimization, white hat SEO is the legitimate use of keyword-focused copy and tags, Crawler-friendly site architecture, Search Engine Submissions and a quality Backlinks network to improve a site’s Position, Page Rank and Click-Through Rate. White hat SEO does not involve the use of Cloaking, Spam or any other Black Hat SEO techniques.

XML
XML is an acronym for Extensible Markup Language, a simple and flexible text-based programming language used in conjunction with HTML. XML is useful for data exchange and the creation of customized tags.

XML Feed
An XML feed is a form of Paid Inclusion or Search Engine Submission in which an XML document is used to provide a search engine with information about multiple web pages. An XML feed is particularly useful for multimedia sites or database sites that draw a variety of relevant search queries.

Do you know that most visitors leave a website within 10 seconds of landing on the home page? And they may nevër return to the same site. To keep your website visitors stay longer, you need to engage them. Follow these 10 simple rules to build a set of core loyal visitors who will return to your site frequently.

1. If you have a brick-and-mortar business and you want an online presence, don’t just hand over your printed brochure to the web developer for your site’s content.

2. Get good text, picture, and video content related to your products or services and organize them into categories for your website publication. How do you get content? You can ask your kids to write content for you. Today’s kids are information savvy and know how to do research on right topics. They can help take pictures and videos of your products and provide narrations. If you cannot leverage your kids talents and you don’t have time to develop content, buy them from online sources, like distributors of private label rights to articles and stöck photographs. You need a small content set to launch your web site.

3. Ask your developer for some sample websites he has developed in the past and review them. If you find clutter, music, unprofessional graphics, etc. in those sites, run away from the developer. Tell your web developer to use basic search engine optimization techniques for your web site. Use a developer who uses content management systems (CMS) to develop websites. You or your kids and spouse will be able to maintain and add content regularly to a CMS without much effort.

4. You must have an About US page in your website that explains the expertise of your company and your unique selling proposition. Also, you should provide a telephone number and an e-mail address for contact.

5. Publish a weekly tips section in your website. If you are in a business for a long time, you have a wealth of knowledge about your business, market, and technologies related to your business. Make it a habit of jotting down one tip every day. You will have plenty of tips for your weekly publication.

6. Don’t use guest books, testimonials etc. These are so Web 1.0 concepts. Use a forum. Let your customers interact among themselves. Develop a value network. You get into the insights of your customers’ minds by reading their posts and your visitors know your products and services by talking to each other. As a result, you will be able to provide improved products and services and ask for a premium price.

7. Promptly answer all your visitors’ e-mail. This is one thing you should nevër delay. Use your visitors comments, e-mail, and other form of communications to generate ideas for new articles and tips.

8. Tell your web developer to include an RSS feed on your site and publish filtered news related to the market you serve and emerging technologies in that market. Don’t use a weather report. Nobody comes to your site to chëck the weather.

9. Publish a frequently asked questíons page related to your products and services. It helps save your visitors’ time and effort when they are looking for information on a particular topic related to your website.

10. Did you know that the average person must be exposed to an offër around seven times before they will make a purchase? Make your website an advertising platform for your most popular items. Advertise them throughout your site but don’t use any ‘in-your face advertising’ techniques. You can use side bars for this type of advertising with interesting anecdotes, pictures, etc. Be creative and use your imagination.

Your website is your publishing medium. It is not your online catalog. You want repeat visitors who spend their time at your site for valuable information. The possibility of visitors turning into a paying customers improves when they stick around your site longer.

We hear a lot about "Web 2.0" these days. It sounds neat and it’s trendy to talk about blogging and social media. But does it really affect our businesses? Is Web 2.0 just for kids and tech-hipsters or is it something we business owners should use to help promote our businesses?

I can’t tell you if Web 2.0 is right for your business, but I can tell you it’s something to be aware of. Ignoring it means ignoring a possible tool that could be valuable in helping you get more customers.

So, to help you get started in thinking about Web 2.0 for your business, here are some things for you to consider.

1. Have a plan

Don’t dive in just because it’s cool or because you read an article about it. Be clear about what you’re trying to accomplish, how much you’re willing to invest and what time frame you are working on. Like any aspect of your business - plan ahead.

2. Make sure your target audience is online

Web 2.0 tools are fun but useless if the people who see your stuff don’t want what you offër. Or if they don’t look to the Web for information to help them buy what you sell, then your efforts will be less effective. Like any marketing channel, it only works if your prospective customers are there to see (or hear) your message and they are receptive to it.

3. Create good content

Web 2.0 is the social web, but it’s still content-driven. Lousy content leads to lousy marketing, no matter how flashy it is. Make your content relevant, interesting and real. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and answer their questíons with your content.

4. Don’t sell

Help, inform, educate but do not sell. Web 2.0 is all about people connecting by helping each other. No salesmen allowed! Think education, not advertising. Deliver useful, nuts and bolts stuff or honest opinions they can believe. That’s how you build credibility and trust that lead to new customer relationships.

5. Start with a free hosted blog

Wordpress and Blogger both have very useful and simple blogs you can setup for frëe. Use them to start blogging and get a feel for how it works and how people use Web 2.0. Dip your toe in the water before diving in.

6. Talk to kids

Chat with some kids (ages 8 to 18) and find out how they use the web. They are the trend-setters. What they’re doing now, the rest of us will be doing soon. Learn what they do and why. This helps you understand the web from a different perspective.

7. Do it yourself

Web 2.0 is about being real. It’s real people connecting with each other. It’s okay to hire a pro to advise you. But to keep it genuine, make sure you or your employees create the content and do the work. Otherwise people will know you’re faking it.

8. Buy a camcorder and start shooting

Go to Best Buy or Radio Shack and buy an inexpensive camcorder, tripod and lapel microphone. Buy 20-30 tapes too. Then take a weekend and shoot film. Practice, practice, practice. Get comfortable being on camera so you’re not nervous or dorky. Then, write a funny or useful how-to sketch and film it. Use Microsoft MovieMaker to edit and then upload to YouTube.com.

9. Buy an inexpensive audio recorder

MusicBarn.com has a package that includes M-Audio’s MobilePre USB recording interface. Add a microphone and you have a high quality setup to record podcasts and MP3 audio files whenever you want. Then buy NGWave sound editing software to make it sound professional and you’re in business.

10. Surf ’till it Hurts

Surf blogs, YouTube, Google Videos, Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Technorati and other social media websites. Get a feel for how they work and who goes there. Become part of some social media communities. Make new friends online. Immerse yourself in the Web 2.0 culture so you know how it works and if it might fit your marketing plans.

Medical Practice Management-MirrorMed, ClearHealth, OpenEMR
GroupWare-eGroupWare, Horde-GroupWare
Shopping Cart-Zencart, CRELoaded, osCMax, osCommerce
CMS-Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, e107, XOOPS, Xaraya
Course Management-Moodle, ATutor
CRM-vTiger, XRMS
Blog-WordPress, b2evolution
Wiki-TikiWiki
Forum-phpBB

Powered by ScribeFire.

Improved
search engine rank is attainable through good search engine optimization, part
of which is the maximizing of your Google Page Rank through intelligent linking
with other web pages. In this first part of 2 on the subject of Google Page Rank,
we will look at the argument for attaining high listings through a linking
strategy.

Google Page Rank is a
buzz term at the moment since many believe it to be more important to your
search engine listing than search engine optimization. If we ignore for the
moment the fact that Page Rank is, in itself, a förm of SEO, then there are
arguments for and against that belief.

Before we investigate
these arguments, let’s understand some fundamentals of search engine listings.
First, most search engines líst web pages, not domains (websites). What that
means is that every web page in a domain has to be relevant to a specific
search term if it is to be listed.

Secondly, a search
engine customer is the person who is using that engine to seek information. It
is not an advertiser or the owner of a website. It is the user seeking
information. The förm of words that is used by that customer is called a
’search term’. This becomes a ‘keyword’ when applied to a webmaster trying to
anticipate the förm of words that a user will employ to search for their
information.

A search engine works
by analyzing the semantic content of a web page and determining the relative
importance of the vocabulary used, taking into account the title tags, the
heading tags and the first text it detects. It will also chëck out text related
contextually to what it considers to be the main ‘keywords’ and then rank that
page according to how relevant it calculates it to be for the main theme of the
page.

It will then examine
the number of other web pages that are linked to it, and regard that as a
measure of how important, or relevant to the ‘keyword’, that the page is. The
value of the links is regarded as peer approval of the content. All of these
factors determine how high that page is listed for search terms that are similar
contextually to the content of the page.

Without doubt, there
are web pages that are lísted high in the search engine indices that contain
very little in the way of useful content on the keywords for which they are
listed, and have virtually no contextual relevance to any search term. However,
a careful investigation of these sites will reveal two things.

The first is that many
such web pages are frequently lísted highly only for relatively obscure search
terms. If a search engine customer uses a common search term to find the
information they are seeking, they will very rarely be led to a site that has
little content other than links, but it is possible. The second is that they
contain large numbers of links out to other web pages, and it can be assumed
that they have at least an equal number of web pages linking back.

It is possible to find
such web pages for many keywords. An example is on the first page on Google for
the keyword ‘Data VOIP Solutions‘. There is a website
there that is comprised only of links. The site itself has little content, but
every link leads to either another website that provides useful content, or
another internal page full of more links and no content. That is how links can
be used to lift a web page high in the SE listings.

Such sites frequently
contain only the bare minimum of conventional search engine optimization, but
the competition is so low that they gain high listings. You will also find them
to contain large numbers of internal pages, every one of which contain the same
internal and external links.

It is true, therefore,
that it is possible to get a high listing without much content, but with a
large number of links. However, is that a legítimate argument for those
promoting links against content? Could you reasonably apply that strategy to
your website? Could a genuine website really contain thöusands of links to
other internal pages and external pages on other websites, and still maintain
its intended purpose?

In the second part of
this article, titled ‘Search Engine Rank: Google Page Rank
Misconceptions‘ I will explode some myths about Page Rank, and explain how
many people are wasting their time with reciprocal links, and perhaps even
losing through them. It may be that a linking strategy is not so much an
option, as a choice between the type of website that you want: to provide genuine
information or to make monëy regardless of content.

Improved search engine
rank might be synonymous with Google Page Rank, but perhaps only if you want to
sacrifice the integrity of your website.

Part 2

Improved search engine
rank is difficult enough to obtain without you having to trawl through all that
has been written about Google Page Rank in order to find the truth. There are
many misconceptions about Page Rank, and Part 2 of this article dispels the
most common of them, the first being that Yahoo and MSN have their own version.

In fact this is not so.
Yahoo had a beta version of a ‘Web Rank’ visible for a while, ranking complete
websites, but it is now offline. MSN has no equivalent as far I can ascertain.
The term ‘PageRank’ is a trade mark of Google, which is why I refer to it as
Page Rank and not PageRank. A small difference, but a significant one.

If you are one of those
that believe that the more links you can get to your website the better, then
you are wrong. When Google started the Page Rank frenzy by putting that little green
bar on their toolbar, they didn’t realize the consequences of what they were
doing. People fought to get as many links to their website as possible,
irrespective of the nature of the websites to which they were linking.

That is misconception
Number 2. You do not link to websites, you link to web pages, or should I say,
you get links back from web pages, not websites. It is, after all, the link
back that counts isn’t it? The link away from your site doesn’t count. Wrong!
Misconception Number 3. The link to your web page counts no more than the link
away from your web page. In fact, it could count less. You could löse out in
the reciprocal linking stakes if your web page is worth more than the other
person’s.

Let’s dispel that
misconception right now. When you receive a link from a web page (not web site)
you get a proportion of the Google Page Rank of that web page that depends on
the total number of links leaving that page. When you provide a link to another
web page, you give away a proportion of your Page Rank that depends on the
number of other links leaving your web page.

The Page Rank of the website
you get a link from is irrelevant, since that is generally the rank of the Home
Page. You will likely find that all these great links you think you have from
PR 7 or 8 websites are from a links page that has a PR of ZERO! So you get
zilch for the deal. If you are providing them with a link from a page on your
site even of PR 1, then you löse! Most people fail to understand that.

No incoming link can
have a negative effect on your PR. It can have a zero effect, but not negative.
However, if you have an incoming link with zero effect, and an outgoing
reciprocal link with a positive effect to the target page, then you will
effectively löse PR through the deal. Every web page starts with a PR of 1, and
so has that single PR to share amongst other pages to which it is linked. The
more incoming links it has, the higher PR it can have to share out.

If your page has a PR
of 4 and has three links leaving it, each gets twice the number of PR votes
than if 6 links leave it. Your page with a PR of 4 has to get a similar number
of PR votes incoming as it gives away to retain its PR. In simple terms, if
your PR 4 page is getting links from a PR 8 page with 20 links leaving it, you
löse out big time! It’s simple math.

No page ever gives away
all of its PR. There is a factor in Google’s calculation that reduces this to
below 100% of the total PR of any page. However, that is roughly how it works.
You don’t get a proportion of the whole website ranking; you only get part of
the ranking of the page on which your link is placed. Since most ‘Links Pages’
tend to be full of other outgoing links, then you won’t get much, and will
likely get zero.

That is why automated
reciprocal linking software is often a waste of time. If you want to make the
best of linking arrangements, then agree with the other webmaster that you will
provide each other with a link from equally ranked pages. That way both of you
will gain, and neither loses. Some software allows you to make these
arrangements.

Another misconception
is that only links from external web pages count. In fact, links between your
own web pages can be arranged to provide one page with most of the page rank
available. Every page has a start PR of 1, so the more pages you have on your
site then the more PR you have to play with and distribute to pages on your
website of your choice.

Search engine rank can
be improved by intelligent use of links, both external and internal, but Google
Page Rank does not have the profound effect on your search engine listing that
many have led you to believe. Good onsite SEO usually wins so keep that in mind
when designing your website.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Scribe Fire is a greate utility it seems. We are testing it and will tell soon about its success.

Powered by ScribeFire.