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More Secrets to Search Engine Optimized Content
This is the second part to the “Secrets to Search Engine Optimized Content” post. In the first installment we talked about target keyphrases and optimal content length, and how to properly incorporate these two factors to enhance the user experience. The days of keyword stuffing and overloading a web page with pointless information are long over. The idea of catering to the user experience again surfaces in our goal to create search engine optimized content.
3. High Quality Content
If content is king, then great content would make for a great king. Quality writers who can actually write at a high level will be in demand, and this ability will become essential to the success of next-gen SEOs. The basis for high quality content (other than the betterment to user experience) is the linkability factor.
Whether search engine optimized in the traditional sense or not, well-written content lends itself to being respected and thus linked to from other sources.
Tags: SEO, web developmentSecrets to Search Engine Optimized Content
We have all heard the phrase "content is king," and unique content indeed reigns supreme. However, beyond the mantra of writing highly unique content, exists additional SEO copywriting secrets. Some of these "secrets" are simply SEO guidelines that simply get neglected from being applied to the art of copywriting. Let’s look at some applications of SEO in generating search engine optimized content.
1. Including Target Keyphrases
Apart from achieving a moderate keyword density for your target keywords, you should be including your target keyphrases as well. (You should be doing this concurrently). Your title and header tags need to include your main keyphrase, which should also be sprinkled throughout your content. Other ingredients to your search engine optimized content cake are variations to the main keyphrase, along with secondary target keyphrases.
Note: It’s perfectly alright to deviate slightly to secondary keyphrases, as well as overlap keyphrases between pages on your website. If anything, this will make your entire website more relevant and help maintain authority.
Tags: keyword research, SEO, web developmentTop Five Advantages to In-House Link Building
There are many benefits for having an in-house (internal) search engine optimization team, and link building is one method of capitalizing on them. You will notice that some of the following factors spill over to other SEO endeavours as well. A caveat I should mention is that the following advantages alone will not enable an in-house SEO to outperform an outsourced SEO, unless the in-house SEO has a solid foundation and understanding of search.
Now without further ado, I give to you the top five advantages to in-house link building.
1. Understanding of the Business
An internal employee is more likely to have a deeper understanding of your business and the industry. This knowledge and insight definitely comes in handy in choosing the right keywords to optimize for. An in-house SEO is already familiar with the language, brands and product lines involved.
As a result, the keyword research phase could be cut in half, and your staff might even discover keyphrases that an outsourced SEO firm might not have.
Tags: keyword research, link building, SEO, web developmentUser-Generated Content and the Power of Blogs
User-Generated Content
Whether it be the decreasing cost of the Internet, its ease of use, an affinity for expression, sheer vanity, or a combination of them all, the amount of user-generated content (UGC) is rising exponentially. Everyone from your best friend’s mother to your neighbour’s kitten has a MySpace/Facebook/Orkut/Bebo account or user profile somewhere with very vital information like their favourite music and colour.
But beyond the social networking profiles exists one particular flavour of user generated content - blogs. This special category of user generated content has been gaining a lot of momentum and popularity over the web, and search marketers need to pay close attention to its impact over search engines.
Tags: link building, SEM, SEO, social media marketing, web developmentAcquiring .EDU Links Through Yahoo Search
Backlinks from the coveted educational .EDU top-level domain has long been sought after by SEOs for their theorized link-weight. It’s believed that links from .EDU pages carry more importance and are valued higher by search engines, since the websites of education institutions are supposed to be more authoritative. Whether this postulate is true or not, here’s a way to potentially obtain these backlinks.
Link Commands and Yahoo Search
Link commands are normally used to find more specific information that contains certain keywords but excludes others, but they can also be used to find backlinks to a site. For example, to find all the .EDU links pointing to your domain, use linkdomain:yoursite.com site:edu . Alternatively, you can also use linkdomain:yoursite.com -site:yoursite.com inurl:.edu , which may display even more results.
This may seem obvious at first, but see where your competitors are acquiring their .EDU links. Unless you have a spy or secret access to your competitors’ Webmaster Tools and/or Site Explorer accounts, the list of links obtained from using link commands will not be exhaustive. Nonetheless, it’s a good way to start building links from websites with the .EDU extension.
Tags: domain names, link building, SEO, Yahoo