If you don't know already, one of the key success factors to getting loads of free Google traffic to your website is increasing page rank. So just how do you increase your page rank? Well, it's all in the linking.
To be honest I never could quite figure this Google thing out, how it ranks good sites from bad sites. One day it all clicked for me and its so simple when you look at it from Google's point of view. Google keeps its customers by providing relevant sites to your search queries. How does it choose the best sites for what you are looking for? Well, first of all it needs to be relevant (key words) and secondly it needs to be useful and of high quality. One way Google knows to measure quality is by the amount of links referring to your site. It stands to reason a site referred to by 100 websites may be more useful than a site referred by just a few right?
So how can we increase our sites chances of shooting up the search engine rankings with incoming links?
The quality of the links you receive is very important. Choose websites that firstly are related and preferably with a higher page rank than your site. The higher the quality link the higher page rank you will receive. In other words getting a link from Amazon.com is going to be worth more than a link on your daughters home page.
Basically there are 3 types of links, Outbound links which are easily added to your site, Reciprocal links where site A links to site B and site B links back to site A, and finally inbound links. These inbound links are the most important of all.
Let me describe how to get links in order of their importance.
How to get incoming links
1. Write articles like this one. Choose a topic you know and write up a short 500 word articles with a link back to your website and post it to article directories. Not only are these one-way links but other websites will pick it up and post one way links on their websites. Google gives you a big tick for each one way link!
2. Viral marketing. Ask other website owners directly if they would like to post your article either on their website or include it as part of their newsletter. If it's a good article chances are readers will in turn pass this on to other readers providing advertising for both you and the other Webmaster. Like a virus, it spreads to more and more readers who may post the article, providing more one-way links.
3. Post to forums related to your area and include a link in your signature file. It is critical to join in the discussion and not blatantly advertise, as this can look unprofessional and self-gratifying. Add value to the discussion and simply provide a link in your signature. Visit some forums and see who you would link to in the discussion and try and copy what they did right.
How to get reciprocal links
Ask Webmasters directly. These are a little easier to ask for as its clear you are providing them also with a link. Best to first link to their website, then personalize the contact commenting about something on their website specifically. I have found personally calling them if you have the contact phone number the best method. My friend David Newton at www.simplysolo.com has found this an invaluable way to gain in excess of 1,000 inbound links for his site. Simplified it should go like this:
a. Find a relevant site as a potential link partner. Tip ? Try entering this into google "your keyword or phrase" + "add url". This will then list the most popular sites that will allow you to link back to them.
b. Firstly create a link to their website
c. Contact them directly showing them your link to them with url of their site and something you liked about their site, something unique. Compliments can only help here.
d. Schedule to follow them up in one months time and try again if necessary. Best to keep a spreadsheet
Of course not all sites will link to you and it's a bit of a numbers game but you can get results. Its better to personalize your contact than mass e-mailing a general group of websites.
Don't forget to always be polite and keep up a schedule where you will aim to get say ten or twenty links out there per week. You will then have quite a collection after a few months and traffic should start flowing to your site.
Greg Furey is the owner of The Affiliate Program Centre ? Resources and helpful tools for businesses and website owners to increase sale through affiliate marketing. http://www.affiliateprogramcentre.com
Drive More Traffic to Your Website With Your Web Page Title!
One of the most overlooked, but important components, on your web page is the Meta title. The Meta title is the text or page title found at the top left of your browser window and it is also the title saved when a web site visitor bookmarks your website. Some people will argue that search engines put little or no value on the title tag, but regardless of how the Meta title figures into the ranking algorithm, the title tag is still critical to driving new and repeat traffic to your website.
Countless sites under-utilize this title space by entirely forgetting to name their pages (untitled document) or name their page something completely useless or generic (welcome to our site, or home). An "untitled document" or "home" bookmark will do little to help encourage repeat visitors to your website. Either the visitor will have to take time to rename your bookmark or they will completely forget what the bookmark is for.
Not only does the title tag provide the bookmark name, but it also determines the clickable link that is displayed on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
For example:
If your title tag looks like this: Customized Email Stationary/Branded Email
Your page will show up like this on a Google search (or another SERP)
Customized Email Stationary / Branded Email
Obviously "untitled document" or "welcome to our site" is not very effective in drawing visitors to your site.
Follow these tips on writing an effective and useful title tag.
The Meta Title tag should summarize the contents of each individual page. This means you should always wait until your content has been written before choosing your title tags. Your Title tag should be useful and informative. Remember that your title tag is what shows up as the clickable link that brings visitors to your site through the search engines and what shows up when the visitor bookmarks your site.
Base your title tag on keyword "phrases." There are many resources and applications online that will help you determine the popular search terms that relate to your website content. (These are the same "keyword phrases" that should be scattered in your page content and Meta keyword tag and Meta Description Tag) Make sure you use these terms in your title where appropriate. Obviously, it is important that you do not over do the keywords to the point that the title becomes useless.
Limit your title to 50-60 characters including spaces. Some browsers actually show many more characters but for those that don't, if you use more characters your title will be cut off. More importantly the number of characters displayed on the SERP is definitely fixed. So any wording longer then 50-60 characters will not help drive any customers to your site simply because your potential visitors will not see it!
Search engines ignore (or don't index) "stop words," so avoid using them in your title. Stop words are common words that really don't help determine the true content of your site. Examples of stop words are: the, with, to, also, an, and, as, at, be, because. Space is already limited in your title tag, so there is no sense wasting space on words that will be ignored by the Search Engines and really won't help bring any new traffic to your site.
Always use a different Meta title on each of the pages in your website. Your content is different on each page of your site, so your title should be different on each page too.
Basically, you can bring more visitors to your website site by keeping your Title Tags simple and meaningful.
© 2005 Tanya Beaudoin o/a Office on Demand, All rights reserved. You are free to use this article in its entirety, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify Mrs. Beaudoin as to where the material will appear. The attribution should read: "Tanya Beaudoin, B.A. owns and operates a Web Design Company ? OOD Web & Graphic Design Studio - that specializes in e-solutions and graphic design (including web design, search engine optimization and internet marketing products like e-stationary and newsletters). Please visit Tanya's web site at http://www.officeondemand.ca for additional business related articles"
Countless sites under-utilize this title space by entirely forgetting to name their pages (untitled document) or name their page something completely useless or generic (welcome to our site, or home). An "untitled document" or "home" bookmark will do little to help encourage repeat visitors to your website. Either the visitor will have to take time to rename your bookmark or they will completely forget what the bookmark is for.
Not only does the title tag provide the bookmark name, but it also determines the clickable link that is displayed on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
For example:
If your title tag looks like this: Customized Email Stationary/Branded Email
Your page will show up like this on a Google search (or another SERP)
Customized Email Stationary / Branded Email
Obviously "untitled document" or "welcome to our site" is not very effective in drawing visitors to your site.
Follow these tips on writing an effective and useful title tag.
The Meta Title tag should summarize the contents of each individual page. This means you should always wait until your content has been written before choosing your title tags. Your Title tag should be useful and informative. Remember that your title tag is what shows up as the clickable link that brings visitors to your site through the search engines and what shows up when the visitor bookmarks your site.
Base your title tag on keyword "phrases." There are many resources and applications online that will help you determine the popular search terms that relate to your website content. (These are the same "keyword phrases" that should be scattered in your page content and Meta keyword tag and Meta Description Tag) Make sure you use these terms in your title where appropriate. Obviously, it is important that you do not over do the keywords to the point that the title becomes useless.
Limit your title to 50-60 characters including spaces. Some browsers actually show many more characters but for those that don't, if you use more characters your title will be cut off. More importantly the number of characters displayed on the SERP is definitely fixed. So any wording longer then 50-60 characters will not help drive any customers to your site simply because your potential visitors will not see it!
Search engines ignore (or don't index) "stop words," so avoid using them in your title. Stop words are common words that really don't help determine the true content of your site. Examples of stop words are: the, with, to, also, an, and, as, at, be, because. Space is already limited in your title tag, so there is no sense wasting space on words that will be ignored by the Search Engines and really won't help bring any new traffic to your site.
Always use a different Meta title on each of the pages in your website. Your content is different on each page of your site, so your title should be different on each page too.
Basically, you can bring more visitors to your website site by keeping your Title Tags simple and meaningful.
© 2005 Tanya Beaudoin o/a Office on Demand, All rights reserved. You are free to use this article in its entirety, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify Mrs. Beaudoin as to where the material will appear. The attribution should read: "Tanya Beaudoin, B.A. owns and operates a Web Design Company ? OOD Web & Graphic Design Studio - that specializes in e-solutions and graphic design (including web design, search engine optimization and internet marketing products like e-stationary and newsletters). Please visit Tanya's web site at http://www.officeondemand.ca for additional business related articles"
Getting Listed In Google in Under 24-Hours!
Yesterday you should have read the second course out of 6 courses that will help you get a TOP rank in the search engines and get EXPLOSIVE LASER TARGETED TRAFFIC for Free. Today we move on to course #3 and reveal how to Get Listed In Google in Under 24-Hours! Today is a short course but it's one that you must have been waiting for. This information sells for $100+ elsewhere but its just info and I'm willing to tell you for free. Now let's get started.
Getting listed in search engines will only happen if the search engine spider finds your website. There are many ways that this spider can find you site; one way is by submitting your website to the search engine to be crawled. This method is VERY BAD because the search engines will take months just to include your page. There's a much faster way, the faster way is if the spider finds your website by following a link from another website.
If you can manage to convince a website that is in google to link to you then you will be indexed by the search engines in no time. But how do you get into google in 24 hours? Well the answer is simple. Google spiders index the top websites very often and if you can get one of those top websites to link to you then you will be indexed in less than a day. Google ranks websites by page rank, if you download their toolbar you can see that a small green bar appears and displays what rank a page is once you visit it. Websites that have a page rank (PR) of 7 get indexed very often and if your link is on their website then you can be sure to find your website in google the next day!
Your website doesn't have to be on the homepage of these "Topnotch websites" you can even submit your link to their links directory and the spider will crawl those pages too. Just search google for a keyword that is related to your website and look at the first few website to see their PR, if you find a site with a PR of 6 or 7 that has a links directory then it's your lucky day!
Now you know this little secret that some people sell for hundreds of dollars and you might be thinking "it's so simple and pathetic! How can they sell this stuff?" Well they write huge e-books about the little secrets that not many know about and entice people to buy them by writing catchy sales letters. The simplicity of this explains why many people don't know these secrets, they search for a BIG secret but frankly there is none. That's it!
Tomorrow I will discuss Off-page Optimization and how it is the #1 factor in determining your position in search engines! This will be an exciting day for you I promise (Just like today)!
If you would like to contact me anytime and either complain (why would you!) or give me your testimonial then feel free to do so anytime. I'm there if you need any more help also.
Ahmed Omran is an experienced webmaster and marketer who owns Virtual Design - custom Webdesign
Getting listed in search engines will only happen if the search engine spider finds your website. There are many ways that this spider can find you site; one way is by submitting your website to the search engine to be crawled. This method is VERY BAD because the search engines will take months just to include your page. There's a much faster way, the faster way is if the spider finds your website by following a link from another website.
If you can manage to convince a website that is in google to link to you then you will be indexed by the search engines in no time. But how do you get into google in 24 hours? Well the answer is simple. Google spiders index the top websites very often and if you can get one of those top websites to link to you then you will be indexed in less than a day. Google ranks websites by page rank, if you download their toolbar you can see that a small green bar appears and displays what rank a page is once you visit it. Websites that have a page rank (PR) of 7 get indexed very often and if your link is on their website then you can be sure to find your website in google the next day!
Your website doesn't have to be on the homepage of these "Topnotch websites" you can even submit your link to their links directory and the spider will crawl those pages too. Just search google for a keyword that is related to your website and look at the first few website to see their PR, if you find a site with a PR of 6 or 7 that has a links directory then it's your lucky day!
Now you know this little secret that some people sell for hundreds of dollars and you might be thinking "it's so simple and pathetic! How can they sell this stuff?" Well they write huge e-books about the little secrets that not many know about and entice people to buy them by writing catchy sales letters. The simplicity of this explains why many people don't know these secrets, they search for a BIG secret but frankly there is none. That's it!
Tomorrow I will discuss Off-page Optimization and how it is the #1 factor in determining your position in search engines! This will be an exciting day for you I promise (Just like today)!
If you would like to contact me anytime and either complain (why would you!) or give me your testimonial then feel free to do so anytime. I'm there if you need any more help also.
Ahmed Omran is an experienced webmaster and marketer who owns Virtual Design - custom Webdesign
The 7 Best Stealth Techniques to Improve Your Google Rankings
Stealth as in Spying. But Knowing What your Top Competitors are Doing and how they are doing it you can greatly improve your very own search Engine Rankings.
Step 1 Do A Google Search
The First Step is to do a Google Search and Identify your top 5 or 10 Competitors for your Keyword or Phrase on Google.
Step 2 View Web Page
Click on the Web Page of your top Competitor. Look over the page. See the general layout. Look over the use of Font Styles, Bolding, Colors,Header Tags
Step 3 View Page Source
Do a right click view page source, in Steps 4 and 5 we will use the information from the web page source code.
Step 4 Description Meta Tag
Look over the Description Meta Tag. How many times is the keyword or phrase used in the meta tag? Does the Text of the description meta tag appear in the text of the web page anywhere?
Step 5 Title Meta Tag
Look at the Title Meta Tag. How many times is the keyword or phrase used in the meta tag? Does the text in the Title meta tag appear in the text of the web page anywhere?
Step 6 Keyword Density
See how often the Keyword or phrase is used on the Page. http://www.ranks.nl/tools/spider.html
Step 7 Link Partners
If you want to see who links to you in the Google search box type in link: followed by your domain. As an example if you want to see who links to the greatest baseball team in the world the New York Yankees type in. --- link:yankees.com
About The Author:Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built an Organization of over 100,000 MembersGet Mike's Newsletter:http://ewguru.com/newsletterMore Articles by Mike:http://ewguru.com/tipsPermission Based E_Mail Marketing Methodshttp://ewguru.com/hbiz/amazingoffer.html
Step 1 Do A Google Search
The First Step is to do a Google Search and Identify your top 5 or 10 Competitors for your Keyword or Phrase on Google.
Step 2 View Web Page
Click on the Web Page of your top Competitor. Look over the page. See the general layout. Look over the use of Font Styles, Bolding, Colors,Header Tags
Step 3 View Page Source
Do a right click view page source, in Steps 4 and 5 we will use the information from the web page source code.
Step 4 Description Meta Tag
Look over the Description Meta Tag. How many times is the keyword or phrase used in the meta tag? Does the Text of the description meta tag appear in the text of the web page anywhere?
Step 5 Title Meta Tag
Look at the Title Meta Tag. How many times is the keyword or phrase used in the meta tag? Does the text in the Title meta tag appear in the text of the web page anywhere?
Step 6 Keyword Density
See how often the Keyword or phrase is used on the Page. http://www.ranks.nl/tools/spider.html
Step 7 Link Partners
If you want to see who links to you in the Google search box type in link: followed by your domain. As an example if you want to see who links to the greatest baseball team in the world the New York Yankees type in. --- link:yankees.com
About The Author:Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built an Organization of over 100,000 MembersGet Mike's Newsletter:http://ewguru.com/newsletterMore Articles by Mike:http://ewguru.com/tipsPermission Based E_Mail Marketing Methodshttp://ewguru.com/hbiz/amazingoffer.html
Stuck on Keywords
Keywords have turned into big business on the internet. If you pick the keywords that your customers are typing in, then your product is finally exposed to your perfect customer. That keyword is gold. Either you have run out of keyword ideas, you don't know where to look, you haven't had time, you need an easy to use tool, whatever the reason, I'm here to help.
Let me give you THREE awesome sources that will help you pick the PERFECT Keyword.
1. Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/) - This is a keyword suggestion tool from Overture. I use it all the time. You can type almost any keyword and it will suggest 30 or more related keywords.
2. WordTracker (www.wordtracker.com) ? Wordtracker is probably the leader in keyword selection, but it will cost a low monthly fee. It's worth it if you make ONE sale that covers the cost of Wordtracker.
3. Google Suggestion ? (http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en) This is Google's Beta Version that will actually give you the TOTAL number of searches for a particular keyword and give you the total number of searches for related keywords. If you keep losing the related keywords, just hit PRINT SCREEN when those words pop up. Then paste it in Paint.
I always strive to save you tons of money when generating traffic to your website. My eBook, The Traffic Toolchest, delivers over 70 valuable traffic generating ideas. You can grab a copy at www.thetraffictoolchest.com .
Kit Elliott is the author of The Traffic Toolchest. His ethical approach to marketing makes him one of the top experts in his field. His highly anticipated book Super Affiliates Guide to Riches is expected to launch by mid-August 2005 at http://www.superaffiliate.com . Check out The Traffic Toolchest at http://www.thetraffictoolchest.com to get over 70 valuable marketing tools.
Let me give you THREE awesome sources that will help you pick the PERFECT Keyword.
1. Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/) - This is a keyword suggestion tool from Overture. I use it all the time. You can type almost any keyword and it will suggest 30 or more related keywords.
2. WordTracker (www.wordtracker.com) ? Wordtracker is probably the leader in keyword selection, but it will cost a low monthly fee. It's worth it if you make ONE sale that covers the cost of Wordtracker.
3. Google Suggestion ? (http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en) This is Google's Beta Version that will actually give you the TOTAL number of searches for a particular keyword and give you the total number of searches for related keywords. If you keep losing the related keywords, just hit PRINT SCREEN when those words pop up. Then paste it in Paint.
I always strive to save you tons of money when generating traffic to your website. My eBook, The Traffic Toolchest, delivers over 70 valuable traffic generating ideas. You can grab a copy at www.thetraffictoolchest.com .
Kit Elliott is the author of The Traffic Toolchest. His ethical approach to marketing makes him one of the top experts in his field. His highly anticipated book Super Affiliates Guide to Riches is expected to launch by mid-August 2005 at http://www.superaffiliate.com . Check out The Traffic Toolchest at http://www.thetraffictoolchest.com to get over 70 valuable marketing tools.
Is a High Search Engine Ranking Important for YOU?
In the process of designing a website for clients the question inevitibly arises "How do I get a good search engine ranking?". This is a very good point and the answer is not as clear cut as you may think.
A high search engine ranking means that your website will appear on the first page of a search engine, when someone searches for the subject of your website. For example if you were a babysitter, then you would want to appear on the first page of results whenever someone typed in "babysitter" into their favourite website. If you sold CDs you would want to be on the first page of any search engine results whenever someone typed in "CD".
Many search engines and marketing tools say that you need to be on the first 3 pages of search engine results, but I say that is incorrect, you need to be on the first page. My reasoning is this: how often have you gone past the first page when you have been looking for something in a search engine? 10% of the time? Almost never? I'm the same. If you or I don't go past the first page, prospective customers won't either.
There are a lot of companies that make a lot of money out of selling products that increase your search engine ranking. Before you start to spend your hard earned cash - take a moment to read this article and determine if you and your business actually needs a high ranking in a search engine.
When someone asks me "How do I get a good search engine ranking?" my advice is to think of:
- What you wish to achieve with this site
- Your customer Demographic
- What other marketing plans you have.
Lets go through these points one by one:
- What you wish to achieve with this site
Ask yourself:
- What is my product/service
- Will people be searching for my product, my service or myself via a search engine?
- Is a web presence all I want/need?
The key answer you are looking for is the answer to question number 2. Will people, who have never or only vagely heard about me be searching for my product or service? If the answer is no, then a high search engine ranking won't do much for you.
If you just want a "web presence" (pretty much having a website cause you think its a good idea, but it is quite a passive part of your marketing. i.e. You have one cause your customers expect to have one) the search engine ranking will mean nothing to you. The aim of the site ("web presence") is achieved - your company is present on a website!
Many companies just want/need a web presence. The web is a great place to put their catalogues and brochures, so that a customer does not have to keep receiving mailings of the latest catalogue. The customer can simply log on to the web and then download up to date information on your company. This sort of website is great for general information about yourself and your company with the understanding that if a customer wanted more specific information then they would call you. In this case a high search engine ranking is not important, beacuse your customer already know that you have a website and already know its URL.
If, however you have an online product, such as an e-book, and want to sell it online, then yes, you will need a high search engine ranking in addition to your other marketing efforts. A high ranking will allow you to get new customers who have never heard of you before, but are interested in what your book has to say.
- Your Customer Demographic
Ask yourself:
- Where do I get customers from now?
- What sort of customer are they i.e. Do my customers use the Web for MY service?
- If you want to use the site as a main marketing tool then maybe a search engine ranking is important. If you believe that a customer may be searching for "babysitters" on the web, and you have a babysitter then YES - you need a good search engine ranking.
By thinking about your customer demographic and how they come to your business you can determine if a high search ranking is needed. For example if you are a word of mouth business then having a website for your business is fairly useless unless you are only seeking a "web presence".
If your customers will come to your site as the result of some other media advertising you are doing (TV, Radio, Newspaper etc) then a high search ranking is not important.
If you have the sort of business where your customers will be searching on the web for you, but dont know who you are then yes, a high search engine ranking is important. For example, if you sell DVDs then people dont really care who they buy from, if the price is right - they will be just searching for DVD in their favourite search engine and if your are in the front page, they will click on you and probably buy. So in this case it is worth seeking a high ranking.
- What other marketing plans you have.
Ask yourself:
- How else do I market?
- What is my main form of getting customers?
- If you are advertising through other media, such as TV, Radio, Newpaper, Flyers etc then it is necessary to think about if you will be needing customers to come from your website. If your website is printed on all your literature than a high search engine ranking is not important. If your customers see your product and want it - they will visit your website for more info.
A high search engine ranking is only important if people will be searching for your product or service on a search engine. If you don't think that your prospective customer's will be using the web to find your product then a high search engine ranking is not required.
Conclusion
When it all comes down to it, you are a busy business owner. You don't want to be expending effort on something that will not reap you any benefits. For most small to medium businesses you will find that a high search engine ranking is not important as most of their customers come from other media. Most small to medium businesses need a web presence but in most cases it is not worth the effort to get a high search engine ranking.
A high search engine ranking is only important if you expect to get customers who have never heard of you before searching for your product or service. Most small businesses do not fit this description.
About The Author
Andy White has build approximately 224 websites in the last 12 months, specialising in small to medium business websites. He also runs a growing website entitled www.hitsmetotears.com which is designed to be a one stop shop for your website marketing needs. He is based in Adelaide, Australia.
SEO Quickstart - 3 Things You can Do to Improve Search Engine Rankings Right Now
Increasing your search engine rankings should certainly be one of your main goals if you are looking to increase your targeted traffic. The reason for this is if you improve your search engine rankings, you'll increase the amount of visitors your website receives, and when you increase traffic to your site you are going to increase customers and sales. All of this potential has webmasters spending a lot of time and money getting their pages in the top 10 results on large, popular search engines like Google. There are only 10 spots on the first page of a search and thousands upon thousands of web pages are competing for these top spots. You have to put together an SEO marketing plan and include some of the proven ways to increase your search engine rankings today. Read the following suggestions, implement them in your marketing plan, and watch your traffic increase!
#1 - Get Links
If you do not have links to your website on other sites, you can forget getting a top rating. The reason for this is that many of the top search engines, and even some of the smaller ones, are searching for the amount of links on the Internet that are linked to your website. The more you have means the more popular your website and the higher weight it will be given. However, if you do not have links to your website, it is not the end of the world because it is fairly easy to get links via reciprocal linking. Start today and watch your website rise in the search results.
#2 - Do Keyword Research
You need a keyword campaign if you want to compete with other websites for the top search results. The reason for this is many of the top search engines base their results on the keywords searched for and the existence of these keywords in your website copy. However, it is very important to understand how keywords work and how to incorporate them into your website effectively. The best thing to do is research keywords and how to use them online to adequately incorporate this element into your marketing campaign.
#3 - Submit Your URL
This might sound obvious, but too many people never submit their URL to the big search engines, then they just sit back and wait and hope the search engine spiders pick up their site and index it. Do not waste time waiting for this when you can submit your URL and get indexed much quicker. However, read the rules and regulations for submitting your URL to search engines and know what they are looking for so you'll be sure to meet all of the requirements.
Once you do these three simple tasks, which really will not take you much time and no money, you'll increase your website traffic and start enjoying more sales. Don't wait to increase the popularity of your website, go ahead and start today!
Michael Turner shows you exactly how to increase web site traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it today at http://www.powertraffictactics.Get Better Search Engine Rankings with RSS
RSS is the latest craze in online publishing. But what exactly is RSS?RSS or Rich Site Syndication is a file format similar to XML, and is used by publishers to make their content available to others in a format that can be universally understood.RSS allows publishers to "syndicate" their content through the distribution of lists of hyperlinks.It has actually been around for a while, but with the advent of spam filters and online blogging, it is fast becoming the choice of ezine publishers who want to get their message across to their subscribers.However, not much attention has been given to the advantages RSS provides for search engine optimization.Why Search Engines Love RSSMany SEO experts believe that sites optimized around themes,or niches, where all pages correspond to a particular subject or set of keywords, rank better in the search engines.For example, if your website is designed to sell tennis rackets, your entire site content would be focused around tennis and tennis rackets.Search engines like Google seem to prefer tightly-themed pages.But where does RSS figure in all this?RSS feeds, usually sourced from newsfeeds or blogs, often correspond to a particular theme or niche.By using highly targeted RSS feeds, you can enhance your site's content without having to write a single line on your own.It?s like having your own content writer - writing theme-based articles for you - for free!How can RSS improve my Search Engine Rankings?There are three powerful reasons why content from RSS Feeds is irresistible bait for search engine spiders.1. RSS Feeds Provide Instant Themed ContentThere are several publishers of RSS feeds that are specific to a particular theme.Since the feed is highly targeted, it could contain several keywords that you want to rank highly for.Adding these keywords to your pages helps Google tag your site as one with relevant content.2. RSS Feeds Provide Fresh, Updated ContentRSS feeds from large publishers are updated at specific intervals. When the publisher adds a new article to the feed, the oldest article is dropped.These changes are immediately effected on your pages with the RSS feed as well. So you have fresh relevant content for your visitors every hour or day.3. RSS Feeds Result in More Frequent SpideringOne thing I never anticipated would happen as a result of adding an RSS feed to my site was that the Googlebot visited my site almost daily. To the Googlebot, my page that had the RSS feed incorporated into it was as good as a page that was being updated daily, and in its judgement, was a page that was worth visiting daily.What this means to you, is that you will have your site being indexed more frequently by the Googlebot and so any new pages that you add to your site will be picked up much faster than your competitors. How does this benefit you as a marketer?Well, for example, let's says a top Internet Marketer comes out with a new product that you review and write up a little article on, and that your competitors do the same.Google generally tends to index pages at the start of the month and if you miss that update, you will probably need to wait till the next month to even see your entry in.But, since your site has RSS feeds, it now gets indexed more frequently. So the chances of getting your page indexed quickly are much higher.This gives you an advantage over the competition, as your review will show up sooner in the search results than theirs.Imagine what an entire month's advantage could do to your affiliate sales!Why Javascript Feeds Are Not EffectiveSome sites offer javascript code that generates content sourced from RSS feeds for your site.These are of absolutely no value in terms of search engine rankings, as the googlebot cannot read javascript and the content is not interpreted as part of your page.What you need is code that parses the RSS feed and renders the feed as html content that's part of your page.This is achieved using server side scripting languages like PHP or ASP.A good free ASP script is available from Kattanwebhttp://www.kattanweb.com/webdev/projects/index.asp?ID=7 An equally good PHP script is CARPhttp://www.geckotribe.com/rss/carp/ So in conclusion, besides optimizing on page and off page factors, adding RSS feeds to your pages should be an important part of your strategy to boost your search engine rankings.
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