search engine optimization
seo
===
What goes into SEO?
To understand what SEO really means, let's break that sentence down and look at the parts:
Quality of traffic. You can attract all the visitors in the world, but if they're coming to your site because Google tells them you're a resource for
Apple computers when really you're a farmer selling apples, that is not quality traffic. Instead you want to attract visitors who are genuinely interested in products that you offer.
Quantity of traffic. Once you have the right people clicking through from those search engine results pages (SERPs), more traffic is better.
Organic results. Ads make up a significant portion of many SERPs. Organic traffic is any traffic that you don't have to pay for.
How SEO works
You might think of a search engine as a website you visit to type (or speak) a question into a box and Google, Yahoo!, Bing,
or whatever search engine you're using magically replies with a long list of links to webpages that could potentially answer your question.
Social media & ranking in search results
Using links as an off-the-page ranking factor was a great leap forward for search engines. But over time, for a variety of reasons, links have lost some of their value.
Some sites are stingy about linking out. Others block links to help fight spam. And links get bought and sold, making them less trustworthy.
Enter social media. If links were a way for people to “vote” in favor of sites, social media sharing represents a way for that voting behavior to continue.
Social signals are emerging as potential ranking factors as search engines determine how to leverage our social interaction and behavior.
For the record, Google has repeatedly said that it’s not using the major social networks of Facebook and Twitter as a means to rank pages.
However, conventional wisdom among many SEOs — and our own view — is that social is important as an indirect factor.
Content that gets socially shared can, in turn, pick up links or gain engagement, which are direct ranking factors.
As a result, paying attention to social media is important to SEO success.
Sr: Social reputation
Just as search engines don’t count all links equally, they don’t view all social accounts as being the same.
This makes sense, since anyone can create a new account on a social network.
What’s to prevent someone from making 100 different accounts to manufacture fake buzz?
Nothing, really, other than the fact that fake accounts like these can often be easy to spot.
They may only have a handful of “quality” friends in their network, and few might pass along material they share.
Ideally, you want to gain references from social accounts with good reputations. Having your own social presence that is well regarded is important.
So participate on relevant social platforms in a real, authentic way, just as you would with your website, or with customers in an offline setting.
White hat vs. black hat
As you know, I’m playing the long-term entrepreneurial game instead of just trying to get a quick buck out of it.
It’s the same with search engine optimization. Some people are in it to make a few grand really quickly while others are in it for the long haul.
If you want to work SEO like a get-rich-quick scheme, you’ll probably end up doing black hat SEO.
This type of SEO focuses on optimizing your content only for the search engine, not considering humans at all.
Since there are lots of ways to bend and break the rules to get your sites to rank high, these are a prime way for black hat SEOs to make a few thousand dollars fast.
Ultimately, this approach results in spammy, crappy pages that often get banned very fast. It will often lead to severe punishment for the marketer,
ruining their chance of building something sustainable in the future.You might make a few grand this way, but you’ll continuously have to be
on the lookout for search engine updates and come up with new ways to dodge the rules.
White hat SEO, on the other hand, is the way to build a sustainable online business. If you do SEO this way, you’ll focus on your human audience.
You’ll try to give them the best content possible and make it easily accessible to them by playing according to the search engine’s rules.
Ss: Social shares
Similar to links, getting quality social shares is ideal, but being shared widely on social networks is still helpful. Good things happen when more people see your site or brand.
Again, participation in social sharing sites is crucial. If you don’t have a Twitter account, a Facebook fan page or a Google+ Page you’re missing out.
You’re not building up a network that can help spread (aka share) your content, site and brand.
===
What goes into SEO?
To understand what SEO really means, let's break that sentence down and look at the parts:
Quality of traffic. You can attract all the visitors in the world, but if they're coming to your site because Google tells them you're a resource for
Apple computers when really you're a farmer selling apples, that is not quality traffic. Instead you want to attract visitors who are genuinely interested in products that you offer.
Quantity of traffic. Once you have the right people clicking through from those search engine results pages (SERPs), more traffic is better.
Organic results. Ads make up a significant portion of many SERPs. Organic traffic is any traffic that you don't have to pay for.
How SEO works
You might think of a search engine as a website you visit to type (or speak) a question into a box and Google, Yahoo!, Bing,
or whatever search engine you're using magically replies with a long list of links to webpages that could potentially answer your question.
Social media & ranking in search results
Using links as an off-the-page ranking factor was a great leap forward for search engines. But over time, for a variety of reasons, links have lost some of their value.
Some sites are stingy about linking out. Others block links to help fight spam. And links get bought and sold, making them less trustworthy.
Enter social media. If links were a way for people to “vote” in favor of sites, social media sharing represents a way for that voting behavior to continue.
Social signals are emerging as potential ranking factors as search engines determine how to leverage our social interaction and behavior.
For the record, Google has repeatedly said that it’s not using the major social networks of Facebook and Twitter as a means to rank pages.
However, conventional wisdom among many SEOs — and our own view — is that social is important as an indirect factor.
Content that gets socially shared can, in turn, pick up links or gain engagement, which are direct ranking factors.
As a result, paying attention to social media is important to SEO success.
Sr: Social reputation
Just as search engines don’t count all links equally, they don’t view all social accounts as being the same.
This makes sense, since anyone can create a new account on a social network.
What’s to prevent someone from making 100 different accounts to manufacture fake buzz?
Nothing, really, other than the fact that fake accounts like these can often be easy to spot.
They may only have a handful of “quality” friends in their network, and few might pass along material they share.
Ideally, you want to gain references from social accounts with good reputations. Having your own social presence that is well regarded is important.
So participate on relevant social platforms in a real, authentic way, just as you would with your website, or with customers in an offline setting.
White hat vs. black hat
As you know, I’m playing the long-term entrepreneurial game instead of just trying to get a quick buck out of it.
It’s the same with search engine optimization. Some people are in it to make a few grand really quickly while others are in it for the long haul.
If you want to work SEO like a get-rich-quick scheme, you’ll probably end up doing black hat SEO.
This type of SEO focuses on optimizing your content only for the search engine, not considering humans at all.
Since there are lots of ways to bend and break the rules to get your sites to rank high, these are a prime way for black hat SEOs to make a few thousand dollars fast.
Ultimately, this approach results in spammy, crappy pages that often get banned very fast. It will often lead to severe punishment for the marketer,
ruining their chance of building something sustainable in the future.You might make a few grand this way, but you’ll continuously have to be
on the lookout for search engine updates and come up with new ways to dodge the rules.
White hat SEO, on the other hand, is the way to build a sustainable online business. If you do SEO this way, you’ll focus on your human audience.
You’ll try to give them the best content possible and make it easily accessible to them by playing according to the search engine’s rules.
Ss: Social shares
Similar to links, getting quality social shares is ideal, but being shared widely on social networks is still helpful. Good things happen when more people see your site or brand.
Again, participation in social sharing sites is crucial. If you don’t have a Twitter account, a Facebook fan page or a Google+ Page you’re missing out.
You’re not building up a network that can help spread (aka share) your content, site and brand.
Comments
Post a Comment