Archive for August, 2009

Well, it’s happened. And, I’m feeling the affects of Google Caffeine. That’s the name of most recent Google Update. The update started this month. So, if you’re monitoring keyword ranking, then it’s likely you’ve noticed movement on rank for many keywords.

SEO is evolving. Social Media is evolving. The Web is evolving (eg: Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, etc). Google is evolving. These evolutions are algorithm changes.

Speaking on what I’m currently observing, it appears to me that the shift of “importance” has once again swung in favor of content. Not links. In the past, if your website was search engine friendly, then buying links has always helped give a boost in the rankings.

Strong Caution. Don’t just think that just buying links can help you. Link Buying can help. But it needs to be in a much more sophisticated link campaign structure. Just buying links can be a huge waste of money if not done correctly. This is especially the case now, with Google Caffeine.

The winners of this update have been the ecommerce sites which were content optimized, AND “link heavy”. Content optimization includes more than just adding more webpages to your website. It’s a much comprehensive approach for a Web 3.0 world. And, the same is true with link development. Content Optimization now must be thought of as an integral way to build links. Links & Content are bound up more tightly together. Content Optimization is Link Building. Link Building is Content Building.

Here’s another way to classify websites in terms of SEO. Think about these combinations:

• Content light/Link light
• Content light/Link heavy
• Content heavy/Link light
• Content heavy/Link heavy

The losers in this update have been the websites which were “content light”, and “link light”.

The key with this new update is to build reputation and authority. There is a NEED to be consistant building content & links. This may take time. Perhaps, the link building you are lacking is in Social Media.

Ongoing SEO tactics:
1) Continually build content silos.
2) Continually participate in social media.
3) Continually build links using a complex link structure optimized for the social web. Don’t just “buy links”.

Wanna increase your website traffic? Build more content to increase your chances to be found. Build an online social media presence, and diversify your link portfolio.

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Additional Reading:
Google Caffeine: Google’s New Search Engine Index.
Google Releases Public Search Update: “Caffeine” Update.
More info on the Caffeine Update.

SEO has always been about getting high rankings and traffic via the search engines. In the early days SEO tactics like keyword stuffing worked quite well. Not anymore though. The big three search engine’s (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) algorithm’s have all become increasingly sophisticated. So, the tactics an SEO Consultant uses must also become more sophisticated, and change in kind. It’s kinda a cat and mouse game. As Google changes, our strategies and tactics change.

There will always be a need to drive traffic. But, where will the focus be? Will Google still be the primary target?

We’ve all seen the rise in Social Media usage. Some of the more popular Social Networks include, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Digg, and Youtube. And, we’ve all seen the explosive growth of Twitter. Not only are these growing and active communities, they also can drive a significant amount of traffic. Here’s the forecast of Social Media usage by emarketer:

Niche communities are popping up everywhere now. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Social Networks like Ning. Anybody can now create a niche social network by using their free platform. To see a great example, here is a ning community that I joined, which was created by Larry Brauner. Niche communities like his have the potential to grow huge, and drive highly relevant traffic.

An SEO Consultant should prepare for the shift to social media by getting active on some of these. This takes a lot of time. Some of it I’ve heard described as “busywork”. But, the investment of time is needed. Even if you just choose one or two networks to become active on, it’s very possible that your traffic needs will be spread out to different networks from those people you’re connected to on a single social community. Think of it as a scaled-down version of viral marketing. Although, it could explode into full-blown viral activity.

Now with all this talk of the importance of social networking, I don’t want you to think that traditional SEO is dead. Cause it ain’t!

The search engines aren’t going away anytime soon. There is no Google killer anywhere in sight. And, search engines still drive an enormous amount of traffic. Search engines are where your customers find you. In the future a good SEO Consultant will get you traffic regardless of where it’s from. It’s all about:

• Right Message
• Right Place
• Right Time
• Right Person
• Right Experience

Photo credit: Saioki Fugiyoshi

I like the symbolism of the photo. A good SEO Consultant (the mouse), can control Google (the cat).

I was contacted by a local small business wanting their site to get more traffic and high keyword rankings that would ultimately result in their selling more product. Of course, everyone wants that.

When, I looked at their site. It was very nice. But, very small. These guys are a factory operation that sells direct to the public. Nationwide. And, they are all trustworthy businessmen well respected in their community. I know this firsthand. But, any visitor to their site wouldn’t.

Before looking at the site any deeper, it was obvious to me that they needed more content. All types of content. And a whole lot more pages. This is what motivated me to tweet this morning on Twitter an SEO tip:

SEO tip: Build more content. Google & people want to see more resource-rich webpages (text, video, images).

Here I’m emphasizing content. In a previous post I wrote on the importance of a properly structured link optimization and how it can provide a boost in keyword rankings. So, which is it? Is it content or links. Ah, the ole debate. Well, it’s really a combination of those two things that’ll do it. Don’t ignore either. It’s a combination of the right type of links, and good content.

Content silos specifically. That’s what’s really gonna do it. And, the larger you can make your content silo the better. Stuff it with content. All types of quality content. And, don’t be afraid to use outbound links that go off your site. But, I’ll caution on the use of “weak” outbound links.

With Universal search (press releases, video, images, shopping results, news, etc), placing more types of content on your site is becoming increasingly more important to be found. You never know if your competitor’s video or image will appear above all the natural results. So, it’s best you have a ton of content that’s properly indexed in all the engines, so you stand a shot at getting your content in the search results.

Wanna Drive Traffic? Build Content. Regardless of the type of business you have, keyword & resource-rich content is good for every site. Keep building content.