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Getting to the top of Google (the poem)

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: Backlink, Google, Google Webmaster Tools, How-to, Search Engine Optimization, Web page, Web search engine, website
Posted in Niche Internet Marketing

Getting to the top of Google
(a poem by Dan R Morris)

Beautiful pictures and
colorful web design
are no help to search engines
for their bots are blind

Progress is made
when Google figures out,
through the words alone
what your site is all about

Words are the bat
that hits the home run
Through smart use of words
And you’ll climb to #1

The search engines really can’t see. They can only read. And there are millions upon millions of sites on the web to read. If a search engine is to be successful, it’s goal must be to deliver web pages that provide the most relevant information to it’s “customers’” search queries.

In order to do that successfully, it scours the internet for your webpage and anything else on the internet that refers (or links) to your webpage. Since most people aren’t the best about creating search engine friendly web pages, Google has figured out how to learn from others what your site is about. If 1,000 other sites link to yours from pages about stamp collecting, the search engines are going to think your site is about or related to stamp collecting.

Then it combines that information to the words on your webpage and figures out what your site is about. Headlines, Titles, photo names and internal and incoming links really help Google understand your site.

After it figures out that your site is about stamp collecting, and a hundred other sites are about stamp collecting – it must determine which is #1, #2, etc. . . That’s where your internal site structure, the number and value of incoming links, the size of your website, how old is your website, how long people stay on your page before hitting the back button even how long it takes to load your web page become important.

The first question you must determine is whether Google understands what your site is about. Load your site into Google’s Webmaster tools and you’ll see what they think it is about. And search your site for keywords using Google’s Keyword Selector tool, too. That’s another way to see what keywords it pulls out. Once you’ve successfully taught the search engines that your site is about stamp collection – move on to the next step – and prove that your worthy of the #1 spot.

Each Friday, I post my notes from my meetings during the week about internet marketing and moving websites to the top positions in Google’s rankings. The Friday morning e-mail changes each week and covers topics like article marketing, use of videos, internal site structure, backlinks, and even offline topics like press releases, postcard marketing and capturing customer contact info. Please sign up below and ask as many questions as you need!

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It’s hard to connect content and marketing

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: business owners, change, content, content is king, customers, Google, Internet, marketer, marketing, Nashville, Search Engine, Time, title, Web page, website
Posted in An Internet Marketing Journal

Business schools just don’t understand the value of content in your marketing efforts. Rarely do I run across a business owner who truly appreciates the term “content”. And we’ve found even those who do, don’t have time to create it because “they’re too busy marketing and finding new customers”.

The bottom line is this, if you don’t understand that the internet has changed the game – then content will never make sense. For most people marketing classes were about the three P’s and “location, location, location”, and branding. And in all of those cases, the examples in the book were billboards, product packaging and sales letters.

That’s it!

To expect Master’s degree wielding marketers to grasp the Shift from post cards to websites is maybe too much to ask. But in the same breath, aren’t those same people the ones who shop, research and buy online?

Somehow, it still baffles me when I can’t make the connection between the content on the sites they’re currently buying products from – and their inability to translate that to marketing analysis.

Building the bridge between yesterday’s marketing classes and today’s marketing environment is the key, for sure. I find once business owners fully understand how the web works, what Google’s role is and how consumers find goods – the light bulb will have gone off. I’m not yet sure if it’s the mechanics of Google or the mechanics of the internet – but one of them solves the other.

Words. It comes down to words. When you search for “Honda 355 Motorcycle 600 cc Nashville”, Google’s job is to find something to return to the person searching that matches their query. And the ONLY thing they have to go on, is words.

I heard you screaming in the back. Yep, you’re trying to tell me that links are just as important. Well, you have the right idea – but you’re not using the right “words” to convey it. A link is code someone types onto their website that references yours. No matter what, that link is made of words – even if it’s a picture.

Together, the words used to link one page to the next, the paragraphs of text on web pages, the names of the photos you’ve loaded up to the web pages, the title of web page and the words people use when they comment on your posts – that is content.

Content + Search Engines = Marketing

If you’ve got great, structurally correct content – then you’ve got a marketing plan any professor would be proud of. (Even if that means you have to show them how many units you sold first).

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Google Starred Results – A New SEO tool

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: facebook, google favorites, google SEO, google starred results, google stars, Search Engine, Search Engine Optimization, Web page, Web search engine
Posted in Local Small Business Marketing

Did you happen to see the new “Google Starred Results” on your last search? It would have showed up at the top of the search results. It’s like an interactive “favorites” button – but one that stays in Google and not necessarily on your computer.

My question about Google Starred Results (and I see Wayne Liew has the same question) is whether they’ll play a part in the search engine’s algorithm. Since the entire web is moving from “factual proof” to “social proof”, it only makes sense that Google will weigh these stars as “social proof” that a web page is good.

Right now “links” and “traffic” are the ways Google measures “social proof”. (I’m way overusing quotes now, sorry). The more links a page has from other sites and pages on the net, the more likely it is that your page is “valued” by the general community.

As Facebook and Twitter take over as the leaders of social proof, will a combination of links from those sites plus the stars give a web page even more value to the search engines than either alone?

SEO is fun if you like puzzles. And I imagine being the guys that design the puzzles is pretty fun too. If Google wants to remain the top search engine, it continually must prove it returns the best most relevant results.

The question for us SEO lovers is whether Google Starred Results is just another piece of that puzzle for them, or is it just an added feature purely for the enjoyment of searchers?

So your task, if you choose to accept it, is to star not only your favorite sites as they come up in the search results – but your own sites. And if you’re a company with employees, I’d ask that you have them do it too.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world – so don’t hesitate. Step up and play ball.

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How to get a double listing (indented) in Google

Posted By: DanRMorris | Tags: Anchor text, Backlink, Google double listing, how to get a double listing, indented listing, Market Samurai, PageRank, Search Engine, triple lisitng, Web page, website
Posted in An Internet Marketing Journal

Have you ever wondered how to get a double listing in Google? Some people refer to them as indented listings, either is fine. An indented listing is not often thought about during the web design process, but from a search perspective it can push your traffic through the roof.

A double listing is the culmination of two pages on your website ranking well for the same keyword. They don’t have to rank 1 and 2 for the keyword, but they do need to rank on the same page. When they do appear on the same page of the search results, Google uses the indented listing to show they’re from the same site. It’s really just an efficiency thing for Google.

Double, indented listing in Google

So, how do you go about getting a double listing? As far as difficulty goes, it should be as difficult as it was to get your first page ranked for that keyword. And then just a smidge harder.

If you want a formula, start with the title tag and description tag. For the page of your site that currently ranks on the first page of Google, how often does your keyword occur in both of these, and what percent of the total tag is your keyword? Figure that out, then write a title tag and description tag for a second page that matches the number and density.

The key here is to use the same keyword, but write a different title and description.

The next phase is to analyze the components of the webpage itself. On the page currently ranked, what is the density of your keyword and where in the page does it occur? You’ll want to mimic both the density and placement on the second page. But again, keep in mind the rest of the content needs to be different. Just keep the numbers the same.

That was the easy part.

And the hard part. . . maybe. . . where are the links coming from that are going to the original page? Backlinks? Blog links? Other interior page links? One way links? anchor text links? etc. . . (You may want to use Market Samurai or the SEO Quake tool bar to help figure this out).

Once you do figure this out in a quantitative way, the goal is to mimic what you did on the first – without using the same sites. You can use some of the same sites to link to the second page – but ultimately you’ll want different links with simliar pagerank.

The folks at Google aren’t idiots. They may just notice if everything is duplicated. The key here is to create a natural web of links to both pages. And the second key is to have the patience to not expect results tomorrow. Do these things then wait a bit and see what happens.

If you’ve had luck with double or even triple listings – and have a “secret”, we’d love to hear it.