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Backlinks: Good or Bad?
You have probably gotten an email or two, or phone calls telling you how you can be on the first page of Google! Get your 1000+ backlinks for only “X amount of dollars” and watch your website climb to the top of the search.
This statement used to be somewhat true until Google made changes a few months ago. Penguin. Penguin is a change in Google’s algorithm, not a penalty. When it’s a change in the algorithm, it affects ALL websites, not a singled out site. This update has pretty much killed buying links as a strategy to get your website ranked high in a Google search. Don’t get me wrong, backlinks are good AND necessary in your Internet Marketing Strategy. Continue reading
Lost and Found? Where are you?
Where does your website reside in Google, Yahoo and Bing’s vast databases? When people search for your services or products, are you one of the lucky few that show up on the first few pages of the search engines?
When people go to the web to find services or products, more so than not – they will only look at the first few pages and contact one or two of the companies they find in those first few pages. So…if you are not on the first few pages in a search, you are considered lost – you may never be found.
Your website competition is at an all time high. There are always those top companies that play king of the hill with the search engines always showing up in the top 10 positions.
We decided to do a quick study – to show you what you are up against. We have compiled a list of keywords people use when searching locally. You may be surprised with the numbers of websites using the same keywords. Do a generic search on your industry? How many other websites are you competing against? I know we were shocked to see that “website design Tampa” has 34,100 results and just “website design” has 119,000,000 results.
Image Stuck…
Have you ever gone to a website and at first glance you got lost? You looked at the images used and couldn’t figure out why in the world that picture of someone holding a big fish had anything to do with how to bake chocolate chip cookies? Proper image selection is crucial to a successful internet web marketing campaign.Continue reading
Artificial Intelligence! Google?
What is artificial intelligence?
It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable. ~ John McCarthy
Is Google developing their search engine to be some type of artificial intelligence that can predict what you are searching for? What’s next – talking to your computer and telling it what you are looking for? If you were a “Trekkie” (Star Trek fan), that’s what they did all the time! Some of the things that they did on that show are things we are using today, in some form or another. Was Gene Rodenberry ahead of his time?
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Commit to Submit…
If you’ve been around the internet long enough, I’m sure you have probably seen someone say something along these lines “We will submit your website to Google and other Search Engines and make you #1!”
We have found that a lot of people think that this signifies that company works for or is a partner with the search engines like Google. They have the “in” with the search engines…and if they submit your website to the search engines that you will definitely be found in a search.
Let me just say, none of us has any special “in or pull” with the search engines. The search engines’ algorithm to position websites is their trade secret. Over time companies that specialize in website placement have learned what it takes to have a website positioned high in the search engines.
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Do you have Robots on your Website?
What I am talking about is “robots.txt”. This is a text file that is uploaded to the root of your website and works with the search engines.
Now, you don’t have to have Robots on your website; but not having this file may cause some issues. Let’s say you have duplicate pages in your site – one for viewing and the other one for printing. You may not want the search engines to index both pages because this could impose a penalty for duplicate content. You also probably wouldn’t want your print page to be indexed, as it would have nothing referring back to your website on it.
A robots.txt file tells the search engines the pages that you don’t want them to visit on your website. For the most part the good search engines will obey what you ask them to do. There are some rogue search engines out there that will bypass the robots.txt file, so if you have some sensitive data on your website, you need to lock them up.
Do Know How Your Website is Performing?
Not knowing if your website is working for you is like not knowing how much money you have in the bank.
A Website Analytics program collects data and reports a multitude of things which are important in making your website work for you.
Here is a list of a few things that website analytics will tell you:
Meta Description Tag?
What is a “meta description tag”? It is a brief and concise summary of your content within your web page that can be used for search engines or directories. This description should be relatively short.
Using meta description tags… Continue reading
Are you above the fold?
Google, Bing, and Yahoo are continuing to make changes in the way a search is interpreted to bring back their result. There are more companies’ website not showing up in the SERPs due to these changes that are being made. Continue reading
Has your website been delisted?
There is nothing worse than having your website delisted by the search engines. This happens on a regular basis. Once your website has been banned, it can take a while before it’s re-indexed after you’ve fixed the problem(s) with your website.
There are many reasons why your website can be delisted. Below are just a few of the more popular ones.
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