Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website
Step Ten - The Extras
Welcome to part ten in this search engine positioning series. Over
the past nine weeks we have covered the nine fundamental steps to
a proper search engine positioning campaign. From choosing keywords
and writing content to optimizing your pages and building quality
links we have covered the required steps to attaining solid rankings
that will last. In part ten we will cover the extras.
The extras consist of tips, tools and resources that you will want
to use to keep you on the cutting edge of who's who and what's what
in the search engine positioning arena.
Over this series we have covered the ten key aspects to a solid
search engine positioning campaign.
The Ten Steps We Have Gone Through Are:
- Keyword Selection
- October 24, 2004
- Content - October
31, 2004
- Site Structure
- November 7, 2004
- Optimization
- November 14, 2004
- Internal Linking
- November 21, 2004
- Human Testing -
November 29, 2004
- Submissions -
December 5, 2004
- Link Building
- December 12, 2004
- Monitoring - December
19, 2004
- The Extras - December
28, 2004
Step Ten - The Extras
The first nine steps in this series cover the true nuts-and-bolts
of a solid SEO campaign. These are the crucial steps you need to
take to attain top rankings that will stick. That said " there are
"the extras", the icing on the SEO-cake so-to-speak. Those little
things that will bump you up from number 4 to number 2, or help
you hold your positioning through an algorithm change.
Some of these things have been touched on in previous articles
while others are completely new. Either way, these are the things
that will give you that little one-up over other ethical SEO's who
know their stuff.
Tools
One of the most important advantages you can gain over your competition
comes from the tools you use and more importantly, how you use them.
Some people blindly follow the advice given to them from so-called
"SEO-software". This is never the right decision. Taking the information
these good tools can provide, and knowing how to turn that information
into advantage is the key.
Here are the tools that many successful SEOs use to build solid
rankings for their clients and why:
Total Optimizer
Pro
I've noted this one in the article on link building and it's definitely
worth mentioning again. Never before have I found a tool that can
tear apart your competition so thoroughly, for such an affordable
price and in such an easy-to-understand manner.
This tool with take a look at the top 10 for a search phrase, and
give you:
- their position
- their PageRank
- their Alexa rank
- the total number of backlinks to their site as seen by Google
- the number of their site pages indexed by Google
- their keyword density for the targeted phrase
- their title
- their H1 tag
This is the overview it gives you. You can then select one of the
sites and view more detail including:
- the backlink URL
- the backlink domain
- the IP address of the backlink
- the PageRank of the backlink from that page
- the specific anchor text use for that backlink (or a note whether
it was an image)
- the title of the page linking back
- the Alexa rating of the page linking back
- the top three keyword focus' of the page linking back
- the number of links pointing to that page
- the number of outbound links from that page
Right below that there is access to a breakdown of the sites backlink's
that gives a summary of:
- the specific anchor text, the number of times that anchor text
was used, and the percentage this represents of the total backlinks
counted
- where these links come from. This will give you great information
as to how many of these links are coming from the same domain,
which is generally accepted in the SEO community as holding less
weight than the same number of links from different domains
- a PageRank breakdown of all the links
At $247 from TopNet Solutions it's a bit pricey but worth every
penny if you only use it on one campaign. Click
here for more details.
PR
Prowler
A necessity for any search engine positioning campaign that requires
link building. This tool, also developed by TopNet Solutions, doesn't
do all the fancy things that Total Optimizer Pro does however it
does do one thing VERY well - it's seeks out quality relevant link
partners with high PageRanks.
If you're not in a competitive industry and you just want to save
time on link building (and I do mean a LOT of time) this tool will
do it for you. You simply set it to find links based on specified
search phrase(s) and with a minimum PageRank. You can search for
up to 1000 links at a time. Simply start the tool and continue on
with other work or go to bed while it's working for you. Come back
and you've got some great leads and the best part is, it's weeded
out all the duds so your efforts are focused only on the links that
will most benefit your site.
This tool has taken campaigns that would have required many hundreds
of links to a point where the same effect can often be realized
with 50 and in a fraction of the time spent. Click
here for more information on PR Prowler.
FireFox
While this isn't exactly an SEO tool per-se it makes researching
and optimizing much faster and more convenient. FireFox is a browser
(read: Internet Explorer replacement) that has MANY features that
make it more convenient.
I like the tabbed browsing (moving between multiple pages through
the use of tabs on one browser screen), the username and password
ability is far better and more advanced than Internet Explorer's
and it's far more secure than the more popular Microsoft product.
It blocks popups, and spyware just isn't written for it.
I will admit that for the first few hours I was trying it out I
found it a bit more difficult to use but once you realize how much
more powerful it can be and that the difficulty arises from the
instinct to make the task more difficult by doing it the way you
would have with IE, you'll never want to switch back. The next time
you've got 5 IE windows open to various search engines, another
for WordTracker and a couple more to various other pages think of
FireFox and you're world will be made easier. It's a free download.
You can read more on the advantages of the FireFox browser in a
search engine positioning article written by ISEDB Editor Jim Hedger
at http://www.isedb.com/news/article/1062.
Search
Status
A tool developed for FireFox users giving them access to the Google
Toolbar and Alexa Rankings. It can be downloaded and installed at
no cost.
A big thanks to developer Craig Raw for a great tool, free of charge,
for those of us who want to use something that isn't powered by
Microsoft and that has all the advantages of the FireFox browser.
WebAlerts
You're doing your link-building, you're writing articles, or you
just want to see what others' are saying about you. Do you really
want to run searches for yourself and for your articles every few
days?
Set up a Google WebAlert for a phrase from an article you've written,
for your company name, for your competitors and/or for a phrase
from the description you're using in your link exchanges and let
the most powerful servers in the world do the work for you.
Beanstalk On Tools ...
There are definitely some very useful tools out there as noted above.
What must be understood is that these tools alone won't get you
the top rankings any more than a map will guarantee you a good vacation
if you don't know how to read it and you don't know where you want
to go.
The single most important thing anyone hoping to attain (and maintain)
top positioning on the search engines can do is to keep himself
or herself educated. While we noted a few great resources in the
last article on monitoring here are some of the key resources I
uses to keep up-to-date on what's going on the in SEO world.
Search Engines
This is definitely the most obvious. Run periodic if not daily searches
on your keyword phrases and a few others. Don't just look for your
rankings but look at who's in the top positions and look at their
sites and who's linking to them. Watch for changes and look for
what's different in the sites that are now on top.
Don't kill yourself trying to figure out every single engine. Google,
Yahoo! and MSN are the three biggest and just following these three
is more than enough work. Generally I've found that meeting the
requirements of these three will generally result in solid rankings
on most of the other "secondary" engines.
Forums
I can't speak highly enough about forums. When you're looking for
up-to-date information this is where to go. The challenge on forums
however is in deciding who knows what they're talking about and
who doesn't. Further, you'll need to be able to figure out which
members follow your code of ethics when it comes to SEO. Business
owners seeking long-term rankings with minimal maintenance should
not be taking advice from Black-hat SEOs.
I mentioned a few forums on the last article. A few additional
forums worth watching are:
Search
Engine Watch Forums - There's not much to say about this one
except that it's a must-see. Tons of great information, many members
so a wide variety of opinions to draw from.
IHelpYou
Forums - Managed by SEO Doug Heil this is an interesting one.
While I can't say I agree with everything Doug has to say I will
give him credit for ethics. If you want to make sure your tactics
are squeaky-clean then here's where to get advice. My recommendation:
take the info with a grain of salt. Doug tends to occasionally make
blanket rulings on tactics that have their place but if you go in
knowing this he can be a great source of some solid information.
High
Rankings Forums - Managed by SEO Jill Whalen, this one has some
great discussions. Sticking with my belief in giving credit where
it's due I have to advise to pay attention to what Jill says. She
knows her stuff and while she definitely falls into the category
of white-hat SEOs, she's willing to discuss a variety of tactics,
their merits, and judge them based on their use and worth. Open
and honest discussion - that's what forums are about. Mentioned
last week but worth mentioning twice.
The other forums mentioned last week and which are worthy of note
are:
Conclusion
So here we are, the end of it all. 17,000 words read (thank you)
and, if you've been following the program, many MANY hours spent
optimizing your website.
Will it be worth it? If you have followed these steps, keep yourself
updated on changes, and keep working on building your links, creating
quality content, and insuring that you're always putting in 10%
more than your competitors then it certainly should be.
I would like to take a moment to thank those of you who have worked
through these past ten articles and to wish you the very best of
luck in your online promotions. As always, you are welcome to contact
me with any questions you might have. Our goal in this series has
been to provide you with the information and the resources to do
it. I hope we have done just that.
If you have any questions about keyword selection or your website
in general please feel free to contact
us for additional information or sign up for our free search
engine positioning review.
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