Google and Bing have not supported the keyword meta tag for some time now but we’ve always mentioned that Yahoo! does so why not use it. At SMX East this week, Yahoo! stated that they have not been supporting the keyword meta tag for for several months now.
Mike MacDonald of WebProNews discusses the keyword tag, Facebook Marketing and duplicte content on related sites in the following video.
Here is a great post from Grokdotcom regarding the hierarchy of optimization when you are building your website. The most important step is to get started by making your website functional.
The post takes you through 4 more steps up to persuasive (Do people really know what they are buying from you).
When you type link:www.companyname.com into the Google search box (not the address bar) you get a picture of inbound links to a website.
There is a lot of speculation on the use and value of the link:operator to SEOs. In this video, Matt Cutts explains it from Google’s point of view.
Aaron Wall’s latest blog entry, Google rankings now placing a heavy emphasis on branding, provides detailed information on how Google is now favoring Brands in their search engine results pagges (SERPs).
Google may be using traffic details, bounce rates and more site factors to determine the “power” of a brand when including it in search results. If Google is favoring brands, it will changing the playing field as far as SEO is concerned.
Keyword research for local search is similar to regular keyword research. You have to find the best keywords for your business and then optimize for the local area.
For computer rentals in New York, as an example, the best keyword is computer rental.
Just add New York to the phrase so that the term New York Computer Rental appears in the meta tags, H1 tag, content and url if possible.
Here is more info on being found locally and keyword research:
You should make sure you have a free listing in YellowPages.com and SuperPages.com and Dexknows.com
These three yellow page directories provide search engines with local business information in the US.
In Canada, check www.yellowpages.ca for your free listing as www.yellowpages.ca provides Google Canada with local business listings.
You need to add his company info to the Google Local Business Center and Yahoo Local
Local Search Terms:
Go to Google and start typing in your city name. As you type, Google will complete your entry with a variety of search terms related to the city. After the city, start entering your business type and Google will give you search term examples as well.
Go to Yahoo. Same as Google but Yahoo will give you words at the front of what you type and after what you type.
Use Wordtracker for the same reason as Yahoo!
Use the Google Keyword Tool – Click the edit button for the country of choice, enter your 3 or 4 generic terms for your business and sort the results by average monthly searches.
Next, set up a spreadsheet and compare the results for individual keywords across the tools you used. Choose the best keywords that convert into sales and add the city to the term.
It won’t take long once you get the hang of it.
Matt Cutts has a good point. A few days ago, Google came out with a new tool inside Google Webmaster Tools. Frankly, if you are involved in SEO at all, you can be excused for the oversight due to the volume of information you are responsible for reading on any given day. Sometimes it is convenient to let a few items slip by. But this one is important.
Read Matt’s blog and then check out your own webmaster account for inbound links to your 404 pages. Then try to have the links directed to the proper page on your web site. We were able to fix (add) several links to a client’s website in a few minutes.
October 1, 2008 at the Prince Westin in Toronto, SOHO held a conference and exposition for business on the grow that the Academy attended. After attending the opening breakfast with Kerry Munro of Yahoo! Canada, the Academy headed over with the rest of the crowd to the trade show room. Exhibitors had set up their posts with vibrate colours and catchy phrases to attract the audience’s attention. Set up across from TalkSwitch FortKnoxis, the Academy immediately received eager clients and customers asking about their service.
At 1:30pm, the co-founders and partners of Wolf21 and the Academy teachers, Barry Byers and Michael Cloke, gave a presentation on Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing and SEO training. They offered free advice, tips and strategies, and also evaluated websites for free. After returning to their post, more customers approached them about their expertise.
The conference and tradeshow was a perfect time for the Academy to advertise their services to up-and-coming businesses.
You have to love this Page Rank Lookup tool from Seo Chat. Rather then checking every page on your site individually for PR, SEO Chat’s tool allows you to check 100 urls at a time. Its a great time saver.
Seroundtable has a great conversation on image optimization with suggestions from some pros including:
Visit Serountable to see the complete list.
If you have been in the SEO business for more than a few days, you know about Google Suggest. This past week it went mainstream and it has created a small buzz in the online world. SEO’s have used Google Suggest as a keyword tool for some time now. It was never a serious tool but then again, it was never meant to be one.
A month ago, Google enhanced their Adwords external keyword tool and it has become a tool of choice for many pros. Of course, you wouldn’t want to put all your eggs in one basket so watch for our next post on keyword research.
Follow us on twitter
Join us at our next
Meetup in Oakville