SEO 101

Today I was running through some competitor research for a new Page 1 Solutions client, an eye doctor in Maryland, and one of the terms I chose for analysis was “Maryland Glaucoma”. For Google and Yahoo! the search results were exactly what you would expect to see: Maryland-based web sites, mostly belonging to eye doctors who treat glaucoma.

And then there were the results from Bing. (You know where this is going…)

The first result is an Iowa .edu site that has no mention of Maryland. The second result is the WebMD entry on glaucoma, which has nothing to do with Maryland. Three and four were Maryland-based, but then the rest of the results were about split 50/50 between Maryland-area results and others from places as random as Chicago and San Francisco. That’s some really fuzzy geography… What the heck, Bing?

Then it dawned on me while skimming the results that Bing was highlighting a description term I hadn’t even searched for: MD.

Why is it throwing MD in there when I didn’t ask for it? Well, Bing’s search algorithm is smart. In fact, it is smart enough to know that MD is the postal code for Maryland, and it oh-so-helpfully assumes that if I’m searching “Maryland glaucoma”, then I’ll also want results for “MD glaucoma”. Right? Right! How intuitive and clever!

Well, not really. That may work for Minnesota or New Jersey, but here’s the thing - Bing forgot the part where MD doesn’t only stand for Maryland. It also means “medical doctor”, and pairing it with a medical term like glaucoma only confuses things. Bing has failed to take the abbreviation’s context into account when returning search results, and this could throw a wrench in optimizing certain localizations.

A few other potentially problematic postal abbreviations?
Pennsylvania = PA = physician’s assistant
Colorado = CO = company
Virginia = VA = Veteran’s Administration
Idaho = ID = identification
Puerto Rico = PR = public relations
Mississippi = MS = multiple sclerosis

What a headache…

We tested our postal code contextual glitch with “Kentucky Breast Augmentation” thinking it might pick up on a connection between “breast” and “KY”, and it thankfully did not. For the most part Bing’s results on similarly structured searches turned out okay, and I don’t think it’s worth worrying about it too much on the front end. However, if your website is hitting page one everywhere but Bing for state-based localization terms, confusion over postal abbreviations is one more suspect to consider.

Contuining with the updates on Google Maps, Google is really stressing on websites maintaining a consistency in the way they list their contact information. This makes it important for optimizers to update existing listings in directories and also to ensure that going forward all contact information is kept consistent.

With location-based information and services becoming increasingly important and with an increased presence by Microsoft (Bing) on the search front, Google has gone a step ahead and enhanced its Local Business Center dashboard. This looks to be the first of a series of steps that Google is taking to stay ahead of competition and to reassure users that their requests for more accurate and detailed data are being fulfilled.

The new interface is designed to provide registered Local Business Center customers with new data on where website traffic is coming from and what search terms are being selected by users. The dashboard provides such information as the number of times a listing appeared as a result for a query on Google.com or Google Maps over a given period.

The website owner can get information on how many times consumers interacted with a listing, and the nature of the interaction such as clicking through to the business’ Web site or to get driving directions.

There is information on top search queries that led customers to the listing. For example, the data might show us that “internet marketing” and “website design” are two top terms that led users to the Page 1 solutions website

There is also Zip code related data that shows where users are coming from when they request directions to a business listing.

According to a Google representative, registered listing owners can customize the data provided for a specific view or data range. The data is rendered anonymous and is updated daily.

The reaction to the enhanced features has been favorable as businees owners can use the “Google Analytics like” tool to get important data from the Business Listing itself. It also make it essential for us to ensure that our clients have verified Google Maps listings that have accurate and complete information about the business.

Over the weekend, Google Local instituted some new rules in order to increase the relevancy of local search results. I have listed them below.

New Requirements for Google Local (the short list):

1. You must have the actual business name in the title.  It is no longer acceptable to have keywords, phone numbers, or URLs.
2. Only one Google Local listing per physical address.  While this has been a request for some time by Google Local, it is now being enforced.
3. Only add and develop the categories that are directly relevant to the business.
4. The description and custom attributes fields are great places to add additional information about your business listing.  Keep this information separate from the business’ title, address, or category fields.
5. Only the primary URL for the website should be included in the profile.  Do not include URLs that redirect to the primary, or secondary website URLs.

Local results automatically served now

In addition, Google now serves up Google Local results by reading your IP address and determining your location.  Of course if you specify another city in your search, you will get search results for that locality.

Ranking better with Google  Local

Google loves QUALITY, local listings, reviews and citations.

A Citation can be a mention of your business name, address, and/or phone number in a prominent local web site. Such as a local chamber of commers, Better Business Bureau, university/college, and city hall.  Not that I did not mention a link.  A link is not necessary, but would be even more beneficial if you could acquire one.

A citation is going to be infinitely more valuable than one from findabusinessesinyourcity.info.  Although I do not discourage those either if the directory is of decent quality.

On that note, link volume still matters too.  For instance, if your business is listed on 100 websites, all of equal value, and your competitor is listed on 50 websites, all of equal value, you should rank higher for a particular search than your competitor.

Something I run into almost daily, is a client who lives in a suburb of a major city, who wants to rank high for the major city in addition to the suburb where their office is located. Citations and local links from the desired city are the ideal answer to these situations.

Improving your Google Local rankings

1. First you need to find out who your competitor is linking to that Google Local trusts. I will use the search term “Denver Lasik” as an example.
   

   

   Google Local Result

   Denver Lasik is unique in that it displays the Google “Authoritative One Box” local search result. This business is considered authoritative in Google’s eyes (no pun intended). So much so that Google Local only displays one result for the search. This is an ideal position. How did they get this, considering there are probably 300 other LASIK centers in the Denver area? Lets find out.

   

   By Clicking the "More info" link on the GL listing we navigate to this informational page.

   By navigating to the “More info” section of the Google Local listing, we come to a page that has several tabs.  For this post, I am interested in the “Web Pages” tab, as that is going to tell us what links Google Values most.

   

   Web Pages that Google Local deems important to this listings high ranking. You need links from these sites too if possible.

   Now we are down to “actionable intelligence”.  From this page we can determine what sites Google Local considers important and locally authoritative.  The “juice” from these sites is what is boosting this listing’s rankings.  If possible, you need to acquire links from these sites as well.  That is, if you want to compete…

What else matters to Google Local.

Link Building

• Local directories are terrific, but larger directories that allow you do drill down to a city/region are just as important.
• Links with local businesses are helpful as well. The key here is quality. The local businesses you get linked from need to have solid local optimization as well. Otherwise Google Local won’t trust them as a local site, and will give the link from them no more weight than a link from across the globe.

Launched nearly two years ago, Ning is a fast growing social media site that lets members custom build their own social-networking platforms based around their interests and hobbies.

Modeled on earlier online communities like Craigslist, Ning allows users with similar interests to connect and network.The communities on Ning range from music lovers to food enthusiasts to people seeking to actively participate in environmental and civic areas.
 Just like Facebook  connects you to people you already know and Twitter offers news and real-time events, Ning networks people who are passionate about certain causes or activities. From a business perspective, this could be a opportunity for marketing companies to find potential clients and also for professionals to share information and build networks.
At Page1 Solutions we are always looking for new opportunities for our clients, I’m interested in seeing how Ning grows as a social networking site and what benefits it can bring to our business.

Recently a friend of mine came to me with a link opportunity. He offered two free ad placements on an extremely niche, local directory for one year, after the first year it would turn to paid - awesome deal right?

So I look through my clients, and find one that practices in the locale and advertises for the niche. I figure I’ll be a nice guy and email him the free opportunity.

Two days later I receive a reply from the client that he will “let the offer marinate”. I’m flabbergasted - I re-read it several times to be sure I understood correctly - Yep, let the offer marinate. Ha-um,ha.

Any person worth their salt in internet marketing knows this - offers don’t marinate in the online environment, and an opportunity for free ad placement in a local niche directory is virtually non-existent.

In retrospect, I guess if you can’t convince them with common sense, try a marketing spiel:

LIMITED TIME OFFER!!!!

For a limited time only, you, yes YOU, can have free ad placement in a targeted local directory:

- Bring customers right to your virtual door!!!

-Conversions in MINUTES!!!

-TOP google position!!!

Opportunities, especially online, are very often here one day and gone the next, a simple shrug of the shoulders is enough to have the opportunity pass you by.

Microsoft has officially unveiled their plans for Bing, a new search engine that they are hoping will compete with the biggest of boys in Internet Search, Google. The company does not refer to their new pet project as a search engine, but rather a “design engine” that they claim will help consumers make better decisions by providing the most relevant results on the Internet. Sounds great in theory, but how exactly do they plan to knock Google off their thrown? By throwing money at it, of course.

Microsoft is planning on spending over $80 million on their marketing campaign for Bing, more than quadrupling what Google spent on advertising in 2008. They will be creating a hype to be reckoned with, and Google may just be given a run for their money - literally. If nothing else, Bing will get plenty of initial traffic, but I’m not sure if people will have the power to break the Google addiction. If Bing can perform like Microsoft claims they will, I think Google may finally have found a worthy competitor (at least until Google responds with something bigger and better).

I have been working on a new site for an Indianapolis Cosmetic Dentist, and a Jackson MS Lawyer over the last few days, and the issue of organic search engine rankings and trust had come up during conversations with the clients. The following are a few of the topics we covered during that discussion

Trust is a major factor in Google’s organic search results. Some websites achieve high placement on Google searches for nearly any content they publish while other websites struggle for high rankings although they have well optimized web page content. Why?

Trust. That’s why.

How does one earn Google’s Trust?

1. Google not only indexes a site for relevant content that is well optimized, they also look at who links to you, and to a much lesser degree, who you link to. From this they determine how authoritative your site is, and if the information is trustworthy. It’s like the saying "you can judge a person by the company they keep." The "company" your website keeps are the links that point to your site.
   1. With that in mind, don’t participate in link building schemes. emails with the subject "I can submit your site to 10,000 directories" are probably not a good idea to pursue.
2. Trust also comes with age. The age of your domain name that is. If you already have your domain name, only time will improve your domain’s status. If you are starting a new web business, you may want to purchase an existing domain (if suitable) that is established.
3. If you start with a new domain, buy it with a renewal period of two years and more. By doing so, Google understands that your domain is not a "throwaway" domain.
4.  Check your WHOIS records and make sure that the contact information is correct. Do not use exotic top level domains. If you are in the USA, use .com, .net or .org. If you’re in another country, use the official top level domain of your country.
5. Try to get a link to your site from a .edu or .org web site. These domains usually have a high degree of trust, which is passed on to your site when they link to it.
6. Build links with sites that are in your industry/profession and/or your locality. If you are a retailer for instance, make sure that the companies you purchase product from have you listed on their site (with a link of course) as a dealer.

A brief post on some simple, yet powerful research tools that I found useful while doing some comptetititve analysis for my personal injury lawyer client Ellis, Ged & Bodden.

• SEM Rush - Enter your client’s URL into the text field to find organic search competitors.
• SEO Moz LinkScape (Requires Subscription) - Enter the competitor’s URL’s (see above) into the linkscape reporting tool to guage their authority, trust, and link building strength.
• Google AdWords Tool - Great for getting data on keywords, finding new keywords, and doing comparisons.

Me

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MIchael

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Kristen

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Patti

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