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What is a Keyword?

A Keyword refers to a word, phrase or sentence used in online search. (in a nutshell, whatever you would type into google’s search query box)

A Keyword can be a short-tail keyword (can be as short as a word) or a long-tail keyword (could be a phrase or a sentence). Short-tail keywords are broader (i.e. television). Long-tail keywords are more specific, and make for much more targeted searches and results (i.e. sony 55″ lcd bravia television best price). 70% of all searches performed are Long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords also catch people when they are closer to purchasing something.

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Google Algorithm Updates: Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird and More

Panda: Feb 23, 2011

The first major algorithm change affected roughly 12% of searches. It focused on quality and user experience. It cracked down on thin content sites, content farms, and sites with too many advertisements in proportion to amount of content, etc. This was an all-out assault on web content. It looked for the amount and quality of content that appeared ‘above the fold’.  THAT SAID: your quality content should start as close to the top of the webpage as possible. And don’t clutter your site. Content must be well-written, well-researched and error-free. You must take the time to answer questions — in the best possible manner.

Penguin: April 24, 2012

This was the next in a string of algorithm adjustments, affecting about 4% of search results. It targeted those who were severely over-optimizing their content, for example using ‘Black Hat SEO’ (stealth) techniques such as keyword stuffing, hidden text, sneaky re-directs, etc – BUT it also went further than that. It also targeted Link Schemes (i.e artificial links). Google used a formulaic approach to find the artificial links, i.e. if you went from 10 to 10,000 links in one month. Penalized sites were sent to google’s Sand Box, where sites were punished by going to the bottom of the rankings.

Hummingbird: August 30, 2013

After the dust settled on the prior adjustments, google released its latest big algorithm update, which focused on contextual search and the semantics of search. It moved away from indexing for specific keywords and moved towards more LSI (Latent Symantic Indexing) — comparing words based on mathematical computations —  so that google can ‘understand’ words and their relationships (i.e. Best Diet Tips = Nutrition Advice for Weight Loss).  It also moved toward understanding questions and their answer (i.e. what is the weather in NY). In a nutshell, this was a complete overhaul of google search — it affected 90% of searches on google.

Mobilegeddon: announced in late April 2015

Impacted 60% of all searches but has far reaching implications. Web design needs to take mobile into account, as well as tablets, etc.  This is going to be an important factor going forward. You must approach your site with a design perspective as well as a content perspective. Your site must work well on all browsers AND all devices including Phones and Tablets.

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What is a SERP?

Simple… it’s a:

Search Engine Results Page

In other words it’s the list that you see when you ‘google’ something

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Adding a Blogroll or Blog List

Three simple steps:

Step One: (Add a Link ‘Category’ to your Page)
(the Link Category that you are adding here will eventually show up in the Widget that you are going to add later in Step Three)

1) In your Dashboard, via the Left Nav Bar: click on ‘Links’, then click on ‘Link Categories’

2) Add a Link Category called “Blog Roll” or “Class Blogs” or “More Blogs” or something similar; you can also add an optional description (i.e. favorite blogs, or blogs I read, or simply Blog Roll)

Step Two: (Adding links to your blog roll)
(the blog links that you are adding here will eventually show up in the Widget that you are going to add later in Step Three)

1) In your Dashboard, via the Left Nav Bar: click ‘Links’, then click ‘Add New’

2) Add the actual name of the blog that you want to appear in your Blog Roll (i.e. Classic Movie Hub), then add the url (i.e. https://www.classicmoviehub.com), and add an optional description

3) Scroll down and ‘check’ the Category called “Blog Roll” (or whatever you named the Category that you just added in Step One). PLEASE NOTE that, until you add a link here, you will not see anything appear in the Link Widget that you will be adding below in Step Three

Step Three: (Add the Link Widget to your page)
(This is where you actually add the Widget itself, and since you’ve already addressed Step One and Step Two, everything will ‘magically’ appear after you successfully add the Widget)

1) In your Dashboard, via the Left Nav Bar: click ‘Appearance’, then click ‘Widgets’ (if your interface doesn’t show ‘Appearance’ in the Left Nav Bar, look for ‘Menu’ there and click that; then you should see the Left Nav Bar with ‘Appearance’)

2) Scroll down the Widgets page until you see a Widget called ‘Links’ (in the Available Widgets section) — and drag that ‘Links’ widget into your Primary Widget Area (upper right-hand side of page on most interfaces); Note: some interfaces won’t allow you to drag the widget, instead you will see an add/plus button on the upper right-hand side of the widget, so click that to add it to your Primary Widget Area.

3) Once your ‘Link’ Widget is in place in the Primary Widget Area, click on the little arrow on the upper-right-hand side of the widget so that the widget box opens up. You will see a field where you can add a title (optional) and you will see a drop down list. That drop down list will contain the Category that you added in Step One. Choose that Category and hit Save at the bottom of the widget.

That’s it!  You have now added your Links Widget that contains your Blogroll to your blog.

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Blogging – Outreach

So, why bother adding a Blog Roll to your Blog?

Because the blog you are linking to will see it — and hopefully return the favor with a reciprocal link.

So, why bother commenting on other people’s Blogs?

Because the blog you’re commented on will check you out.  If they like your blog, they will link back to you.

IN A NUTSHELL: IT’S ALL PART OF THE ONGOING PROCESS OF BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS… THE SAME REASON YOU RETWEET OTHER PEOPLE’S TWEETS, SHARE OTHER PEOPLE’S FACEBOOK PAGES, ETC. — YOU WANT THEM TO GET TO KNOW YOU — AND IF YOU ARE CONSISTENT WITH THIS IN A GOOD WAY (i.e. not just spamming junk) THEY WILL GET TO KNOW YOU.

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Adding a Archives Widget to your Blog

Adding an Archives Widget to your blog…

1) In your Dashboard, via the Left Nav Bar: click ‘Appearance’, then click ‘Widgets’ (if your interface doesn’t show ‘Appearance’ in the Left Nav Bar, look for ‘Menu’ there and click that; then you should see the Left Nav Bar with ‘Appearance’)

2) Scroll down the Widgets page until you see a Widget called ‘Archives’ (in the Available Widgets section) — and drag that ‘Archives’ widget into your Primary Widget Area (upper right-hand side of page on most interfaces); Note: some interfaces won’t allow you to drag the widget, instead you will see an add/plus button on the upper right-hand side of the widget, so click that to add it to your Primary Widget Area.

3) Once your ‘Archives’ Widget is in place in the Primary Widget Area, click on the little arrow on the upper-right-hand side of the widget so that the widget box opens up. Please click/choose the option that says ‘Show Count’ — and ‘Save’.

That’s it!  You have now added your Archives Widget to your blog.

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Google Analytics vs WordPress Analytics

Please remember to check out your WordPress Analytics… There you will see:

1) Referrers — how people are coming to your blog (for example, how many people are coming from twitter, facebook, google, or a particular blog or website)

2) What country they’re coming from

3) What posts they’re visiting

4) Search Terms: What keywords they’re using to find you

Now, even though you cannot connect your wordpress.com blog to Google Analytics, you need to know what Google Analytics can do for you… You can use Google Analytics if you have a wordpress.org blog, a blogger blog (blogger is owned by Google), or a website…

1) Referrers – how people are coming to your blog (same as above)

2) What country they’re coming from — but also what state, and what city!

3) What posts (or webpages) they’re visiting (same as above)

4) What keywords they’re using to find you (same as above)

5) How long they’re staying on your site

6) How many pages they’re viewing in one session

7) Returning vs New Visitors

8) Bounces — who visits a page and IMMEDIATELY leaves

9) You can even see everything in ‘Real Time’ — as it happens

10) If you also happen to be running Google Advertising, you can see results

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Best Practices: Blogging – CLICK!

Blogging Best Practices = CLICK!

Content  (ORIGINAL and interesting content)

Links (relevant backlinks — aka links coming into your blog from other relevant sites and blogs; google looks at backlinks as ‘votes’ for your blog; in other words if relevant blogs and sites are linking to you, google thinks that your blog is respected and trusted, or that you are an expert in your field)

Integration (support and integrate your blog posts with your other marketing efforts, both traditional and non-traditional; for example if you’re offering a free music download somewher, don’t forget to talk about it on your blog, or if you’re posting a new video to youtube, don’t forget to also embed it and talk about it on your blog)

Consistency (regular posting, best practices is 3x a week)

Keywords (keywords help google understand what your site is about, but use them in an organic and reader-friendly fashion; don’t stuff keywords where they don’t belong!)

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SEO: Backlinks

Backlinks (or blogs/sites linking back to your blog/site) can be an important factor in how Google ranks your blog/site. The more authority a site linking into yours has, the better for your site as Google will consider it a solid ‘vote’ for your site. Also, if the site linking into yours uses descriptive Anchor Text (describing your site well), Google may again add some weight to your rank.

Click here to check your backlinks via BackLinkWatch

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SEO Tips: Authority and More

Components of Trust: Google will trust, and deem you relevant, if you have:

  1. AUTHORITY: link popularity made up of # of links, page rank of those links, relevancy of those links, and the content those links comes from
  2. AGE: critical factor – think of google as the bank and you are going for a loan, you need to prove to the bank that you are reliable, responsible and that you have equity
  3. VALUE THROUGH CONTENT: Value-added approach: well-written and well-researched content, will have stickiness, must have exceedingly high value, google has algorithms to determine your content
  4. RELEVANCY: how relevant are you to a user’s specific search; combines the first three components along with the dimension of similar on-topic content

What does it mean to have AUTHORITY? (authority will not be covered in the Midterm)

Position of power because you work to get to that level. This doesn’t happen overnight; it is built up over time. If your website is brand new, you won’t have any authority. Think about how likely a new business is to get a loan? Not likely at all, unless there is something for the bank to believe that the business is credit-worthy. Google works the same way. Websites that have been around for a long time, always rank higher on search, assuming they build up authority by posting valuable content and getting valuable link backs. You can ONLY build authority over time. Authority is EARNED steadily over years.

So how do you do SEO when you lack authority? You must leverage other authority sites and other niche websites to create high-value content that then links back to your own quality content. Not easy, takes a lot of work.

What is PAGE RANK?

Google assigns your site a number from 0 to 10 (called Page Rank). Page Rank is the formula that determines the importance of a page on the web (i.e. how likely a particular webpage will appear in a search result). In a nutshell, it’s the sum of the quality of the links coming into your site.  Google tallies the value of a particular page in relations to ALL the other pages on the web. Note: each step up the ladder is exponentially greater than the step before. For example, moving from a Page Rank of 2 to 3 is difficult, but moving from a Page Rank of 3 to 4 is tremendously harder, and so it goes. Websites with a Page Rank of 10 are household names like Google and YouTube. Websites with a Page Rank of 9 are typically news sites like CNN.com.

In order to INCREASE PAGE RANK you must NATURALLY increase the amount of QUALITY links back to your site. Here’s how:

  1. Build content that has value: CONTENT IS KING; you must deliver enormous amount of value; excellent, unique, well-written content; be niche-specific to your content; don’t go off-course with your content; what you write about will either help you or hinder you; must be error-free.
  2. Create Authority Site content: once you’ve created excellent content on your site; your next step is to create a similar piece of content for an Authority Site (google trusts them, and they have a higher page rank); they want your content (for free); that content you give them will rank before any content on your own site (it’s a matter of google’s trust); you just can’t compete with that. Here are some samples of high Authority Sites: blogger.com, hubpages.net, scribed.com, slideshare,net, tumblr.com, vimeo.com, wordpress.com, youtube.com (page ranks are high). This is content marketing. You are linking back to your site from a high Authority Site. Make sure the link to your site contains a strong keyword for you.
  3. Create links to your content: find quality sites that you can use to build up the link presence of your content. This includes social media sites. Create as many quality links back to your content AND to the Authority Site content that is linking back to your content. You can link from a Facebook Page, Twitter, Google Plus, etc. This is important. These links are integral to the success of your content and the Page Rank of your site. Without spreading those links, you cannot build your Page Rank. Note: Google has a Sand Box — the place where google puts sites that are misbehaving and also where they put new sites (sites indexed less than 2 years ago). Each link holds a particular weight to it (link juice). When your site is new, the link juice coming from links will be subdued because they will be filtered by google’s Sand Box. But over time, your rank will increase. Authority Site content will get traction before your own content does. As other people share your content, your rank will build.
    1. Twitter: Page Rank 10
    2. Facebook: Page Rank 9
    3. Google+: Page Rank 9
    4. LinkedIn: Page Rank 9
    5. Zing: Page Rank 9
    6. Pinterest: Page Rank 8
    7. Tumblr: Page Rank 8
    8. Stumble Upon: Page Rank 8
    9. Reddit: Page Rank 8
    10. MySpace: Page Rank 8 (yes, believe it or not, its age makes it extremely authoritative and relevant)
  4. Develop relationships with bloggers: get other authorities to help you increase your own; can provide a huge leap forward; you must get people google already trusts to link to you. Several approaches (no easy way) — comment on blogs and add value to the conversations so that they take notice, then offer to guest blog for them, that article will contain a link back to your blog; this helps create authority for you (if it’s coming from an authority niche website or blog). Plus their fans might check out your link.
  5. Engage in real conversations: you must engage on blogs and social media on a daily basis. Do not ignore comments. You must engage in real and meaningful conversations with them. Comment on social media, comment on blogs. It’s recommended that you spend about 30 minutes a day doing this. You will build authority over time, by peaking people’s interest in you.

Think of google like Harvard, it’s not easy to get into — you must have every credential as possible to get in.

What is AGE?

This is not the age of your domain. It is the age from the date that google first indexed your site. There are ways to buy aged domains, but you must do due diligence before you move in that direction. Regardless of how well your pages are optimized, you need age behind you and the authority that comes along with it. Like business, google knows that trust is built over time.

CONTENT:

KEYWORD DENSITY: The number of times your keyword appears in your content vs the number of words on your page. Must be distributed between exact-match keywords and LSI keywords (see this post for explanation of LSI). Due to the Hummingbird algorithm change, google wants content that is keyword centric, but not keyword stuffed. In other words, you don’t want to repeat the same exact keyword 20 times in your post because google will consider you ‘over optimized’. You will instead want to include a mix of your exact-match keyword AND a variety of other keywords that semantically align with your original keyword (LSI keywords). And the formula is this: you will want to have a minimum of 2% keyword density in your post (and never higher than a 4% keyword density) BUT 30% of the keywords should be exact match keywords and 70% should be LSI keywords.  That said if your post is 1000 words, and you are going for a 2% keyword density, that means that you want 20 keywords in your post. However 6 of those keywords (30%) should be your exact-match keyword and 14 of those keywords (70%) should be LSI variations of your keyword. Exhausting isn’t it?!?!?

ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
1) Page Title (Title Tag): one of the most important components of SEO; this tag helps google understand what your page is about; it appears at the top of the browser, ensure that it is keyword focused; aim for 50-60 characters
2) Meta Description: write a natural and organic description of the content; 150-160 words that contain your primary keyword; this meta description appears in the google SERP (search engine results page); again, ensure that it is keyword focused
3) Headings: use headings to organize content on your page
4) Page Structure: structure content in lists and easy-to-read layouts
5) Crawlable Pages: ensure your site can be easily crawled by google (your webmaster should do this); add a site map to your site
6) Load Time: ensure your pages load quickly; i.e. optimize images, don’t use too many ads or things that will slow the site down
7) URL structure: how easy is it to read?
8) Mobile Layout: are your pages mobile friendly? is there enough space for people to click on something?

CONTENT and VALUE:

Google is looking for a continuous stream of MVPs (Massive Valuable Posts). An MVP post is a post that takes 5-15+ hours to write. Make your content count.

  • Quality
  • Well Researched
  • Keyword Centric
  • Engaging
  • Fresh

UNIQUENESS: content must be unique; if you’re quoting sources, make sure you note the sources; NEVER DUPLICATE CONTENT!!! Google will penalize you heavily for this!

VALUE: try to sincerely help others by answering a question or filling a need

RESEARCH: support your claims with stats and numbersopinions

FREE FROM ERRORS: including spelling and grammar

LENGTH: not set in stone, but recommended 1000 words minimum; stick to a high word count, but stay focused and on topic

KEYWORD LOCATION: Ensure that your exact-match keyword is in the first sentence and the last sentence of your post. If you can’t manage that, ensure it’s at least in the first paragraph and the last paragraph. And don’t bunch up the keywords into one place.

IMAGES: Ensure you have the rights to use the image; use a sharp picture (not blurry);use hyphens to separate words in the image name (i.e. cup-of-coffee.jpg NOT 12345.jpg); ensure you use TAD (title, alt, description) when adding images. Remember, google doesn’t recognize pictures; you must tell it what the picture is. 

IMAGE LOCATION: the content’s primary image should be located at the top of the page, but don’t clutter your content with too many images

to be continued…