The ZEN of SEO

The year of the SEO Expert

2009-01-07T03:14:21.758-08:00

Did you get a chance to have a look at the free seo training guide? If not, do so, as there is valuable information in there based on my personal experiences working with seo strategies for my websites, my blog, and for other clients, and will help you in understanding what factors influence your online business. Best of all it’s for free!

After a long break (As I was holidaying in Thailand), I was wondering what to write about in 2009. It seems the recession has taken the wind out of many ambitious business plans, but I believe that it’s a good time to invest in your online business. For one, it’s one of the cheapest forms of advertising that’s available. My inspiration to write however, like the recession, is on the low at the moment.

Life has a habit of throwing curve balls at us so that we can learn from the mistakes we make and grow. In search we are taught there are no curve balls, but rather an application of strong seo principles for on-page optimization, writing unique and keyword driven content, and building quality links from popular web and user communities to your content and website.

So what’s missing from the learning curve? And are we learning?

Sometimes we SEO’s get so involved in the technicalities, rankings and the changing search algorithms, that we forget that there are real people sitting out there? For sure they are interested in our brilliant optimization strategies, and killer link building capabilities, but they are also at the end of the day looking for something more - that we SEO’s have not been able to understand.

In light of this revelation, I have decided to organize interviews with senior management across few big companies, a few home businesses, and some online entrepreneurs over the next few weeks. I will in the process hope to begin to understand what the people want VS what I think I they need.

Life has a habit of throwing curve balls at us so that we can learn from the mistakes we make and grow. Well, maybe it’s time for us to grow up and learn.

So watch out for personal one-to-one interviews coming soon! And hope to see you there…

Blog Reviews January

2009-01-04T21:10:22.718-08:00

My recent testimonials. A BIG THANKS to all of them for taking the time.

1 http://b-i-d.tv/?p=35
2 http://as-er.com/?p=33
3 http://www.dirdomain.com/2009/01/02/the-best-seo-consultant-of-this-country/
4 http://www.matls.ws/2009/01/02/create-your-own-web-page-to-spread-business/
5 http://www.msdakotachapter.org/2009/01/02/seo-writers-can-efficiently-create-a-web-page/

Free Seo Training by Seo Expert Nevil Darukhanawala

2009-01-03T21:30:27.261-08:00

Welcome back to the Zen of SEO, a unique meeting place where the Search for who we are, where we are at, and to where we want to go, is an unending passion. It’s the Search of the human spirit that 'motivates us', and what relevance the Search has in our lives that 'drives us'.

As we stumble from one bubble to another, one recession to another, what lessons have we learned from the past? Please read my blog posts below written over the past year (2008). It shares all my experiences while doing hands-on seo optimization of my website http://www.seo-optimization-experts.com/ ranking #1 and my Zen of SEO blog which is ranking #1 on Google for the keyword “seo expert mumbai”. The site has a Google page rank of 2 which has been accomplished in 6 months.The secrets shared helped me start my own SEO consultancy, and it will assist you in getting higher rankings for your online business.

Free SEO Training (My gift to all Seo and Internet Marketing enthusiasts)

Chapter 1 - Keywords Basics & Advanced

Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 1
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 2
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 3
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 4
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 5
Keyword Placement Strategy

Chapter 2 - The Content Matters

Are you leveraging your content?
Is Content the King?
SEO Guide to Article Writing
What's in a Title?

Chapter 3 - Link Building Basics

Link Me Up Scotty!
The Link Building Matrix (Reloaded)

Chapter 4 - Secret Tips

SEO Expert Secrets: Going Beyond Keywords
Seo Expert Secret: The Long Tail of Keywords

Chapter 5 - SEO Path to Success

SEO Expert – The Success Path (Part 1)
SEO Expert – The Success Path (Part 2)
Is your competition beating you with SEO?
Fine Tuning SEO for Recession

Chapter 6

Tag Newsworthy Events for Traffic
The Soul of the SEO Specilaist
A SEO Expert thats right for you!
Journey of SEO
Create new Gateways to Targetted Traffic
Obsessive Ranking Disorder (My Wakeup Call)

Chapter 7 - Blogging for Success

The Bloggers Guide to Survival
Why Search Engines love Blogs? And so should you!
My Love and Hate relationship with Blogging
Get your New Blog Noticed (Part 1)
Get your New Blog Noticed (Part 2)
Get your website reviewed by prominent Bloggers
Leverage by Commenting on Relevant Blogs (Part 1)
Leverage by Commenting on Relevant Blogs (Part 2)
Last Blogger Standing
Why Blogging for Business is here to Stay!

Still have questions:Ask the Seo Expert
(Ask me any questions related to seo techniques and Internet marketing strategies)

Return of the Seo Expert

2008-12-17T00:12:20.854-08:00

(Kinjal and me at the Sunset Jacuzzi Room in Koh Samui, Thailand)

For those who have been wondering to where have I disappeared…

I am in Thailand touring Koh Samui, Phuket, Krabi, Pattaya and Bankgkok on my Honeymoon with lovely bride Kinjal and will be returning to Mumbai on 27 th December 2008.

So if you have been missing my posts, here are my Top 5 recap:

1. The Soul of the SEO Specilaist
2. A SEO Expert thats right for you!
3. Is your competition beating you with SEO?
4. The Link Building Matrix (Reloaded)
5. Why Search Engines love Blogs? And so should you!

Here are the Top 5 as selected by the readers:

1. Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 1
2. SEO Guide to Article Writing
3. Link Me Up Scotty!
4. Are you leveraging your content?
5. Why Blogging for Business is here to Stay!

Cheers and see you all soon!

Are you leveraging your content?

2008-12-07T06:11:49.259-08:00

I once wrote this great book that could have changed the history of the world as we know it today. Unfortunately it was never published so no one read it. Great works of literature and art would have been lost had it not been for someone appreciative who thought “hey everyone should be witness to this”.

Well this may just be a pipe dream of a silly writer… but to be successful it’s crucial to get published and that your work is available across multiple locations and communities.

The online world is no different. You can be spending hours and days writing and building great content but if it’s not published and promoted correctly across diverse web and user communities, no one would have read it.

Don’t let it become your pipe dream!

Imagine millions of pages of content shouting out to be visible. What can you do to stand out? Assuming you have done your SEO optimization and keyword analysis well, one is to build original, resourceful and informative content around those keywords, and two is to make that content accessible across multiple web and user communities.

Not only will the search engines love you for it, other websites will send you requests to link back to your content, and users/readers will flock to see what new insights you have to offer.

Search engines have two main criteria’s while ranking your page, the quality of your content and link backs to your content. If others (popular sites and user communities) deem your content valuable, and are ready to link back to your content, then search engines deem that content valuable.

So good content focused around your keywords that is well syndicated and promoted will help you please the users and the search engines. So don’t be in a hurry to get your content published…have your content syndication and promotion strategy in place.

So when is the best time to syndicate your content?

How can you make each blog post count?

Generally once I publish my content, either on blog post, or on my site, I immediately start submitting to article sites (top article sites generally take a few hours to few days to publish the content).

Once I am done with article submissions, I use social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Digg, Furl, Stumble Upon, Blink List, Yahoo Bookmarks etc to promote my content to the user communities. I make sure I use interesting and catchy headlines to get their attention. I generally follow this cycle for each post or page of content I publish online.

So make each page, each blog post, and each article count.

Developing content can be handled in-house as at the end of the day you are the experts in your domain and understand your business best. In case in-house resources are not possible you can use the services of a good seo content services company or freelancer copywriters and article writers.

Ensure that the person you hire is well versed with writing on various topics (if you can find someone with experience in writing about your domain, its good) and is familiar with SEO editorial guidelines.

Quick Tips:

1. Post your content on article submission sites (it’s not treated as duplicate content)
2. Submit your content to social bookmarking sites to target user communities
3. Submit your content to RSS feeds
4. Build links to your content from diverse web and user communities

So if you are building great content, and syndicating and promoting your content, then you will find many appreciative webiste owners who will think “hey everyone should be witness to this”.

This, my friends is no pipe dream.

Also Read:

Is Content the King?
SEO Guide to Article Writing
Link Me Up Scotty!
The Link Building Matrix (Reloaded)

Tag Newsworthy Events for Traffic

2008-12-04T09:50:52.139-08:00

When I first wrote the article on Mumbai in Terror Again that was posted on 26 November 2008 (the fateful day when terrorists attacked and kept Mumbai under siege for more than 48 hours), I was very upset and wanted to speak up on my blog against the violence, terrorism and the loss of innocence.

So I wrote a prayer of hope - to spread the fragrance of peace and love amongst those grieving, angry, and the very sad in Mumbai, and then across the World. The morning after the posting, I decided to share the prayer (and hope) with as many people as I could, so I got around to submitting the blog post on my favorite article sites, and social bookmarking communities.

What happened next is very interesting.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I don’t wish to make little of the situation, or take advantage of what happened in Mumbai from a SEO’s perspective, but the idea behind this blog post is to share a real SEO experience.

In the next few hours I saw a steady rise in the traffic that was coming to the blog post. On the article sites and social communities this post was getting more traffic and more click-backs to my profile and URL than any other previous posting I had made. Over the next two days there was a steady stream of traffic to my post and it’s still not stopped, making it my most successful post till date.

So what just happened here? Why was I getting all this additional traffic?

An event that’s newsworthy generates a lot of search engine traffic as people are already hungry for that information, and the media is probably already promoting it. By tweaking your keywords and by creating relevant content you could create a funnel of traffic to your website.

Are there any events happening in your city that could be newsworthy? Is there a release of a very popular movie? Is there going to be an event that the media will give lots of coverage to? Is there a festival around the corner? Or a new rock band coming to the city?

“Then by creating value and content for the users searching for information about those events could drive potential traffic and business your way”

A word of caution here! Don’t tag events that don’t have some kind of synergy with the services or products you are offering. Don’t create pages of content which are not useful to the user. And don’t overdo it! Be selective and plan well so you get your keywords ranked high well in advance.

Mumbai in Terror Again

2008-11-26T21:44:57.178-08:00

Mumbai yet again is under terrorist attack which started at 10:00 pm last night and there seems to be no recluse till this present moment…

This post is a prayer for Mumbai still under terror, and for the rest of the World.

With all the news on terror we have accustomed to reading in the headlines and watching on television, about bomb blasts, terrorist attacks, and innocent killings happening all around us, one tends to remember only the headlines and forgets’ that life has love, beauty and creativity to offer. But how are these life’s essentials to coexist in a world where power dominates and money motivates. It’s been written that history will repeat itself, but we also have come to understand that we have the power to learn from history and help change the future – our future.

Today lets us all take a small step in re-writing history. Today let’s take a small pause and really re-examine our lives, to know who we are, and where we have headed - as individuals, as countries, as people living and sharing the same planet, and as humanity as a whole. Today let’s spread love and peace to all around us; a seed of life which I hope will spread like wild flowers, today in our beloved Mumbai, and tomorrow blossom and spread its fragrance across the rest of the world.

While we may claim that one person cannot change the world and place responsibility on others or blame the institutions in power, at the end of the day it’s our world. No amount of rationalizing or blaming can preempt the moment of choice each of us brings to our situation here in Mumbai and on our Planet.

We have fought enough wars in the past for freedom, for power, for religion, for many worthy causes and many innocent have been slain. In a war there are no winners, everyone loses, we know that now, and yet we continue on a path that can only lead to the destruction of a Planet we have come to call Home.

It’s not just the terror we are facing on the outside, it’s the war waging within each and every one of us. We are living in the most difficult times.

Is it the end of living and the beginning of survival? A new era is upon us, where we have no time to enjoy a sunset, to feel the cool breeze by the sea, to admire the beauty in trees and flowers, and to appreciate the gift of life.

And yet we continue to live in the secure confines of our own precious little worlds where we struggle to make it through each day, hope for a better tomorrow, and satisfy ourselves in the meantime by tending to our petty desires. But is this what we are here for?

So how does it all end? If you seek the end you must go back to the beginning where the answers to all your questions reside. There exists a world we perceive and experience on the outside and our senses are the doorway, but there also exists an inner world in which lies our capacity to love instead of hate, create instead of destroy, and rejoice instead of suffer. It’s this space each one must seek.

In the end, there is a new beginning, and each new day offers us a new chance; a new seed can be planted, a seed of life and opportunity to make a difference in the world around us.

To my beloved Mumbai…may she find Peace.

Seo Expert Secret: The Long Tail of Keywords

2008-11-22T12:52:44.703-08:00

What is the long tail of the keyword? It’s the longest version of the keyword phrase that you can target.

Allow me to elaborate...

Suppose we have to choose keywords for a company in India wanting to promote seo content services. The obvious choice for keywords that come to mind are seo content services, seo content services india and seo content services in india.

Now what’s interesting is that seo content services, seo content services india and seo content services in india all have different rankings in search results, each having separate competition. As mentioned various times in my previous posts you should ONLY target one keyword per page. So would you need to create separate pages around each of these keywords? Imagine the nightmare for a seo copywriter having to write content around that.

So which keyword would you select? After all you want to target users who type any of the above keywords and you are smart enough not to insanely create similar or duplicate content pages to target those keywords.

The best option is to target the longest variation of the keyword phrase. By targeting the longest variation of the keyword you ensure the keyword phrase includes all the individual words seo, content, services, in, and india that you want to target.

What about the keyword phrase affordable seo content services in india? Yes the chances are strong that there would be fewer users typing such a long keyword, but by using longer variations of the keyword phrase your page is now set up to handle various permutations and combinations the user may type, which otherwise would be lost within the keyword universe.

Another example would be the keyword phrase seo experts in india. Now I could have also selected the keyword seo expert in india, but in this case I don’t stand a good chance to rank well for users typing the keyword seo experts in india. By using the longer version of the word expert (i.e. experts), I ensure that I target users searching for seo expert in india, seo expert, seo expert india, seo experts in india, seo experts, seo experts india.

So the secret is out! By setting up your pages for the longest version of the keyword phrase will ensure that you get all the relevant words in your keyword phrase to work harder for you.

SEO Expert Secrets: Going Beyond Keywords

2008-11-18T22:48:27.200-08:00

We all know that keyword and keyword phrases are the foundation of the search engine optimization process, but today we will journey into a world beyond the visible keyword universe.

Well let’s face it, the search engines are getting better and better at figuring out relevant and the irrelevant pages, and the bad one are slowly getting weaned out. Search engines use complex algorithms and methods like LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) to determine the relevancy and ranking of the page against the keyword typed by the user. Methods like LSI examine the content of the page as a whole, rather than trying to locate specific keywords placed strategically on the page (which has been prone to manipulation).

This means that search engines do not require an exact match of your keyword phrase to find relevant pages. I am not saying that placing your keyword in the Meta tags, title, description, link text, heading tags and body content is not important for SEO, but rather that SEO experts will soon have to think beyond the standard keyword optimization of pages to achieve desired ranking results.

What this means for your online business is that search engines will determine the relevancy of your page/keyword based on the content of the page as a whole using semantically close words, related words, similar phrases, and the relationships between the words to determine the relevancy and ranking for the page. At the end of the day, it’s anyone’s guess what the search engines will change or do next, but by following certain basic seo principles and good content practices you can safeguard yourself against.

So it’s not just your keyword that’s important, it’s the right combination of all the words in your content that will matter eventually. Keep in mind the simple rule that the content of your page should have the right supporting context to support your keyphrase (s).

While you don’t need to understand in depth the technologies and methodologies used by search engines, you do need to understand what impact they will have on your online business.

So how does this affect your online business? It forces you to write more relevant and more compelling content. This is good for your business because you'll have content that generates more traffic and conversions and it’s good for the search engines because it increases the quality of the content in their indexes.

In your business is visibility in the search engines, targeted traffic and high rankings for your keywords important to you? Then you need to re-evaluate your seo content strategy and its impact on your search marketing goals.

SEO Expert Secrets: One Keyword per Page

2008-11-17T19:25:10.932-08:00

I have mentioned several times in my previous posts that it’s best to target one keyword phrase per page but there may be situations where you may need to place two keyword phrases on one page.

There are many different opinions about this technique in the seo world, and many top ranked sites have a long list of keywords stuffed into the keyword tag on each page. There are many reasons why these sites with multiple keywords could be ranking high, like quality and number of links, link reputation and sometimes even age of the domain.

But I ask you, if you were a search engine which would you prefer, a page with one keyword and the Meta tags and body content of the page focused around that keyword, or multiple keywords on a page with no focus.

Assuming you are onboard with me on this (or just feel like reading further) let’s see how we can optimize two keywords on one page!

An example:

On a page offering seo content services, you may want to target the keyword phrase seo content services and seo friendly content services. It hardly makes sense to create another page focused around seo friendly content services, and yet we want our page to be set for the exact match, as well as the inexact match.

To explain further, though our primary focus is to target users typing seo content services, we also don’t want to lose out on users typing in seo friendly content services. At the end of the day one never really knows what the user will type in exactly while searching for products and services you offer, but if a user types in seo friendly content services, and if your page is optimized for that exact keyword phrase, it would rank higher than a page that is optimized around seo content services only.

SEO Expert Secret Tip

If you had just one keyword phrase, you would have placed that keyword phrase in the Meta tags like title, description, heading tags, link text, image names (works for some engines) and in the body content of the page.

In case of two keyword phrases for a page, we would have the Primary Keyword phrase, and the Secondary keyword phrase that needs to be placed strategically on one page.

The Primary keyword phrase is used in the title, other Meta tags (except in the description tag) and in one well written sentence in the upper content on the page.

The Secondary keyword phrase is used in the Meta tags (description tag only, and what work nicely into the writing), and in one well written sentence each in the content on the page. After that use the individual words in both the keyword phrases within the content for that page as they fall naturally and reads well.

There, now you have the secret to working with two keywords in one page.

Also Read:

Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 1
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 2
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 3
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 4
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 5
Keyword Placement Strategy

SEO Services for Happy Brands

2008-11-14T02:39:17.495-08:00

Ask the Seo Expert

2008-11-11T02:14:34.514-08:00

Do you have any questions about seo techniques or internet marketing strategies? and dont know who to ask.

Well now you can ask me any questions related to seo techniques and tools, internet marketing, business blogging, keyword discovery, search engines, blog promotion and marketing, link building, seo for dynamic sites, article submissions, social bookmarking and networking, video submissions, directory submissions and more.

It could be a specific problems you may be facing while optimizing your site, or need some advise on selecting a good seo expert, I will do my best to answer your queries fairly and to the best of my knowledge and experience.

Kindly use the comment box to ask your questions (so its available to others and I dont have to answer the same questions again and again). Also there may be times I may not be able to answer some of your questions. To those people I would like to appologise in advance.

Do read the other blog posts, it contains invaluable information coming from my direct experiences while working on SEO for various websites.

Please note the advise will be given based on basic research done by me personally, so dont hold a gun to my head. Its just advise. For any detailed strategy or professional consultation you can contact me on my Mumbai mobile no (09967779360) or email me on nevilrohinton@gmail.com.

SEO Expert – The Success Path (Part 2)

2008-11-09T21:49:26.012-08:00

For those who have not read The Success Path Part 1 I suggest you do so now.

The article is written for the mid and top management of the company and what they need to know about SEO and Internet marketing to take a better decision. What are the steps to success to long term profitability of your online business? What are the steps to search engine or SEO optimization?

Cont…

5. It all began with a keyword. Many clients feel they have identified the correct keywords for their business. After all who knows their TG better than them, they argue. On the internet the keyword is much more than a phrase a user would search for, it’s a gateway to traffic to your website. Some keywords are more competitive than others, and may take years to achieve, while some can be easily achieved as they face little competition and yet users are searching for that keyword. A SEO expert uses various tools to identify potential keywords that have a good chance of success.

Related reading:

Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 1
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 2
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 3
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 4
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 5

6. Optimize your pages around the keywords. Once the keywords are in place, the next step is to optimize your web pages around those keywords. What that means is focusing the Meta tags, title, link text, heading tags and body content of that page around a specific keyword. Focus each page around ONE keyword only.

Related reading:

Create new Gateways to Targetted Traffic
Is your competition beating you with SEO?
Fine Tuning SEO for Recession

7. Keyword placement is very crucial to the ranking success of your keywords. Place your keyword in the page name, title, description, Meta and heading tags, link text and body content for that page. The title and description should ideally begin with your keyword, and the body content of the page should be keyword rich.

Related reading:

Keyword Placement Strategy

8. Content is the King! Search engine love content that is unique, informative and resolves the query of the user who visits that page. Creating content keeps both the search engines and users happy is the main goal here. The first 25 words of the body content of that page should be keyword rich, and thereafter use the keyword across the page (use keyword after every 100 words). Make the content read as natural as possible.

Related Reading:

Is Content the King?
What's in a Title?

9. Create content rich gateways to higher traffic. So you have 10 keywords you want to target but have just 6 pages on your website (and we spoke in the Point No 6 that ideally target one keyword per page), so where do you place the remaining 4 keywords. The solution is in creating gateway pages. Gateway pages are content rich and focused around a keyword that you are targeting traffic from. Ideally create a article section, FAQ’s or resources section on your website and keep adding specific pages written around keywords you want to target.

Related reading:

Create New Gateways to Targeted Traffic

10. Frequency of updates. Fresh content can be added your website in the form of blog posts, article writing, FAQ’s section, user testimonials, how to guides, industry statistics etc. A website that constantly updates their information ranks well, as search engines know that the users will find something new each time they visit the website.

11. The problems with dynamic content. Dealing with dynamic database (CMS) driven web pages can be difficult but well worth the effort. The problem with database driven sites is that they have just one page on which the data refreshes based on the query. So ideally you have just one page to optimize. Optimizing your database includes creating flat static pages from the database with page names around the keyword you want to target, and then optimize the Meta tags for the flat HTML pages. I will not go deep into the problems of database sites as it’s slightly technical and not for this post. One word of advice, hire a SEO expert who has worked with database sites before.

12. A neat solution for SEO of dynamic sites. In some cases where it may be too tough (time consuming or expensive) to modify the database and source code, one can create a article / resources section or publish blog posts/ articles in HTML (static pages) and use these pages to pull in the traffic, and then direct the user to the database section.

13. Create a custom 404 error page. A 404 error occurs when a user clicks on a link that’s not available on the website but still in the search engines index. The reason could be that you moved the page, renamed the page, or deleted the page, but the users still gets a bad impression of your online business. Search engines maintain logs of 404 errors, and could punish your website for the same. By creating a custom 404 error page, the user lands on a page that guides them to the relevant link or page. Neither the users, nor the search engines mind that!

14. Blogging for business. Each blog post is an opportunity to reach out and connect with users. If you plan to start a blog for your business, the good news is that search engines rank blog content high, but the bad news is that if your blog is not promoted properly it will die a slow death. Blogs need to be promoted on blog search engines, blogging directories, and RSS feeds.

Related reading:

Why Blogging for Business is here to Stay!
The Bloggers Guide to Survival
Why Search Engines love Blogs? And so should you!
My Love and Hate relationship with Blogging
Get your website reviewed by prominent Bloggers
Last Blogger Standing

15. Syndicate your content. So you are creating new content that’s unique and informative, but unless you are syndicating your content you will not be able to create leverage. Leveraging your content means your content can be promoted across article submission sites, RSS feed aggregators, industry specific sites and social bookmarking sites without fearing the penalty of duplicate content.

16. Write articles and become an expert. Writing articles is a great way to gaining recognition as an expert in your domain, get additional traffic and build quality links back to your content. Submit your articles to selected article submission sites that are relevant to your content, have a high page rank and popularity.

Related reading:

SEO Guide to Article Writing

17. Get social and build a network! Promote your content on social networking sites like Digg, Delicious, Stumble Upon to get maximum mileage for your content. If some users like what you are sharing with them they will promote you the good old fashioned way, by word of mouth. You cannot get/buy this kind of advertising. Other than access to the various social user communities and the potential business there, you can also get quality links back to your website.

18. Get linked in! Creating a good link building campaign can take lots of time and effort. Search engines assume that if another website (especially ones that are popular), or a bunch of users (like in social bookmarking communities) deem a site or page to be important, it must be! Is the site linking to you a credible one? What is the link text they use to describe your website or web page? Are your inbound links coming from diverse user and web communities? Is your content relevant to those communities?

Related reading:

Link Me Up Scotty!

19. What is your link building Matrix? A good link matrix includes submissions to web directories, article sites, PR announce sites, discussion forums, blog commenting, blogger reviews, vertical engines, industry specific sites, deep linking blogs, social networking and bookmarking sites, video sites etc. Ensure each of the sites have a good page rank, are popular and relevant to your content. Maintain lists of all sites submitted to, the link, link text and the page rank of that website.

Related reading:

The Link Building Matrix (Reloaded)

20. Try the local store. People searching for products and services in their vicinity usually search the local search listings. Having your site on Google Maps, Yahoo Local can be crucial to target the local business, even if you are a global player. If you are a local business then don’t forget to use the location as part of the keyword phrase.

21. Fine tune those keywords. The secret to success in keyword ranking is to keep tweaking the keywords and Meta tags. See what’s working with the search engines and what’s not. The mindset of the users change with time and season, are your keywords changing to reflect that?

Related readng:

Fine Tuning SEO for Recession

22. Keeping up with the competition. The competition is not going to sit still, so keep checking to see what the competition is up to. Have they identified any new keywords? Is the competition using any new seo strategies?

23. Battle the recession. The best defense for the recession is a good offensive strategy to make most of the advertising dollars and spending them on more measurable and cost effective platforms like the web.

24. Partner with a SEO expert that’s right for you!

SEO Expert – The Success Path (Part 1)

2008-11-09T21:55:12.320-08:00

Over the last few months I have noticed a noticeable shift in the kind of people who are enquiring about a seo expert or seo services. It’s a transition from IT managers and webmasters who were interested in the online business to the marketing heads and CEO’s of the company.

As I come from a background of marketing, branding and journalism, I welcome this change. Let me clear one thing here - SEO and Internet marketing is not primarily a technical function but a marketing and business development function.

While the change is positive, this shift has lead to a new set of questions and issues faced by these decision makers of the company on which is the right path to travel. In any journey the destination is not important; it’s the path you take to reach there.

In SEO, it’s not about brilliant optimization skills, or small bursts of activity on your keywords, blog, articles and video submissions to gain top rankings and business almost magically, but building something with strong foundations, solid principles and creating immense value.

Your online business is the passport to the future, and in these times of recession, it’s the perfect time to start implementing a long term SEO strategy. There are no shortcuts in life. It’s the same way if you want to grow your online business and come up with a winning SEO strategy that works for you, then its best that you understand the SEO elements that will influence and eventually drive your SEO strategy.

The article is written for the mid and top management of the company and what they need to know about SEO and Internet marketing to take a better decision. What are the steps to success to long term profitability of your online business? What are the steps to search engine or SEO optimization?

The Success Path:

1. The first step is to evaluate your current situation. I am assuming you already have a website or are in the process of revamping your website. Either way, now is a good time to start making a long term SEO strategy for your online business.

2. Looking within. The main areas to look into at this phase is the current website structure, page names, content quality, optimization level, keywords used (and why) and their rankings in Google, Yahoo and MSN, other elements like website design, un-optimized database and poor website structure that could be affecting the rankings, current links (internal and external), and the top competitors for your keywords.

3. The path ahead. Once you have a fair idea of the current realities of your website, the next step would be to figure out where you are headed and what path would be best to reach there. Building a road map for your online business is crucial if a website is to achieve success online.

4. Streamline your roadmap. The roadmap identifies the milestones, the hurdles, the steps to be taken, tasks to be completed and the various other elements that need to be in place for ranking success. The main areas of focus in the roadmap are on the quality of content, frequency of updates, and quality of inbound links.

In order to make this blog post more readable I am breaking up this post into 2 parts. To continue your journey click here…

Recap: My SEO Blog Archives

2008-11-07T03:54:28.603-08:00

Lets take a quick recap of the past few months of seo expert posts:

SEO Series

The Soul of the SEO Specilaist
A SEO Expert thats right for you!
Journey of SEO
Scope of SEO in India
Create new Gateways to Targetted Traffic
Is your competition beating you with SEO?
Google 2001 Index Offers Search Insights to the Future
Obsessive Ranking Disorder (My Wakeup Call)
Fine Tuning SEO for Recession

SEO Content Series

Is Content the King?
SEO Guide to Article Writing
What's in a Title?

SEO Link Building Series

Link Me Up Scotty!
The Link Building Matrix (Reloaded)

Keyword Series

Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 1
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 2
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 3
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 4
Mumbai SEO Expert Series - Keywords Part 5
Keyword Placement Strategy

Blogger Series

The Bloggers Guide to Survival
Why Search Engines love Blogs? And so should you!
My Love and Hate relationship with Blogging
Get your New Blog Noticed (Part 1)
Get your New Blog Noticed (Part 2)
Get your website reviewed by prominent Bloggers
Leverage by Commenting on Relevant Blogs (Part 1)
Leverage by Commenting on Relevant Blogs (Part 2)
Last Blogger Standing
Why Blogging for Business is here to Stay!

Fine Tuning SEO for Recession

2008-11-03T19:24:29.527-08:00

Lately all I hear at dinner conversations and office coffee breaks are heated debates about the next big recession, the falling stock prices and the forthcoming unemployment doom. Some say it’s an opportunity, while others are being driven to suicide.

One thing is certain - the recession is affecting the mind sets of the buyers and sellers alike with the expected drop in consumer purchasing power and companies cutting back on their advertising dollars. Consumers will get smarter when it comes to buying products and services often looking at various options before finalizing any sale, while sellers will have to plan new cost effective strategies to attract and retain consumers.

Understanding the new mind set of the buyers and their changing buying patterns will become crucial for any business who wants to survive in the current competitive marketplace. The best defense for the recession is a good offensive strategy to make most of the advertising dollars and spending them on more measurable and cost effective platforms like the web.

We will be soon be witnessing a sudden increase in the advertising dollars being spent on the web, and companies/ websites will be scurrying to find a SEO expert who will be able to maximize their efforts, time and money online.

The consumers will turn more to the internet to do their research, compare products/ services, find best deals and often buy online, and the smart companies will ensure that their websites are fine tuned to be found at the top of the search results.

There will primarily be two types of scenario arising in this situation - one of websites (well optimized) that need to be fine tuned for the recession, and second of websites and companies who are suddenly very interested in making their presence felt online.

Let’s take a closer look at the two scenarios:

1. I have an optimized website

For those companies who were smart enough to treat their website as an important marketing arm for generating business would have already optimized their websites for the search engines. These companies would have identified winning keywords, created focused and unique content, and built quality links back to their website. If all went well, these companies would be ranking well in the search engines results for their keywords and attracting targeted customers to their website.

A consumer searches the web using “keywords” to find information, services or products. What’s important to identify here is – would the changing mind sets of the consumer change the way the consumer seeks the information.

For example a consumer who wants to buy a flat screen TV

Keyword used before recession: buy flat screen tv

Possible keywords used after recession: buy cheapest flat screen tv, special offers flat screen tv, exchange offers flat screen tv

While the budget may not be the only influencing factor, and the after sales service, warranty and brand name will still play important roles in the final decision, the budget remains topmost factor on the mind of the consumer when he enters his search word.

It’s not that consumers will stop buying, or quality and service will not be important, rather it’s a mindset where they will expect the same quality for better prices or atleast convince themselves that they are getting a better deal. In the example above the consumer still wants to buy the flat screen TV at the end of the day, but will search for better deals and exchange offers.

The above is just one example and there are thousands of other possibilities where you may have to tweak those winning keywords to target the new consumer mindsets.

2. I want to increase my online business and reduce my marketing costs

With market conditions like the one we are currently in, with cost cutting and layoffs having become the new buzzwords, it’s crucial for companies to realign their online business for future survival. For companies that were not so serious about their online business before, this is a good time to start – every customer and every order will count in the future.

Keeping in mind the low costs for optimizing a website, and the cost effectiveness with measurable results) in implementing a internet advertising campaign (as compared to the traditional media), can companies really afford not to look seriously into their online business? I think not!

Your well optimized online business will ensure that you have a steady stream of targeted traffic, new enquires and new customers, even in the bad times. Consumers will never stop buying, they will only be smarter while buying, and companies that will be smart will be easily found.

While many companies and individuals are busy preparing for the worst case scenario, some like me have little interest in the global economic meltdown which seems to be underway. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that I have fool-proofed my business for the recession.

I'm Afraid I am Hitler

2008-11-03T01:34:22.968-08:00

I recently was shown a special screening of a new movie called I'm Afraid I am Hitler which is due for release end of the year.

A brief synopsis of the hitler movie:

'I'm Afraid I am Hitler' renders the heartfelt story of a man trapped in two worlds- a world he lives in, and a life he has made his world. Adien (Bernhard Forcher) has confined himself to his home for over a year. He avoids any contact with the outside world from the fear of being exposed. He guards a secret- a secret about his
past- so horrifying- that, if disclosed, would set the entire world against him.

Adien believes he is Hitler. He is living Hitler’s life,torturing himself for the cruel past. Trapped in an unending nightmare, he eventually looses complete touch with reality.

Set in 1976, 'I'm Afraid I am Hitler' is a psychological drama that portrays the frightful journey of a lonely man, believing himself to be the most brutal leaders’ history has ever seen, and his longing for redemption.

The movie promos and trailors will be available on www.mediacurry.tv

The Link Building Matrix (Reloaded)

2008-10-30T20:36:46.502-07:00

The blue pill or the red pill? If given the choice which one would you take? If you take the blue pill you will return to your online website and everything will be the same as before (including your rankings), or take the red pill and let’s see how deep the rabbit hole goes…

So what is the Matrix? The Matrix is a simulated world where nothing is real, and yet we use it to communicate, share and do business on a daily business. When the Matrix began it was a simple experiment, but as the Matrix grew, it became more and more complex to find whatever it was you were searching for. Along came the search spiders moving one link at a time, scanning across the virtual world, and searching for information became easy.

But the Matrix has a fundamental flaw. The Matrix was available to only those who were linked-in to it.

What is the link building Matrix?

In my previous blog post, I mentioned it’s important to have a healthy mix of high page rank websites and communities (like web directories, vertical engines, article submissions, social bookmarking, PR sites, blog reviews etc) to link back to your website or blog.

The link building Matrix is the strategy to build the “right kind (Matrix) of quality links” for the purpose of creation of multiple doorways to your site from diverse sources, all leading to you (or your website). The more related credible websites and popular user communities pointing to your website, the better will be your link reputation. Building a strong link reputation will ensure higher search rankings.

So let’s explore the various sources for building quality links that can enhance your link building campaign and build link reputation.

Please note that the points below are not listed in any particular order or prominence or importance.

1. Directory submissions: Submitting your website to high page ranked and relevant web directories will get you links and access to the community of web users. Web directories are like the yellow pages, and who amongst us have not opened a yellow page to find a service, product or person.

2. Article Submissions: Submitting your articles to high page ranked and relevant article submissions sites will get you links, access to the reader’s community, and add to your credibility as an expert in your domain.

3. Social Bookmarking: Submitting your stories/ articles/ blog posts to high page ranked and relevant social bookmarking sites will get you links, access to the user communities, and add to your link reputation (once the vote’s start coming in). User generated content and user communities are gaining more importance with search engines by the day.

4. Blogger Reviews: Submitting your website to high page ranked and relevant blogs will get you high value links, access to the community of readers of those bloggers, and build link reputation. A recommendation or review from prominent bloggers with a good reader’s base is a very credible link, and readers generally trust the recommendations of the blogger so they may visit your website. If you finding it hard to get bloggers to do a review, start your own blog and build links from there to your own website.

5. Announce PR: Submitting your news releases to high page ranked PR release sites will get you the links, access to the PR community, and often journalists looking for a good story.

6. Social Networking: Creating your business profiles on various high page ranked and relevant social networking sites (Facebook, Linkedin) will get you links, access to the community, and often new friends.

7. Video Submissions: Submitting your videos (how to, interviews, tips and advice, promos etc) to relevant video sites will get you links, access to the community (YouTube), and increase your view ship base with users who loves to watch rather than read.

8. Vertical Engines: Submitting your website to relevant vertical search engines (catering to your industry/ type of service) will get you links (at times), access to their community of seekers, and targeted traffic.

9. Industry Portals: Requesting for link from your industry specific portal can be very helpful for getting a quality link, access to their community of users, and add to your credibility in the business.

10. Discussion Forums: Also participate in Industry specific discussion forums and add value by giving your inputs and comments. All comments are linked back to your website. Though these links (with comments) don’t hold much value with search engines, it can hurt to get them, and if your comments are interesting enough you may get a reader who clicks to your website.

11. Go Local: Get your address on Google Maps, Yahoo Local etc. Not only will it be a quality link, you will also get listed in the local listings on search results page. Local listings are always displayed before the global listings. E.g. A user from Mumbai searching for the services of a SEO expert in Mumbai would prefer to check the local listings first to find vendor in close vicinity.

12. Wikipedia: Getting a page/s on Wikipedia with a link to your website will add to your link reputation. Keep in mind though that you cannot promote a person, product or company on Wikipedia. All content on Wikipedia must be verifiable, written as if for an encyclopedia.

13. Blog Commenting: By leaving wise and meaningful comments on relevant blogger’s sites will get you a link but ensure that your comments are adding value to the bloggers community of users.

14. Answering Questions: There are many sites where users ask questions and other users answer those questions. Sites like Yahoo Answers are a great way to get links, access to the community of users, and be the helpful person that you are.

15. Make Friends: In the linking world, building a link is like making a friendship. So make friends with someone who has a lot of friends… you get me. But beware, like in between friends there can be misunderstandings, in building good links there can be misunderstandings. Make sure there is a win-win for all parties involved.

16. Building Content: At the end of the day if you have great content, other websites will want to link back to your content so that their user’s community benefits from your content. Many times they may do so directly (depending on the copyrights), or even request you if they can link to your website. This is by far the best link building strategy.

BEWARE: In the link Matrix there are many Agents who give out sweet promises of seemingly impossible feats of building thousands of quality links to your website overnight. I guess the truth is out. Some of us dumb SEO’s actually spend months and months working hard to implement a link building campaign. If there was some shortcuts believe me I would have been the first one to jump at it, but in the link building world there are no shortcuts just good ol’ passion, know how, contacts and persistence.

Reload your Link Matrix?

With a healthy mix of Directory Submissions, Vertical Engines, Discussion Forums, Article Submissions, Social Bookmarking, PR Announce, Deep Linking, Special Contacts, Blogger Reviews, Commenting on Blog, Social Networking, Video Submissions, Google Maps, Yahoo Local and more…

Link Me Up Scotty!

2008-10-28T22:41:38.885-07:00

I am guessing you must be an avid Star Trek fan to have clicked on this title. Now while this article is not about reaching out and exploring the far frontiers of space, reading it will enable you to build a link building strategy to leverage your content and website so it reaches the farthest corners of the Internet.

Statistics: comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008)

• Total internet audience 188.9 million
• Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US alone
• Facebook: 41.0 million
• MySpace 75.1 million

Now with numbers so high (and rising at alarming pace), can you honesty tell me that you can reach your target audiences by setting up a great website or starting a blog? In advertising we are taught to reach out to the audiences (via television, radio, print, outdoor hoardings, online banners etc), but on the Internet one forgets it’s as important to reach out through various sources and channels so that your target audiences can find you.

The search engines play a great part in assisting your target audiences to reach your website, but they have laid certain guidelines to follow. The two most important criteria for search rankings is valuable and unique content and number of quality inbound links to your website or blog.

So you have seo optimized all your web pages, have been spending late nights over coffee writing fresh and useful content (focused around your keywords) that pleases the users as well as the search engines, and yet, your rankings are not going any higher.

Well if the above scenario sounds familiar, you my friend are not leveraging your content and letting others know that your content exists. If your content is good, and you let people know of its location, they may give a link back to your site/ page so that their community can benefit from your valuable content.

However, this article is not about creating content or optimizing your content, but about getting others to be so bloody impressed with you and your content that they are willing (and may even request you) to link to your website or blog.

Why do search engines value these links?

Search engines assume that if another website (especially ones that are popular), or a bunch of users (like in social bookmarking communities) deem a site or page to be important, it must be!

So the number of quality inbound links to your website will affect your rankings, but the word “quality” is of more importance that the “number” of links.

So how do search engines define quality links?

Search algorithms as constantly changing, so one can only guess all the parameters and prominence given by search engines while defining link quality. But a few logical parameters can be adhered to.

1. If the source giving you the link is a trusted one, with high page rank and is popular, that’s obviously counted as a quality link. But it does not help if you have a link from a site that has content and audiences that is not related remotely to the content you are providing. So it’s important to get links from sources that are related to your content as well.

2. Another point is the link text (and description) that points to your website. The search engines check to see if the text used to describe your website speaks well of it. If the link text contains the keyword that you have used on your website/ webpage as well, you will get better rankings.

3. Diversity is other important criteria the search engines may be adopting of recent. Getting links from 1000 directories or 1000 article sites may not hold (and this is just my assumption) as much value as getting 500 relevant links from a mix of techniques like article submissions on sites like Ezines and ISnare, blogger reviews, video submissions sites like YouTube, social bookmarking submissions like Digg and Delicious, PR sites, web directories, discussion forums, blog commenting etc.

4. Stay away from reciprocal linking, in which two websites exchange links. There are many legitimate cases where two websites would need to link to each other, but search engines are generally strict when it comes to reciprocal linking and may treat that link as not valid.

5. Stay away from link farms and link exchange programs. Search engines deem links that are exchanged for no other purpose that to exchange a link as SPAM.

6. It’s the content that will attract the links. So build the content, promote it well, and the links will soon follow.

Benefits of quality linking are many

1. Boost your website rankings
2. Increase the number of quality links pointing to your website or blog
3. Get increased targeted traffic from diverse websites and communities
4. Increase your online presence by reaching to various web and user communities
5. Its free advertising! So what are you waiting for?

In conclusion I will repeat an important point. Building quality links from a healthy mix of high page rank websites and communities (directories, vertical engines, article submissions, social bookmarking, PR sites, blog reviews etc) is as vital for search engine rankings, as is having a well optimized site with quality content that’s updated consistently.

So what is your link building strategy and link building matrix?

Last Blogger Standing

2008-10-26T03:31:16.527-07:00

It had finally happened! I am the last blogger alive and this is my story.

The year was 2012 when the final holocaust hit the world one fateful weekend morning, destroying every living thing on this planet except my notebook, my only other possession left, and me.

Why was I saved? Maybe to write my last blog post as the final witness to the destruction of the planet, a planet we call Earth. As I sat down to write my last blog, I wondered who would read my blog? There was no other life left on this planet. Did I hope that a future generation would resurrect from the ashes of the past or an intelligent new race would inhabit this planet? Did I hope to pass on a message to this future?

Or was there no hope, and no future…

I had witnessed pain, and suffering, death and destruction, wars and desolation. I had seen hungry eyes, tired souls, the young shivering and the old dying. I had seen family and friends wither away like leaves in the autumn.

I had seen “that day” when judgment was passed against mankind. My tears had all dried up. I was carrying the graves of a million on my sagging shoulders, of people once living, now just bones scattered on ancient grounds. All that was left…was a story to be told…my last blog entry before I would end my life.

Yes, today was the day I would see my last sunset, eat my last meal, and write my last blog. No more could I bear the loneliness or seek the truth. What had gone so wrong? I was not really sure. Had we not heard the footsteps of deaths angels as they crept upon us, in the silence of the nights, their fiery caress on our souls?

Were we so busy in out petty preoccupations that we ignored life’s imploring cry for its survival.When had man turned so hostile towards man? Oh why had we not shed tears when life was crying for our help, when fellow species were slaughtered for food and game, when man sold his soul for power and riches? I shed a tear for forgiveness for mankind’s final sin - his own destruction.

I sat down in silent prayer, my eyelids closed…visions of children playing, laughing, the sun shining in a clear blue sky, and my last breath escaped. No more pain, no more sorrow, my last wish – Hope for a new beginning.

And my dear friends, a new begining did come, a vision and an idea that is changing my life even as I write.

Ever hopefully yours,
Nevil Darukhanawala

Why Blogging for Business is here to Stay!

2008-10-24T22:49:38.423-07:00

You have a website that has a good presence online with lots of targeted traffic. So why would you want to spend time and resources on managing and promoting a business blog?

In these times of global recession many companies feel that starting a business blog would be too much trouble, and it will not be worth their time and effort. In fact this is partly true since starting, managing and promoting a blog can be a time consuming activity and you need to find a blogger who can write well on the subject, understands SEO and is consistent and dedicated.

And yet there are so many home businesses, small corporate to Fortune 500 companies that have been successfully using business blogs to create a loyal community of readers (customers and potential customers) by creating articles of interest, introducing new services and products, offering special discounts and promotions, running opinion polls, inviting customer testimonials and feedback, and lots more.

From a SEO’s perspective, blogs satisfy two main criteria set by the search engines i.e. fresh content and building links. Fresh content on blogs can include business updates and industry news, expert articles and interviews, or simply to introduce new team members, take a survey, or announce special discounts and offers.

I have already written in detail about link building techniques for your blog that you can apply e.g. cross linking, deep linking, submitting to article submission sites (syndicate your content and get links) and to social bookmarking sites. So Blogging is a very effective SEO tool to get higher rankings as well. You can also read My Love and Hate Relationship with Blogging post to understand how blogs influence search rankings for your corporate website.

So what is it about blogging that has these companies going that extra mile?

In the new marketplace it’s become crucial to build long and lasting relationships with your customers. And we all know that any relationship needs healthy communication and trust to succeed.

There are many ways a company or a brand can communicate with its customers like advertising on television, print, radio and outdoor hoardings, other than on websites, newsletters, banner ads etc but most of these mediums are impersonal and focus on selling something to the viewers and readers.

Now most customers don’t mind getting news and information about companies and brands they are associated with, but they don’t like having their privacy (and wallets) invaded by smart marketing gimmicks.

A business blog is a non-intrusive way for building a healthy two-way communication with your customers over a period of time. You do this by creating lots of useful and resourceful content (how to advise, expert views, interviews, trends, statistics, tips, tools and guides) that will keep the customers/ readers coming back for more.

Customers can go through the blog at their own time and convenience, can subscribe to the RSS of your blog, leave comments and invaluable feedback (that one never finds on websites) and becoming active participants in the growth of your company and brand.

Companies can use their business blogs to build a community of loyal readers who can then be targeted when introducing a new product or service (done in form of tasteful product/ service reviews, often non- intrusive and with some gratification for the readers). Many large corporations have realized that having a business blog gives them a human face, and gives their customers a comfort factor while interacting with the brand.

A business blog can help build one-to-one relationships with your customers, something not possible by other mediums of brand communication. A business blog is more about giving and being helpful, rather than selling, and customers find this fact comforting.

At the end of the day your business blog has to generate buzz and spread awareness about your core business, and yet at the same time being interactive, informative, educational and helpful.

Can you name another medium that can offer such benefits to your business and customers?

If not, what are you waiting for, start your business blog today.

Also Read:

Get your Blog Noticed (Part 1)
Get your Blog Noticed (Part 2)

Is Content the King?

2008-10-23T03:23:24.596-07:00

From a SEO’s perceptive I would like to start by saying that content is not the King. Its original and compelling content that’s worthy of an in-bound link that’s King. For those who are not getting the difference, one has just to look at all the badly written, unreadable, rehashed and duplicate content that’s available online.

In the quest to create lots of content and related keywords to rank, online marketers somewhere forgot that content writing is an art to excite, educate, entertain and enable the readers, and not a marketing function.

Even search engines say that eventually search rankings will be mostly about the quality of the original content on your websites and blogs.

We all know that having well written content on your website or blog is a must if you are to attract and induce the user to read further, to try out a new service, or buy a product. If the users do not find the content engaging they will not return to your website or blog. So why is there so much bad content being created online?

Some companies and individuals assume that they will create multiple pages of similar, rehashed or quickly written content to get top ranking for multiple keywords and then somehow convert that traffic into business by giving marketing links, banners, affiliates etc.

In short their objective is to deceive the search engines and the users into believing that they have valuable content for those keywords and get the clicks.

Creating content solely for the purposes of making multiple entry pages for keyword ranking may seemingly serve its purpose in the short run (much to my irritation), but search engines are getting better at understanding content and its perceived value, so those pages offering no value other that for the purpose of linking and advertising will be debarred.

Eventually we will live in a world where instead of finding ways of fooling users and search engines, companies and individuals will be focus on creating real value and content for their users, where each click will lead to informative, well written and resourceful content, but till that day comes (ever hopeful) we will have to make do with some of the crappy pages of content online.

Is well written content the same as optimized content or seo content?

No, SEO content or optimized content is written and focused around a specific keyword that you want to rank. You follow all the rules you would normally follow while writing interesting and engaging content for your users, and in addition you also ensure that your keyword (maintaining ideal keyword weight) is evenly spaced across the content, nicely blending into your writing.

One word of advice, before hiring the services of a writer who claims to have an understanding of SEO, or the services of a SEO content services company, evaluate whether the people who you will be working with are original content creators or online marketers.

Keyword Placement Strategy

2008-10-20T04:28:30.616-07:00

For those who have not read Success with Keywords Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5, I suggest you do so now. It will assist you in creating a list of winning keywords for your website focused around your business, products/services, target audiences, and competition.

For those who have read and implemented the strategies mentioned in the Seo Expert Keyword Series would have created a list of winning keywords by now.

All your hard work has paid off and your list of winning keywords is finally ready. This post covers all the possible places (on-page optimization) where you will need to place the keywords on the page you want to optimize.

There are many conflicting views on this one but logically I have always felt that you should focus ONE KEYWORD PER PAGE only.

Imagine a highly focused page where the keyword is strategically placed in a well written and captivating title , in the beginning of the description tag, in the keyword tag, and other meta tags like H1, H2, link text, and in the body content keyword weight, every 100 words place keyword appropriately into the content) of that page.

Now is that not better than confusing the search engines with a page that contains six to seven keywords with some keywords placed in the Meta tags and body content. No there are sites with multiple keywords on the homepage that are ranked high, but keep in mind off-page factors like link building that influence rankings as well.

As a SEO expert, I have learnt that there are always exceptions to the rule (eventually the search engines will become better at removing pages that are not up to mark or using spam), but we are not discussing exceptions cases here but rather those who are serious about their online business.

It’s a healthy combination of on-page and off-page factors that will eventually determine your search rankings so it’s best to maintain best practices with long term view.

Let’s get started to find relevant places to place your keyword to boost your rankings.

1. Use the keyword in the domain name if possible. Now that may not be possible for many who have existing domains that don’t contain the keyword. You can also set up sub-domains with the keywords. Eg. my website www.seo-optimization-experts.com does not contain the keyword Mumbai (which is location), so if I wanted to boost my ranking for the keyword seo expert mumbai, I could set up a sub domain like http://mumbai.seo-optimization-experts.com

2. Use keyword in the page name. Eg if your page is About us, rather than having a page seo-optimization-experts.com/aboutus.html, name the page http://www.seo-optimization-experts.com/seo-company-in-india.html (where seo company in India is the keyword for that page). Use hyphens (-) rather than underscores (_) while naming your pages.

3. Make sure your keyword phrase appears in the beginning of the title and description tag. There are times where placing the keyword somewhere in the middle of the description tag is better, or even placing keyword twice, so don’t hesitate and try some combinations. Make sure the title and description reads well and is captivating enough.

4. Use keywords in Meta tags like keyword, H1, H2 (heading tags) etc.

5. Use keyword in the Link text (internal and external links that describe the link to your website).

6. Use keywords in the body content. The first 25 words of your content should be keyword rich and then use the keyword phrase across the remaining content maintaining ideal keyword weight (I generally use the keyword once every 100 words).

7. Check to see where your competition is placing those keywords, in which Meta tags, at what position etc.

The key to success with rankings is to FOCUS and FINE TUNE your pages so that the content of the page revolves around the keyword.

Note: Be careful not to overstuff your page with keywords as the search engines will label pages that have keyword stuffing as spam. Be moderate!

Google 2001 Index Offers Search Insights to the Future

2008-10-17T04:36:11.616-07:00

In honor of Google’s 10th birthday, they have brought back their oldest available index. Let’s take a look back at Google in January 2001 on http://www.google.com/search2001.html.

This index offers great insights into the world of search, its growth and possibly a look into the future of search, and your online business.

Here are some interesting personal observations:

Figure 1
Google 2001 index
Keyword - seo expert mumbai



Figure 2
Google 2008 Index
Keyword - seo expert mumbai



1. The number of results

The first thing that came to my immediate notice was the number of results displayed. While searching for seo expert mumbai (which is a regional search) the number of results displayed is a mere 47 results that took 0.10 sec. (See Figure 1)

Now compare that with search results for the same keyword in the Google 2008 index displayed 121000 results that took 0.10 seconds. (See Figure 2).

What this means: There is a vast difference of 120953 results, but the time taken to display the results was still 0.10 seconds. That’s good! Google success philosophy to keep things simple and fast is demonstrated in the example above.

The rise in the number of results is also a positive sign. It means more websites are optimizing their pages with region in mind, and that Google has gotten much better at what they do.

2. Relevancy of Search results

The next thing that’s more significant than the results is the quality of search results.

If you look at the results for the search seo expert mumbai in Google 2001 index, it shows up a guestbook entry in the position #1. I visited the site and there was no mention of seo expert on the page. On opening the source code I found this:

--
TITLE CodeGuru

META Name="description" Content="Codeguru is where developers can come to share ideas, articles, questions, answers, tips, tricks, comments, downloads, and so much more related to programming in areas including C++, Visual C++, C#, Visual Basic, ASP, ASP.NET, Java, and more.

META Name="keywords" Content="Visual C++, MFC, string programming,ATL programming, WTL programming,activeX programming,COM+,shell programming,Listbox,.NET, C#, ASP, ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX,VC++, VB.NET, VB, Visual Basic Code, Programming, Developers, Architects, Studio CSharp, Microsoft, Coding, download, downloads, community source code, software development, Windows developers"
--

If you notice, the keyword does not appear in the title, description or the keyword tags that have become so important in the 2008 algorithm. In the remaining search results in the 2001 index shows a job listing which has nothing to do with seo, a table of content and then results that have nothing to do with the keyword seo expert mumbai.

In the 2001 Google results the following points are noted:

1. Lots of irrelevant search results

2. Badly written titles and descriptions

3. No regional search

4. The keyword is not present in page name, title, description meta tags or in the body content

5. Lack of SEO companies in Mumbai

In the 2008 Google results the followi