I have been in the SEO game for some years now and it seems to me that most of the SEO information out there in cyber space all talk about the same thing, like using the right keywords, Meta tags and descriptions yarn!
Well in this post I am going to share with you some other SEO information that you may not know.
Why You Need More Content
Yes we have heard it all before “Content is king” but like I said I am going to show you something a bit different. Google has become so sophisticated that it not only ranks you for your main keywords it also ranks you for long tail keyword phrases within your content.
So when you next check out your Google analytics look at the keyword report and see how people found you online and you will notice that 90% of the time they found you through a NON main keyword search term.
What does this all mean? Well it’s quite simple, the more content you have on your site the better chance you have of receiving more organic traffic.
The Adsense Killer
Yes we have all seen those sites that are supposedly adsense optimised when in reality they are just websites plastered with adsense 336 x 280 blocks everywhere.
With the new panda update Google now looks at user experience so if you have two 336 x 280 adsense blocks above the fold of your website this will hurt your rankings.
How do I know this well that is simple because the same thing happened to me. One of my sites was ranking at number 2 in Google then I placed two 336 x 280 blocks above the fold and three days later my site was at number 82.
So I took down the ads and my site went back to number 2 after 10 days. So let that be a warning to you internet marketing newbies who are looking for fast cash.
User Experience
I touched on this in the last point but now I will go a little deeper. Google are big on user experience so if I need to have a masters degree to work out how to navigate though your site then that will be a red flag.
One of the ways Google score, is by looking at your bounce rate or visitors time on site. High bounce rate means poor content or the visitor cannot find what they are looking for which in turn means poor user experience.
To remedy this you need to look at what content on your site is causing a high bounce rate and either edit the content and make it better or delete it.
Backlink Drowning
This one you may have heard before, quality links are better than quantity links. We have all seen those tempting link building packages where you can get 10,000 backlinks and get to the top of Google in one day. As Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone said “I Don’t Think So”.
If you fake link build your site will end up in sandbox city within weeks, I have seen it happen many times. If your website site has good content then people will link to it naturally.
SEO – In For The Long Haul
When it comes to SEO there is no short cut no matter what the SEO gurus may have said and yes not everything you read in some internet marketing forum is true.
Matt Cut said that “the sites that build up slowly over time will end up with better ranking than those sites that use under hand tactics”. So be patient and consistent and over time your website could rank number one for “weight loss”.
SEO No Longer Means Just Title Tags Etc
Up until this year SEO in people’s minds just ment keywords, tags and tags o and more tags. Well today that does not guarantee top rankings, there are so many other ingredients that every site needs to have like:-
Easy navigation
Links from relivant websites
The usual correct tags, keywords and descriptions
Correct url structure
Content over 500 words
Low bounce rate
More than 2.5 page views per visitor
Good Use experience
The list goes on and on.
I hope that this short article has shown you a different angle on SEO
EasyAzon Plugin
This is a very good and informative article. SEO takes a long time and to do it well takes patience and a lot of knowledge. There is a lot of misinformation out there so you have to rely on sites that rank high and do what they did.
Chris | Website Solutions recently posted..Blogging, Social Media and SEM: The Relation Among These Three
Twitter: kezanari
says:
That’s what I also think. I find that a lot of the top blogs and websites have good content and hence they have good readership and good traffic. You can look here or Mashable for examples
kezanari recently posted..340 Comment Luv Blogs With PR For You To Comment To
This is definitely stuff I have not seen wrote on SEO. Thanks for taking the time out and sharing this with us. Ones experience of something should be one of the greatest factors in ranking. I really do appreciate the ideas. I am just really getting my site going and up there. Thanks for the tips.
Your In-Trance To Success,
Ricky Strode
Ricky Strode recently posted..Free Hypnosis Online – EHE
Twitter: kezanari
says:
When I write posts I try not to be a reporter and instead I try to be a trend setter. That why when it comes to SEO I try not to talk about the usual keywords and tags etc.
I like to come with something fresh when I do guest blogging
kezanari recently posted..9 Common Mistakes That Web Owners Make That Causes HIGH Bounce Rate
Twitter: CPASiteSolution
says:
I really like your point about being in it for the long haul, where you mention that there’s no short cut for SEO. While I don’t know a ton about SEO I understand the basics. It seems that the best rule of thumb is to not do something for the sake of trying to “trick” search engines because in the end they’re going to find out and penalize you.
Brian recently posted..Your Site Editor Continues to Evolve
Twitter: kezanari
says:
We have all been tempted to by 10,000 backlinks, link wheels and profile links to get high rankings but I know from experience that most of the time this can have a reverse effect on your site.
I have noticed that all the top sites with all the good traffic are sites that have been around for a little while all have the same thing in common and that is they the just build and grow on a daily bases.
kezanari recently posted..4 Amazing Tips To Help You Offer More Value to Your Online Customers
Twitter: esther98
says:
Thanks for this. It’s always good to be reminded about what it takes for good SEO. I’m still learning, so it’s all adding to my knowledge.
Anne Lyken-Garner recently posted..Little Things For Beautiful Interiors
Twitter: kezanari
says:
You just have to keep building your site daily and then after a while it will be a content monster on the top of google page one
kezanari recently posted..4 Simple SEO Strategies You Can Implement Now
Twitter: techwork_dk
says:
Hi kezanari
Nice with another point of view to SEO. I have read a lot of SEO articles the last year since I started my blog. This one was a bit different as you promised at the top.
Thanks for sharing.
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Twitter: Healthyone_org
says:
A great and informative article on SEO, the much talked subject on the net and illusive subject too, which change frequently.
Jupitor Chakma recently posted..Common Terms of Nutrition/Health: F to Z
Twitter: kezanari
says:
Tell me about it. Soon Google will be omitting some of the keywords that people use to find your website from Google Analytics. Now that’s going to be a SEO bombshell!
kezanari recently posted..20 Powerful Marketing Tips
Great article! I especially find the concept of User Experience very interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Twitter: kezanari
says:
Use experience is very important because it is one of the main things that can lower your bounce rate.
If your website design is hard on the eye or your content is laid out in a confusing way most visitors will just push the back button.
kezanari recently posted..9 Common Mistakes That Web Owners Make That Causes HIGH Bounce Rate
Okay, I learned a lot on user experience. Nice!!
Twitter: kezanari
says:
Thanks
kezanari recently posted..20 Powerful Marketing Tips
You mentioned that having 2 big 336 x 280 blocks above your content will get your site a lower rank, is this true if the ad blocks are not the same?
For example, would it still hold true if you had one 336 x 280 lined up to the left and then a small 160×600 ad on the sidebar? The difference with this is that your content will be able to appear in between these two ad blocks where as by having 2 large blocks, the content is all pushed below the fold.
Larry Brown recently posted..How to Get a Raise
Twitter: kezanari
says:
It would be best to use a letter box banner at the top of your site. Having ads in the side bar is not the problem, the problem arises when your ads push you content below the fold and this degrades “user’s experience”.
Google wants useful site’s that delivers quality content so Google knows when you are just trying to make money from ad click’s because of the locations of your ads and the sizes.
Also external affiliate links is another one but I guess I will leave that for another article.
kezanari recently posted..Top 7 Website Conversion Mistakes
Twitter: TechieSaves
says:
I totally agree that affiliate links are pretty bad if you’re not cloaking them, as for Adsense blocks crammed up above the fold, you have a good point. I’m not very sure that Google would penalize you for that though
Marty recently posted..How to Update to iOS5 using iTunes
Twitter: MostDarren
says:
Nice post. It seems like a few years ago everyone was saying “build links.” Now the tune has changed to building websites for users. It looks like Google is getting its way with everyone these days
Twitter: kezanari
says:
That is so – SEO is evolving so fast, I just give Google what they are looking for and that is good content
kezanari recently posted..4 Amazing Tips To Help You Offer More Value to Your Online Customers
Twitter: wpwebhost
says:
The backlinks part is very true. Quality always outwit the quantity backlinks.
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Twitter: kezanari
says:
The only problem is that only around 20% of webmasters know this. Most people mostly newbie’s buy 10,000 auto approved scrape box link blasts and think that their one page website will rank number one for weight loss in two days.
One link from CBN ti your site is worth more than 10,000 PR 0 – 3 any day
kezanari recently posted..340 Comment Luv Blogs With PR For You To Comment To
It kind of surprises me that Google dropped your rankings for adding the 2 ads above the fold. Google pushes advertising so much I assumed that it wouldn’t matter, but I have never test it like you have. I have read some articles that claimed adding adsense ads could actually improve rankings. Of course the article is a bit older, but it was a good discussion.
Ray recently posted..Google Webmaster Tools showing more links to your site
Twitter: kezanari
says:
I even tested it with CPA and Amazon and it was the same thing. I had 10 – 15 outbound Amazon affiliate links on each of my 15 page shoe selling website.
My site bounced between rank 3 and 300+ for 6 months. Then I reduced the Amazon links to no more than three per page, after 2 weeks BOOM I’m at number one getting $200 per month on commissions.
Anything that looks spammy and Google Panda will devalue your website
kezanari recently posted..20 Powerful Marketing Tips
This article was so helpful for me.. I really learned a lot. thanks!
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Twitter: kezanari
says:
Thanks – There is a load more of this type of stuff on my website
kezanari recently posted..5 Top Website Design Mistakes You Need To Know
Twitter: mcrapu
says:
I hv to agree with ‘SEO – In For The Long Haul’ and nothing beats consistency.
mcrapu recently posted..Making Women Laugh Is A Science
Twitter: kezanari
says:
That is so true BUT sometimes it can take people two years to realise that
kezanari recently posted..Top 7 Website Conversion Mistakes
Twitter: TechieSaves
says:
I don’t know if your Adsense experiment is relevant. I will try is too, see what happens
Marty recently posted..How to Enable Siri on iPhone 4S
Twitter: kezanari
says:
Please email me your findings Marty
kezanari recently posted..4 Amazing Tips To Help You Offer More Value to Your Online Customers
Twitter: problogsuccess
says:
Very informative article Kez. In particular, I agree with you saying that SEO is long term. Surely it is. Black hat and push button type of SEO strategies always trigger the alarm in Google’s farm.
Jane recently posted..Social Sharing Buttons: Are You Driving Your Readers Away?
I definitely agree with the point about ad blocks. I had a similar experience – the ad block was a banner from a third party, not Adsense, but the same principle applied – it was too big and my rankings dropped. I made it much smaller, so there was more content above the fold, and I came back.
Isabella recently posted..Yandex.com – the new search engine from Russia
Twitter: kezanari
says:
Crazy isn’t it – Like I was saying in the article Google are hot on “User Experience” the first sniff of a site trying to make money over providing qualitiy content is going to see their site drop. Unliess you are a full blow shop with shpping cart etc..
kezanari recently posted..5 Hot Article Marketing Tips For Success
I learned a lot.. Thanks for the wonderful and helpful post!
briant recently posted..How to Get your Products in Google Product Search updated Thu Dec 30 2010 11:12 pm CST
Twitter: kezanari
says:
Thanks – Briant I a happy that you found it informative
kezanari recently posted..5 Easy Ways To Build Your E-mail List Now!
Twitter: selfishyayun
says:
about the adsense killer, I want to ask. whether the size of the other adsense will also occur such as using the 336×250 size?
selfishyayun recently posted..All About Future Trend In 3D Games
Twitter: kezanari
says:
You can use any size ads it’s just that if your website has too many ads where there should be content you may see a drop in rankings.
So above the fold of your site should be content and not big fat banners ads. It may be best to have ads in the side bars opposed to right under your top menu bar or right above the headline of your article.
Remember that this is just a guide
kezanari recently posted..20 Powerful Marketing Tips
Twitter: selfishyayun
says:
Thank you for replay my comment
i believe if experience is the best teacher, i can learn from myself or from somebody else like you
selfishyayun recently posted..World Wide Web Security Problems And Mitigation
I am a newbie when it comes to SEO, and this blog taught me many things, for a newbie, my analytics bounce rate is too high, and now i know how to lower it, i wanted to quote the phrase “Content is the king”, with that, now i know that i better increase the quality of my content. I wanted you guys to criticize my blog to help me improve, thanks in advance.
zarc recently posted..Spy Cameras
Twitter: kezanari
says:
Hi Zarc
I looked at your site and you have to change alot of things.
1. The keyword you have chosen to target has a very high competition and a very low search rate
2. You need to self host and move away from blogspot if not then atleast buy a proper domain name though blogger “Button Spy Camera” .org and net are still avalible
3. you need a side bar
WOW there is so much more..
kezanari recently posted..My Three Secret Co’s Of Blogging
Twitter: KatrinaMoody
says:
Great post, and definitely a little bit different tune than what other SEOs try to repackage over and over again. Perhaps the best point, for me at least, is the idea that slow and steady wins the race in SEO and in races against Bugs Bunny. *grin*
I’m a smaller site owner, applying SEO as I learn it to my site, and am ranking on page 1 for some ver low competition keywords, this has given me hope I might get there eventually in my other goals.
Katrina Moody recently posted..When Real Life Comes Before Blogging, or … Seizures Suck
Twitter: kezanari
says:
As you keep producing content on your site over time you will be ranging number one for some tough keywords and your site will be a PR6 – sounds good eh!
kezanari recently posted..My Three Secret Co’s Of Blogging
Twitter: slopswap
says:
There is so much to learn about SEO! Thank you for a great article! There were a lot of great questions that were also answered for me in the comments section too. I have 1 square adsense in my side bar/above the fold, 1 smaller banner above my post and then square below my post/below the fold. In reading everything, I’m thinking I may be squeaking by (or I could be wrong about that) but yet that’s still a lot of ads and I may be hurting my user experience. It’s not like I’m making a ton of money on them. So if I can bother you for your opinion..which ads would you keep/which would you get rid of if you were me? TIA!
Dawn recently posted..FREE Alerts when your Purchases go On Sale!!
Twitter: kezanari
says:
I would get rid of the one at the bottom because that ad has been proven not to get hardly any clicks. keep the one on the top of your side bar.
Remember most of the action happens above the fold so that is where the visitor decides whether they want to stay on your site or not.
kezanari recently posted..My Three Secret Co’s Of Blogging
Twitter: slopswap
says:
Thanks for your advice!
Dawn recently posted..Get Your FREE Credit Score!
I keep on minimizing my texts within 300-500 words because i thought or i read from other site. In some instances i feel like that my posts are don’t have qualities anymore.
thanks for your tips! your advices are more liberating and easy.
hitokirihoshi recently posted..Time of My life with Black Eyed Peas
Twitter: kezanari
says:
like I said in the article everything he read on the Internet is not always true. Where possible create long articles over 500 words this is one of the things that Google is looking for.
kezanari recently posted..Top 7 Website Conversion Mistakes
I agree with the part about “User Experience”.
As a software application developer, I was thought to create websites, software and application that are user-friendly and by experience I can say that it’s really effective in reducing the bounce rate of a site.
Liana recently posted..Ideas to Help the World updated Tue Sep 13 2011 12:27 am CDT
Twitter: kezanari
says:
I agree totally with what you’re saying, the more user-friendly you make your websites The lower your bounce rate will be. I have witnessed this myself recently on my own websites.
kezanari recently posted..My Three Secret Co’s Of Blogging
Great post kezanari.
I am glad you emphasize on the “user experience” point. I think it will be a an even bigger factor in ranking with the new Google updates. And it should be, I mean, isn’t that what a website is all about, providing useful information in an easy to reach and understand manner?…
satrap recently posted..Ways to Make Money from Home
Twitter: kezanari
says:
thanks, most people don’t really look at User experience because they are too focused on SEO and back links. So making your website as user friendly as possible is definitely a priority as this will help to lower your bounce rate and hence better rankings.
kezanari recently posted..Facebook For Dummies.
I am relatively new in internet marketing and I am only realising now that the hardest part is getting your website ranked high in the search engines and this takes a long time. It is interesting to learn about the goggle panda updates as I have not been aware of these. Hopefully this post will help me in my efforts!thanks.
Sean recently posted..The Ultimate guide To Treating Tinnitus
Twitter: kezanari
says:
welcome to the online marketing world. Up until last year it was quite easy to rank high on the search engines but with the New Google updates things Have changed a lot. So for your website or Internet marketing endeavours you need to be looking at the long-term.
kezanari recently posted..Choosing The Right Blogging Software
Twitter: JerryPierce
says:
Very Good Article. There are way too many people selling the next major secret method. Content matters now days.
Jerry recently posted..Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Twitter: kezanari
says:
thanks, most of the secret methods are not even secret they are just packaged that way to fool novice marketers.
and it is true content really does matter If you want to succeed online
kezanari recently posted..Facebook For Dummies.
Twitter: luganikaran
says:
Panda has changed the look of SEO in terms of Google. Everyone needs to change strategies to deal with panda.
Karan Lugani recently posted..Panda Series | 7 Deadly Sins That Can Give Your Blog A Panda Slap
Twitter: kezanari
says:
I totally agree with you, SEO seems to change with every Google update
Twitter: artofsearch
says:
I couldn’t agree with you more.
Content is king!
As more and more keywords get eaten up by the big guys we need to focus on the things we have more control of.
Justin Patoka recently posted..Become Findable
Twitter: kezanari
says:
Thanks for your reply Justin, SEO is definitely something that is in our control and that we can improve daily.
kezanari recently posted..8 Awesome Ways To Use Linkedin To Drive Traffic To Your Blog
Thank you for this article. It is so great to hear about the Backlink Drowning. I can just see people doing all the quick work and watching their site disappear from Google.
Building up slowly can be a bit of a process but so much better in the long run.
I liked the Content over 500 words, easy navigation, and long tail keyword phrases in your article as well. Do you recommend any tools for SEO along with your tips?
Darryl recently posted..Women’s Self Defense And OC-Foam Class
Twitter: kezanari
says:
Sorry I replied in the wrong place. Europe lies down below ↓↓↓
kezanari recently posted..FREE Seo Pressor Alternative
Twitter: kezanari
says:
buying a massive amounts of back links has been all the rage of late but Google has gotten smart to this practice and Like you said people have had their websites disappear altogether from Google.
I was using SEO quake plug-in for Firefox but now that Yahoo no longer show back links to websites I’m now looking for another Tool to use. but as you isn’t always about tools you have to have a little bit of experience as well.
kezanari recently posted..SEO Is Dead
Twitter: RelationshipCir
says:
You are 3 for 3 in usefulness of your articles for me. So you’ve got my full attention!
I went and changed my blogs to remove some of the ads because of this article. I’ve been struggling with having extra ads on my websites for a long time, but I think the result will create more money coming in because people will be more trusting to scroll down and read some of my stuff!
Also, I’ve been tempted by those backlink promises, and now I’m thinking that I’ll just avoid them altogether. It feels like a lot of work with a slow payoff but I would rather have that than a huge drop out of Google! I’m experienced that before and I don’t want to experience that again.
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