Tag Archives: SEO

Problem solving: WordPress Sharebar and Twitter tweak

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Having recently added the Sharebar plugin to my WordPress blog, I noticed something about the tweet button.

Every time I tweeted a blog post I’d written, it came up with the title and a url, but also via @ThinkDevGrow.

Some people might not think this is a problem, as Sharebar gives you the option to customise your tweets, taking out via @ThinkDevGrow, but I wanted an explanation as to why this was happening.

After spending a few minutes searching, I realised that Devgrow are responsible for the Sharebar plugin. When I search Twitter for @ThinkDevGrow, there are hundreds of articles from lots of different sites coming via this Twitter account.

Luckily, it’s very simple to change this to your Twitter username (or none at all).

  1. Go to your WordPress dashboard
  2. Choose the settings option
  3. Under the settings tab, should be the option ‘Sharebar’.
  4. At the top of the page, choose the settings option.
  5. Under the heading ‘customize’, it gives you the option of using a Twitter username. @ThinkDevGrow will be automatically entered here.
  6. Remove it and add whatever username you like.

So now when you write excellent content, you’ll be the one getting the credit for it.

What exactly is good content?

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In SEO, there are a lot of opinions flying around. Theories on keyword density, where to get links, duplicate content, reciprocal linking – all pretty much designed to give you one big headache! However, in SEO, there’s always one thing that’s agreed universally by everyone in the industry…. Content is king!

When I started in the industry, I didn’t understand what it meant. People like to run around saying content is king, but not explaining what it meant. I’m here to give you my outlook on what it means.

You can design and code the most SEO friendly website ever built. Every page title and headline is rich with well researched keywords. You can go out there and get the best links from international websites, even ones that have a pagerank of 10. You can even shine the URL in a light above the city you live in like the Batman sign.

No matter how much you promote this amazing website, there’s just one thing wrong… the content.

Content can mean many things. If you’ve got a good and unique writing style, it could just be a blog post. If you’re creative with photoshop, it could be an infographic. If you’re good at analysing data, produce a graph. If you’re describing a place, take some amazing photos. There’s so many platforms out there for you to turn your information into great content in order for visitors to not only stay on your site, but to link to you and keep coming back.

It’s been proven that most people on the internet don’t have much time. So to make their day a little bit easier, create something that they can digest a little bit easier. A good infographic or funny video grabs the attention much better than a huge paragraph with long words that you can’t even spell! (I realise this content is only words, but in the form of a tutorial, sometimes it’s essential).

I’ve included a couple of links to a great link building infographic as well as a video tutorial on SEO. The only reason I’ve linked to them is because they’re great content. If you can come up with excellent content, there’s a chance of having someone like me linking to you!

Looks too good to be true? It probably is

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In the SEO industry, one constant thorn in the side of our work are so called ‘SEO Experts’ who cause are more of a hindrance than a help.

There are lots of businesses, big and small, old and new, that are looking for help with their search engine marketing. A lot of these have no experience of the internet, so when they’re offered a service from someone who charges much less than industry average, you can understand why they fall into the trap.

Although these so called experts are able to charge extremely low prices for a large amount of work, the quality of the work is usually poor. I’m not saying that every single cheap SEO agency is bad, but every one I’ve had experience with has been.

I see link building as the most important aspect of SEO. Most of these agencies claim that they’re excellent link builders, but in reality, the only links they obtain are forums, directories and articles. In most cases, the copywriting has been to a poor English standard.

When you submit to an article distribution site, you’re not only doing so to put a link in the bottom of the article to increase ranking, you’re also submitting your article for people to find interesting, therefore leading to more links coming in.
When you leave a forum signature, you want to be really contributing to the conversation, and not just leaving a link with the anchor text for the search engines to find.
Also, when an agency promises you ‘thousands of followed links’, the links I’ve seen created aren’t worth a thousandth of a quality back link from a well respected blog or website. The links, you’ll also find, are usually not targeted so the traffic that will arrive at your site is usually not targeted.

The amount of clients I’ve had that have complained about their ranking going down after a few months of work by a bogus SEO company is shocking. Anyone who’s looking for SEO on their site and want a cheaper option than an agency should look around first.
SEO for Industry provides you with many different SEO options, including a one day SEO course for up to 6 people. This can help you or one of your employees learn about SEO for a one off price. It will work out a lot cheaper in the long run than a too good to be true bogus SEO agency.

5 Free SEO Tools

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Running an SEO campaign can be time consuming. Luckily, there are so many tools out there, both paid and free, that allows you to speed up some of the processes. Here’s a small list of some of the tools I’ve used in the past, but if you want to find more, just have a search in Google.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Use this to find out how many people are searching for specific search terms. It’s not 100% accurate, but it can give you a rough idea of searches and competition.

Google Analytics

If you don’t use this for your site already, you have to start! It’s a great way of measuring your traffic. Not only can you measure traffic, but you can see where it’s coming from, along with so many great features.

Google Webmaster Tools

I know I’m using Google a bit much, but they really have some excellent things available for you. Webmaster tools allows you to check the sites that are linking to you, as well as telling you if any of the incoming links don’t work.

Open Site Explorer

Allows you to check your competitors back links (as well as your own). There is a paid for version but the free one allows you to pick out some good link opportunities.

Rank Checker

If you’re in the middle of an SEO campaign, you’re going to want to check your rankings! Rank Checker lets you look up your search rankings without doing it manually, which can be really time consuming. It also produces a report so you can see where you’re improving and where you’re not.

How to use keywords on your site

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Following on from the keyword research post, now I’m going to talk about how you should use your keywords on your page.

I’ve dealt with clients who have been mistaken over what is meant by keyword density. I had a client who wanted to rank for the term ‘self catering’. They once sent me an article to have a look at before they put it on their site. For a 1000 word article, the term self catering was used over 100 times. This is way too much, and didn’t look natural. I’ll go through the ways in which you include your keywords as well as having natural looking content.

First of all, you should have compiled a list of keywords you want your site to rank for. Now you’ve got your list, each page should target different keywords.

Whenever you create a new page, choose 2-3 keywords on the list that are most relevant to the page you’re about to create.

Now you’ve decided which keywords you want to rank for, here are the places you should be using them.

Page title – Try to include at least one keyword (usually the most important one) as the search engines see this as the most important ranking factor.

Heading tags (H1, H2) – Also try including as many keywords as you can in these heading tags.

Images – Use alt text and picture descriptions.

Main content – It’s important to get this right, as keyword stuffing (including the selected keyword too many times) is seen as spam by the main search engines.

If you have a look on the internet, you’ll see hundreds of articles that talk about keyword density (percentage of keyword use) and use 5%, 7% and 10% as ideal figures for how often your keywords are used. I disagree with exact numbers, and just think you should write your content as naturally as possible. At the end of an article, I go back, and if I feel my keywords are underused, I’ll add one or two in, or if I think they’re overused, I’ll take some out. This hardly ever happens, though, as I usually have a percentage of between 3% and 5%, which is fine.

Please be aware that if you’re writing good content and using your keywords correctly, the chances are, you’ll start ranking for less competitive long tail keywords (four to five words), which can be great for targeted traffic.

What is keyword research?

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If you know anything about the SEO industry, you’ll know that a keyword is the term we enter into the search engine when we’re looking for something. Although it’s called a keyword, the term can include multiple words.

Any credible SEO campaign has to begin with some keyword research. The most exhausting thing about dealing with some clients is when they want to rank first for an obscure term, and I’m trying to tell them that there are approximately 0 searches for said term. In order to prove this to clients, I use something called the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.

The tool is free, and it gives you a good idea of monthly and annual searches for certain terms, as well as the competition for them. Although it only shows the Google Adwords (paid search) competition, it’s usually very similar with regards to organic search.

The keyword tool is really simple to use. All you have to do is enter the search term (or terms, as multiple searches can be performed at once) and wait for the results. You’re able to choose which country the searches are performed that you’re looking for.

There are three columns of results – competition, local monthly searches and global monthly searches. Competition is a green power bar. The fuller the bar, the more competition there is for the search term in Google Adwords. Local monthly searches indicates how many searches there are for the term in the country you’ve selected, and global monthly searches is how many searches there have been worldwide.

You’re now able to download these results (either all or selected) into an Excel spreadsheet.

You can now use these results to analyse which search terms would be more effective for your SEO campaign.

Google + – a brief description (and invite…if you want one)

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I know it’s a few weeks late, but I was invited into Google+ today. It’s by no means the finished article, but I can see it having a real impact on search rankings for the future.

I’m guessing there’s plenty to be added to the network in terms of groups, businesses and fan pages (Facebookesque..), but here are a few things that I like the look of.

Social Circles

Allows you to put people in certain groups. Great idea for anyone who’s ever made a Facebook status about their boss or a work colleague, only to find out that you’re friends with them. The new circles feature allows you to create groups of people and only allow them to see what you’ve written.

Hangouts

Like Facebook chat, but better! Hangouts allows you to speak to up to 9 people at a time. There’s something similar on MSN messenger, but for some reason, Facebook have never incorporated it. It also allows you to use video chat, as if you’re all in the same room. I just hope it doesn’t lead to people thinking they never have to leave the house!

Sparks

Allows you to search for news on your chosen subject. Looks like it’s just searching Google news, but it’s not a bad little feature. I’m guessing this will be further developed in the future, but I like the thought of it.

I’ve no doubt that in the next few weeks there’s going to be lots of new developments, and it’s something I’m rather excited about. Watch this space!

 If you’d like to have a look at Google+, but so far haven’t been invited, please add us on Twitter and Tweet us your email address, and we’ll get an invite sent straight to you. 

10 Types of link and how to obtain them

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Any link building campaign should include various sources. Here are 10 that I’ve been known to use in the past.

Recommendation

A recommendation from a different website about some of your content. This is definitely the most difficult kind of link, but it’s also the best. People who have their own site or blog want to give their readers reason to come back. If they’re recommending really good content constantly, the chances are, their readers will come back. The best way to obtain these links is to constantly come up with good, original content. Content can be anything from an excellent blog post to a video. The more original and interesting it is, the better chance you have of obtaining a fantastic link.

Guest Blog

Similar to recommendation, as the blogger has to endorse your content before they accept your post. There are hundreds of thousands of blogs out there, all differing in readership and authority. The trick is to get a guest post on a blog in your industry with lots of readers. The best way to obtain these would be to try and contact the blogger through email or social media, and try starting a conversation or adding to one that they’re currently in. Nowadays, an email asking for a link usually gets binned, so you have to be a little bit more tactful. Another way would be to contribute to their blog by making good comments on the posts. Alternatively, there are some blogs who openly allow guest posts, which is probably an easier idea to begin with.

Blogroll

Most blogs have a sidebar with a few of their personal links on there. Guest blogs are more effective, but it’s still good for getting some extra targeted traffic. If your on the blogroll of a really popular blogger, it can only be a good thing. Same as above, the best way to achieve this is to offer constant good content and join in with blogger conversations.

Article Distribution

Used to carry a lot more weight in the past, but still useful if you use the good article distribution sites (http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.ezinemark.com). Make sure you use original content as Google can penalise for duplicate content.

Blog Commenting

Make a comment on a blog post in your industry, and the blogger usually lets you include a link back to your site. These are now mostly nofollow (wont improve search engine rankings) but it will make people more aware of your site, especially if you’re making good contributions. This can lead to blogroll or guest posting opportunities, as well as recommendations.

Forum Signature

Join an industry specific forum and start joining conversations with the regulars. Some forums allow you to include a link in your signature (content automatically included in each post). If you become well respective on the forum for your contribution, you’re likely to get an increase in traffic.

Social Networking (Twitter/Facebook/Linkedin)

Becoming more and more effective in recent times. If you build up a good following on a social network, submitting links on them can be really effective. As always, make sure you’re contributing well and not using spammy techniques, and you’ll see your following increase. The more followers you have, the more chance you have of traffic when you submit a link.

Social Bookmarking

There are lots of social bookmarking sites available, but the top three are Digg, Stumbleupon and Reddit. This is where you go to submit links that become available to all users on the sites. Once again, if you take the time to contribute to the sites well, the chances are, when you submit a link, you’ll get traffic.

Directories

There are lots of directories out there (paid and free). When I start an SEO campaign, I always start with the free directories, as they’re a quick and easy way to start being noticed by the search engines.

Blogging

There are a few free blogging services available, such as Hubpages, Squidoo, WordPress and Blogger. Signing up is free, and you’re able to write articles and blogs, linking to your site. You’re also able to comment on other people’s blogs, which in turn makes them aware of yours.

There are many other types of links, but using these ten will help in your SEO campaign over the next few months.

Just a word of warning – try to make the sites that link to you are as relevant as possible. You don’t want Google to think you’re trying to cheat the system.

5 Guarantees an SEO professional shouldn’t make

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As businesses are spending more and more time on the internet, there are a lot of SEO companies offering you their services. Here’s a little list of 5 things any reputable SEO shouldn’t be guaranteeing you.

Guaranteed top spot on Google – The Google algorithm (the system it uses to rank websites for certain keywords) is extremely complicated. Add the fact that it’s constantly changing, and it’s very difficult to know the exact ranking factors. Also, there might be another company starting SEO at exactly the same time with a bigger budget or more authoritative domain name. If someone claims that they can achieve top spot for a certain keyword, make sure you’re very careful about agreeing to anything.

On site is more important than off site/visa versa – In any SEO campaign, it’s important to make sure your on site and off site factors are both optimised. I like to compare it to training programme. If you go to the gym and workout every night but then go home and eat junk food, it wont be as effective as if you eat a healthy diet. SEO is the same. Both on site and off site can be effective, but their effectiveness is maximised if both are being worked on.

How long will it take to see results? – This is a difficult one, as, obviously, any business owner wants to know they’re getting something for their money. If you have a new site, it can take anything up to 6 months to see any visible results with the search engines. This is why it’s important to use effective link building methods as, although search rankings aren’t necessarily improving, the site’s traffic will be.

The best type of link – Once again, Google doesn’t tell us whether a directorial link is better than a forum signature, or the difference between a link at the top of the page and a link in the middle. However, if we try to cover all possible link building options, we’re bound to see some improvement.

What will change tomorrow? – Absolutely vital to any SEO campaign – make sure you constantly check and read industry news. Google recently changed their algorithm dramatically (panda update), and anyone not reading their stuff could have been left far behind by the change.