Salt Canyon » SEO 101

Learning To Crawl

Salt Canyon — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:37:39 +0000

Think about planning a trip. Take a map and mark out a path to a destination. A map will provide useful information about routes and connecting points. A map should also be accurate and provide a realistic expectation for the actual travel. After planning a trip and departing, what happens when a road is closed, or worse, a road doesn’t even exist? Routes have to change, plans have to change, and frustration occurs.

Before any SEO work can be fully consumed by search engines, a site has to be crawled by those engines. Web crawlers are automatic programs that browse the web automatically and methodically. They provide feedback to the search engine regarding the potential path (and pitfalls) a site visitor may see. If a crawler encounters any problems reaching pages on a site, there’s impact on SEO. A search engine can’t index a page that it is unable to reach.

Crawl errors can include pages not found, URLs not followed, URLs timed out, and HTTP errors. Any of these errors can prevent a web crawler from navigating the site properly. It is critical to constantly monitor crawl errors (Google Webmaster Tools provides this information for free) to ensure that any pages that should be crawled are accessible.

When a site is crawled successfully, the actual site matches the site map, much like the roads matching a roadmap. SEO efforts can be lost quickly if a search engine can’t get to the optimized content without encountering errors.

Identity Crisis

Salt Canyon — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:59:48 +0000

What happens when potential customers call a business and ends up confused by what they hear on the other end? If they’re expecting a certain familiar greeting and end up hearing something different, customer’s experience and impression starts out on the wrong foot. Some may persist, others may call someone else. Consistency in a company’s identity is key, particularly for potential customers.

When a company creates a local business listing on the web, consistency continues to be a key factor. Humans can often overlook minor errors in spelling or addresses, but search engines may have a hard time if something isn’t an exact match. In order to build a consistent, strong online presence, it’s a good idea to keep a standard set of core company information. This includes the following list:

- Official company name
- Address (listed the same way it would appear on a physical letter)
- Phone number, including area code
- Website
- Contact email
- Company description

Consistency in local business listings will help build a prominent web presence. Keeping your information consistent reinforces your presence with the search engines and doesn’t diffuse your online optimization efforts.

Three Google Basics

Salt Canyon — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:30:16 +0000

Google cites three “key processes” in delivering search results. Anytime an SEO effort is underway it’s important to ensure that these three areas are properly addressed.

1. Crawling
Crawling is how pages, either new or updated, are recognized, discovered, and “read” by Google. Google uses a program called Googlebot that determines the pattern of searching sites, including where, when, and how much searching happens. Google offers this as a free service and doesn’t accept payment to crawl a site more frequently.

2. Indexing
Once Google has crawled a site, it processes the site’s content and identifies words and positions of the words in the page. All of this information is compiled in an index. Google notes that this process has some limitations, including dynamic content and rich media content.

3. Serving Results
When a user enters a search term on Google, the returned results are what Google believes are the most relevant to the user. Google determines relevancy by over 200 factors, including PageRank (the measure of importance of the page based on other pages linking to it). Google continues to improve the discernment of quality links versus spam links. Google also notes that content that is relevant and useful to the reader plays a big part in page selections and results.

Search engine optimization obviously extends far beyond these three areas, but these basic categories are important aspects of being recognized in the Google search process.

[Background information provided by Google Webmasters/Site owners Help]

Top Rankings Guaranteed?

Salt Canyon — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:15:10 +0000

As much as we’d like to always have the promise of a top ranking fulfilled, the truth is that there is no way to guarantee top rankings. Watch the top SEO providers, and a common theme is the absence of top ranking guarantees. Here are a few points to note:

- Rankings fluctuate by nature. This is not only due to the site and search engines, but the parameters related to the individual performing the search.

- Rankings don’t always mean success. SEO should contribute to increased site traffic; if rankings are high but traffic doesn’t improve, the efforts are in vain.

- Quoting Google, “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” Google says to beware of the “special relationship” and “priority submit” claims by some SEO firms. There is no priority submit for Google. [Google Webmasters/Site owners Help]

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291

- Read the fine print and make sure the SEO firm provides a clear plan for how the site will be optimized. Anything that sounds shady, non-traditional, or even unethical should be avoided.

The best strategy for effective SEO is a long-term perspective, making necessary adjustments as the competitive landscape and search engines change. The old adage is certainly true when applied to SEO and top rankings: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Guaranteed.

As much as we’d like to always have the promise of a top ranking fulfilled, the truth is that there is no way to guarantee top rankings. Watch the top search engine optimization providers, and a common theme is the absence of top ranking guarantees. Here are a few points to note:

Rankings fluctuate by nature. This is not only due to the site and search engines, but the parameters related to the individual performing the search.
Rankings don’t always mean success. SEO should contribute to increased site traffic; if rankings are high but traffic doesn’t improve, the efforts are in vain.
Quoting Google, “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” Google says to beware of the “special relationship” and “priority submit” claims by some SEO firms. There is no priority submit for Google. [Google Webmasters/Site owners Help]
Read the fine print and make sure the SEO firm provides a clear plan for how the site will be optimized. Anything that sounds shady, non-traditional, or even unethical should be avoided.

Do I Need Monthly SEO Management?

Salt Canyon — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:39:17 +0000

Think of investing in SEO like buying a nice new pair of leather shoes. The largest investment is the pair of shoes (like the SEO setup fee), but the monthly management is like polishing and repairing the shoe. By taking care of your shoe, they stay useful and nice.

Once you pay the initial setup fee for SEO, you will (and should) be interested in seeing improvements in your company’s overall visibility on the web. Ongoing SEO requires individual attention to each site. It includes adjusting efforts over time, continuing to make site changes, building links, and adjusting keywords based on past search results and statistics.

SEO management allows your web presence and availability to grow over time. After the initial cost, improvements from monthly service can contribute to an ongoing return on investment. Search engines and competitors will continually change, so monthly maintenance ensures a competitive edge.

How Long Does SEO Take?

Salt Canyon — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:47:52 +0000

SEO clients may start to see results quickly, but improvement is usually gradual. Ethical optimization is obtained by using techniques that can take time to build and to respond. Proper setup and initial service is vital, but ongoing monitoring, measuring, and adjusting are also important. Quality SEO companies agree that the process takes time before results appear, at least two or three months, and is generally not an “overnight success”.

Similar to advertising and public relations, SEO is an ongoing marketing process. It should be an integral component of a long-term marketing strategy rather than just a quick fix.

What Is SEO?

Salt Canyon — Sat, 30 May 2009 05:27:40 +0000

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. The primary purpose of SEO is to improve your presence, popularity, and ranking on the major, most popular search engines. It’s important to note that SEO is part of a larger pursuit: web marketing.

Do I Need SEO?

Because so many potential customers search for information and companies online before they contact you, SEO is important for all businesses. Optimization can even be essential for small or local businesses in highly competitive markets. Substituting web searches for phone books is becoming more and more popular, and people need to be able to find your website!