Google is jumping into the button game along side Facebook, Twitter, Digg and many others to introduce their +1 button.  Webmasters can now add the +1 button to their websites so visitors can essentially endorse a webpage and recommend it to their friends.

A New Form of Spam?

There is a common cycle in the SEO world that goes something like this:

New feature/ranking factor is released by search engines –> People learn how to game it –> Gaming it works for quite awhile until search quality suffers –> Search engineers tweak the algorithm to diminish the effectiveness of the old ranking factor and come out with something new

This has been extremely evident when talking about link building.  Google was one of the first search engines to heavily emphasize inbound links.  Although they still do, they have adjusted over the years and become a little more sophisticated.  However, they have yet to win the purchased links battle and likely never will.  So they move on to social signals…

One problem with incorporating more social elements is the obvious ability to game them by using services like Mechanical Turk or other methods to inflate your social signal.  Google will soon (if they aren’t already) have to try to identify websites who are artificially inflating their +1′s.

So How could Google’s +1 Button Hurt Your Rankings?

Here are 2 theories – keep in mind they are only theories at this point:

1. The Rich Get Richer -Sites with established readership will have a huge advantage at getting more +1′s.  Google has a recent track record of promoting big brands, almost regardless of how relevant it is to the search query.  With +1 being another ranking factor, it aligns with their goal of pushing big brands.

2. User Data – The recent Panda update definitely hints that Google is trying to incorporate more and more user behavior data.  Panda specifically targeted low quality content.  Let’s say you add the +1 button to your website and have a low +1 click through rate for some reason, would that be an indication of low quality?

There is no telling what direction Google takes with this.  It’s entirely possible that +1 has little ranking impact at this point but that can easily change in the near future.  Google continues to make attempts at incorporating social into their search algorithm so I expect the +1 data to stick, whether it’s accurate or not.

The answer is: nowhere, at least to find an accurate number.  There has been some much needed coverage recently in the SEO world about the Google AdWords tool vs. Google’s Search-Based Keyword Tool (SKTool).  To get some history, check out posts on Smackdown and David Naylor.

The various keyword tools do provide some interesting information about trending and potentially relative search volume but after looking through actual analytics, I don’t even see a trend in the discrepancies between various tools.  The following is an actual example.  I’m choosing not to disclose the actual keywords.

Keyword #1 – General commercial category.  Something like “Fishing Net”

• SK Tool – 2800 monthly searches
• AdWords Tool – 90,500 EXACT match global monthly searches
• Ranking – #1
• Last 30 Days traffic via Google Analytics – 1,110
• SKTool CTR – 40% (reasonable)
• Adowrds Tool CTR – 1.2% (ouch)
• The SERPS for this query include Overstock at #2, Wikipedia at #3, Image results and full PPC results

So overall, this query isn’t too off.  40% CTR for the #1 spot under these conditions is great.

Keyword #2 – General commercial category.  Plural of Keyword #1

• SK Tool – 190 monthly searches
• AdWords Tool – 74,000 EXACT match global monthly searches
• Ranking – #2
• Last 30 Days traffic via Google Analytics – 1,646
• SKTool CTR – 866% (in the #2 spot)
• Adowrds Tool CTR – 2.2%
• The SERPS for this query include Overstock at #1, Image results and full PPC results

As you can see, the SKTool for this query is extremely misleading as I receive more traffic for the keyword than the tool says exists.  I appreciate that it is misleading on the lower side as it may scare potential competitors away but it is off, nonetheless.

Another method to estimate search volume would be to compare 2 keywords in Google trends.  You should use a keyword that you are very familiar with as a baseline to the keyword you are researching and see how it stacks up.  Similar to the tools above, I’m not 100% confident that this is accurate either.

In the image below, the red line represents Keyword #2 and the blue line is Keyword #1.  If you recall, I currently get more traffic from Keyword #2 (in the 2nd position) than I do from Keyword #1 (in the 1st position).

To summarize, you shouldn’t fully rely on any Google Keyword tool at this time for accurate keyword estimate.  The SKTool is probably the closest but don’t be surprised if it over or underestimates search volume.  Use various tools to compare and look for trends and opportunities.  In the end, it’s a little bit of a gamble but isn’t that separates the amateurs from the pro’s?

The Yahoo!/Bing merger announced in early 2009 will begin to finally roll out in upcoming months.  In an email sent to Yahoo! advertisers, the company officially announced that it will slowly begin live testing Bing results on Yahoo.com as early as this month.

What does this mean from an SEO perspective?  While Google continues to dominate search share each month, the combination of Yahoo! and Bing will account for approximately 30% of the search volume coming from the Bing algorithm. 

Our historical ranking data shows that Google and Bing are much more inline in terms of their ranking algorithms.  The ranking variance between Google/Bing is much less than Google/Yahoo for almost every client.  So as Yahoo! continues to utilize Bing results, our clients will actually see an increase in traffic.  Thank you YaBing!

Google is continuing to experiment with the style and options of PPC ads.  With more and more users going straight to the organic rankings, Google and other search engines are desperately looking for ways to draw people back to the paid ads.  As shown in the image below, Google is showing something similar to organic site links for this PPC ad.

When starting a new website, many businesses or people struggle with the decision to pick a domain name and top-level domain (TLD). Simply put, the domain name is the main part of your website. The TLD is what comes after that, usually .com, .net. org, etc. For this website BigLeapWeb would be the domain name and .com would be the TLD. Ultimately, the decision comes down to the purpose of your website. Some people don’t put a lot of thought into their domain name but if you follow some of the tips below, you will be setting yourself up better to serve your customers and make your SEO and Internet Marketing efforts a little easier.

Off-line Business & Branding – If someone had to guess the TLD of any website, they typically start with a .com. If you are a well-known business or are trying to make a brand name for yourself, your best option is to get yourcompanyname.com. This will make it much easier when customers are looking for you by name. Avoid using hyphens (your-company-name.com) if possible. Most people don’t expect hyphens when they are looking for a popular website. There are some SEO advantages to this as well. Websites with a .com TLD are a little more trusted by Google and other search engines. Next time you do a search, take notice of how many in the top 10 are .com. The biggest problem you may face is being able to get your desired .com. Internet real estate is going quickly and .com TLD’s can be hard to come by.

Internet Business – If you do most of your business online, chances are you aren’t quite a household name. While this may initially sound like a disadvantage, it opens up your domain name possibilities quite a bit. Instead of being tied down to a domain name like yourcompanyname.com where people expect to find your website, you can go after alternative domains that may be easier to find. Also, you can incorporate keywords into your domain which will help your SEO campaign in a few ways. First, if someone searches for Provo dentist and your domain name is provodentist.com, this is a good indication to the search engines as well as potential customers that your site is related to their search term. Secondly, if other people are linking to your website without anchor text, your domain name will provide keywords by default. You will still want to avoid hyphens in your domain name if possible but if you find a quality domain name, there are some cases where you might want to buy it with hyphens.

Top-level Domains (TLD) - Whether you are worried about branding or not, you always want to get the .com version of your domain name if possible. As I mentioned before, .com’s are more trusted by Google and Internet users recognize them as more important sites. If your desired .com is not available, .net is your next best option. Currently, most people should avoid .biz or .tv TLD’s. However, this may change as search engine’s evolve and domain names are harder to come by.

Summary
If you are a brand name or wish to create a brand, stick to yourcompanyname.com or yourcompanyname.net.
If your company name isn’t as important, try other approaches like keywordrichurl.com or keyword-rich-url.com.

If you are stuck between a few different domain names orTLD’s and aren’t sure which one will be the best for your business or website, contact us for recommendations. Good luck!

Many business owners that have been on the web for awhile have more than one website. A common purpose for this is to flood the Internet with your websites so searchers are more likely to find one of your sites than your competitions. This is a well-known and commonly used strategy but there are a few key points to remember when using it.

Tip #1 – Unique Content
It is extremely important to insure that the content on each of your websites is unique and not duplicated. This can be tricky when it comes to certain pages like “About Us” or a company history page. If you duplicate some of this content, having multiple sites can work against you more than actually help you.

Tip #2 – Target different audiences
To avoid having duplicate content issues, you can always use each site to target a different market. For example, if you were a Realtor with multiple sites, you could use each one to target a different city or county. This can be extremely useful since it may be easier to rank well for individual city real estate searches.

Tip #3 – Great Domain Names
You will always want to make sure you own your company’s name as your primary website. If you are going to buy multiple sites, your secondary sites can include keyword rich domains. Search engines give some weight to those sites who have keywords in their domain name.

Tip #4 – Lead Generators
Your primary site should obviously be your place of business where people can buy from your or learn more about your services. The great part about having an alternative site is you can have fun with it. Instead of focusing on bringing in customers, you can be creative and include linkbait type content that people will enjoy looking at. There can always be a little pitch about your business and a link to your main website to make the most of it.

Tip #5 – Enter the Blogosphere
More and more professionals are including blogs as part of their business. Many companies integrate this into their website but if you feel that a blog doesn’t fit your site or you don’t want to pay a web developer to add one, you can always use an additional domain to run your blog. Blogs have the potential to do very well in search engines because of their frequently changing content and you may find that a blog can be an incredible business generator.

For the average small business owner, dedicating the limited amount of time and resources you have into one good website is typically a better strategy than releasing multiple sites and sacrificing quality for quantity. However, if you already have multiple sites out there on the web, taking advantage of your small network of sites can push you to the top of the search engine results and knock your competitors down the list. Make the most of your websites and make sure that they are helping each other instead of hurting.

Many businesses, large and small, are coming to a realization that Internet marketing is a necessary piece of their marketing puzzle. Offline channels like press releases, billboard advertising, radio spots and other techniques are still effective and important but the growth of the Internet is bringing a new aspect to traditional marketing. The following are some of the most common Internet marketing mistakes. As a newer field, most Internet marketing mistakes tend to be by omission. Businesses that take control of their online presence now will have a great advantage over those that don’t. Online advertising and purchasing continue to grow each year, avoid these mistakes and enjoy a positive online image and growing online sales.

• Lack of Interaction – The Internet is becoming an extremely social place where anyone and everyone have a voice. It is easier and easier for the average Joe to express his feelings on your product or service. Despite being a well-respected, customer oriented company, you may have a disgruntled customer now and then. Instead of blowing them off, respond to their concerns. There are many websites that have gone popular by discussing bad experiences with businesses. By reacting to even the individual complaints, you may save yourself hundreds of future customers.

Taking a proactive approach to online interaction is also becoming more common for all types of businesses. Many companies are instituting blogs on their websites to communicate with customers and announce news. Social media sites like Digg and talking with bloggers is a great way to manage your online reputation and build a following.

• Manage Dedication and Expectations – Online marketing is never a one-time event. In fact, it takes a lot of hard work on an on-going basis to maintain your online presence. Companies need to remain dedicated to their online efforts. One aspect of Internet marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), can take months to see results in some cases. You can’t give up after 2 months because you’re not on the top page for a tough keyword. And with PPC, you can’t just let your campaigns run on auto-pilot. Once you enter the arena of online marketing, you need to have dedicated resources (time or people) to administer online activities.

Too often, people have unreal expectations for the Internet marketing campaigns. it is possible to rank for competitive terms but it definitely takes time and lots of dedication. Instead of blaming Google and our competitors, you really need to ask yourself why your website should rank in the top 10 for a given keyword. Provide services or information that is worthy of being in the top 10.

• Worry About What You Can Control – You will never know the secret to dominating the Google search engine results. You can’t control how awesome your competition’s website is. You can learn as much as you can about website usability and design and make it a great place for visitors or customers. Many prolific bloggers have stated that search engines are not their main concern. They focus on great content and design with search engine optimization (SEO) rules in mind. If your site is truly popular among readers, chances are you will rank well for keyword pertaining to your subject. Create websites for your audience first, then search engines.

Leveraging the Internet for your business can be and has been one of the greatest enhancements for many companies. Internet business and marketing continues to grow each year. However, it is becoming more difficult to compete in this space. By getting ahead now and staying current with the latest Internet marketing trends, your business can continue to be successful online and off.

After reading any basic information about search engine optimization (SEO), you’ll find out that building links to your website is one of the most important factors in ranking well. Google and other major search engines see links as a vote from one site to yours. If your website has thousands of links from other sites and a competitors website only has a handful of links, search engines can see that your website is more popular and will probably rank you higher than your competition. So lets get started building some links. But where are you supposed to get all these links? Here are a few places to start looking:

• Directories – Directories are one of the easiest places to get a quick link. Many web directories will let you submit your site for free. There are also some paid directory options which can be very beneficial. One directory you definitely should submit your website to is dmoz.org. This is a free directory and highly regarded by search engines. It may take up to a year to even have your submission reviewed so start early.

Pro’s: Usually Free, thousands of directory options, easy to submit to

Con’s: Links don’t carry as much weight since they are easily obtained, some require payment, picking the wrong directories can hurt you.

• Friends & Partners – Leveraging your business partnerships can be one of the easiest and most beneficial links you get. If you partner with someone in your field or a related field, ask them to link to your website. If you run a business that allows other websites to sell your products or have franchises, you can even require that they link back to your site.

Pro’s: High quality links from related sites, usually free links

Con’s: Can be time consuming to contact partners. May take these people awhile to update their sites.

• Buying Links – Purchasing links from link brokers or contacting site owners is another possible way to build links. There are many companies that offer this service. If you find a related website to your own, see if they have an advertise section.

Pro’s: Quick and easy way to pick up links, you can often pick the anchor text and the types of sites your link shows up.

Con’s: Definitely the most risky way to build links. Google and other search engines are cracking down websites that buy links. If you get involved in link buying, you need to make sure you know the best ways to do it.

There are some other common ways to build links. It is important to remember that the best way to build links is by having a popular site with lots of link-worthy content. If you have lots of good content that people naturally want to link to, you will often do very well in the search engine results. Start boosting your rankings with a strong link building campaign.

When making the jump into search engine optimization (SEO) many businesses run into the decision whether to outsource their SEO work to a SEO firm or independent SEO specialist or hiring a full-time SEO specialist onto their team. As with any business decision, there are no easy answers here. The decision to hire a SEO specialist or outsource your SEO work really depends on your situation. As much as we wish outsourcing SEO work to SEO specialists was the only answer, there are instances where you may be better off hiring a full-time search engine optimization specialist. Here’s a breakdown of pro’s and con’s and what your best option is for different scenarios.

Adding a SEO Specialist to Your Team
Benefits: You have a dedicated specialist to focus on your business’ needs. They can take the time to learn the ins and outs of your business and work alongside your web development team. Ultimately, you have a little more control. Hiring a SEO specialist for the long term will help you stay on top of your industry for years to come.

When you need to hire a full-time SEO specialist: The decision mostly comes down to what your goals are and what type of business you are running. If you are running a business where your Internet sales bring in a good portion of your income, you may need a SEO specialist working for you full-time. It may be a little more expensive on a yearly basis but you need constant SEO being performed on your site to maintain your top positioning in the search engines.

Outsourcing SEO
Benefits: Outsourcing your SEO can save you a whole lot of time and money. Most business owners have their hands full. Hiring a SEO specialist and bringing them into your company can take a decent amount of time and money. When outsourcing your SEO work, you may be able to get a team of SEO experts instead of just a single full-time SEO specialist.

When you should outsource your SEO work: Many small businesses don’t even have a full-time web designer. If you only have the funds for a limited amount of employee’s, you should probably be outsourcing your SEO work to a SEO firm or independent SEO specialist. Some businesses may have the funds to support a web development and SEO team but if your site is mostly informational and you don’t run an e-commerce site, you will probably be better off outsourcing your SEO. Search engine optimization isn’t a one time deal but if your industry isn’t very competitive online, a strong campaign can be enough to maintain good search engine results for quite some time

Making this SEO decision can be crucial for your business. The key to making the most of your Internet marketing budget is efficiency. Make the choice that is going to be the most efficient for your type of business.

One of the top SEO news resources, Search Engine Land, recently ran an article asking the questions: Can Small Businesses Really Afford SEO? Many SEO Consultants or firms will tell you that if you can’t budget at least $500 per month for an SEO budget, you can’t afford SEO. The truth is SEO is an investment in many ways; a financial investment, a time investment and a wonderful investment in your business. So the big answer…YES, small businesses can afford SEO and should make it a priority in their budget.

So how exactly do you afford it and how is it going to help you? SEO requires patience. Nobody can perform magic on your website and get you top rankings over night. If done right, SEO will pay for itself in the long run. If you spend hundreds on SEO but get thousands in return, SEO is definitely affordable. It may be hard cutting those checks to an SEO company or grinding it out on the Internet doing it yourself for the first few months but the ROI can make it worth your while. There are no guarantees in SEO but few companies fail to see some results after a good search engine optimization campaign.