Archive of Search Engine Optimization Posts

Earlier this week, Seth Godin wrote a catchy blog post about how to make money online. While there were several worthy points to remember, one that stuck out to me was, “Hang out with people who aren’t looking for shortcuts. Learn from them.“.

SEO is filled with the notion that there are shortcuts. When I first started SEO consulting it felt like the reason a large percentage of companies were interested in SEO was because they believed it was a shortcut to online marketing success (it was free, right?). They forgot the time element that factored into the cost of “good SEO”.

Examples of SEO shortcuts:  ... Read the full post

Google’s Authorship program allows publishers to connect their authored content with a corresponding Google profile. From a search engine results perspective, an image of the author will appear alongside applicable web information. The end goal would be additional visibility to the author, both through impressions in search engine results and (ideally) click thru rates to applicable content.

B2B marketers should consider leveraging this opportunity, for applicable individuals of the organization, since thought leadership, public relations “buzz”, and marketing to a growing number of people involved in the buying process are B2B marketing goals.  ... Read the full post

What is SEO? Data from Google’s Keyword Tool tells us that as of today, people search for this term 18,000 times per month. We’d like to help beginners to wrap their heads around the SEO concept and according to Wikipedia 60% of the general population are visual learners. There are endless amounts of books, blogs and articles that answer this question, but to suit the visual learners, we’ve compiled a list of videos that answer the question, “What is SEO?”

What Is Search Engine Optimization / SEO

Year: 2011
Views: 70,000+
Length: 3 Minutes
By: Lee LeFever with CommonCraft & Search Engine Land  ... Read the full post

With search engine optimization being one of the most effective tactics for the B2B marketer, budgeting for SEO will certainly remain available in 2012. That said, with almost no barrier to entry and a limited industry standards, choosing an SEO vendor can be a precarious proposition.

While it does not surprise us to find a lack of quality information about SEO when meeting new prospects, this certainly becomes troubling when that organization has been burned by a bad SEO relationship in the past. Misconceptions and SEO fraud hurt the industry in general, evidenced recently in a few mainstream examples.

If your organization is looking for the right SEO partner, or you know of one that is, here is a list of questions to consider when interviewing the prospective vendor. Hopefully this will help your organization avoid SEO fraud and build a foundation for an effective SEO partnership moving forward.  ... Read the full post

A few weeks back I wrote a post examining Google Encrypted Search, the impact on SEO benchmarking thus far, and key action items for B2B marketers.

With a full month under our belts, it seemed appropriate to revisit how this change has impacted SEO reporting in November and through the first six weeks.

Some quick summary points:  ... Read the full post

We have been following the roll out of Google encrypted search and the impact of Google’s decision to block keyword data. Discussions have been started with clients, partners, and colleagues, and it remains to be seen when the general marketing community will take greater notice.

This development is particularly troublesome for B2B internet marketers as we are immersed in the data that impacts lead generation initiatives. Every bit of website traffic information can help.

 ... Read the full post

This past week, a client inadvertently removed a customization towards how they used sub-domains. Essentially, a web visitor could type in any sub-domain and access the primary site.

So the following hypothetical examples would all render the same content:  ... Read the full post

Summer is winding down, school is back in session, and business owners are assessing where they are with respect to B2B search engine marketing goals in 2011. Hopefully you’re coming back from the long weekend with renewed vigor and ambition, and well ahead of plans and goals for the year.

One of the content marketing opportunities we find important to reassess, and potentially kickoff if there has been a delay, is a B2B blogging strategy. Not certain why? Here are ten reasons why developing a B2B blogging strategy could be important for achieving your goals with SEO this year and beyond.  ... Read the full post

KoMarketing Associates has been writing about the value in content marketing quite a bit this year, and it is reassuring to read that other industry colleagues share a similar perspective.

Junta42 defines content marketing as, “a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”  ... Read the full post

Build links and expand search presence by leveraging your company’s mobile app.

We are certainly not recommending building a mobile app for link building purposes; a good quality app can be quite pricey and should have value beyond SEO. However, if your company already has an app or is in the process of building one, below are 6 ways you can leverage the app for SEO.  ... Read the full post