Posts Tagged ‘Keyword’

• Why Wikipedia is top of the SERPs

  Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

  For some years, there have been regular ‘complaints’ about Wikipedia’s top position in the search engine results pages, with Wikipedia links frequently occurring in the top three (or at least first page) organic search positions on all of the major engines such as Google and Bing. However, is it unfair bias or is it really very simple SEO?

  If we presume that there is no search engine algorithm bias towards Wikipedia, then it must be that Wikipedia employs a winning SEO formula. For any company looking to promote their website, there are few better sites to study to understand how and why these top SERPS are consistently achieved. The following are just a few of the ways in which Wikipedia beats most websites on most search terms, and a few questions to ask yourself about your own site and SEO strategy.

  1. Unique, in-depth and regularly updated content

  Check your own website. What percentage of pages have been updated recently? Is your content high quality and unique? What level of detail do your pages go into about your products and services? There will always be a level of debate about how these criteria apply to Wikipedia, but for your own site these are valid questions to be asking yourself about your content.

  2. Keyword rich (including many related phrases) and dedicated topic pages

  Each page on Wikipedia is dedicated to a single topic, and it may well also include references, sources and keywords relating to that subject. Obviously, your website does not need to be encyclopaedic in its approach, but it is important to ensure that a page keeps as close to a ‘theme’ as possible, without crossing the line and creating so many pages to cover all topics individually that navigation for your users becomes difficult.

  There is also a maintenance issue if you add too many pages to your site in order to capture more search engine interest, unless you have a global community of crowd sourced editors to help you regularly monitor and check for broken links, out of date info etc.

  3. A frequently referenced/linked to domain showing site authority.

  Are you an expert in your field? Does your company enjoy the respect of others for the quality of your knowledge and expertise? Are you providing sufficiently good and unique content for others to wish to share? Are you effectively promoting your site so that others in your sector or those in your target audience are aware of the site and quality content?

  4. Logical and strong internal linking structure

  Information architecture is extremely important when building websites, and making sure the internal navigation flows easily to further information, related products and services, news items, photos and so on is critical. As we can see from the screenshot of Wikipedia, there are multiple internal and external links on each page, each with keyword rich anchor text.

  

  5. Multilingual

  Creating language specific content for a global audience or to reach customers in target countries is always a good idea, but make sure that your content is checked and double checked by several native speakers of the languages you choose.

  Whether or not some of the Wikipedia pages deserve to be top of the SERPs is a moot point. The fact that so many are, on so many different engines, implies that the strategy employed and some of which is outlined above, means that it works and can do for your site too.

  Tags: Content, information architecture, Keyword, multilingual, navigation, phrases, quality, SEO, serps, unique content, wikipedia
  Posted in Blog, SEO

• Are you using the right keywords in your SEO?

  Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

  Short of inspiration about the right keywords to use to attract your core audience audience? Here’s a slightly different way to find keywords this week:

  Go to samepoint, enter one of your keywords or phrases into the search box, and click ‘search’.

  Then below each entry in the results, look at the keyword box and see how many of those terms you are using. Repeat this procedure with as many keywords and phrases as you fancy.

  

  Tags: Keyword, keyword research, Promotion, search engines
  Posted in Keywords, SEO, Small Business Resources

• Choosing your keywords

  Monday, August 17th, 2009

  It is surprising how many people struggle to think of the keywords that potential customers are likely to use to find your website, products, services and so on.

  Use a keyword tool such as Google’s new Keyword Search tool to brainstorm keywords today.

  By including these keyword variations in your content, code, alt tags, and so on, you will increase your long tail visibility, as well as bring in targeted customers who are seeking on 3+ word search terms. On-page optimization is essential if you want to be found!

  

  Tags: Google, Keyword, search engine, Searching
  Posted in Keywords, SEO, Small Business Resources, Tips & Tricks

• Aiming at the middle with your internet marketing activities

  Monday, June 29th, 2009

  Seth Godin has recently posted twice on the subject of the “middle of the market”. His first post Fast In, Fast Out obviously started a train of thought and triggered the second about The Paradox of the Middle of the Market.

  Whilst Seth is mainly talking about product development and then marketing that to the masses, the same applies to internet marketing. For instance, keywords and optimisation.

  When seeking keywords and optimising your website or campaigns, do you aim for the words that will appeal to the masses or do you actively seek out the cutting edge, trending words that will capture the interest (however short lived that may be) of the early adopters, geeks and nerds?

  Or, do you look to the long tail? The stragglers who have taken a long time to convince that your product or service is precisely what they need may well turn into your long life sales. Although there are less people both at the forefront of adoption and in the long tail, the competition is highest in the middle of the market for those in the know, whereas being the first to market or the longest standing player with a ‘durable’ product/service has its benefits and less competition.

  When developing your keyword list (or any other internet marketing strategy) it is important to think about the ‘marathon effect’ and endeavour to reach as many of the ‘runners’ as possible. There are a few front runners who are in the lead and inspire those behind them in the central main body of runners, leading to a long tail of those who are still in the race, just as determined to have taken part but slower to reach the finish.

  

  Tags: internet marketing, Keyword, long tail, marketing, middle market, seth godin
  Posted in Keywords, SEM Industry, SEO, Tips & Tricks