Category: Natural/Organic
The Natural Balance of Things
Posted by on March 03, 2008 at 11:03 AM
If you find yourself in a predicament with your PPC campaign where you are limited by either cost, conversion rates, or traffic, it's probably time to find balance, the Natural way.
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The Complete SEO Package
Posted by steve on February 21, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Are you currently running a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign for your website? If so, whether that campaign is run in-house or by an external vendor, you are likely familiar with some of the aspects that are a part of optimizing your site for the search engines. What you may not be familiar with, however, are all of the aspects necessary to achieve optimal search engine rankings. And there are a lot of them. Google's algorithm uses hundreds of different signals to determine the relevancy of your site pages. Some of the factors that determine page relevancy are certainly more...
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We say Tomayto, You Say Tomahto: When Keywords Don't Mesh with Client Messaging
Posted by on February 18, 2008 at 09:14 AM
One of the first obstacles SEOs can run into is when keywords don't mesh with client messaging. We look at what happens when you can't use the descriptive words on your website that searchers use.
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Wikia Search - The Next "Google Killer"?
Posted by on January 07, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Wikia Search has just released the alpha version of its open source search engine. Learn how you can affect its search results.
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Does Your Website Deserve to Succeed?
Posted by on November 01, 2007 at 12:42 PM
Recently, I was asked to name the top three online marketing trends that marketers may want to start testing in the first quarter of 2008. As I sat down and started to ponder possible answers, I realized that there was a much more pressing issue at hand, namely that most marketers don't do nearly enough testing of anything at all in the first place. This is unacceptable. Here we are with all of these analytics tools, and instead, I see so many websites that keep slugging along with the same terrible conversion paths, the same unusable shopping carts, the same...
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Warning! Paid Links Sold Here
Posted by teal on October 10, 2007 at 02:52 PM
Months of debate have preceded (and surely will follow) the recent article by Danny Sullivan, "Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings On Google" at Search Engine Land. Since April, conversations of whether selling paid links will get your site penalized in Google have been brewing. Well, according to Danny's article, selling links can cause your site to drop in Page Rank or in Google's search results. From his article, Danny states, [In the past,] if spotted, in most cases all Google would do is prevent links from a site or pages in a site from passing...
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Don't Click Here - The Ultimate Anchor Text Link
Posted by on October 08, 2007 at 12:47 PM
Marketing Sherpa just came out with an interesting report which found that a simple word change in a hyperlink can raise conversions by 8.53%. Of the three scenarios presented, "Click to Continue" resulted in the highest increase in conversions (over "Continue to Article" or "Read More"). This article piqued my interest for a number of reasons, the first of which is that while it centers on the intricacies of anchor text from a conversion standpoint, it fails to take into account certain SEO components. As an SEO professional, I cringe when I see any of the above instances, used in...
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Online Marketing Success: Accelerate Your Online Marketing Flywheel
Posted by on October 03, 2007 at 02:25 PM
In a recent blog post, Rand from SEOMoz did a company evaluation through the lens of the book "Good to Great". Let's use this same technique to examine the acceleration of an online marketing flywheel. Through the lens of "egoless clarity," review the 6 components below: 1. Does The Project Have Level 5 Leadership? Level 5 Leadership is largely defined by 2 primary characteristics: Personal Humility: Realistic about knowledge gaps, understands he/she must sometimes rely on others to successfully execute SEO recommendations. Professional Will: Has determined that a successful online marketing campaign is important (if not urgent) for the organization;...
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Why Oh Why Aren't We Positioning???
Posted by on October 01, 2007 at 02:51 PM
I know how you feel. There's this one keyword that no matter what you do, you can't seem to position on it. Or even worse- perhaps there's an entire niche or subject that try as hard as you can, your site is just nowhere to be found. Why? You're working hard. Your site deserves a chance. It has relevant content (or so you think). So what are you doing wrong? Well, here are five big things you might want to take a look at: 1. Title Tags Are you making full use of title tags on your site? Titles should...
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Money, Money, Money - Controversy over Paid Links
Posted by on September 07, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Unless you've been hiding under a rock these past few months, anyone who keeps up in the world of SEO will know that there is a huge debate going on about paid links. What is Google's Threat? Buying links in order to improve a site's ranking is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results. Google's threat is that unless Webmasters take steps to properly identify their paid links, their site could be penalized. Let me get this straight: the quote above seems to insinuate that it is the link SELLER, not...
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Optimize for Google Universal - Images
Posted by on August 27, 2007 at 08:23 AM
In the final blog post in our series of optimizing for Google Universal Search, we talk about image optimization.
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Optimize for Google Universal - Video Results
Posted by samantha on August 20, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Welcome to the third installment of our 4-part series on optimizing for Google Universal Search. What's this week's focus? Video.
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Optimize for Google Universal - Local Results
Posted by on August 13, 2007 at 09:24 AM
In the second part of our 4-part series on how to optimize your site for Google Universal, today we are going to focus on Google Maps and local results. What is Google Maps? Available at maps.google.com, Google Maps allows users to search for local business listings, get driving directions, and more. It's convenient because you can enter in a search term such as "traverse city restaurant", and not only will Google Maps bring up a list of restaurants complete with phone numbers and addresses, but it also maps out their exact locations, like this: Click Image to Enlarge How is...
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Lindsay Lohan, Drug Rehab & Google Universal
Posted by duncan on July 17, 2007 at 09:51 AM
Everyone in the search engine optimization and marketing world should by now be aware of Google’s new Universal search listings. Examples and advice are starting to come through from some of the top SEO/M firms out there. Oneupweb recently released its own white paper on the topic: Cashing in on Universal Search: Questions Needing to be Asked, Answers You Need to Know. The paper is a great read and offers its own examples of how companies need to react to new Google search results. I was chatting with a colleague and he pointed out an interesting example of Google’s new...
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Unique Visits Aren't Everything
Posted by on June 19, 2007 at 09:25 AM
When doing keyword research, one of the big things that our organic SEO team looks at here at Oneupweb is search volume. The more searches per month, and the more potential hits to your site, the better right? Not quite. Besides volume, there are two other important things you should be taking into consideration: competition, and relevance. If your business is regionally-specific, for example, your site may have a hard time competing against larger sites with a nationwide presence. You'll also have a hard time converting on those broad terms. If someone searches for "flower shop", but they live in...
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Clean Up Your Links!
Posted by on May 11, 2007 at 03:53 PM
Judging from the subject of this post, you may think I'm going to start talking about external links. However, the current object of my obsession is actually your site's internal links, and how to clean them up in terms of URL structure and link consistency. URL Structure Examples of poor URL structure: www.homepage.com/store/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=438382533 &itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=277&iSubCat=4653&iProductID=2533? oh_my_god_please_make_it_stop_now_this_URL_has_so_many_ &???&????+++_parameters_that_no_user_will_ever_bookmark_or_ link_to_it_much_less_come_up_in_relevant_search_results Examples of good URL structure: www.homepage.com/happy_static_page.htm Why clean URL structure is important: Because on the whole, cleaner URLs position better. I have personally seen sites switch to dynamic URL structure and lose all of their positions - and I've also seen sites clean...
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SEO and Guarantees
Posted by Christopher on April 13, 2007 at 02:17 PM
I am often asked by potential clients, often when we've reached the point in our discussion in which I tell them how much our services will cost, what sort of results the client can expect. What can they count on? What sort of guarantee can we give them? Many ask for a projection, hard numbers that show that, if they spend this much, and we do this work, they'll see this many more qualified leads, or this percentage increase in sales. I would absolutely love to be able to give that to them. I completely understand why people ask these...
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Help Your Navigation Help You & Search Engines
Posted by teal on April 10, 2007 at 12:51 PM
You worked long and hard to perfect your site's main navigation; the slide out menus are just right, the colors change perfectly with a mouse-over, and the font is just what you wanted. And you worked long and hard in Flash. Now, I don't mind Flash. I know many a designer that has used Flash in interesting ways to enhance the visual appeal of a site and there's nothing wrong with a little aesthetic enhancement. There is, however a problem with housing the entire main navigation in a medium that the search engines can't follow. (There are of course Flash...
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Duplicate Content: Is It Really That Bad?
Posted by on April 06, 2007 at 04:34 PM
Of all the site issues that I can get on my clients' case about, the one that is most often met with the most groans (and the most inaction) is duplicate content. "Is duplicate content really that bad?" they ask me. "Is my site going to get penalized?" Like all answers in the SEO world, the answer is both yes and no. There is no duplicate content "penalty" per se, but that doesn't mean that duplicate content still can't cause positions to be dampened. In my mind, there are two types of duplicate content: Internal Duplicate Content - exists within...
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Redesign Best Practices: How to Keep Current Positions
Posted by on March 02, 2007 at 01:09 PM
When it comes to compromising current search engine positions, website redesigns have a dour reputation that is second only to changing a site's domain name. The good news is that, unlike switching over to a new domain name, a redesign doesn't have to go hand-on-hand with a loss of positions. In fact, done right, a redesign should be your vehicle towards making your positions even better than ever. Here are a few key tips: 1. If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It Taking the time to analyze your site's current SEO factors is an often overlooked but key element. Ask...
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Use Google Webmaster Tools to Find the Missing Link
Posted by keirsun on February 06, 2007 at 04:10 PM
I think it's safe to say that any webmaster who is serious about getting positions in Google search results is also concerned about knowing who's linking to their website. Now Google has a new tool that makes it easier for webmasters to find out what websites point to their own. As an addition to its suite of webmaster tools, Google now provides in-depth reporting on links that point to individual pages of your site. In order to use the link analysis tool, you will need to login to Google Webmaster Tools and verify site ownership. Once verified, click on the...
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Determining Search Engine Optimization Workload
Posted by duncan on January 26, 2007 at 09:28 AM
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a complex process that requires both marketing smarts and technical verve. However, it is possible to discuss the topic if you know anything about search engines and web sites. I talk to people every day who are thinking about optimizing their web sites to position better in the natural/organic search engine results. Today I want to share a few tips on how to figure out just how much work may be needed to get you closer to the top. As you look for ways to optimize your site you'll find everything from cheap twenty...
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Wikipedia Adds Nofollow Tag to Links
Posted by teal on January 23, 2007 at 11:44 AM
In an attempt to limit/reduce linkspam, Wikipedia has implemented a nofollow attribute to all external links. Essentially what this does is tell the search engines to ignore that link. Because of its high Google PageRank and fabulous reputation with the search engines, Wikipedia has positioned itself inadvertently as the hotspot for link building and linkspam. With these credentials, who wouldn't want a backlink from Wikipedia? A Wikipedia page has been developed to help explain the change - because as you can imagine, there are a lot of people concerned or just plain up in arms about this. Arguments against the...
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Staying Up-to-Date with Your Backlinks
Posted by steve on January 17, 2007 at 01:10 PM
Backlinks. Their importance has been discussed to nearly a nauseating point. Most webmasters realize that in order to increase the relevancy of their site in the eyes of the search engines, acquiring quality backlinks is a vital piece to the puzzle. What I want to talk about is not the importance of acquiring backlinks, but the importance of keeping the backlinks you have acquired up-to-date. It's no secret that increasing your site's link popularity can be extremely time consuming. This is how the search engines want it. They prefer you build natural, relevant inbound links over time; not using a...
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Why Flash Makes Me Cry
Posted by on December 06, 2006 at 12:55 PM
In the world of SEO, Flash websites are generally bemoaned and viewed as a lost cause. While we know that search engines such as Google have been known to index Flash sites, and options such as using Macromedia's Search Engine SDK exist, the overall positioning potential of an all-Flash site continues to be poor. If a Flash site does appear in the top SERPs, it's more likely to do with exceptional link popularity than anything else. This leads one to ask, "But isn't there anything else that I can do?" The best overall strategy continues to be embedding Flash movies...
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Session IDs vs. Cookies: The Great Standoff
Posted by on November 17, 2006 at 12:11 PM
Ever heard of session IDs? They seem to be an ingenious way to track user behavior on your web site. Every single user who visits your site gets a unique ID, which is added onto the end of a URL like this: http://www.mysite.com/index.asp&id=globbetygook 2DS385023KDSLFIEG832353K32moreuglyglobbetygook234KKK325 Cool. Now you can track the entire click path of every visitor to your site, just by following the ID tag. And even better- session IDS let you track every single visitor to your web site, unlike cookies which only work if a user has them enabled in their browser. Sound too good to be true?...
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Microformats - What are They?
Posted by on September 15, 2006 at 01:03 PM
A few weeks ago, I got an email from a friend who is developing a super-top-secret-something (even I don't know what it is). He informed me that as an SEO, I would be interested to know that they were going to incorporate microformats into all of their coding. Huh? I admit it - I wasn't even exactly sure what microformats were, so I set out to do some research. Rather than giving you some vague statement like "a microformat is a new way of organizing information on the web" (double huh), here's an example: the Nofollow attribute: rel="nofollow" Insert this...
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Wedding Advice: A Tribute to Forums
Posted by steve on September 14, 2006 at 04:02 PM
This is my final post as a bachelor. Next Saturday, I'm tying the knot, as they say. The knot that has been slowly forming over the past 10 months, since the day I proposed. I've been given a lot of advice along the way, and if I followed some of it, you wouldn't be reading this today. The majority has been helpful, though, and much of it has had to do with the easiest and most efficient way to bring everything together for the big day. Who knew there was so much that went into a wedding? Everybody but me,...
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1 in 2? I Need Better Odds Than That!
Posted by vern on May 31, 2006 at 03:33 PM
According to a recent Nilesen/Netratings Inc. analysis, Google’s market share is now 50%. That’s huge! One out of every two searches is a Google search. If you’re in the paid search marketing game, my advice might be to keep your search marketing simple and advertise only on Google. You’ll be exposed to half of all search traffic. One out of two is great odds. How can you go wrong with a strategy like that? Why even bother advertising on any other search engine when success is practically guaranteed? We can look to the current NHL Stanley Cup playoffs for the...
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Ask vs. Google - An Observation of Search Results
Posted by keirsun on March 29, 2006 at 11:57 AM
I have always considered it a good idea to use multiple search engines when performing a specific search. Since most search engines provide differing results, it just makes sense to me to utilize more than one source to find the best results. I get my news from more than one source, why not my search results? But when I'm short on time (as most of us are) I tend to fall into a rut of using just one search engine to get a quick answer or make an impulse purchase. For the most part, my engine of choice has been...
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Google Slams the Brakes on Big Name Spam
Posted by dave on February 07, 2006 at 05:04 PM
For a long time there has been speculation about Google playing favorites in their search engine results pages (SERPs). An example of which would be a big-name brick and mortar company appearing in seemingly impossible positions with little or no content to justify those positions. However, a few days ago senior Google engineer Matt Cutts laid much of this speculation to rest. On his blog, Cutts gave big-name spam the boot in the form of BMW.de. If there were a font that embodied glee and jubilance with a hint of "I told you so", his entire post would have been...
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Commoditizing an Art
Posted by duncan on January 26, 2006 at 08:45 AM
Picasso was approached by a woman on the street. She asked him to create a sketch of her likeness. He agreed. Within minutes Picasso proudly handed the woman a unique but perfect likeness of herself. He then spoke, "That will be five thousand dollars please." "Five thousand dollars?" the woman asked. "But it only took you five minutes," she added. "No, it took me a lifetime." Picasso replied. What Picasso was driving at was that he spent his entire life perfecting his craft. Maybe search engine optimization isn’t fine art that can be hung on the wall, but Picasso’s point...
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Fear of a Black Hat: Inside the “Shadowy World” of SEO/M
Posted by Christopher on January 04, 2006 at 08:39 AM
One of the liabilities of working in the field of search engine optimization and marketing is the cold fact that, without a year of tedious explanation, hardly anyone understands what we do. Explaining my job to politely interested relatives is roughly the equivalent of explaining the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal to a dog. My mother’s resorted to telling people I “work with computers,” experiencing, obviously, zero irony. C’mon, ma, who doesn’t? I’m pretty sure the last time I bought a Slurpee the guy ran my sale through one a them infernal machines. The Newsweek article ("Hotwiring Your Search Engine." Stone, Brad....
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Where’s Martha?
Posted by steve on November 16, 2005 at 01:43 PM
I was watching The Apprentice: Martha Stewart a couple weeks ago (and apparently, I was one of the few) when the youngest candidate, David, was dismissed. He’s only 22, but the owner and founder of an internet advertising company. When Martha let him know “he wasn’t working out,” David made a case for himself before he left. His position in her company would not be decorating wedding cakes or gathering flowers for the perfect bouquet. It would be helping her market her web site through search engine optimization. He told the ex-con that her site didn’t show up anywhere when...
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