But don’t let your SEO efforts stop there. Searchers on the internet are becoming more particular – they don’t want to comb through so many results. Many know that general keywords give them irrelevant returns. So searchers are using sentences, different phrases that have been used before, and more specific inquiries to try to get to the information they want.

This creates an opportunity for you as a businesses. Although these longer keywords – or more correctly, keyword phrases don’t get the large number of hits individually, combined together, they now drive half of internet traffic. More than half of the searchers on the internet use three or more words to get what they want.

So as a marketer on the internet, look at your primary keywords and then begin creating phrases that include those words, but are more specific and unique to your business. Between 20 and 25 percent of Google’s searches are unique – they’ve never been searched in exactly that way before. So you want to grab whatever part of that search you can and attempt to make it relevant to your site.

As you become more specific, you have fewer pages competing for those longer phrases, and that means your site has a better chance of being seen.

Use the shorter keywords you’ve already established as being relevant, and interlink those words with longer phrases. If your site sells tulip bulbs, for example, you likely have already chosen the keywords “tulip bulbs” to market with SEO.

Now, optimize those keywords by building on them. Pick up more traffic by integrating such phrases as “authentic Holland tulip bulbs,” “biggest blossoms tulip bulbs,” “black tulip bulbs,” “how to plant tulip bulbs,” and “how do I find good tulip bulbs.”

Besides displaying your products for sale, consider building short (200 – 300 word) content pages answering queries, then also feature products on those pages. Have easy links to the rest of your site, and make an attractive landing page. Link to your related pages.

As with all SEO, you’ll need to do continual revisions and updates to stay ahead of the search game, but using long tailed keywords to help capture those millions of unique searches that may drive more hits to your site.

Have you recently noticed a wide shamble in the relevancy of your search results while you have been Googling around?

Thanks to the powerful Google LSI engine that does all that work for you. Many of you must have come across LSI and its associated mechanism but then for those of you who have not, let us take a look.

Simple indexing is a process where by a keyword is searched in an entire page and the results are presented. Frequency of occurrence of a particular keyword further streamlines the search results in the process. Thus, ensuring a proper syntax or a linear search policy is enough to produce the requested search results. However the question that arises naturally is, “How relevant are they for your search context?”

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) technology adds semantics to the existing search mechanism thereby improving the relevance of the search results. During the indexing process, the Google bot not only verifies keywords against the document being indexed, but also takes a holistic approach in determining which other documents can be linked with those keywords. Keywords may be semantically close or distant. The LSI utilizes a knowledge base of related keywords and some intelligent computing to semantically differentiate related words and accordingly improves on its indexing mechanisms. LSI thus allows a search engine to determine the overall information a page wants to project by looking for intelligent patterns in the content thus making the page more available against a particular keyword.

You will be able to leverage the enormous semantic power that LSI has to offer for the website of your organization. Improving the lexical arrangement of keywords and their related tags to an object on your page can now astonishingly reveal more improved page ranks. Not only this, the future looks good with a completely new Web 3.0 in the horizon and Google offering services that is ready to get you started right now.

The traffic in search engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN is massive. You will have to go that extra mile in order to break through this traffic, and make your passage smooth. I will now discuss some of the points in brief that you should keep in mind when you plan to optimize your website for search engines.

With the increase of web traffic in large amounts on the information superhighway, listing of your webpage with a higher rank on any search engine involves a lot of research and to some extent, expertise. So make sure that apart from this post, you look around some other, similar posts so that you are very well acquainted with the process of SEO. I would advise you to get suggestions from an expert if your website involves a niche list of viewers and you are very particular to move up the ladder faster.

While optimizing your website for search engines, most often you tend to snazz it up with a lot of graphics and flashy animations. What you forget in the process is that your website will take more time to load compared to others. This may lurk off visitors from your site. Avoid the use of images and graphics that take time to load. Have an easy to load design for your website to increase the hits for your site.

Another important thing is that; make sure you study the existing competition. First, make a list of keywords that defines your product (or service) the most. Additionally, come up with as many keyword combinations as possible. Think from a viewer’s perspective. Think about the process in which viewers will use keywords to gain information about a particular product or a service from a search engine. After you have prepared an exhaustive list, use them in different meaningful combinations and search those words using the most popular search engines like Yahoo, Google and so on. See the number of matches you get for the keywords you are interested in to judge the competition. Always keep in mind that your website must have content which matches the keywords, because ultimate content of your website is what the search engines give priority to.

So, is there anyone who wants to optimize his or her own website for the search engines? Well, do not waste any more time and start with your SEO plans immediately, as, the higher the ranking of your website in the search engine pages, the better the prospects you will see in your business!

Be Specific

A diffused title does not provide clarity for the reader or a search engine spider, so as far as first impressions are concerned, this is crucial to set the stage for short-term and long-term rankings.

The title should be short, informative. focused and concise. Each time you add another key phrase or keyword you can either diffuse or reinforce the title. However, if you add too many words, search engines will only get confused about the true topic of the page.

Creating Topical Relevance:

As far as pure ranking potential, a new post has more of an exact match connotations. Exact match in this connotation implies that if you type 2 to 3 words in the exact format they appear in the title, chances are you will find the page in a search engine (as the competition for that spelling, rhyme and meter of keywords combines is significantly less than just a keyword alone).

Eventually, each word in a title can act much like a net and get latched onto from search engines in broad match form when search engines troll the web using LSI (latent semantic indexing) looking for a suitable page to pull from the lottery of pages that have been earmarked as potential matches for that query.

Time and trust are the final ingredient if supported by the appropriate factors. Like a wave, a newly indexed page shoots out of the gate hot, hits a spike in the search engine result pages then after a week or so, starts to edge its way back to give way to new entrants who may or may not have more detailed information on the topic.

If your website has enough authority on the topic, the hang-time in search engines is longer. If your competition challenges you however, you must fortify your websites relationship to your coveted keyword with additional internal links, additional content, or allow the aging process to provide authority.

SEO Friendly Titles Must have Click-Appeal:

Writing a great title not only places your page higher up on the list, but it also serves to enhance click through traffic on the SERP (search engine result page) level from incorporating curb appeal as well as information.

Going back to a previous statement, in some instances a long title may be more suitable, depending on the competition for the keywords (we do not advocate stuffing titles with spam laden keywords). When a topic is very specific and you wanted to attract visitors from overlapping keywords, particularly if the keywords has low competition, then you could opt for a longer 7=12 word title.

Not that we are going backwards to simple algorithms such as keyword density (much like a bean counter approach to SEO). Not that keyword density has completely been expunged from the algorithm, it is safe to say it has been built on and improved (granted that on page and off page factors are supporting the reputation the page).

Though dated, keyword density was founded on a good premise, such as, if you replicate a word enough times, in key segments on the page, then you will rank for that term. Instead try creating multiple pages based around a theme (with SEO Friendly titles) and the overflow of continuity will leave an imprint in the index. More pages on a topic with the right metrics makes your website an authority on a topic.

SEO friendly titles should be 5-7 words, contain the keyword closer to the beginning that further away and have a benefit based action word incorporated.

The Relationship of Components:

SEO Friendly page incorporate the following elements.

• The keyword in the title
• The appearance of the keyword in the header tag (H1,H2,H3)
• The frequency and proximity of the keyword in each paragraph (how often used and how many times) leave an impression
• If the keywords are being used as anchor text (links) or how many inbound links the page is receiving (from within and outside of the site) sculpt each pages reputation

Search Engines Assess More than Titles to Discover Relevance:

Another metric at your fingertips is collective keyword focus. Just think of collective keyword focus like the equivalent of the refined version of a page that has sufficient internal linking, the right on page factors and enough support from other sites to say it is in fact what it is).

You create this by (a) writing about topics in detail (b) using keyword-rich anchor text to connect the pages and (c) using continuity between the titles. This premise of diversification, not relying excessively on any one page to produce relevance, allows you to refine or spread your spectrum of keywords attract more traffic from search engines.

For more information on this topic, here is another post about SEO friendly naming conventions that provides more specific detail on the subject.

Don’t…

Blindly test

Traffic in December is unlike any other month of the year. Conversion rates go up, and cost per conversions go down. If you are running split or multivariate tests throughout the month to see which ads or pages convert the highest, do not blindly trust that the data will carry over into January. It is not uncommon to see the highest converting pages (or ads and keywords) not be the highest performer once the buying excitement of the holidays melts away.

Make major site changes

According to a recent Advertising.com study, 75% of all shoppers are visiting 2-5 sites before making a purchase. We also see many visitors come back to a site a few times during a short span of time in completing their purchases. You do not want to confuse these shoppers. These visitors should be able to use the exact same navigational method to find that product or shopping cart every time they come back to the site. If you are changing a website’s layout, you can confuse those potential buyers and lose their dollars.

Forget to add a recommended gift buying section

We’re all short on time. Choosing the perfect gift takes time. Many of us never know what to buy for our spouse, let alone for the office Christmas party gift exchange.  Offer a recommended buying section. Break the recommendations into several sections. While you should examine your products in determining how to section them out, here are some common categories:

Ladies	Under $25
Men	Under $50
Niece (or young lady)	Under $100
Nephew (or young boy)	Over $100
Mother
Father
Grandmother
Grandfather
Wife
Husband

And the chart could easily keep going. Think of these categories: Infant, Toddler Boy, Toddler Girl, Boys (4-12), Girls (4-12), Teen Boy, Teen Girl. Examine your products, and then see which audience demographics fit best for classifying your recommended gift section.

Treat the Thank You page as just a thank you

Just because someone completed a purchase on your site, it doesn’t mean they are done shopping. If someone gave you their credit card, they put some trust into your site. Offer  additional suggestions for complimentary products, either yours or your partners, on the thank you page. At the least, call out your email newsletter where they can be updated with your latest specials and products.

This marketing should extend past the Thank You page and be included in the confirmation (receipt) email as well.

Forget about first page bids

The holiday season converts well. Bid prices will go up. The ads on the first page receive most of the clicks. At this time, you cannot forget about first page bids. Have your keyword report emailed to you each morning so you can quickly make sure your top keywords are on page one.

Always use the negative keyword ‘free’

‘Free’ is one of the most commonly used negative keywords. However, if you use it, you will not show up for highly desirable searches like ‘last minute Christmas gifts with free shipping’ or ‘free delivery Sony plasma TV’.

Make shoppers register before buying

The fewer barriers to conversions that exist, the higher your conversion rate will be. Forcing someone to register before checking out adds a barrier to conversion. Do not require shoppers to register, confirm an email address, or do any action other than inputting their credit card and shipping address.

Give up too early

Last year, as the days grew closer to Christmas, the online spending grew as well. According to comScore, last year there was $430 million spent on black Friday, $610 million on Cyber Monday, and an amazing $660 million spent on Green Monday.

Do…

Show delivery dates and shipping options

Everyone wants to make sure their package will arrive before Christmas. One of the fastest ways to lose a repeat customer is for your shipment to reach someone on December 26th. Reinforce delivery date options throughout your site. “If you order by today, we guarantee your package will arrive by December 21st”. In your shopping cart, make sure you call out the delivery options and the arrival date for the product.

Offer multiple delivery options

You will have some shoppers who want to ship their purchases to multiple locations. Do you allow your shoppers to ship to either an address that is not their billing address or to multiple addresses?

Offer gift wrapping

This is a quick way to add a few dollars to each checkout. You should also allow the buyer to choose not to have the receipt included in the package in case it’s being delivered to another address. Don’t forget, some people will want the receipt included so that the item can easily be exchanged (especially in the case of clothes).

Offer gift cards

Even if you have a nice recommended gift section, there will always be those who don’t know what to buy. Offering gift cards is a great way to have the undecided audience buy from your store. You should also allow someone who buys a gift card to receive either an email certificate (for those who are shopping on the 24th) or a physical card which they can put inside a nice envelope.

Give affiliates special banners or offers

Do not forget your affiliates. Your affiliate manager should reach out to your affiliates over the holiday season. Special banners, offers, or even some recommended products can go a long ways towards increasing your sales through your affiliate channels. If you have a sale, special shipping offers, or guaranteed returns – make sure affiliates know that information so they can use your offers in their presale pages.

Have wish list options

When we’re shopping for Christmas gifts for others, we often find things we’d like ourselves. Let your shoppers save items into a wish list that they can share with others. Make sure others can easily find wish lists and can search for someone they know. This is a great way to increase your shopper’s interaction with your site.

Save for later

Admit it, you shop from work. Most of us have. However, we’re often reluctant to actually pull out the credit card while sitting at the desk. Make sure that your visitors have a way to save their shopping cart items so that when they return from their computer at home they can finalize their purchase. According to Advertising.com, one third of consumers spend 2 or more days researching a purchase before actually buying. Make sure this third of consumers has a way to easily find their way back to the products they are interested in on your site.

Rather than looking for links obsessively, focus on capping the link flow and internal linking within your own site to seal up any hemorrhages your website may have. By doing this, your pages become less dependent on external links (granted they have authority).

Create Authority:

Naturally the next question is what is authority, to put it simply, an authority website has a great foundation of useful content. By the merit of the content it attracts a steady base of readers or new visitors.

Create Popularity:

Website popularity toggles authority and trust, so without igniting the proper metrics, you can have solid internal links and great content, but without traffic to endorse your site or a few backlinks from the right places, the time it take to gain authority and trust will take longer.

So, authority is great content, strong internal links augmented by popularity, time and trust. But, before you can develop trust, search engines and people have to know your content exists, which is why building links is important.

Link From Within:

Going back to basics the rule of thumb is build links from within to make inbound links more effective. So, here is one simple tactic we use to manage the way a website ranks.

1) Check you server logs for the keywords or the most searched queries your website received.

2) Identify the most appropriate pages to funnel those keywords. Most websites have one relevant page, if there are two or more then make sure the internal links from the 2nd, 3rd, 4th in line all point to the preferred landing page to funnel link weight.

3) Go back and edit older pages that have sprouted authority or page rank and can rank in the SERPs, one good way to find sleepers in your site is look for pages that are returned from your own site using a link:mydomain.com search command in Google or use our nifty little SEO Tool.

Use Internal Link Self -Referral:

Also, sub folders have a tendency to rank like external sites if you use absolute links in your own site http://websitename.com/page.html instead of /page.html

The point is, once you find those pages, edit the first link in the body copy to the root phrase of the anchor text for the most traffic phrases deciphered from your analytics. By doing this, you are invigorating keywords that have the metric of traffic and creating buoyancy within your own site through an internal linking self-referral mechanism.

This is a particularly great method to create surges of link weight into pages starving from link attrition. If pages do not have a sufficient influx of links, traffic (popularity) then the tendency is for them to wane in the search engine result pages as well.

Reflect to Move Forward:

Here are other posts that provide more in depth strategies about this topic:

• SEO Sleuthing – Tracking Your Progress
• A Great Post About Tilling Keywords from the Past
• How to Create Synergy with On Page / Off Page SEO

Hope you enjoy the optimization tips and thanks for visiting SEO Design Solutions.

Over 80% of consumers hot on the trail of a product or service have a higher propensity of clicking the top 3 search results when presented with the top 10 websites for their query. If a user has to scroll below the fold the click through numbers taper down to the remaining percentages.

However, depending on factors such as:

1) the competition for the phrase

2) the relevance to the searchers intent and

3) the emotional click-triggers from the snippet/description in the search result (and how sticky it is) impact who gets the click.

Obviously, the more keywords that encroach on a topic, the higher percentage for conversion you have from those topics, when each of the pages becomes buoyant after gaining some authority in search engines (typically 2-4 months).

In closing, here is a brief SEO keyword exercise you can use to spread your semantic net a bit wider to funnel and capture more broad and exact match traffic for your pages.

This phenomenon is based on keyword stemming and Pair phrase indexing. The translation here; the more related keywords you have on a page or that reference a page, the higher the relevance for the related keywords.

I have mentioned before that any word on the page is a keyword when combined with the right synergy of on page and off page factors.

So, you never know what may emerge from the vacuum when a query is executed and just how Google, Yahoo or MSN may extract content and keywords from 1 page, 3 pages 10 pages or more from your site to combine an aggregate relevance score for your website vs. your competition.

It is not always clear cut and dried as this (such as the chronology of content and sheer volume) to outrank your competition. However, if you are constantly producing quality content in quantity with this in mind, the likelihood of your site hitting hub status as a resource for search engines to share with their readers is only a matter of time.

Keyword stemming is the premise of topical content reaching critical mass and sending key indicators to search engines that the subject is thoroughly present and saturated within your website.

The more semantic derivatives that exist in your pages, the higher your relevance for the keywords or niche in question.

As an example, just think of Wikipedia and how they virtually rank for every imaginable keyword as a result of (a) their massive internal index of pages and (b) the way they structure their site and (c) the way they cross link to their own content using synonyms and exact match anchor text (the text in the link).

As a result, the topical pools of information they leave behind in the cloud (via cloud computing) drive traffic to related web pages based on this basic premise. We know from SEO that When a keyword is present on a page, the density, frequency and prominence all have an impact as well as how many related pages on the topic exist in your site.

What we are proposing is, since semantic phrases overlap and reinforce relevance, the idea is to use the additional keywords discovered from a thesaurus to shore up islands of content for search engines.

For example, by adding 15 new related keywords to a page that already has relevance for related keywords, the amount of broad match traffic you can attract is exponential.

Over time, new relationships form between pages and phrases to raise the bar for how your site fares in search engines.

Now, for the exercise

1 – pick a keyword you want to reinforce.

2 – use the search command site:website.com keyword in a Google search box to find the target page with the highest occurrence of the keyword (to serve as the preferred landing page since search engines already have opted for that page).

3 – open the thesaurus tool and type in the keyword to find alternative phrases

4 – from the pages below the first result from step 2 (the other 9 below the number 1 spot), edit the page and add or change content to include the new keywords from the thesaurus.

5- from those new / related keywords, link back to the preferred landing / target page.

6 – use this tactic to funnel more traffic, it works since search results often combine a word from the title, another keyword from the description, a word or two from the actual page when searching for the top 1000 websites for any given query.

This is like discovering traffic you never knew existing, since it was latent within your website from lack of expression. More synonyms mean traffic with a very specific intent can find you when they need it most (when executing a focused search).

]]> http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/keyword-exercises-for-seo/feed/ 0 http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/ten-copywriting-tips-for-b2b-seo/ http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/ten-copywriting-tips-for-b2b-seo/#comments Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:28:42 +0000 Galen DeYoung http://searchengineland.com/080924-102842.php B2B copywriting is tough stuff. Instead of, "Wipes clean with a damp cloth," you may find yourself trying to simultaneously explain and extol the virtues of some complex mechanical system while being creative and persuasive at the same time. Copywriting for B2B SEO is even tougher. Here are ten tips to help you succeed.

Watch the lingo Make sure to use generic terms on the page. In most cases, B2B searchers are more likely to use generic terms than brand names. Proprietary brand names tend to be unusual, so searchers Googling for one of your brand names will likely find your site quite easily. Go ahead and use the brand name in copy, but make sure you also include the generic terms just as much, if not more.

Keep page copy focused Search engines attempt to discern the topical focus of the page. Don't confuse them. Keep the content of a given page focused on the page's keyword strategy. If you have multiple topics, better to put them on multiple pages. Don't try to use a single page to go after numerous unrelated keywords.]]> B2B copywriting is tough stuff. Instead of, “Wipes clean with a damp cloth,” you may find yourself trying to simultaneously explain and extol the virtues of some complex mechanical system while being creative and persuasive at the same time. Copywriting for B2B SEO is even tougher. Here are ten tips to help you succeed.

Watch the lingo
Make sure to use generic terms on the page. In most cases, B2B searchers are more likely to use generic terms than brand names. Proprietary brand names tend to be unusual, so searchers Googling for one of your brand names will likely find your site quite easily. Go ahead and use the brand name in copy, but make sure you also include the generic terms just as much, if not more.

Keep page copy focused
Search engines attempt to discern the topical focus of the page. Don’t confuse them. Keep the content of a given page focused on the page’s keyword strategy. If you have multiple topics, better to put them on multiple pages. Don’t try to use a single page to go after numerous unrelated keywords.

Remember the long tail
Before you even start to write copy for a given page, you better know the likely long-tail words B2B searchers may also include in their queries. While the keyword focus of the page may be “conveyor systems,” your target prospect for that page may also be entering words like “distribution”, “sortation”, and “full-case” when they’re searching for a solution to their problems. Good B2B SEO copyrighting seamlessly includes these long-tail words.

Watch the word order
In some cases, word order doesn’t matter for PPC. In SEO, however, word order matters a lot. Obviously, you don’t want to create stilted copy, but if your keyword research shows that “LTL shipping” is more popular than “shipping LTL,” make sure you use the more popular word order more prevalently in your copy.

Watch singular and plural usage
Whether you treat a keyword in copy as singular or plural makes a difference. When you search for “healthcare consultants” and for “healthcare consultant”, you’ll often get different results even in the top three to five results on Google. Know which keyword you’re going after, and write copy accordingly. (This goes for other things, too, like title tags.)

Long copy is good
In B2B, long copy is a good thing. It gives you the opportunity to explain attributes and benefits that aren’t readily apparent. It gives you the opportunity to differentiate your company’s products and services. Longer copy is also good for the search engines. It gives them a better opportunity to assess the focus of the page and the depth of information on the page. When you write long copy, however, remember to also break it up with keyword-rich headers and tag them with H1 or H2 tags.

Keep page headers keyword-rich
Creative, engaging, keyword-rich B2B headlines are tough to write, even for some of the best B2B copywriters. If you’ve got a creative, engaging, persuasive headline, but it isn’t keyword-rich, make sure you use other tactics on the page. In some cases, you may want to stylize the creative headline and put it in an image. If so, write keyword-rich ALT text for this headline image, and put the “generic” headline somewhere else on the page and code it with an H1 tag. The site visitor will get the impact of the visual headline, and the search engine will get the right idea about the content and focus of the page.

Include captions for images
Text-based captions are a great way to get more keyword-rich copy on the page. Many consumer products don’t require captions; a picture of a red Polo shirt is pretty self-explanatory. The nature of business-to-business products, however, is typically not readily apparent simply from a picture. Whether it’s a single line or a short paragraph, write captions for your images. Make sure you include keywords in the captions, and that those keywords match the keyword strategy of each page. Good B2B copywriting uses captions as another opportunity to sell to the prospect and another opportunity to influence search results.

Write with anchor text in mind
Internal linking is a good thing. It helps robots find other content on your site. And the anchor text you use for text links can help with SEO. Before you start writing, know what pages you could or should link to from the copy you’re about to write. Then determine what the optimal anchor text should be for each link. Once you know the optimal anchor text, you can incorporate it seamlessly into copy. If you wait until the site is done to do text-based internal linking, you’ll have to edit the copy you previously wrote. Good B2B copywriting flows smoothly through the desired anchor text.

Customize ALT tags to the page
Although not visible copy, ALT text is important. First, make sure you actually create ALT tags for images. Then, if you use the same image more than once on the site, make sure you vary the text. Most B2B companies don’t have rich image libraries. Accordingly, they tend to frequently use the images they do have. Too often, if an image is used multiple times throughout a site, no one thinks to alter the ALT tags; usually the web designer will simply copy the ALT text from another page where the image already resides. If you have the same image on more than one page, customize the ALT text according to the keyword strategy for that page. For instance, the same image may be used on a page whose keyword focus is “material handling systems” and on a page whose keyword focus is “conveyor systems.” Make sure the ALT text matches the keyword focus of the respective page.

Now what?

Here are 10 title tag formulas that balance SEO and marketing and hopefully avoid wrestling matches in the boardroom:

1. [product name] – [company name]. If you’re selling products and you know your customers search for the product names, put the product name first, then the company name. Unless the product name is 125 characters long, in which case you have a whole other problem.
2. [article title] – [company name]. Worst case, put the article title first, then the company name.
3. [company name] – [product name / article title]. If the marketing VP just won’t back down, fine. Put the company name first, and remind them that you’re going to slam a drawer on their fingers when, 4 weeks from now, they come in to your office asking why the rankings haven’t improved.
4. [custom title] – [company name]. If you really have a nifty content management system, you can edit your title tag separate from your page or article title. Put that custom title first, then your company name.
5. [keyword] – [company name]. If you’re a one-product or one-service company, put the keyphrase that’s relevant to that page, then the company name, like this: Buggy Bumpers: Ian’s Buggy Emporium. Use a different phrase on each page! Repeating the same word again and again is a bad idea.
6. [keyword] – [product name] – [company name]. If your product name, company name and target phrase are all short, you can string them all together like this: Buggy Repair – Tune Ups – Ian’s Buggy Emporium. I try to keep my title tags under 60 characters.
7. [really cool sales phrase]. Remember, your title tag is what shows up in the search snippet. Come up with a great selling phrase like ‘Buggy repairs while you wait’. You work in the keywords and might talk the VP of marketing into leaving your title tag alone.
8. [company name]. Give them what they want, watch the rankings implode, and after you’re fired you can laugh at them from afar. I don’t recommend this.
9. [category] – [page or product name] – [company name]. This will almost certainly be too long, and get truncated in the search results. But if you have categories that are also search phrases, this is a nice, automated way to generate title tags throughout an entire store or collection of pages.
10. [ ]. You can always leave nothing in there at all. See number 8.

I used dashes to separate elements of the title tag. You can use dashes, colons or even pipe symbols (‘|’). As long as you separate the phrases, you’re fine.

And remember to keep your title tags under 60-70 characters. Less is even better if you can get away with it.

A few other posts worth checking
Search Engines are Structured Thinkers
The Easiest SEO Booster: Heading Tags
Choosing an SEO-Ready Content Management System

]]> http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/10-seo-and-marketing-friendly-title-tag-formulas/feed/ 0 http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/search-engine-mannerisms/ http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/search-engine-mannerisms/#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:05:00 +0000 Jeffrey Smith http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/?p=323 When you constantly crawl thousands of search engine result pages daily (just to understand the behavior of cause / effect and the search engine algorithm) you start to notice the mood swings of search engine mannerisms which are the residual fragments, routines and traces the algorithm leaves behind.

In light of all seriousness, following are some of the “in-house” SEO nicknames we have dubbed these occurrences around the water cooler to identify these phenomenon.

Just like wine, pages get stronger with age, so the more pages you have about a topic (aging) in your site, the better chance your sites pages have when real page rank, trust rank and website authority is achieved.