Whenever you submit your search query to a search engine looking for relevant results or information, the strings of data that comprise your search query is matched against keywords that are referenced by a website or by a particular web page. Conventionally, such information is already mined by search bots in advance. More or less, conventional search engines technically function as mentioned and dynamically generate your desired page comprising of your search results.

With advanced forms of Artificial Intelligence (AI) concepts being seamlessly integrated in programs that power search engines, the present scenario is evolving or rather, has already evolved. Whenever you initiate a search, every data associated with your search query is stored in the search engine’s database. This data is then referenced and cross referenced further with related searches that have been performed by you, or by other individuals. The search engines index this information and intelligently arrange them in order of maximum relevance, all on the account of the search history available. Some search engines may even use a history of searches to create knowledge bases in order to improve the efficiency of the AI based search engine.

Yes, I am talking about the basic principles of personalized search. Against a particular search keyword, the search results that might be relevant to you might be not be for another individual! Personalized search is all about delivering information that only you can relate to as an individual.

Here is an example:

Chord-One word, many meanings! Yes, if I am a music freak, then probably half the number of times I would use this word to indicate a particular scale. However, I would interpret this word more as a line intersecting a circle had I been inclined more towards Geometry. Personalized search helps in rendering a word from its general sense to a more specific sense, to its intended audience. But how do search engines achieve this intelligence?

Though the entire process is quite complex and non-deterministic, it may seem simple if viewed from a distance. While you are searching for information, what these search engines would typically do is dynamically monitor your search habits and capture them over time. This data would now be used to train the AI based search engine where it would acquire knowledge related to your search habits and preferences. As the search engine acquires more knowledge, its classification power increases. You would notice a considerable increase of relevance in your search results.

I guess you now understand the concept loud and clear. Did you know that you could use these features to increase sales for your business? I am talking about SEO in an era of personalized search. Well, I would be glad to talk about it, but on my next post.

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.

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.

There are more keywords under the surface than their are keywords revealed. Leave it to most businesses to always want to go bigger, better and over the top in an attempt to conquer the most powerful or most searched keywords in a niche or take on the major players for vanity plate keywords.

Not to say that the competitive nature in most of us doesn’t get the best of us, who doesn’t want to rank higher in Google, Yahoo, MSN or Ask? The key is asking yourself about time to market, topical continuity, relevance and conversion and if you would rather keep your eggs in one basket or spread around the risk to offset the odds.

Does a visitor care how many competing page there are for the query they execute (such as 1 of 10 of 100,000 results or 1 of 10 of 100,000,000?), hardly, but does an SEO or a business targeting that keyword, you bet they do, since they have to climb that mountain to reach the top 10.

Going back to behavior, is the need to necessitate a keyword victory over a competitor really matter if the keyword performs poorly? I can assure you, not every keyword is laced in gold. The idea that as soon as you get that one magic phrase, your business is in the clear is a reality that can change.

The premise of search behavior shifting can leave a 6 month exodus of trying to achieve one specific keyword or phrase flat if people simply stop searching for that exact phrase, which leads to my conclusion.

Don’t Assume, You Either Know or You Don’t Know:

Hedging your SEO efforts, such as tackling 50 keywords vs. 5 is one way eliminate the dependency on any one keyword or another to save the day. Just create focused content with a clearly delineated objective, since there is no limit to how thorough your content can be [think wikipedia but on a smaller scale].

The assumption in the heading suggests:

1) You never know exactly how search engine algorithms are going to slice and dice your pages or how many or few keywords each page can rank for. We can speculate, but organic SEO can really deliver traffic.

This means that relevance for a query can align from a keyword from the title, another keyword from the URL string, another keyword gets latched on from a description tag and yet another portion of the keyword in the body copy of the document. Even though the snippets returned in the search result is what is above the surface, you never know how deep a search query can go into your site, one page or all of your pages to assess relevance.

The point being, unless you have a crystal ball or write the algorithm (which I doubt) then such things are constantly being tweaked and adjusted to return more relevant results. So, the more narrow your keyword focus, the more of the market you potentially miss.

2) If site architecture, content and linking are implemented properly (optimized) then each page can rank specifically for numerous “exact match” and “broad match” (general) keywords and phrases with the same effort of just a few keywords. The key is each page owns a focus or range or phrases it targets, then you coordinate the pages to work as a collective masterpiece.

The takeaway is, the web is a work in progress so don’t obsess and just target 10 phrases, with a bit more energy and effort you can target 100 long-tail phrases that may collectively deliver 10 times the traffic daily than a vanity plate (common sense keyword) based on (partial) keyword research.

The way you find gems like that are (1) check your bounce rates and look for semantic similarities to base your next batch of posts or articles (if you have a blog). The search algorithm sees your pages differently than you do, however the idea is to work with it, not against it.

Keyword tools can only call it as they see it, but since the majority of searches are based on the subjective mindset and search behavior of millions of unique minds, the common threads are not as common as we surmise.

For every common sense keyword or root phrase based on captured data, there are 100 more long-tail equivalents you could rank for as well with a few slight tweaks to titles, links and layout. So, does tunnel vision on the top 2 or number 1 keyword in your market have you obsessed?

If so, then it may be time to step back, reassess your ranking objectives and implement a long-tail SEO campaign to get you over the hump until your major keywords take the stage in the top 10.

]]> http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/11/unique-search-targeting-semantic-root-phrases-and-keywords/feed/ 0 http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/11/every-word-is-a-keyword-for-seo/ http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/11/every-word-is-a-keyword-for-seo/#comments Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:58:44 +0000 Jeffrey Smith http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/?p=433 You have to look beyond keyword research if you want to be one of those companies that always appears at the top of search results. This implies knowing how to create traditional appeal in non traditional ways.

However, what does that mean specifically? We know that doubling conversion does not necessarily mean you have to double your traffic.

It means that you just have to create more lucrative cross-sections or co-occurrence of keywords (or pages) that appeal to your target audience. This feat is easily accomplished with SEO and within the context of your pages using cross-sections of keywords that will draw an audience based on the content and market focus.

However despite this inescapable performance I think many SEOs don’t give keyword research the attention it deserves. There’s lots of different ways to skin a cat but here’s a few ways to try and make your keyword research work a little better.

What’s already on the site – unless you’re working on a brand new site you’d be naive to ignore what’s already there. I like to take a print out of the site and go old school with a highlighter pen. The chances are this isn’t going to capture every variation but it’ll give you a strong starting point.

Which keywords are narking the client – it’s a fact most clients when they begin looking for a search agency or leave an existing supplier it’s a desire by the marketing manager or their bosses to gain visibility on certain terms. You can explain that it’s about traffic and conversions, and they’ll understand that, but if you can gain movement on those particular phrases you’re going to please the client. So they have to make an appearence your list.

Where’s the traffic – all keyword research needs to take into account where the traffic is, there’s a chance you might find all the keyword you’ve found already have no volume, if that’s the case you need to expand your list. Also use suggestion tools, there’s plenty out there but my first stop is always Google’s freebie tool.

Mind the gaps – another step where I like to go analogue, print your keyword list in alphabetical order, where are you missing terms. Do you have every plural variation? What about the sequence of words, are there shorter terms which could be combined into longer but more precise searches?

Understand the trend – if you look at the volume of terms be aware it’s only a snap shot. Take into account almost every sector there will be seasonal variations. A great bookmarklet to have on hand is this Google trends tool, type into Google your keyword hit the bookmarklet and it’ll show you the trend of search volume over the last couple of years. Tip picked up on GoogleTutor via Social Desire

Start big then narrow your list – when compiling keyword research I like to create a huge shortlist then narrow it down to a select few based on traffic, competition and relevance to the business. If you’re not prepared to create a huge list initially there’s a chance you’ll miss the golden goose…

SEO should never be an afterthought, but rather a means to produce a specific attainable goal for generating and measuring traffic to your content which can be monetized through sales, lead generation or advertising/visibility for your brand.

Rankings are Produced by the Page

Keep one thing in mind, rankings are produced by the page, so the more quality pages you have, written with specific intent around 3-5 singular, plural or synomic phrases when interlinked with other related / supporting pages is often more than enough to tip the scales in your favor.

Chronology and authority add trust and reduce the time frame for new content to scale the SERPs (search engine result pages). Those pages however, still must have the needed ingredients to stand on their own once the initial evaluation has gleaned their relevance in comparison to the rest of your site vs. your competitors.

Those whose content fits more accordingly to the guidelines of search engine algorithms will rank higher with the least effort.

Your competition is irrelevant if your contents quality and links are impeccable, authority status is the goal for your website algorithmically, but it must still be appealing for the masses or your preferred audience to “get the clicks is deserves”.

The Fallacy of Keywords

If you elect to target a series of competitive keywords, be aware that the more competitive the phrase, the more time and energy you will have to invest in acquiring it.

This is why you obviously want to allocate a portion of your energy to the top tier keywords and key phrases that yield the mother lode of traffic, yet crafting a number of secondary and tertiary terms is a solid strategy for funneling pre-qualified visitors. The argument about keywords that are too broad not being worth their salt truly depends on the industry.

Most insist that one word keywords typically attract those interested in research vs. consumers that are further along in the sales cycle who use additional descriptive modifiers to hone in on a particular GEO location, product or service.

That really depends on the industry, we know for example that hitting the top 10 for SEO (since our industry is all about placement and results) can drive 70% of the total traffic for your website on any given hour, which is why getting back to the top 10 is our #1 priority. Currently we are in the top 15, but that simply is not good enough to make a definitive statement.

A website targeting the words “real estate” or “shopping” however, may not find the effort was worth it, due to the type of people typing this in are using far too nebulous a keyword they will ultimately require some refinement and additional keywords to zero in on their ideal document / webpage.

One solid method however is to:

1) start with your on page SEO factors and internal linking first instead of trying to put lipstick on a pig and pass it off as relevance. Here is a nifty little internal linking tool we developed in house for finding the best internal link / landing pages in a site.

2) Look for ways to expedite trust and website authority and create a healthy balance of internal and external links. Here are a few references for internal link building and how to augment your site from within.

3) Constantly look for new ways to leverage the internal link dynamo / juggernaut effect your own website is capable of producing like its own superconductor (once it is charged with topical relevance).

In closing, remember rankings are by the page, if your position is low on the totem pole then (1) strengthen internal linking (2) look for authority sites for inbound links (even social bookmarks will do) and (3) create a silo of related content (5-10 pages on the topic) to create the appropriate on page indicators needed to warrant search engines awarding you with a higher position.

Manage these three steps with patience and persistence, choose a tight enough niche of semantically aligned keywords and give each page enough time to find its stride (30-90 days) and your concerns about higher rankings will have subsided as you now have a solid strategy to engage in the even that your position (for your existing content) losing its footing.

The New Search Engine Moderator – Indexing and De-indexing

Before you can rank competitively, achieving the proper balance between your on page SEO (the factors you control) and your off page SEO (who links to you and how their site fares) need to exist.

Granted the metric that relies on links to determine relevance is waning and being replaced by other known performance indicators such as user engagement, time spent on each page, the depth of the visit, as well as traffic volume are all up as the new measuring stick for website / search engine performance.

Are Links Being Replaced as a Key Metric?

I am not implying that they are a replacement for links, links still have a large percentage of favor for ranking websites competitively, but their days are numbered as the main contributing factor to assess popularity and rankings.

The thing about links is, they can be affect pages from either your own site or be affected by other sites pages linking to your pages (with very little warning). Link diversity, link velocity and link clusters are now met with scrutiny by advanced formulas to determine true validity and relevance to assess value from Google.

The pattern I have been witnessing for the last few months is an adjustment to delivery and indexing of changes, pages and fresh content and de-indexed of new or older content in the multiple data centers is creating a topsy-turvey (churning) affect on the varying degrees of search engine result pages stability.

Link Interrogation and Litmus Tests or Quality Control?

Discovery and quarantine is one way of looking at the evaluation process (for new pages), or quality control is yet another perspective for the deindexing process (for existing page). With so many pages from so many websites, sharing information from the cloud (the trail of data shared by multiple data centers and the bin of data they draw from), sometimes, this leaves some variables based on aggregate results out to lunch when assessing link weight, relevance score and authority benchmarks for your site. Why? because the rules of what it takes to be in the index has changed.

Considering if a page that links to you that had 70% of the link weight needed for your page to rank competitively lost favor with a new component of the algorithm, then what happens to your rankings? (they take a dip).

Are Changes in Relevance Score Raising the Bar?

Changes in the everflux and relevance is constantly evaluated and re-evaluated in relation to target pages, but now, with new ranking mechanisms making their debut, it appears that it takes less for on page and off page triggers to create plummeting affects to indicate criteria it finds less significant as a metric of evaluation.

Fine Tuning or Raising the Bar?

The point here is, with so many adjustments fine tuning search results, shoring up link popularity with link insurance by either linking to your links (one or two tiers back) of ensuring that your old content is receiving enough deep links to receive vital link juice has taken on a new level of importance.

Action and Reaction Equates to Performance

Every time you add, receive or change a link, you are affecting your site and link profile. Every time you change a word on your pages, or add a new page, you are changing how search engine spiders and data centers see your site.

As a resource, it is all about data in to data out (if hub status and website authority is your objective). However, a healthy site with a stable link profile and content that is updated less frequently ranks much different that a site that receives a great deal of links in a short period of time, gets waves of flash in the pan traffic from social media and constantly is developing new content and changing the on page factors.

Just think of the new algorithms as gatekeepers that have one purpose, to assess just how deep the rabbit hole runs in relation to your content as it cross-references that information with other key metrics that affect base position in the SERPs. Naturally, results are ever changing and ongoing in search engines, so this is not a post about conclusions, rather it is to bring awareness of the types of process we can observe that leave a clear trail.

Is the Long-Tail Shrinking or New Criteria Assessing Relevance?

Based on the tests we have run, the long tail of search is now the new target for reform, the algorithm may in fact be clipping the tail of most search results which would imply a new system of benchmarking relevance. However, this could also be tied to the de-indexing process mentioned above where search engine results make it into the index, are tested and then removed to see if they are elected back into the mix after being tested by a battery of secondary criteria.

It used to be a few links per page was more than enough to secure a legacy in search engines, with the algorithm potentially upping the bar. Let’s see how many sites make the grade and keep their pages, or have to go back to the drawing board and earn their way back in to Google’s index by providing more value to the masses or the niche with content that exceeds the need of previous quality standards.

]]> http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/seo-is-it-all-about-links-not-anymore/feed/ 0 http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/how-persuasive-is-your-marketing/ http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/how-persuasive-is-your-marketing/#comments Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:40:07 +0000 Jeffrey Smith http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/?p=327 We know that SEO can deliver traffic, but we know from experience that traffic alone is not enough.

Skeptical consumers require more from your websites’ proposition to relinquish their reservations. This requires persuasion and persuasion marketing.

SEO, relevant and persuasive copy as well as usability all need to work harmoniously in order to shatter prior expectations about what users need from a website in order to take action. One aspect presented without the proper balance of the other can leave the visitor on the fence when it comes to making a decision to purchase.

Transforming a prospect into a customer involves multiple emotional and intellectual layers to facilitate trust. Often, the resolve of the prospect is weathered by a natural layer of mental and emotional buffers to offset the sales process. Just consider it natural reaction to being bombarded from disruptions from advertisements attempting to breach their awareness from every angle.

If you realize it or not, your pages are waging an argument of relevance, persuasion and validity. If you win, conversion occurs, if you lose, then your just another stepping stone for your competition who has structured a better offer, argument or call to action.