Two years ago you could get your webpages ranked in the search engines if you followed a simple formula. You started with keyword research to find the right keywords, you then wrote content which the search engines loved, and finally you'd build some high-quality links to let Google and others know that people valued that content. Today, the SEO game has drastically changed. Today, if you want your website to even show up in Google, you need to harness the power of social media. … [Read more...]
3 Ways To Beat SEO Competition That Doesn’t Use Keywords
October 2, 2012
When creating an SEO strategy, it's common to create your list of keywords using words and phrases that have to do with your products and services. It's also common to take a look at your competition, and see which words and phrases they're ranking for. Back in 2009, after Matt Cutts announced that Google no longer used the keyword meta tag as a ranking factor (link), many websites stopped using them. One reason, is that competitors could no longer determine what keywords they were trying to … [Read more...]
BREAKING: Google Makes Search Smarter And SEO Harder
May 17, 2012
Earlier today Google began rolling out a huge update to it’s search engine - the Knowledge Graph. This is a step toward what Google considers the next evolution of search - to understand what we’re searching for and return the relevant information. While I applaud this update as an improvement for searchers everywhere, this is another step toward a much more difficult world for any business operating online. Here’s why… … [Read more...]
SEO Still Tops The Charts For Lead Generation
May 15, 2012
I remember growing up and having the phone ring during dinner. My Mom would run to get it, and a few second later I'd hear the familiar phrase: "We do not take solicitations over the phone." That happened on a daily basis, sometimes a few times per day. As with every industry cutbacks occur and what was a voice on the other line turned into a computer with a recorded message. I'd try sending the "do not call" signal to the computer by continuously hitting the "0" button on the phone. That … [Read more...]
Why Is Google Holding Our Keywords Hostage?
May 11, 2012
Before you read this post do me a small favor - open up your Google Analytics account, select your website profile, under Traffic Sources click the Overview link, and on the bottom right in the Keywords section click view full report. Do you see (not provided) on that list? Read on my friend… … [Read more...]
Is The Future Of Search A Dead End?
April 1, 2012
When do you use a search engine? How do you use a search engine? How do you decide if you need to use a search engine in the first place? Are there alternatives that provide "better" answers faster? These are some of the questions we were discussing at a recent Ruby on Rails meetup. Let no one say we geeks don't ask the hard questions! As the builder of a business that helps entrepreneurs attract and convert their customers online it's my job to consider the future and how best to postion … [Read more...]
Google’s 3-Prong Strategy That Has Changed SEO Forever
March 29, 2012
SEO has changed, and there is no going back. Want to ensure your site doesn't disappear from Google and that you're "future proofed" for the next round of vicious Panda updates? Read on. Recently Search Engine Land reported that Google is de-indexing link networks like it's going out of style. That means that all the links they (the link networks) had in Google are now gone. In Google, they no longer exist. This is just the latest round of updates Google has pushed out. And they're just … [Read more...]
Future-Proofing Your WordPress Site For SEO
March 1, 2012
SEO is a continuously evolving challenge for every business looking to attract and convert their customers online, which describes many businesses today. One of the latest updates to hit the radar is Google's support of something called microformats. In this post I want to give you the skinny on microformats and let you know how to use them to future-proof your WordPress website for the future of SEO. Micro...what?! In short, microformats are markup on web pages that provide a much greater … [Read more...]
