Tag Archives: Ranking

Denver SEO, Do It Yourself SEO, SEO, SEO Analysis Denver

How To Find Good Backlinks

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Denver SEO: How to Find Good Back Links

Finding high quality back links for local search engine optimization after the Google algorithm changes this year can be a very big challenge.  Here are some tips on not only finding good links, but also avoiding the bad links that can hurt your site rankings.

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...

First go search for your businesses key words.  Now find the sites that in one way or another would allow you to add your site and go through the check list.

Tip One:If you would use the link if Google didn’t exist.  This is huge. Good links stand on their own merit. Is this a site or page you would want your customers to see you on, and, is this a site or page that your customers might even see?

Tip Two: Does the page show up in searches for your keywords?  Hey, if your customers are going to find you on the page they are going to use keywords for your service. Use multiple search engines for this.

Tip Three: Does the page have a Google Page Rank?  If the Page rank is zero, move along.  It’s a good sign it was penalized.  SEOmoz recently did an excellent article on how many web directories that had been listed in their recommended list, as well as the Directory Maximizer (a separate site and entity)  where banned or penalized by Google this year. You might be surprised how many on the later list were banned and penalized, as well as a hand fold from the SEOmoz list.

Tip Four: If your site has a blog, list it in the better blog directories. Search Blog Directories to find them. Or add your city in the search.

Tip Five: When you look at as many back links as we do (or any Internet Marketing company does) there is no question that a Dex listing will help your site. BUT DO NOT USE any of their services that require a tracking number. This can kill any ranking progress.

Tip Six: Go quality not quantity. Listing your site in every local directory you can find won’t hurt you (perhaps), but it won’t help you much either. Go with the Local directories where people will actually see you. Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, Angie’s List are the main directories.  Best of the web and a bunch of others won’t hurt, but we rarely if ever see traffic to a client’s site through those.

Tip Seven: Independent review sites can be excellent sources of traffic and good for your sites ranking. I will say no more.

Tip Eight: The harder the link is to acquire the more likely it’s a good link. Forums fall under this, and even a few blog comments.

Tip Nine: Use Google Plus both personally and for your business. Google plus is far more search engine friendly than any other Social media site.

Tip ten: Make sure your site has had an SEO review by a good SEO company.  You can go through all of the above and spend hours a day for a year doing web site promotion, but if your site isn’t SEO friendly, its all for nothing.

Quick list of good sites a Local Site should be on:

Better Business Bureau

Google Places

Yahoo Local

Bing Local

Yelp

Angie’s list

DEXknows  ( With qualifier stated above)

Blog listings Sites:

Bloglines

Blogged

Blogarama

I could go into detail about how to identify a good link from a bad, but that’s been written about extensively.  If you want to learn more or go deeper into “How To Do SEO” I recommend :

SEOmoz.org   (has a free and paid membership)

searchengineland.com

SEObook.com

If we can be of any help feel free to call. 303 500 3053

Visit us at http://www.salesjumpstart.net

 

 

 

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Denver SEO, SEO, SEO Analysis Denver

Did Google Change Exact Match Domain Rankings?

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Exact match domain Ranking changes.

Google filed a patient in 2003 describing how they might handle the issue of exact match domains getting better rankings in the search engine results compared to other sites. That patient was just approved.

Here is a great article about it by  of SEO By the Sea http://www.seobythesea.com/ 2011/10/googles-exact-match- domain-name-patent-detecting- commercial-queries/

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...

There appears to be some strong evidence (at least at the local organic level) that Google has already started making changes in the SER based on discounting the value of a domain with an exact match domain name.  We have several sites that have exact match keywords in the domain that we built more than 6 years ago. In the last few days, one fell from the first position for its exact match keyword, to the 11th position. This is a local site. None of our customer domains are using this strategy, just sites we built throughout the years for one reason or another.

We also have seen our non domain exact match sites move up, and in some cases significantly. This blog is a great example, as two days ago it was ranked number 11 under SEO in Denver, and today it is third. It should be noted we don’t do any specific SEO program to our site; we are just active on the Internet in natural places. No one spends 8 hours a week or month or year doing SEO work for the site.

Architecture of a Web crawler.
Architecture of a Web crawler. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I would love to hear if you are seeing a change in your site based on exact match domain names.  The fact that Google has made two major changes in the last two weeks that have also had a large effect on many local rankings will make this a little more difficult to figure out the old causation versus correlation of a change.

It also appears that this change has had no effect on the Google Maps results. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see the Maps rankings change some based on this as well, but the Google Maps listings have a tendency to follow organic changes after a period of time.

Mike

http://www.salesjumpstart.net

303 500 3053

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Denver SEO, Do It Yourself SEO, SEO

Google Places Reviews and SEO

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Google Places Reviews and SEO:

Google Chrome

SEO is more than getting a site ranked highly.  What good is a high ranking in the search engine results if your prospects decide to click on a competitors link and not yours?

The results Google or any search engine shows for your site needs to be compelling enough to get the searchers attention. So careful attention to your Title and Description tags are in order as these will be shown most of the time.

Next…get as many positive testimonials as possible for your Google listing. It’s pretty simple. If your company has 10 good reviews and your competitor has 2, your prospect is far more likely to click on your listing.

Several good things happen with having more reviews. First it going to help your rankings, and it will build your business reputation, and those two things will lead to more clicks and more revenue.

Request that all of your good customers review you on Google!

You can also suggest they review you on other sites using the same methodology. Yahoo, Insider Pages, and yelp are all great sites to get reviews on, and Google places may pick them up.

Make a plan today. Ask for one review a day. Get ranked!

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Denver SEO, Do It Yourself SEO, Internet Marketing, SEO

How Your Blog Helps Your Sites Ranking.

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How Your Blog Helps Your Sites Ranking.

There is so much buzz on the internet about how writing a blog can help your sites ranking on search engines. All of this is true, but, I don’t see bloggers explaining really why a blog helps your sites traffic and ranking, and without that information, you will have limited results. In fact, you will probably end up, as so many bloggers do, with three of four months of twice a week blogs and then the great void. Nothing for months, notta, a silent voice in the mass structure of the digital word, speaking to no one, having no purpose, aimless and alone…

But be of good cheer! (Wow am I weird today) Must be the holiday thing…

Your blog may help bring traffic to your web site through these means.

  • Google likes fresh content. But this alone won’t do much for you.
  • Good content is picked up by other sites, giving you a link from their site. Google and search engines base a lot of your rankings on how many sites link back to your site. This is far more important than just adding fresh content. You can add fresh content (new blogs) until the proverbial cows come home, (proverbial cows sounds like a really odd name for a football team in India). But it won’t do much until other sites link to it or use it with a link.
  • (Sorry lost my train of thought as my 5 year old daughter just walked in and announced she had found the elf on a shelf this morning, you know, they magical move every night, and she gets really excited when she finds them)
  • You can tweet and add your blog to your social media. That’s a good link and good mention for the search engines! It also gives you something to say on your social media which is clearly a problem for many of us. I can hear the thought process as we all think, what should I post on facebook today? The weather? My recent IRS audit results? Another discount offer? Oh gawd how I HATE this. A blog is a great thing to post. And, it gives your web site a little love from the search engines.
  • Search engines seem to love word press. (That’s the platform many blogs are written on.)
  • I hate to sound all SEOie here, but really, use your important keywords in the title of the blog, and use the categories and all that stuff built into your blog. I don’t use any seo plug in, but I don’t think they hurt.
  • And finally… your blog will help your traffic and ranking only if your web site, and then blog, have a good SEO ranking, A blog will help you build some ranking, but having a domain that already has links to it is really important! Work on getting links to your main site.

So there you are.

    1. Write good content that others will link to (there are a million blogs and articles on how to write good content on line, clearly I haven’t read many)
    2. Post it on your social media pages
    3. Use word press
    4. Use keywords in your title
    5. Work on getting your domain ranked before your blog.

If we can help you with getting your site ranking moving the right direction, please call me. Our starter SEO program may be an affordable and great way to jump start your site visits and get your blog noticed. http://www.salesjumpstart.net/weboptimizersstarterSEO.html

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Denver SEO, Do It Yourself SEO, Internet Marketing, SEO, SEO Analysis Denver

The Difference Between First and Third in Rankings

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Google

The most recent studies show that a web site ranked first for a keyword on a search engine will receive about 38% of all the clicks. The site in the third position gets about 8%.  Many  businesses are happy with rankings below the first or second position. If you are one of those, think of the revenue value of just moving up a few positions! You could increase your Internet sales 400%  by going to the next level.

How to move up in the rankings.

Moving from fourth to second can be a much greater move than even moving from the tenth page to the first.  Those top two positions are generally very competitive, and the site owners in many cases have an SEO firm working every month to keep those positions.

One of the most affordable ways to make that move is using our starter SEO plan if you are a local business.  Or if you are in a hurry to triple your on line sales and revenues, a custom SEO assessment and program.

Subscribe to our Starter SEO package, even if your on the first page!  We guarantee your rankings will improve.  More Information here Starter SEO packages.

Just subscribe today to get started or call us at 303 500 3053 ext 1 for a free ranking assessment. We are  A+ rated on the Better Business Bureau!

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Denver SEO, Internet Marketing, SEO, SEO Analysis Denver

Local Search Engine Optimization Changes

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SEO in Denver ClientRecently there has been a great deal of discussion on the SEO forum’s and professional sites about how the Google Map rankings are changing.

We have been watching it very closely, and in a nut shell, the big difference between how you places account was ranked last year, and how they seem to get ranked this year is this:

Google places rankings now are based more on organic SEO  than maps criteria. There are two elements that remain important that were and are unique to Places. First, and I know this sounds  like I don’t have to say it, but you need to list your company in Google places if you are not there now, and fill out the profile with good categories.  Two, the address of your business as it relates to the city center still is important.

After that, We use to add a bunch of known citation sites. Most of those don’t even show up as a citation any more, and many don’t even show up as a link.  I wouldn’t forget citations, but I would down grade their importance a bunch.

Now it’s all about standard organic optimization.  Get your home page up to speed (easy)  and then add quality content to your site, and then add links from quality popular sites.

The best way we have found to determine how strong your site is (from an SEO prospective) is to use the free tool bar from www.seomoz.com If some or all of this is above your head, but you want to learn, SEOmoz is a great resource, as is SEO book  and Majestic SEO.

Once you have it downloaded it will give you a Page Authority rank for any page you are on.  It’s called PA  and you need to see how the sites that are ranking above you ranked on PA, and then look at yours.

Many sites that have had very little attention will be around a 10 PA.  In most local categories you will need a 25 to 40  PA for your site to get on the front page.  You can learn how to add ranking to your site at any of the sites I listed above.  I use the rule of thumb that you will need 10 hours SEO to get from 20-30, and 40 hours more to move from 30 to 40.  If you follow with that logic you are looking at 120-160 hours to move from 40 to 50. And of course, if you are a beginner Triple the time, as you will  be learning as you go.

Most SEO companies charge at least $100  to $150. an hour.  If you do the math, you can then decide if SEO is  viable  option for your business.  We have other options as well, including SEO management consulting, where we work with your employee to work through an SEO program.  And we do the complete SEO programs for you as well.

If your interested in Doing your own SEO work, you may want to look at joining our Web Optimizers club. It makes your life easier

 

 

 

 

 

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Denver SEO, Internet Marketing, SEO

Google Places Citations

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 14: Director of ...

Google Places Citations

An important piece to getting your local site ranked on Google is the citations for your site in your Google places listing (and some that may not show up in Google Places)

Here are some surprising citations we have seen in Google Places listings, and some that are not surprising but worth the trouble of obtaining.

  • Linked in Company profile
  • BBB membership
  • Craig’s list (classified advertising)
  • Allbusines.com
  • Yelp.com (business listing
  • Servicemagic.com (Customer)
  • Angie’s list ( Business Listing
  • Yellowbot.com
  • Local.yahoo.com
  • www.denverpreferred.us
  • www.hotfrog.com
  • www.123people.com
  • www.usaexplorer.com

And, from our work it does appear you will get more citations from your own site if your pages are well indexed in Google. Use Google web master tools (free)  and submit your site map. This of course is good for normal SEO, but appears to help in your Google places ranking as well.

There is some reason to assume that Google has diminished the value of your citations, and Google places optimization in General as it relates to your sites ranking.  My feeling is Google has lost some faith in its Google places ranking system due to the MANY programs it has encountered, and may be taking a bit of a breather, or a step back and figure it it period.

Some of this assumption is based on watching new listings over the last 6 months, and how they do not reflect the same information as listings from 12 or 18 months ago, even though they should.

But the one thing we know is your rankings are impacted by both the Citations your site has and it’s links, and that Google does take your Google places listing into account for your over all rankings for local intent keywords.

Don’t make the mistake of only focusing on Link’s.  A well balanced portfolio of Links, Content, citations, and more content will go a long way.  Do remember,  Getting your site visible is about promoting your site as if Google didn’t exist.  If you are doing anything just because you think Google likes it, it probably will not be a very good long term tactic.

 

 

 

 


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