Search Engine Optimization ( SEO )

I read a really funny story by Matt Cutts regarding “undetectable spam” tells how he sniffed and removed a very large data recovery website from Google that claimed to be “undetectable” during the year November 2002.

I’d agree with most of what Matt says – almost any large-scale link development operation that’s designed to boost your rankings will eventually stop passing value.

However, some experts disagree that all paid links are detectable – they claim, there are some that fly under the radar so deeply that even mighty Matt has never found them. The examples quoted by them include :-

1. Links you buy yourself from the website’s owner
Oftentimes when making a link request, you offer something in return. On many occasions, that something can be a direct monetary exchange. Trust me when I say that even Google’s spam hunters don’t have time to call up every site owner and grill them CIA-style until they reveal what links people have paid for.
2. One-to-one link building services
Jim Boykin’s crew may be most famous for this service, wherein the SEO will contact relevant sites and offer to buy links or “rent” pages on the domain.
3. Smart link brokers
I think that every link broker around has two kinds of inventory – the ones they sell to their general clients and the ones they keep for their own sites or sell at a very high rate to their best clientele. This latter type is usually 100% under the radar. It’s completely customized on every site, fits in with the content exceptionally well, and is designed so it couldn’t be detected even with a very savvy look from an experienced SEO or spam hunter.

The idea behind truly “undetectable” spam is that a reverse link command will appear to be 100% natural. You might look at the links and say, “Man, that guy must have really liked his content to link over there.” At that point, the link buyer/seller has won the battle – those paid links really are “undetectable.”

The objective of Search Engine Optimization is to increase web visitor counts by ranking very high in the results of searches using the most appropriate keywords describing the content of your site. This relative ranking is often viewed as a struggle to best use a few keywords, instead of a struggle to out-do your competition. If you search on your target keywords, you will see the leading site in the rankings. All you need to do is to be better than that number one site.

It is not enough to simply add META tags and do search engine submission of your site to a million search engine indexes and directories. The first placement step in obtaining significant web visitor counts is to seek first-page search engine results. An early step is to build a great content-rich site. One of the last steps is the proper submission of your great site to the search engine or directory. In the middle is a step that is VITAL if you want to obtain front-page results. Most sites skim past this step because it is forgotten or too complex, but without competent Search Engine Optimization you are destined to be search engine fodder.

Most Work-at-Home sites promise that you can start making $1000s in a day. Get real – that’s not going to happen. And any site that promises this is either a scam or going to ask you to do something illegal.

The first question that people ask me when I tell them that I earn money from the Internet is “Can I really make money online in India?” or “Will it work in India?” I would just like to tell you all that yes, it is possible to make money online even if you are in India.

The tools you need are:

- A computer with access to the internet (even a cyber cafe will do, but it’s better if you have your own computer)

- A website (and I will show you how to create a website without any programming knowledge – if you can type, you can create a website)

- Someone to guide you through each step (like me)

Although many articles have been written about finding the best keywords for SEO, many webmasters still target the wrong keywords.

Choosing the right keywords is a crucial step in every search engine optimization campaign. If you choose the wrong keywords, all other web site promotion activities are pointless.

Before you start to promote your web site, take some time to find the right keywords. It’s worthwhile.

Search engine marketing has revolutionized the way businesses and customers connect. According to the sources, approximately 63 percent of business-to-business buyers use search engines as the first source of information when making purchasing decisions.

According to MarketingSherpa, search advertising, including pay-per-click (PPC) and pay-per-call, accounts for the majority of the total spend on SEM. JupiterResearch estimates that search advertising will reach nearly $9 billion by 2007, up from $7 billion in 2006.

What’s more efficient? Is it partnering with an experienced search agency or is it keeping things inhouse? In relation to a paid search campaign, it comes down to three things: The amount of time and money there is to spend, how many keywords are going to be targetted, and the amount of sleep you have got used to.

If you’re a small company only going after a few keywords, then its totally feasible to keep everything inhouse. Put someone in charge of running your search marketing campaign, lead them to the appropriate resources and then turn them loose. There’s no better way to learn about or get an appreciation for the industry then to jump in feet first and learn.

When the campaign gets bigger and more competitive, is when things start to get a bit more complicated. Most search marketers know that once you start collecting more and more keywords, the battle becomes much harder. This isn’t five years ago when you could just buy your way into the results. Its not about how much you can afford to pay, but who has the most relevant ad. And there are any number of variables that all go into determine how relevant your ad is deemed to be, things like ad copy and landing page content. This is where the expertise and experience of a search agency really becomes invaluable.