Google’s seismic shift on dynamic URL’s

In this weeks installment of “why you need a SEO company in your corner,” Google overturns a half decade of conventional wisdom. In the debate of dynamic URL’s versus static URL’s , SEO professionals believed that static URL’s were superior for several reasons:

Search engines can index them easier without all the odd characters: & ? =
They are easier to read in Google’s search engine results pages, and keywords from the users search terms are made bold
Static URL’s are easier to use in marketing materials
They are simpler to give out when obtaining backlinks

Number one was by far the most important factor, as it was assumed that static URL’s improved your rankings. The other factors, while still relevant, related to appearance only.

However, Google has now turned all this on its head, releasing an official blog post that they prefer dynamic URL’s. In that article, they say

While static URLs might have a slight advantage in terms of clickthrough rates because users can easily read the urls, the decision to use database-driven websites does not imply a significant disadvantage in terms of indexing and ranking. Providing search engines with dynamic URLs should be favored over hiding parameters to make them look static.

Google regularly makes changes to how it ranks websites, though they are usually not this dramatic and far-reaching. This illustrates the importance of having a SEO optimization firm in your corner that can help keep you up to date with these important developments!

Google Analytics 101 - Who are your Visitors? - Part 2 of 4

Use your Google Analytics Visitors report effectively. In this episode, we discuss visitors vs. visits, pageviews, the map overlay, and more.

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Our SEO optimization philosophy: proven, tested techniques

There is, unfortunately, alot of snake oil in search engine optimization (SEO). We only use proven, tested techniques. Effective SEO requires both on-page and off-page optimization. Search engines look for keyword dense content and tags (on-page), but even more so to how many sites are linking to yours (off-page).

A consortium of the two dozen leading SEO professionals ranked the 10 most important Google ranking factors . Here they are, with on-page factors in bold , and off-page factors in italics.

Keyword Use in Title Tag
Anchor Text of Inbound Link
Global Link Popularity of Site
Age of Site (neither on-page or off-page)
Link Popularity within the Site’s Internal Link Structure
Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to site
Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community
Keyword Use in Body Text
Global Link Popularity of Linking Page
Topical Relationship of Linking Page

We address all of these factors thoroughly with our complete seo optimization packages . Contact us today about search engine optimization for your website.

eye9 Design is a leading Colorado SEO company providing effective seo optimization services.

Does SEO Optimization work?

Our clients ask us a variety of search engine optimization questions:

What is this about search engine algorithms?
Are backlinks important?
What am I actually getting for my investment?

However, I believe the foremost question is: does seo optimization work to drive relevant traffic to my website?

For purposes of context, we have written a number of articles on this topic, such as: what you can do to increase your search engine rankings and why links are essential in SEO . These can help you understand the key tasks such as on-page and off-page optimization .

However, we thought it most effective to let the results do the talking:

For our own website , we have over 65 keywords in the top 20 of Google. Here are just those ranking currently from #1 to #10, notice we often have multiple pages for one term:

Here are several of our SEO clients:

www.mapleleaffarms.com

Duck meat online: #1
Duck farms: #2
Duck promotions: #3
Duck meat sales: #4
Duck food service: #6

www.mexp.biz

Underwater sunken treasures: #3
Underwater salvage companies: #5
Marine salvage company: #6
International marine salvage: #7 & 8
Lost treasures: #8

Prioritizing your search engine marketing budget

It is becoming widely acknowledged that to succeed in the highly competitive internet world, it is necessary to optimize your site for search engines.

In a previous post we discussed our two-pronged search engine optimization (SEO) strategy: on-page and off-page optimization . There is a third prong, under search engine marketing (SEM) , called “Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC).” These three prongs comprise a complete search engine marketing strategy.

However, if you have a limited budget, how should you prioritize? In this graph we demonstrate our recommendations for a campaign with a minimum timeline of 6 months. Why 6 months or above? Using an analogy…

Search engine optimization is like taking $100 and buying an apple tree seedling. You will need to spend time cultivating the tree so it will bear fruit. Once it does, you will have a constant and ever increasing supply of apples.
Search engine marketing is like taking $100 and buying apples. You can buy alot of apples, and begin eating them immediately. However, when they are gone…they are gone forever.

So how does this apply to search engine marketing? Doing on-page and off-page optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (SEM) allows you to experience the best of all worlds. Pay per click gives you an immediate and measurable traffic boost, while at the same time your on-page and off-page optimization is laying the foundation for long term success. In fact, once your rankings have improved through optimization, you may no longer need to use PPC.

Have further questions about SEO optimization? Ask a leading Colorado SEO Company , eye9 Design .

Links, links, links: why links are essential in SEO

Successful search engine optimization strategy has two prongs: on-page and off-page optimization. On-page optimization involves a competitive keyword analysis identifying which keywords your target audience is using, and which keywords you can best compete for. We then implement those keywords throughout your title tag, content, file names, and other meta tags.

Off-page optimization is gathering quality links to your website using those same keywords in the link (anchor) text. This step is often neglected by many clients we speak with. However, off-page optimization is as important as on-page, if not more so. The quality and quantity of links from external websites, called “inbound links,” is paramount. If you look at the SEO industry consensus, the half of the to 10 factors have to do with inbound links.

Here is practical advice on how to gather internal links

Send individually addressed emails to your colleagues, friends, vendors, and clients. Let them know about your newly optimized site, and ask them if they would link to your site.
Tell them what you would like the link to say. This is extremely important. Let’s say one of your top keywords is “Denver ski shop.” When you ask your friends to link to your site, say: “The words used in the link itself are important to search engines because indicates what my site is about. So please use the phrase ‘Denver ski shop’ as the link to my site http://www.example.com.”
As a general rule, avoid link farms and paid links. Natural links from colleagues and clients are more…well, natural. Search engines are always tweaking their results to reward real, natural, quality links.
Utilize our link building services: we provide link building services to our clients through our partnership with one of the top 10 link building companies in the world. Your links are obtained from the right partners based on a thorough research of your competitors and potential business market space. We also keep in mind these quality guidelines
- No Frame Sites
- No Java script pages
- No link farms
- No redirected sites
- No sub-domain sites
- Keywords in anchor text

This comprehensive, two-pronged approach has helped us get a variety of clients and keywords into the top ten of Google search engine results pages. Contact us today about optimizing your site for maximum search engine penetration.

eye9 Design is a leading Denver, Colorado SEO company providing affordable web site search engine optimization to clients across the nation.

What you can do to increase your SEO rankings

Did you know you have an essential role to play in your search engine rankings?

The tips below apply whether you just had your site optimized for search engines and want some “next steps,” or you simply want some “DIY” SEO optimization ideas.

There are two essential things for you to do to ensure your website climbs its way up the search engine rankings and stays there.

Links, Links, Links: We have taken care of the “on-page” factors by optimizing your meta tags and content. The other half of the equation is having websites linking to yours! Without both, you will have limited success. Here are some tips for getting links.
- Send individually addressed emails to your colleagues, friends, vendors, and clients. Let them know about your newly optimized site, and ask them if they would link to your site.
- Tell them what you would like the link to say. This is extremely important. Let’s say one of your top keywords is “Denver ski shop.” When you ask your friends to link to your site, say: “The words used in the link itself are important to search engines because indicates what my site is about. So please use the phrase ‘Denver ski shop’ as the link to my site http://www.example.com.”
- As a general rule, avoid link farms and paid links. Natural links from colleagues and clients are more…well, natural. Search engines are always tweaking their results to reward real, natural, quality links.
Content, Content, Content: Create a page for each of your top few SEO terms. If “green car widgets” is one of your important terms, create a new page with an article all about your widgets. Be sure to put “green car widgets” at the beginning of the page title (the words that appear at the top of the browser). Also, mix your other related SEO keywords into the content of the page! After you have created the article, link to it from different places where the term “green car widgets” appears: the sitemap, content text, and SEO text. For an example on how to create and link to internal content, go to www.eye9design.com.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

It usually takes time for Search Engines to move you up in their rankings, especially if you have a new site and few links from other sites. In the mean time, consider using Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing from Google, Yahoo, or MSN (the ads that appear on the right hand side of the page). While your goal is eventually to have your listings in the organic results (the main content area), strategic PPC campaigns with well written ads can drive relevant traffic to your website.

Contact us today about supplementing your search engine strategy with PPC advertising.

eye9 Design is a Colorado SEO company providing SEO optimization services to our clients in Denver, Colorado and around the world.

Content is king for SEO Optimization

Search engines operate based on algorithms that are highly guarded secrets. These algorithms decide your value and relevance based on certain factors both on your website (”on-page” factors) and how the rest of the web treats your website (”off-page” factors). SEO experts will approximate the weighting of the different factors. However, since these algorithms are secret, and are always being optimized themselves to deliver better content, we cannot be sure of the exact numbers.

That being said, this much is certain: the two most important factors are content, and inbound links. And what is the best way to obtain inbound links (besides a bunch of money)? Good content. Thus, helping clients write content that is informative, actionable, and optimized for the search engines becomes the most significant task of the SEO consultant.

The halls of SEO higher learning echo with whispers of rumors and speculation. Some optimizers engage in endless tweaking and trickery in order to achieve better results. However, search engine companies such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.com have hired the best minds in the world in order to defeat these search engine spammers, and deliver relevant and authoritative content. All it takes is an adjustment of the algorithm, and all the trickery adds up to nothing but wasted time.

Good content is always a good idea. Your clients will thank you for it, and the search engines will rank you for it.

eye9 Design is a Colorado SEO company specializing in SEO optimization for Denver, Colorado.