The four most important on-page factors for effecting SEO

Search engine matrix, is evolving by the day. The on-page factors that are thought be having an influence on the search engine rankings can be classified as per their relevancy and importance. However, it’s pertinent to note here that ultimately the exact importance imparted to any factor can at best be somewhere near the exact matrix followed; not to the point as it’s understood that search engines wouldn’t actually disclose their exact methodology.

The most important on-page factors are:

Title Tags:

Title tags constitute the most important factor of on-page search engine optimization. These tags inform the search engines about what the page is all about. And, that’s why it’s of critical importance and the most important on-page factor.

Keyword Density:

The density of keywords in the text document comes in as the second most important factor. It certainly helps to have keywords in strategic locations across the content. For, search engines do look through the document. That’s why the right title tag along with adequate keyword density can be a potent combination for on-page search engine optimization.

Internal Linking Structure:

An internally well linked webpage can be a great booster to the search rankings. That’s because, with the increase in the number of internal links the importance of that page relative to the page in question increases many fold. Hence, a sound internal linking structure can definitely act as a booster in your optimization efforts.

Content Quality and Freshness:

Time and again, the importance of the need for unique and fresh content has been brought to the fore. Additionally, the inclusion of new content on a regular basis will keep the search crawlers coming back for me; that in turn will eventually lead to increase in your websites relevancy quotient in the long run.
 
It’s important to note at this juncture that apart from these four most important; there are other on-page factors too; with a say in the eventual evaluation of a web pages ranking. They are Meta tag description, age of the document, text in ALT/ Images etc.

Proper on-page optimization definitely should involve all the mentioned techniques and it’s important to understand that Seo is not just a science but it’s an art too.

Source: http://www.brainpulse.com.

Cool plugin available for FireFox “Yoono”.

Yoono instantly suggests similar sites, blog notes and people sharing the same interests while you are surfing, for each page you open.
Zero effort required – no more tagging, typing keywords or changing interface. Let Yoono bring you the best that others have discovered.
Yoono is easy, fun, addictive and designed for everyone.

As well, Yoono synchronizes your favorites automatically between computers and provides favorites export features in XBEL and OPML formats

This extension comes with a customizable toolbar that you can move almost wherever you like, and a sidebar that allows you to display at the same time another sidebar of your choice !

For more information https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1833/

Google has launched Apps for Enterprises.

Google has launched Apps for Enterprises at the rate of $50 per user per year hugely undermining Microsoft’s offering. The enterprise suite will offer 10GB of storage, Google Calendar, Google Talk IM and Google Docs Applications. SLA promises are at 99.9% uptime and 24/7 tech support.GE and Procter and Gamble are among its first customers. A full comparison can be found here:http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/admins/editions.html

Procedures for Bidding in PPC Search Engines

The trick for bidding in various PPC SEs lies in extensive and thorough research of the keywords, developing good, relevant content on those keywords, astute understanding of the functioning of various PPC SEs and of course the budget allocated for SEO of your site.

PROCEDURE # 1 : Since you will be paying for all those clicks, you must ensure that those clicks convert into your customers. So, target your main keywords, i.e. keywords which describe your products or service to the fullest extent. You can conduct the keyword research yourself by using various keyword research tools available on the net or can take the service of various professional Keyword Research Consultants. Here’s a list of keyword research tips that you may find handy :-

? Always target keywords that best describe your products/service.
? Try to find multiword potential keywords compared to single keywords.
? Try formulating keywords which give answers to as “why/how/what …….?”
? Utilize your server log files to know what your customers searched most while visiting your site.
? Use keyword generator softwares.
? Include common misspellings (e.g mortgages typed as morgages etc.) in your keyword list (may backfire and hence is risky!!!).

PROCEDURE # 2 : After identifying the main keywords(i.e those keywords which you are going to bid with your competitors), visit the major PPC SEs and find the amount at which they are currently being bidded by your competitors. Ask for the bid amount of the top ten positions from the PPC SEs.

PROCEDURE # 3 : After that, what? Research, research, research!!! Fine tune your keyword list, ensure that those are your most potential keywords. Then compare the bid amount of those keywords in various PPC SEs for top ranks and find out which one really suits your budget(Compareyourclicks.com, is a nice site which I found very handy for comparing the bid amounts of a particular keyword in the major PPC SEs).

PROCEDURE # 4 : After finalizing your potential keywords, optimize the pages based on those keywords. A few tips on page optimization :-
.
? Develop content which are relevant to your keywords and site.
? Try to place your keywords at the beginning of the title and description.
? Title and Description should not be misleading and should reflect the content of your site
? Repeat the keywords throughout the page quite a number of times(pay attention to Keyword Density , normally between 3-9 %)
? Try to place your keywords in the very first sentence of the page. Repeat the keywords throughout the first paragraph. Same should be tried at the last paragraph of the pages.

PROCEDURE # 5 : My advice for first timers would be to opt for generic keywords that are bidded for lower bid amounts. Try to be within the first page, and then slowly work your way up. Track down your most potential keywords again from your visitor’s stats, and then raise the bid amount to be within the top 3-5 positions.

PROCUDURE # 6 : Opt for higher bid amounts at the beginning only if you are going for very specific, highly focused keywords related to your business, keywords which you are dead sure of producing valuable clickthroughs.

PROCEDURE # 7 : Since every keyword bid in the PPC SEs will have a see-sawing effect on bid amounts over time, it’s imperative for the website owners to keep a close eye on it and judiciously increase/decrease the bid amount to get maximum clickthroughs. Not an easy job, but should be religiously pursued if you are interested in getting maximum mileage from PPC SEs!!!

PROCEDURE # 8 : Don’t be obsessed with getting No #1 Position. Focus on the fact what you are spending on a particular keyword and what your clickthroughs are producing. Figure out the following. You are ranked Fifth(5) in XYZ PPC SE. You are spending 8 cents on a keyword and the clickthroughs are producing 18 cents, then you are surely well off. However, anticipating greater potential of your keywords, you hike your bid amount. You are now ranked second(2) in XYZ PPC SE. You are spending 12 cents and clickthroughs are producing say, the same 18 cents. Then also you are well off, but not as before. So concentrate on the following

Try to gauge the implications associated with increase/decrease of bid amount, corresponding higher/lower ranking in PPC SEs, it’s effect on site traffic(percentage of clickthroughs converting into customers). Coupled with the budget allocated for SEO plan, you should decide whether you should opt for PPC SEs or not.

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=508

How to advertise on parked domains ?

Sendori, a Sunnyvale based company helps connect advertisers and owners of popular domains.

How does this work ?When customers type-in generic domain names into their browser’s address bars, they are sent to advertisers website. For example requests to videogames.com, reviewgames.com, reviewvideogames.com all will go to the domain gamespot.com, where the main pitch/conversion happens.

How do I become an advertiser ?Bid on popular domains relevant to business. https://sendori.com/pubsite/advertisers

What are the statistics backing this model ? [From Sendori]

• Direct navigation traffic (URLs typed directly into the address bar), converts into sales for advertisers at a rate twice that of search engines. A Q4 2005 study of Web traffic, revealed that direct navigation traffic converts into sales for advertisers at 4.23% of total visits compared to 2.3% for searches performed via the search box at popular search engines.
• 51% to 59% of the time Web users locate a Web site for the first time by typing directly into the browser’s address bar.
• 37% of registered domains are not actively used.
• Direct navigation is estimated to be nearly 10 percent of the global paid search market.⁴ In 2006, the paid search market will be about $7.2 billion and increase by 15.3% to $8.3 billion in 2007.

What is domain parking ? [From Wikipedia]Domain parking is an advertising practice used primarily by domain name registrars and internet advertising publishers to monetize type-in traffic visiting an under-developed domain name. The domain name will usually resolve to a page containing relevant advertising listings and links. These links will be targeted to the predicted interests of the visitor and may change dynamically based on the results that visitors click on. Usually the domain owner is paid based on how many links have been visited (e.g. pay per click) and on how beneficial those visits have been. The keywords for any given domain name provide clues as to the intent of the visitor before arriving.Another use of domain parking is to be a placeholder of an existing web site. A company might choose to use this method to redirect its website traffic to another web site it owns.On domains with a ‘one-click’ implementation, a click on a keyword is not necessary to generate ads. The ads are targeted based on the domain name.Domains with ‘two-click’ implementations require a click on a keyword or a keyword search to generate ads

Yahoo Launches Mobile Ads in 19 Countries

Yahoo has introduced display advertising on its mobile-specific Web sites in 19 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The move, which follows a year of aggressive expansion in the wireless space, marks Yahoo’s first formal rollout of graphical ads on its sites around the world.

Separately, the company released a new version of its downloadable mobile client, Yahoo! Go 2.0. Dubbed “Gamma,” the platform upgrade includes integration with Pepsi’s FreeRide sweepstakes campaign.

“Overall our goal is to be the #1 mobile Internet player globally, and the #1 in mobile monetization globally,” said Elizabeth Harz, VP of category strategy for Yahoo. “Both of these are very important steps in that goal.”

The ads on Yahoo’s mobile sites are part of a new publishing platform built to better deliver both content and marketing messages to the company’s mobile users. According to Yahoo, the system can fluidly target ad sizes and creative according to the screen size and other capabilities of a given device.

Banners appear near the top of the home pages for the nations where the platform is being offered, which include the U.S., U.K., France, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, India, Thailand and Australia, among others. The ads include click-through and click-to-call features.

Eight global advertisers have run ads using the new system, including Infiniti, Intel, Nissan, Procter & Gamble Asia Pacific and Singapore Airlines.

Yahoo’s Harz said the company has been in talks with these and other global accounts well in advance of releasing the platform, and that their mobile media buys can be placed through the same Yahoo sales channels their online display advertising. “It’s a very easy way to add a global mobile campaign to their desktop initiatives,” she said.

She added the decision to sell ads only on the home page reflected a desire to “get to market as quickly as possible.” She said ad placements on other Yahoo mobile pages will be offered in the near future.

One of the launch advertisers, Hilton’s Embassy Suites, is a longtime Yahoo advertiser. According to John Lee, VP of brand marketing and communications, the company is bullish on the potential of wireless advertising in the travel and hospitality category; but he said previous mobile advertising had generated limited bookings. To drive more leads, Embassy is offering extra “Hilton Honor Points” loyalty incentives and has set up a dedicated 800 number to better attribute the portion of its bookings that from the Yahoo mobile flight.

“With our category in particular… this is a very relevant, a very timely medium,” he said. “We can provide a service to business travelers if they get in a jam. There are a myriad of scenarios where this kind of technology goes beyond pure advertising.”

According to Telephia, Yahoo’s mobile services reach six percent of the U.S. mobile audience. Mobile measurement firm M:Metrics meanwhile estimates Yahoo’s U.S. reach for all mobile services is 14.5 million U.S. wireless subscribers, outpacing nearest competitors Google, MSN and AOL. Yahoo does not share self-reported reach statistics for its global mobile audience.

Source: www.clickz.com

Google to Update Ad Quality Scoring

Google announced  that it will be updating its ad ranking algorithm for AdWords, and making that process a bit more transparent for advertisers.

Before the end of the month, Google plans to implement an improved quality-based bidding system, updating the current AdRank algorithm that first launched in August 2005, and has been updated consistently since then. The last major updates came in December 2005, and again in July 2006. Enhancements came the in the form of landing page quality scoring additions that left many advertisers upset with Google’s lack of information regarding how that quality score was reached.

The changes this time around will not add new elements to the score, as much as change the weight that each component receives in the scoring, Nicholas Fox, senior business product manager for ad quality, told ClickZ News.

“This is a change to the algorithm itself, updating what we call ‘prediction confidence’ to improve the accuracy in determining quality score in cases where we have less data,” Fox said. In effect, Google is becoming more lenient with ads that it knows nothing about, but could become stricter with ads once it has gathered some data, he said.

The net effect could be the re-activation of many keywords that were previously deactivated when their minimum bids had risen above the advertiser’s desired cost-per-click (CPC) bid. As those minimum bids are recalculated under the new algorithm and fall below the advertiser’s bid threshold, those ads will be reactivated, unless the advertiser deactivates them or lowers their bids below the new threshold. In other cases, certain ads will be treated more harshly under the new algorithm, and their minimum bids will increase.

To help advertisers prepare for the changes, Google is adding a new quality score column to the advertiser’s AdWords account interface. Beginning Thursday, advertisers will be allowed to activate the new column on their accounts, and begin making plans for the new algorithm.

The tool will show advertisers an estimate of their ad’s quality — in general terms like “great,” “ok” or “poor” — as well as the estimated minimum bids associated with them. The scores and bid estimates will be updated at least daily, with more frequent updates in certain categories.

“Advertisers have asked us to provide more transparency into the process, and now we’re able to provide that visibility,” Fox said. “This is the first step of many in that direction that you’ll see in the next few months.”

Though Google was the first major search engine to incorporate a quality score in its ad ranking algorithm, it has since been followed by Microsoft’s adCenter and Yahoo’s Panama platforms, both of which include a quality metric with varying degrees of transparency.

Source: www.clickz.com

CPC Site Targeting

Site targeting  is a feature that allows advertisers to choose individual sites in the content network where they want their ads to appear. Currently, advertisers using site targeting place bids on a cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) basis. In March, we plan to begin testing a new site targeting feature to increase the flexibility and control advertisers have with site-targeted campaigns: cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.

CPC bidding has often been requested by advertisers who would like to utilize site targeting, but are not comfortable bidding on a CPM basis. Here are two examples of how CPC bidding can enhance your site targeting experience:

• Increased flexibility. Select the content network sites you want your ads to appear on and choose the bidding option that fits your needs. If clicks are your goal, try CPC bidding so you pay only when you get the result you want.

• Full control. Create new CPC site-targeted campaigns, or switch your existing campaigns between CPC and CPM at any time. As always, you retain full control over your budgets and bids.

To learn more about site targeting, click: https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=342

New Report Explores how PPC Rank Affects Traffic

Citing a tenfold difference in traffic between the first position in a pay-per-click campaign and the tenth position in the same campaign, the Atlas Institute’s latest report sheds some light on how rankings can impact traffic numbers

The Atlas Institute set out to examine the relative drop in traffic that takes place with each positional drop in rank on the industry’s two most popular PPC engines, Google’s AdWords and Yahoo!’s Overture.

Paid search marketers have long recognized the difference in traffic that comes with higher rankings. In many cases, advertisers are willing to pay whatever it takes to maintain the top spot in the rankings, simply to assure dominance in drawing traffic. For these advertisers, the Atlas report provides ample data to support their belief in the difference in traffic that can come with a number one ranking.

For example, the study showed that there was a dramatic 40% drop in traffic between the first and second paid positions in Google’s AdSense program. Beyond position two, the traffic drops more gradually, losing about 5-10% of traffic per position drop on down to position number 10.

The study found similar results on Overture, though the difference between positions wasn’t nearly as dramatic as those in the AdWords campaign. Overture listings experienced an average of 23% drop off from the first listing to the second listing followed by a second drop of around 20% from the second listing to the third. From there, the data shows similar drop offs as AdWords, ranging from 5-10% per position.

It is worthwhile to note that the lower half of the rankings experience much stronger click thru potential on AdWords than they do on Overture. Positions number five thru ten on AdWords experience click potential of 34.8%, 31.3%, 24%, 20%, 15.3% and 13.9% respectively. Those same positions on Overture have much lower click potential at 30.2%, 24%, 18%, 14.1%, 9% and 7.8%. Thus, companies that prefer to bid in the lower half of the listings may find they have more luck drawing traffic from AdWords campaigns than from Overture campaigns.

While the data presented in the study is interesting, it’s important to note that click thru rates are not the only thing that should impact the planning of a PPC campaign. “Paying for the number one ranking may not be the best strategy for all advertisers” explained Young-Bean Song, director of analytics and the Atlas Institute, Atlas DMT. “For some marketers the cost of traffic associated with the top ranking may be too high. On the other hand, some marketers are forgoing the top spot, without really knowing how many customers they are losing to their competitors. Most advertisers don’t know whether they are paying too much, or needlessly missing out on sales.”

Competitive industries with low margins may find it tough to balance a strong pay per click campaign that delivers traffic without sacrificing profitability. A successful pay per click campaign ultimately boils down to the return on investment that the campaign can deliver. If a Web site owner spends $5.25 per click and only makes an average of $4.50 per sale, higher traffic levels will simply bankrupt him. Thus, it is essential for marketers to base campaigns not only around traffic levels but around realistic cost per click that factors in conversion rates and profit levels.

It’s also interesting to note that despite the obvious loss in traffic that comes with lower listings, many marketers prefer to setup their ads to maintain lower rankings. Many marketers theorize that Internet users that take the time to visit multiple sites are more serious about buying and that the number one listing is often inundated with “impulse clickers” that are more curious than serious when it comes to buying. Online discussion forums that cover pay per click strategy are ripe with posters that explain they purposely position their ads below the number one position. They go on to explain that in those positions, they experience higher conversion rates and lower costs per click, which leads to much higher returns on investment than the same advertiser might have experienced with a more expensive number one ranking.

For marketers that have taken the time to analyze their campaign data, the research provided by Atlas could prove invaluable. Companies that have documented their conversion rates and break even points for various positions will be able to use this data to calculate the potential profit of bidding in each of the top ten positions and adjust their campaigns accordingly.

Sited from: http://www.searchengineguide.com/laycock/001733.html

FeedPowered Advertising, Advertising, it’s time to meet RSS

Transform your RSS feeds into high-powered advertising

Pheedo’s FeedPowered™ advertising platform converts your RSS feeds into rich, dynamically updating advertising that engages your audience. Leverage your existing RSS assets to extend your brand, drive traffic, and acquire new feed subscribers.

Ads that update…automatically

Pheedo retrieves your RSS feed several times an hour and updates your FeedPowered advertisements with any newly published items. Great for time-sensitive content and frequently updated offers.

Unlock the power of social media

Pheedo’s Engagement Triggers™ make it easy for your audience to interact with your brand and share your content and offers with friends – directly from the ad unit.

Video meets RSS

Using RSS to syndicate your video content? Pheedo can super-charge your video distribution efforts with our FeedPowered™ video services

There looks to be a possible use-case in Financial / Travel / IT sectors. For a more in-depth understanding of available categories please look at

http://pheedo.com/help