Essentials Elements of Effective SEO

Search engine optimizations seem very mysterious and even irrationally unsystematic for many of those who are new to website promotion. Many website owners may simply resort to shortcuts such as paid advertisements to avoid the hassle. This strategy may work for sometime but it is difficult to sustain in the long term. Aside from being costly, paid advertisements are not very appealing to many internet users. Most internet users would rather click 'organic' results that are relevant to their keywords. Hence, there is a need to include other tactics in promoting websites. A website must be appealing not only to robot crawlers but also for the target customers or users.

Algorithm updates

Formerly, the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo merely index websites based on the keyword content and meta-tags. The algorithms were simpler and they worked well for quite sometime. However, the cyber space began to be saturated by junk and low quality websites. Some websites even have very dubious and questionable offers. Some online marketers also resorted to less ethical tactics such as using link farms.

Consequently, many of the search results were not very relevant to what internet users were searching. These prompted search engine companies to update their algorithms. The recent updates in the algorithms of search engines have penalized low quality websites but rewarded websites that have high quality content and services. The most well-known updates in search engine algorithms are the Panda and the Penguin updates of Google.

On page and off page SEO elements

Search engine optimization involves two broad strategies, namely, on the page SEO and off the page SEO. The sub-elements of these strategies may seem simple and not decisively effective on their own. However, these elements converge incrementally to form a strong, coherent and long-lasting positive effect for websites. This is in terms of sales leads and attracting the right demographics.

On page elements include the content, the HTML and other codes, and the overall architecture or design of a website. On the other hand, off page elements include the back links, the social aspect, the level of trust and the personal information or demographic profile of the site visitors.

The adage "content is king" is a very useful reminder that website content is the most essential aspect of web promotion. The content should be useful to the target users of the website. Content generally refers to word content such as feature articles, news, blogs, DIY instructions, encyclopedic entries, and literary works. The words found in websites also serve as the guide for search engine crawlers. The content of a website will also keep the visitors engaged. The use of specific and relevant keywords in content will also help in improving search engine results pages (SERPs).

The HTML and other hidden codes of web pages are also important for easy indexing and navigation. The codes will also determine the layout of the content, text formats, graphics and other design features.

On page elements of search engine optimization are as important as the on page elements. The most important of these elements are the back links. These back links are the ones that serve as vote for a website. Nonetheless, these back links should come from quality and credible sources in order for a website to have high ranking in the SERPs.

Working Hours of an SEO Specialist   

Link Building Essentials: Where Do Your Links Come From?

Using the Three Types of Links

Inbound links are one of the most critical elements that determine how you will rank in the search results. Inbound links show Google how important other sites (and the people they represent) believe you are. Think of a link as a vote from another site. The more votes you get, the more important Google thinks you are. The more important Google thinks you are, the more likely they'll give you a good position in a related search. While there are plenty of other factors to consider in search engine rankings, link building is understood to be critical. Unfortunately, there is a lot of bad information out there about link building. Here are three important elements in your link profile that you need to make sure are represented:

Quantity: Simply put, the more links you have to your site the more it will help. This assumes that you're not linking to "bad neighborhoods" which will get you in trouble. Instead link to normal places. Utilize directories, blog post comments and social media assets to build up your link quantity. Not all links are created equal, so some links will only raise your authority minimally (if at all). However, the additional benefit of these links is a normal looking link profile. Having only very specific types of backlinks can look suspicious to Google (for example, anchor text all looking the same, or only from very similar sites). When the list of all your inbound links looks artificially manipulated, a penalty from Google may be imposed. Making sure you have a variety of backlinks helps to maintain a normal link profile. Quality: Quality backlinks are links from sites that Google already sees as an authority. As opposed to quantity backlinks which are usually easy to get, quality backlinks can be tougher to obtain. Though they take more work to get, they are typically worth more because not everyone is willing to do the work. Often these links are obtained from relationships with other webmasters, guest blogging, partnership with other organizations, viral campaigns, and involvement in activities that garner attention. Quality backlinks typically come from sites that carry more authority and already have a strong number of sites linking to them.This is often the neglected side of link building. Companies offering a large number of links for a low cost often go for quantity while neglecting quality. The result is a poor link profile that can get penalized quickly and carries little weight. Relevancy: The last category, relevancy, is similar to quality. They are links of quality, but for a different reason - they are in a related industry. These links may not always be as difficult to get, but because the sites are seen as similar, they are given extra credit. Building a network within your own industry goes a long way here.

Just having links isn't enough - you need to be strategic. One of the things that gets people in trouble with their link profiles is going for a quick fix with no plan in place. Paying for a multitude of links isn't a plan. Look for the three types of links, and build from there.

Working Hours of an SEO Specialist