Search engine optimization has got quite a reputation among those who don’t know what the business is all about. Some consider SEO as a form of hacking. Others consider search engine professionals as snake oil salesmen. Of course, there are a few people that consider search engine optimization a bad thing for the whole web experience. A lot of bad reputation that search engine optimization has gotten in the past few years is due to SEOs being more obsessed about traffic than improving the experience of web searchers. There are many people that spend more time stuffing keyword, changing their copy to include more keywords that make sense, and even add more text elements to each page to get better rankings in the SERPs. I am not suggesting that you shouldn’t focus on on-page and off-page optimization tactics, but as a SEO, one needs to know why they go about implementing a certain strategy. Your audience may not care about minor changes to your website or a few extra keywords here or there, but it’s tough to know where the boundaries are.

It’s true that search engine optimizers are hired to help websites climb up the rankings and get more free traffic. But if you haven’t spent time to optimize your site to make things more convenient for your readers, you are missing the boat. And I am not talking about adding breadcrumbs or other forms of navigation to your website. It’s about providing value to your readers and giving them what they need. I can’t tell you how many times I have found a page on the first page of Google only to realize it offers no real value other than a page with a bunch of keywords on it. That’s not what the search is about.

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I have to admit. Search engine optimization is a bit of gaming when you think about it. Many SEOs want to admit that SEO is either an art or a science. But it’s a little bit of both. Nevertheless, the whole field is built upon the fact that SEO professionals can test and figure out what search engines like and give that to them. There isn’t anything malicious behind what most white hat SEOs do but let’s call a spade a spade. The word optimize is closer to the word gaming than most SEOs want to admit.

Every aspiring SEO wants to know how is it exactly that search engines go about ranking search results. Is it the number of links you have or maybe the type of links you are getting to your site. Could it be your domain name or the location of your server? There are hundreds of factors considered in a modern search algorithm. While none of the algorithms out there today are perfect, they do the best possible to provide folks like you and I with the most relevant results. Google and other search engines may be moving towards personalized and real-time search, but SEOs are not going to give up trying to figure out search engines’ algorithms and dominating them. (more…)

Search engine optimization is not rocket science. It’s true that there are some aspects of SE algorithms that are not known to us, but if you have been in this business for a while, you have somewhat of an idea what works and what doesn’t. What does work all the time is targeting the right keywords on your pages. You should always take time to expand your keyword list and target the right kind of keyword on your pages. By that I mean keywords that people are searching for and can help you meet your business goals.

There are plenty of places to look for new keywords. I have talked about top keyword tools that allow you to dig up keyword ideas fast. But you don’t have to spend money to dig up new keyword ideas. There are plenty of places you can look at to find out what people are searching for and how you can take advantage of that. Here are 5 places that are worth exploring:

Twitter: Twitter is a goldmine of data for those who know how to take advantage of it. Going through Twitter trends is just one way to figure out what people are searching for. TweetVolume and Twendz are both great tools to help you keep track of keywords on Twitter.

Facebook: there are plenty of people who spend hours on a daily basis on Facebook. That means more data to look at for you and I. Facebook Lexicon is a great place to tap into this goldmine. (more…)

As a search engine optimizer, it’s always amusing to hear what others think of what I do for a living. There are very different perspectives on the whole field of SEO depending on who you ask. Search engine optimization is looked at this cool, super advanced tactic that can bring money to small businesses. To those who have tried and failed to show up on the first page of Google (for highly competitive terms), search engine optimization is all hype. Of course, there are people who think of SEOs as being unethical and no better than Blackhat hackers.

John Dvorak at PC Magazine seems to be one of those people who have no love for SEOs. I can understand that. He makes some valid points about why SEO is ruining the Internet. But let’s see if he is being fair. Here is how he defined SEO:

Essentially the process involves tricking Google or Bing or Yahoo into ranking your particular Web site higher than the competition by reverse-engineering the tricks used by Google.

I can assure you that there are a lot of SEOs who are not out there to “trick” the search engines. Sometimes you have high quality content and an unclean code. Do we look at how search engines treat each ranking factor? True. But it’s not tricking if you are trying to help Google and other search engines find your website and give it the exposure it deserves. Some will abuse the system, but bundling everyone in one group is just not fair.

It’s all underground and consists of thousands of individual specialists who consult for just a few companies and chat among themselves in the background.

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