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In this series, we have looked at various aspects of SEO and successful web marketing, yet we have hardly scratched the surface. We noted the ugly side of SEO (low quality, digital spam), and Google’s assault on low grade “content farms”. In examining the Panda algorithm, we’ve touched on ways to improve your articles in order to avoid “a Panda attack”. We have discussed 'Writing for Search Engine Optimization: the ABC’s of SEO', and we’ve talked about SEO for human consumption…

Have you noticed? Thus far, everything which we have discussed has been primarily about text. Interesting, informative text is essential. Without it, SEO does not exist. Well written text is the reason that people even DO internet searches. The “bait” which keeps readers coming back is information, well presented through thoughtful, informative, properly written articles.

Writing for dummies?

The truth is that your readers are no dummies! Figuratively speaking, you might succeed in selling them a box of sawdust dressed up as breakfast cereal – but if you do, you may be certain that most of them won’t be back for seconds! Reading dry, “unflavored” text, with no value added can be somewhat like munching down on a bowl of sawdust! Choosing the best wording is helpful, adding good sub-headings improves it further, but text can only go so far.

To reiterate this concept: Useful, informative text is absolutely essential to success in 21st century internet marketing, but if you have the best of written articles – unembellished – you will quickly discover that good text is not good enough!

This IS the 21st century!

We have previously noted this, but it bears repeating: in order to be successful in SEO / internet marketing, you must remember that you are writing for human consumption. Oh, yes, we should further define that – make it for 21st century human consumption!

In case you haven’t noticed, children are growing up – even in the developing countries – with a steady diet of colorful images. Such images are presented in print, TV, movies, video games, and computer / internet interactions. Your developing audience grew up with it, they expect it, and they quickly become bored without it.

For that matter, even “old fogies” such as this author find pictures, slideshows, and videos much more interesting – even more informative – than plain text. Although I consider myself something of an intellectual, I’ll admit that an informative article which is enhanced with good illustrations, still photos and videos definitely grabs my attention.

Since we have been discussing Google’s “Panda”, I should tell you that the Panda likes pictures, too! That’s right; Google’s algorithms seem to be designed to give your articles a better ranking when they include pictures, slideshows, and videos (or links leading to such). Either that, or pictures cause folks to linger a bit longer, resulting in better ranking.  While we’re on that subject, links, in general, are useful in raising your search ranking.  (We should note that Google isn't publishing details on their algorithms.  If they did, "Black Hat" operators would immediately compromise the search / ranking process.)

Panda likes pictures!

Two brief notes:

1. Links are not universally good.
2. Google updates the algorithm every few weeks, so you have to scramble to really stay on top – but those topics are too complex for this article. We should reserve them for another time.

Tags: spam, content farms, search engine optimization, SEO, links, algorithm, panda

We previously examined “The ABC’s of SEO”. As stated in that article, we considered only the most basic of the building blocks on which articles can be built for effective Search Engine Optimization.

When you write for SEO, you must – of necessity – give primary attention to the process of having your article “found” by Google and other search engines. Even though Google has done a fantastic job of teaching computers to mimic the thought processes of human beings, the computers are not yet fully human. For example, they can scan this article in a millisecond, and they won’t get bored if they have to view several thousand words of ordinary looking text. The same is not true of the human audience!

Identify your target audience

The reality is that you must first please the search engines. Failure to do so will land your article somewhere deep in the middle of the pack – and it may as well be at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (the deepest part of the ocean). An article which is hidden somewhere in the midst of thousands of others is essentially invisible to your desired audience.

To prevent your article landing “in the depths”, you need the assistance of a good keyword tracking tool, such as Wordtracker. This will enable you to select the primary and secondary keywords which actually work. (It’s not enough just to have keywords – you need the keywords which will assist you in achieving top rankings.)

Who is it that you want to reach? Most SEO articles are intended to accomplish some form of marketing – and the last time I checked, search engines weren’t buying much! You must first write for the search engines, but once they have directed the searchers to your site, it’s your job to hold their interest. If human beings are your intended audience, then you need to understand a little bit of human nature.

It is an accepted fact that “white space” is an important factor in successful writing. When the eye falls on a page full of nothing but text, the tendency is to back out and seek something less overwhelming / more attractive. Text may not intimidate search engines, but too much of it does intimidate the average reader!

Break the page up with meaningful captions

If you break the page into subject categories, with captions which lead the reader to items of interest, they are much more likely to stay with you. Remember: no matter how well you write the SEO text, unless the reader stays with you and actually buys your product, your fantastic mastery of search engine optimization won’t put a penny in your bank account!

Divide your article up into reasonably short paragraphs – no more than 5 or 6 lines – and keep the paragraphs which relate to a single aspect of the topic together. Then devise a short, compelling caption which draws the reader’s eye to their chosen topic. Even if they don’t read the entire article, they will pick up on the part which is of particular interest to them, and they are likely to follow through with the balance of the article.

Include a call to action!

Be sure that you know what your goal is – and don’t hesitate to urge the reader toward that goal. If you are hoping that most of your readers will order a case of widgets, tell them so! Impress them with the quality of your widgets, and the wonderful price which you are offering. Be sure to actually urge them to order, and make it easy to follow through. Maybe you don’t care about sales – perhaps you are just a nice guy who wants to entertain – but if you actually want sales, remember the goal, and urge the reader to buy your widgets!

In short, write a quality article which will appeal to real people. Then come back and edit it to make sure that the search engines will “like” it. The desired audience is “the folks”, but the path to the audience is SEO. In order to succeed in this game, you must write for both.

Tags: theming, lsi, keyword tracking, tracking tool, wordtracker, secondary keywords, primary keywords, keyword density, keywords, keyword, search engine optimization, SEO, keyword tracking tool, lsi and theming

This is not all you need to know – but the ABC’s of SEO is a good place to start!

Be advised from the beginning: The title of this article IS NOT “Everything you need to know about…” – it is only “The ABC’s of SEO”. ABC’s implies that we are discussing only the basic building blocks on which a fuller understanding of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be built. Can you remember – ‘way back when you were just learning to read – having to first learn the letters, and their related phonetic sounds? That’s similar to what we are doing with SEO!

Just as a child who is learning the names and sounds of letters is not expected to fully understand advanced literature, so you will not achieve complete understanding of SEO by reading this document. You must start somewhere, though, and if you hope to be successful in writing for a search engine driven market, you must master the ABC’s of SEO.

The ABC’s of SEO? – What’s SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a basic process which enables Google (and other search engines) to quickly and efficiently locate articles which deal with topics designated in a web search. A primary ingredient of the SEO search process is the selection of the best keyword (or words). The term “keyword” refers to the words and phrases with which users are likely to search for their chosen topic. Although the term keyword is singular, in practice, it often refers to a combination of two or more words, such as the phrase “search engine optimization”.

What do the search engines want?

Look back at what you have already read, and at the beginning, you will see “A” and “B”. The first rule of SEO (A) is that the keyword is to be included in the title. In this case, our primary keyword is SEO. OK, there it is; the last word of the title. The second rule (B) is that the Primary Keyword is to be repeated in the first sentence of text. Yes, there it is – the very last word of the first sentence. (And it’s also in the subtitle.)

When SEO is done right, there are subsidiary keywords, as well. Let’s say that the last phrase of the title of this article is a secondary keyword. There it is, right in the title. Yes, it’s in the first sentence, as well. It’s important that the primary keyword be repeated in the last sentence of an article, too. Keep this in mind, check to see if it’s there!

Another important detail is “keyword density”. That means how frequently a given keyword appears within the article. There was a time when greater density automatically meant better page ranking – (definition: Ranking = How close to the first listed is your article?) – But the simple process of stuffing an article with keywords quickly rendered the entire process ludicrous. Some articles were so inflated with keywords that the articles themselves were useless, nearly unreadable.

Is that all there is to SEO? NO WAY!

It didn’t take long for Google to improve on the search algorithms. There has been an ongoing improvement process, as search engines became more sophisticated. They have “learned” to actually evaluate content, as opposed to just seeking concentrations of search terms. The latest Google incarnation (Panda) is literally designed to think like a human. Under the newest algorithms, inflated, keyword laden, fluffed articles are automatically degraded, buried in “the middle of the pack” – or lower!

If you want to completely understand the process, you need to go far beyond the ABC’s of SEO, but in a nutshell, try for high quality, meaningful articles which actually provide useful information. Then go back over them, make sure that the primary keyword (or phrase) is in there, at a concentration of at least 1-1/2% - 4%.

This means that any given word or phrase should occur somewhere between 1-1/2 – 4 times per hundred words. An article of 750 words, for example, should contain the chosen keyword somewhere between 12 – 30 times. This article has 802 (Count ‘em!). This means we need to see “SEO” in this article at least 12 times, not more than 32 times. Want to count? (I found 19.) Now, be sure there are some good secondary keywords, as well.

To fully evaluate primary and secondary keywords, you will need to obtain a good keyword tool, such as Wordtracker. Before you are ready for Wordtracker, though, you must master the ABC’s of SEO.

There is much more to learn, such as effective internet marketing using LSI and theming, but you’ve got to start somewhere. If you hope to succeed in ecommerce and online marketing, you must learn effective search engine optimization. The ABC’s of SEO is a good place to begin.

Tags: lsi and theming, theming, lsi, keyword tracking, tracking tool, wordtracker, secondary keywords, primary keywords, keyword density, keywords, keyword, search engine optimization, SEO

Effective Internet Marketing, using LSI and Theming

The traditional approach to writing articles for internet marketing has been to identify one prevailing search term, then write an article of several hundred words, the main purpose of which is to utilize that chosen phrase to the point of absurdity. Never mind that the resulting article is virtually useless, the whole point was to get the attention of search engines.

Google to the rescue!

Fortunately, the Google Search Quality Group has taken steps to eliminate this ridiculous abuse of the net. Their revised search algorithms are designed to evaluate the content, rather than simply match keywords. (See our related article, “Content Farms and Google”). By developing software which utilizes a process called Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), they have enabled computers to emulate human thought processes. The resulting algorithms are used to downgrade articles which utilize excessive repetition of keywords and to upgrade those which contain useful information. In simple terms, Google now recognizes multiple synonyms* for the primary search term. For example, a search for “Laptop” may also trigger recognition of “Notebook”, “Computer”, and even several of the dominant brand names of such devices. In other words, Google is no longer searching just for keywords, but is instead seeking themes.

How do I write with themes?

In order to write for the latest algorithm, an author really needs access to current trends. Several software options exist, each of which evaluates current search results, then provides information on what words are being linked with a specified keyword. It doesn’t matter that an article offers accurate and useful information, if it doesn’t include words which potential customers – and search engines – actually use in searching.

To identify current search trends, it is necessary to have access to information on recent searches. No static list can accomplish this. Even a perfect and complete list of keywords used in searching for a laptop computer in January of 2001, for example, would have very limited value in January 2011. Marketing in 2011 must use words actually in common use in 2011. In the same manner, 2011 keywords will likely be of only limited value in 2015.

Even a well built website with excellent, instructive articles will benefit neither the owner nor potential customers – unless they find one another. “Finding” is usually a function of searching, and searching always uses keywords. The latest Google algorithms do a marvelous job of matching search terms to content, but writers still need to use words which make the connection. That connection now goes beyond the user’s choices, and includes theme words which Google has determined are related. How can machines which think, literally, only in 1’s and 0’s possibly go beyond the traditionally expected counting of keywords? How could such machines actually recognize useful content? To avoid redundancy, we will assume that you can understand the system when you read the next few paragraphs. In a nutshell, though, the system takes an average of several top rated articles, and counts recurring words. Any words which occur frequently are assumed to be a part of a relevant theme. This includes words which might never occur to you and me as search terms. The other side of that same function is that articles which contain redundant use of three or four word phrases are automatically downgraded. Include your title phrase every hundred words or so, and you will see your rating drop.

Identify the best words

OK, so how do writers identify the best words? If you are serious about your articles being “above average”, it is absolutely necessary to identify current search trends. This means that you must have an active source of live, current information, such as that offered by “Wordtracker”. There are several good (and some not-so-good) clones, as well. Understandably, this sort of service costs money to develop and maintain. You can find free trial versions, but for long term access to current trends, you’ll probably find it necessary to subscribe to a quality tracking service.

In greatly simplified terms, these programs take an average of several top performing web pages which use your chosen keyword, then count occurrences of related terms. A report is generated, showing actual counts of specific words in those articles. More sophisticated programs allow you to specify how many pages to use in setting the standard. More pages = more accurate predictions, but also more time to process.

LSI Keywords

For a good introduction to the concept and process take a look at “LSIKeywords.com”. Enter the term “Laptop”, and give it time to process. On the date of this research, the top 5 responses were as follows:

Single Word		Two Word Phrases		Three Word Phrases
Laptop	310	Hard Drive	55	drive bare drive	42
Laptops	262	Return Policy	43	Notebook Hard Drive	38
Drive	122	Drive Bare	42	Hard Drive Bare	36
Hard	89	Bare Drive	42	Internal Notebook Hard	32
RPM	87	Notebook Hard	41	Delivery Collect Store	30

Brand names do count in these processes, but you may be surprised at which brand names are most effective. The above search revealed the following names / counts:

Single Word		Single Word		Single Word
Acer	42	Toshiba	40	Macbook	38
Samsung	31	Asus	24	Dell	23

Who would have guessed those ratings?

Synonyms*? Well – not exactly!

Early in this article, we used the term synonyms*. That term is not accurate, in the literal sense. Words which may be treated as synonyms under the Google search algorithm would not likely occur to the average person as such! This is where the term “theming” comes in. The new Google algorithm (announced in February, 2011) responds to the theme of the search term, rather than just the literal meaning of the word. In effect, when Google sees “Laptop”, it now thinks “Computer”.

In the above search, it was clear that “Laptop” and “Laptops” were desirable keywords. Far less obvious would be “Drive”, “Hard”, and “RPM”, yet use of those terms seems to be a definite positive factor in elevating the rating of an article. Most people would guess that “Dell” might be the highest rated brand, but from this investigation it appears that in a Google search, “Acer” may be the most valuable!

It’s crucial that you remember, though. Commonly used search terms constitute moving targets. These figures are true as of the date of this research, but “commonly used” is not a static term. The same search process, done a year later, will no doubt produce different results. If you were to try an identical search now, you would not likely see an identical outcome.

Write for the Panda!

If you really want to succeed under the latest Google (Panda) standards, start with a well written, informative article which does not make excessive use of keywords. Then download a current word list on your chosen topic. This process will reveal which words are most valuable now. Evaluate your article for use of the highest rated words. If they aren’t in there, try to fit them in without disrupting the flow and value of the “piece”. In effect, you may use keywords 100 or more times, yet without redundancy. Your readers will benefit from truly useful content, and neither the readers nor Google will be offended by excessive repetition.

To pull all of this together: Don’t rely on your own intuition; don’t assume that logic or your own experience will be enough to fully maximize your use of the net. Don’t try to utilize somebody else’s list from a previous date, either. There is no adequate substitute for knowledge, and even you don’t know it all! Use the best tools to stay current, or watch your site disappear into the middle of the pack.

 

Tags: lsi and theming, theming, lsi, keyword tracking, tracking tool, wordtracker, secondary keywords, primary keywords, keyword density, keywords, keyword, search engine optimization, SEO