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It’s true.  Google is not the only search engine out there.  Nevertheless, search engine optimization professionals spend the lions’ share of their time trying to get their clients websites to rank on Google.  And when they’re not doing that, they’re trying to figure out the latest changes and updates to the algorithms Google uses to determine the order in which websites will be listed on the SERPs.

So, why are we SEO professionals so focused on Google?  There are countless reasons why Google gets so much attention in terms of optimization.  First, they really wrote the book on…well, on the most common practices of all the major search engines.  You can almost guarantee that if Google makes a major change to how it determines rank, the other websites will quickly follow suit.

Regardless, of these reasons there is one overriding fact that makes SEO professionals disproportionately focus their efforts on Google.  The reason is market share.  According to Hitwise, of all the searches done on the Internet in the United States from mid-March to mid-April of 2010, 70.57% of those searches were done using Google.  15.14% of the searches for the same period were performed on Yahoo, while only 9.57% were done on Bing.  When people conduct searches on the Internet, they are usually using Google.

That doesn’t mean that you should stop all efforts to rank on Yahoo or Bing.  You can spend anywhere from six months to three years trying to rank for common keywords on Google.  Rankings on Yahoo and Bing are not necessarily easy to come by, but these sites are definitely less competitive than Google.

Where should you put your energy?  Weigh your options.  Getting a high ranking on Yahoo or Bing could be just the thing to get your company the exposure it needs while you continue working towards ranking on Google.  Think of it this way, there are a few hundred million searches done on the Internet every day.  While Yahoo and Bing have a small amount of market share, it’s still one colossal market.

Long tail keywords are the keywords phrases that usually utilize more than a few words and are therefore, more specific.  For instance, someone might search for “laptop” this is a very generic search term.  “Dell laptops” is a little more specific.  However, a keyword phrase like “Dell Latitude D520” is quite specific.  When people search for very specific keywords it’s clear that they know what they want.  They’re not looking for generic information.  Oftentimes, they are ready to buy.

To be clear, phrases at the top of the graph like “shoes” are being searched for millions of times a month.  Phrases like “men’s shoes” that appear in the middle of the graph are generally searched for tens of thousands of times each month.  Phrases that appear in the long tail represent phrases that are searched for between 0 – 10 times per month.  However, the long tail makes up the bulk of what people are searching for.  If you need a pair of running shoes, which of the three above keywords would you search for?

The problem that many businesses run into is that they put so much time and effort into common, simple keyword phrases.  While ranking for those phrases is very possible, it can often take 6-9 months of diligently building a strong SEO portfolio of blogs, links, viral marketing, and much, much more.  You could spend hundreds of man hours trying to rank for 4 or 5 common keywords.  On the other hand, if you spend those same man hours trying to rank for dozens or so long tail keywords, you’d see a drastic increase in your ROI.

If long tail keywords have not been a part of your marketing strategy they need to be.  You’ll convert more prospects while doing less work.  What makes more sense than that?  For a look at how SurchSquad used long tail keywords to get a #1 listing on Bing, check out this post.

One of the most frustrating things for many small business owners, who are new to SEO, is all of the industry jargon.  In an effort to make things a little easier for anyone who is just getting into the arena, here are definitions to some of the most common phrases in our industry.

Algorithm – This is an intimidating sounding mathematical term that basically means using calculated steps to solve a problem.  What does this have to with SEO?  Everything.  Algorithms are how the search engines determine where your website will be listed when someone types in one of your keywords.

Adwords – This is Google’s “cost-per-click” form of advertising.  When you enter a keyword into Google’s search bar, you usually see results on the right, in addition to the ones you see on the left.  The results on the right have paid to be placed there.  They’ve gone through a sort of auction, and the price of their bid, the quality of their website, and a few other factors will determine their placement in that column.

Back links – Also known as “incoming links”.  These are links on third party websites that point to yours.

Conversion – A conversion occurs when a prospect either buys something from you, signs up for your newsletter, or takes some other action that gets them close to becoming a customer.

Spiders – These are automated programs used by the search engines to “crawl” over the World Wide Web.  They find and catalog the information found on websites worldwide.

Splash Page – A splash page is a homepage that doesn’t contain any actual content.  It’s usually a page created using flash or multimedia imagery that has a place where users can click to enter the actual site.

SERPS – Search engine results pages.  These are the pages that appear when someone searches for something on the Internet.  For example, enter the phrase “New York” into Google and you get over 7 million pages or SERPS.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it should give those new to SEO a starting point for some of the common industry jargon.

When websites first came out, many companies put up static websites.  Their goal was to simply have a spot on the World Wide Web, but the site didn’t really add anything to their business model.  Fast forward to today and everyone’s got a website with a home page, an about us page, a contact page, and maybe even links to their products.  The problem is that this recipe is the new “static” website.  It’s a simple, safe formula that really doesn’t do much for your business or your brand because everybody else is already doing it.

Today’s consumer wants to visit websites that have interesting and original content.  The real winners in today’s market are websites that are interactive with diverse and ever changing content.  Your website is about more than simply letting customers know you exist, it’s your chance to shine, it’s your opportunity to sell yourself, your brand, and to convince potential customers that you are far better than the competition.  An added bonus of diverse and detailed content is that the more content you have, the more likely it is that your website will receive a higher ranking on Google. 

An often untapped space for quality content is the products page.  Many companies have web pages with pictures of their products, the price of the product, and a button that says, “add to cart”.  However, some consumers are still researching and may need a little bit of convincing.  Below the photo and the “add to cart” button, you can include a few short bullets or sentences about the product or even a short vide that explains just how to use it. 

Another great way to get quality content on your website is to blog.  Each post, especially if they include your keywords, will help to improve your placement on the search engine results pages.  Lastly, user generated content is free and doesn’t even take any of your time.  Discussion forums, user reviews, and a comment section on your blog are all great ways to get users to increase your website’s content.

Whatever path you take, make sure that your website is not stale and dated.  It should include interesting images, video, and writing.  One more thing, be sure to update your website with something new at least once a week, this will increase your placement on the search engine results pages.

One of the best ways to optimize your website is article marketing.  Article marketing starts with creating articles that relate to your industry and/or your specific products.  Then you get those articles out on the web through a variety of channels.  The two major benefits are 1) increased inbound links from reliable web sites and 2) letting web searchers know that you’re an authority in your field.

Most article marketing campaigns include writing a good, strong article and then submitting it to multiple article directories like www.goarticles.com, ezinearticles.com, and articledirectory.com.  These websites are trusted by Google and tend to get fairly high search results.  So, it’s quite possible that someone searching using your top keywords would find your ezine article listed on the first page of search results while your website is still listed several pages back.

To take maximum advantage of this, what most people will do is change their articles slightly by moving paragraphs around, changing the title, and replacing a few words here and there.  Then they’ll submit these articles to 50+ article directories.  The upside of this plan is that your article has the potential to rank on many article websites.  However, the downside to this plan is twofold.  First, these changes usually result in lower quality articles.  Second, searchers will most likely keep coming across the same article in different forms.  This will be frustrating to them and can hurt your brand.

While it takes a little more effort, it’s best to select between 5 – 10 directories and then to write original, unique and interesting articles for each of them.  It’s fine to utilize the same topic, even some of the same facts, figures, and research.  However, it’s best to take a different angle with each article.  Find a way to use the same information to glean different ideas and different meanings.

If you just don’t have the time or the interest in writing articles, you can always hire someone to do the writing for you.  Sites like www.elance.com and www.guru.com have listings for thousands of writers who could do the work for you.

No matter how you get started, a strong article marketing campaign should be part of every small business owners advertising plan.

As business owners we’ve all been there.  An employee makes an honest mistake.  We do all that we can to rectify the situation, but sometimes we simply can’t get back for the customer what they lost, be it time, a special occasion, or a hard to find product.  The truth of the matter is that being willing to bend over backwards to please customers isn’t always enough. 

Years ago, small business owners didn’t really have to worry too much about one dissatisfied customer.  The customer might tell their friends and even their family about their disappointment with your company, but they probably weren’t going to take out a full page ad in the New York Times or find some other way to share their woes with the world.  Until now…. 

Fast forward to the new millennium where consumer generated media is all the rave.  People use their blogs, twitter accounts, and customer feedback sites to seek their revenge on companies they feel have done them wrong.  According to Wikipedia, “if a company website has a negative result directly below it then up to 70% of surfers will click the negative result first rather than the company website.”  Ouch!  A full page ad in the New York Times might actually do less damage than an angry blog post with consistently strong SEO.  

Now, let’s talk about the good news.  While you can’t erase blog posts that paint your company in a negative light, you can work to ensure that those posts do not appear on the first page of search results when people search for your company name.  

First and foremost, you need to know what’s being said about you.  A simple way to do this is to sign up for Google Alerts or use Trackur.  Either of these programs will alert you when something gets posted on the web about your company or even your key personnel.  

Second, do all that you can to get high rankings for your company name, best blog posts, press releases, and news stories that mention your organization.  For the basics on how to get high rankings, check out our free guide, “6 Tips on How SEO Can Help You Grow Your Business.” 

The goal is that when people search for your company name, they get several pages of positive results.  If the negative results are on page three or four, chances are that few will ever find them.  In a world where anyone can create media that’s read by millions, it’s important to take an active approach to managing your online reputation.

Last week we talked about how Google’s been expanding their local search results and what that could mean for your business.  Last year Google began adding new features and abilities to their Google Maps system.  Essentially, if someone searches for a company that mainly offers their products or services locally (i.e. a restaurant, salon, chiropractor, etc.), then in addition to getting natural search results, users will also see a list of companies that are located near their location, based on the searcher’s IP address. 

The good news is that this gives local companies an opportunity to rank above national companies and provide additional information like store hours and coupons.  For these reasons alone, it’s important to make sure that your company can also be listed in these results. 

The first and most important thing you need to do if you haven’t already done it, is to sign up with Google’s Local Business Center.  There you can control how your company is listed and more.  This video does a fantastic job of explaining some of the benefits of creating a local business account with Google.

One of the great things about Google’s Local Business Center is that it includes a dashboard of features that go beyond Google Analytics.  For example, when someone searches for “florist” on Google, they might get a local listing for your store.  If they click on your link and then request directions to your location, Google will capture their zip code and include it in your reporting.  This tells you exactly where your customers are coming from.  This type of detail can help you refine any offline marketing your company is doing, or make changes to your business to better meet customer needs. 

You’ll also find out the top search phrases people are using when they find your business.  For example if you own a restaurant and you’re paying top dollar to get good rankings for the keyword phrase “family restaurant”, but most of the people that actually get directions to your restaurant are searching for the phrase “affordable restaurant”, this can give you invaluable direction about how to focus your marketing efforts.

In addition to increased reporting capabilities, Google local results listings can provide small or local business owners with another opportunity to get their name in front of prospective customers, and that’s always a good thing.

If you live in Los Angeles and you want to get your car washed, you may go to Google and type the keyword “car wash” into your Google search bar.  Which result would be more useful?  Getting random listings for every car wash from here to Switzerland or getting listings for car wash shops that are down the street from you?  Obviously, the latter would be most useful, unless of course you’re doing some sort of cross continental car wash research.

People search the entire World Wide Web to find businesses that are in their own backyards.  Google understands this.  As a matter of fact they’ve understood this for quite some time.  That’s why over the last year Google has been stepping up their local search results.

In the past, to search for car wash shops near you, you’d have to enter your zip code, the name of your part of town, or some other piece of information to let the search engine know that you wanted to narrow your search to a specific area.  Now, Google assumes that people are intending to search locally for certain keywords, even if the user doesn’t specify a geographic location.  Google uses the searchers IP address to narrow down their location to a broad geographic area.

So, if you go to Google right now and type in “car wash”, you’re likely to get listings for car wash companies in your area.  The same goes for “McDonald’s”, “spa services”, and many other businesses that tend to cater to clients face-to-face.

Why is this so important?  The local results will often appear before the top listings in the organic search results.  So, if you’re at the top of the SEO game and your company has one of the top slots in Google’s organic search results, Google may actually list ten other businesses before yours because of their proximity to the searchers location.  That’s right, ten other businesses!

Check out next week’s blog to learn how to get listed in Google’s local results.  We’ll also talk about how utilizing Google’s local business tools can help your company grow.

We all know that search engine optimization is not a one-time event like coming up with your company name or selecting the first location for your storefront.  Nevertheless, there are a few things you can do to ensure that some of your hard SEO work is not lost tomorrow.  That’s right, there are a few things you can do today that are almost guaranteed to pay off regardless of what shifts and turns occur in the SEO world tomorrow.

Take the time to ensure that your website is well designed, and highly efficient. Your website should include a good amount of internal linking.  People should be able to find good content on your site without drilling down through countless pages.  Keep things easily accessible and you’ll keep your audience.  Utilize your keywords effectively and strategically not just in your on-page text but also in your tags, URLs, etc.  Include sitemaps, both XML and HTML.  Sitemaps help visitors and search engines navigate their way through your content.

Even in SEO, content is king. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the technical side of SEO, but at the end of the day if you’ve developed a website that stands out in your industry, then you really are halfway home.   Your content needs to be a dynamic wellspring of good, quality information.

You must provide real value.  This is something that we talk about a lot here at SurchSquad and that’s because it’s critical.  Today’s consumers are savvy.  If you’re content is a rehashing of everything else that’s already out there, your readers will know it.  So, think outside of the box.  Offer up industry news and information that your competitors are keeping under wraps.

Remember, many of the people who search the web are actually in the research phase.  That means that a good number of the people who stumble upon your site are simply looking for answers.  A website with your photo and phone number is not going to cut it anymore.

Viral is the new word of mouth. Make sure that your content is easy to share.  What if someone reads something on your website that completely solves a problem their friend is having?  A person is much more likely to forward a blog or video link than an entire FAQ listing.  Or even worse, if they have to read through 20 paragraphs to get to “the good stuff” they will probably find an easier way to send the information to friends, like getting it off someone else’s website.

Get the word out. Regular marketing of your website is critical.  However, there are some marketing techniques that you can do today for a continued pay off tomorrow.  The first is to build a community.  If you do the work today to get a strong following for your website and your Facebook page, then every update and every blog is free mass marketing.  If you’re not email marketing, then get going!  Everyone’s doing it, it’s cheap, and it doesn’t annoy your client base.  Plus, if you aren’t doing it, you can be sure that your competitors are.  Take the time to build a quality email list and then use it to deliver high quality content.  You’ll get more and more people signing up for your newsletter without even trying.

Is SEO an ongoing job?  Yes.  However, that doesn’t mean that the hard work you do today will be worthless tomorrow.

Many of us have heard the common show business phrase: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”  Unfortunately, the same isn’t true for links.  It would seem that any traffic is good traffic, right?  As long as people are coming to your site, it doesn’t matter how they got there, right?  Well, yes and no.

As a general rule, it is great to have more and more traffic coming to your website.  But remember, that Google and all the other search engines, are working diligently to ensure that every website owner is getting authentic traffic either from organic SEO or legitimate paid search.  If something looks questionable, they’re going to notice.

What types of websites do you not want linking to you?  Any website that has a reputation for trying to spam the search engines, a website that seems to exist just to generate traffic, or known link farming companies are not good sites to have linked to yours.

Don’t be alarmed.  While there are times that Google will penalize a website for utilizing unethical linking techniques, they’re really good at sniffing out the sites that are just out to game the system.  If you have a legitimate website, with a legitimate business and only a small percentage of your links are bad, Google will usually not come after you.  Instead what they’ll often do is ignore those links.  They simply won’t use them when considering where to place your website on the results page.

The truth of the matter is that almost every website on the World Wide Web has links pointing to it from questionable sources.  There is usually no rhyme or reason to these bad links.  However, this doesn’t mean that the search engines are even remotely soft on unethical link building practices.  If they notice that your website’s bad links are coming in from companies that are known for selling and/or trading links, or if they notice that all of the questionable links point to a page on your website that you’ve been trying to optimize, then they will dig deeper to find out what’s going on.

There are lots of ways to find out who’s linking to you.  Here’s a short list of websites and companies that can help: http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps, https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com, and http://wholinkstome.com/.