How to introduce SEO friendly content

Your site’s content not only has to be informative and interesting, but it also has to be created in such a manner that search engines notice it. You require lot of skills to create SEO-friendly content. The text of your web page serves as the main data that search engine crawlers use to categorize the web. The more interesting and informative is your blog content, the more people will read and refer it to their friends and followers. Here are the tips on how to create SEO-friendly content.

Keep your content simple

While you are creating content with SEO in mind, it’s equally important to keep the content simple so that it is easy to read and understand for an average internet user. Don’t try to confuse casual readers with technical jargon and complex techniques.

Give out good links

Search engines often scan your content for the links to other industry association websites. A good and reliable content should include proper attribution and links. Give out good links to authoritative sites like Wikipedia.com. Include the reliable sources from which you have retrieved the data. Also, make sure to give credit to the original authors. All these, help you to earn back links.

Discover the hot topics

You can take the help of social media and social media monitoring tools to discover the trends. Google Alerts, Twitter, Google Trends and Technorati are some of the best sites that provide your company with the necessary resources to discover the trends. You can incorporate these trends into your content. Search for the topics on the web that have not been written about. Use such topics to create content and present it in a simple and understandable manner so that people will like to share.

Make sure your content is error-free

Creating a good content is not just about an interesting topic; it’s about error-free writing. Before posting your content makes sure to check your content for spelling and grammatical errors. Get it revised and checked thoroughly by a couple of authorized persons.

Use Inverted pyramid style of writing

Break up your content. It’s always a good idea to organize the content on your page. Instead of presenting a long one page text that is boring, break up that text into short paragraphs. Each paragraph should have its own headings and subheading. The first part of the paragraph should be an introductory paragraph and contain rich information. This is followed by the main theme of the story and conclusion at the end. This style of writing is called as “inverted pyramid” style. This makes it easy for search crawlers and readers to grab the information they want on your page.

Keyword placement

Keywords are the important terms that readers use in the search engines to find something. You can take help of Google tools or other free tools to work out what your main keywords are, how popular they are and how many competitive websites are using the terms as keywords? Once you have worked out with them, use keywords in your title, in the beginning of the first and last paragraphs of your content.

Use related keywords

Also, make sure the keywords used are related to your content. For instance, your main keyword is about “different types of parenting” it expects to see words about strict parenting, authoritative parenting, authoritive parenting and so on. “Google External Keyword tool” or “Google Suggest” provide you with other keywords that readers use, to make you write better content. If your keywords are not related to your content, search engines won’t display that page as part of the related search results.

Avoid keyword stuffing

Keyword density is determined by dividing the number of times the keyword used in the content by the word length of your content. For instance, if your keyword appears 10 times in a 1000 word article then your keyword density is 10/1000 = 1%. Your keyword density should be in the range 1% to 2%. If your keywords cross this range then SEO search engine bots identify them and harm your rankings or sometimes lead to a blacklist. Hence, you need to use them wisely.

Enhance your content with images and videos

Enhance your content management with SEO optimized images, videos and illustrations. This can as well drive traffic from Google images and Youtube.com to your website.

Length matters

The major search engines expect your content to be more than 300 words per page. Google prefers 950 words per page to display them in top ten search results while for Yahoo the average number of words is about 1,300.

Follow these tips and create SEO-friendly content which brings traffic to your website.

About The Author: Brianne is a writer. She loves writing, traveling and playing games. She contributes for betaout.com

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Why High Speed Internet Crucial for Efficiency on the E-commerce site

An ecommerce host plays an important role in the smooth and successful running of your online business. In fact, without an efficient ecommerce host solution integrated along with your website, you will not be able to imagine on the accomplishment of an ecommerce business. Therefore, you must look out carefully for a high speed internet connectivity that helps in the growth of the ecommerce platform.

Speed

The speed of the different activities on your ecommerce store will basically depend on the velocity of the servers of your ecommerce host. Therefore, you need to ensure that the ecommerce host you have opted for makes use of high speed Internet connection.

Uptime

It not only depends on the speed, but the uptime of the servers of your ecommerce host also matters a lot. For instance, when a customer decides to make a purchase from your online store, he is quite happy with the fast speed of shopping and at the same time when he is just about to enter the credit card number the server of the ecommerce site gets down. Now hope you can imagine the impression of the customer on this particular ecommerce website due to this. This complication will not get this individual back to your online store ever again. There can even be worse situations arising than this one. Just think that the customer makes the payment, and before any individual could get the receipt, the server of your ecommerce host goes down. The customer visiting your website will feel like he is being cheated by your website. He will eventually lose faith on your business. So, what can be worse for your business than losing out customer trust? Therefore, ensure that you have selected an ecommerce host that puts forward 24*7 up time together with high-speed high connection.

Downloading

Easy and quick downloading of visual and audio files, folders, programs and software updates is quite necessary to any Internet user. If there is slow Internet connection it might take hours to get your audio and video files downloaded.

Streaming

If there is a video or audio onto your site, a high speed Internet connection will help you by not making you wait for your file to load and having it bring to a standstill halfway. A poor internet connection will be quite frustrating in that case.

Method of Payment

Another significant element which determines the efficiency of an ecommerce host is the type of payment they can have. Today you will find that the world of ecommerce is quite advanced and you should have a system on your ecommerce website so that the online store is able to accept various kinds of payment. Therefore, you need to ensure whether your ecommerce host is able to provide your eCommerce site such a kind of system. Your high speed internet connection will help your customers with the payment procedure easily without much hassle.

Phone Access

A high speed Internet service will facilitate you to connect the rest of the 21^st century that discuss over telephone making use of the Internet connectivity at the same time without having to opt for a second telephone connection.

 Smooth Access to Product Detail Page

It is often seen that the product detail page is one area where most of the eCommerce websites fail. You will find high emphasis on the usability and design of the home page and the same effort is not present to the rest of the websites. It is often found that a user spends most of his or her time on the product detail page as he or she can seek all information that is required. If the details sited in the page enables better understanding of the user which is presented strikingly, your eCommerce website will be in demand surely. High speed Internet connectivity will get the product detail page effortlessly and smoothly.

So, this isn't the time period of 90’s anymore. High speed Internet connectivity could help you to do multi-task on things like checking your bank account, paying off bills, uploading various photos and finally listening to streaming audios. It will also help you to keep your sanity as you do not have to wait for long hours for your page to load. The above mentioned seven areas that benefit from high speed internet access are Speed, Uptime, Downloading, Streaming, Method of Payment, Phone Access and Product Detail Page.

Therefore, these are the basic reasons on why high speed Internet Connectivity is crucial for efficiency on the E-commerce site.

Author Bio:

Donna B. is a career counselor working for a university in the UK. She recommends that everyone should be on the virtual world and stay in touch with all the happenings. If you do not have the internet, you can run a check on what internet providers are available where you live at www.highspeed-internet.com.

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Blogging Tips: Things to know how to write inspiring write-ups

Blogging in recent times has emerged as a medium of information sharing, wherein bloggers from distinct streams share their knowledge on a particular topic. The blogging scenario has become extremely competitive as bloggers vie with each other to secure a place in the challenging online world.

To come up to the reader’s aspiration, one needs to write inspiring content, which is qualitatively written with efforts put in true earnest.

1.) Qualitative research

To come with inspirational content that motivates readers to take action, you need to do qualitative research. Understand the perspective of the topic and analyze it from various angles. This will help you come up with authentic information that will help your readers develop better understanding of the topic.

Qualitative research will help you establish as a niche blog writer and connect in a better way with your readers.

2.) Write niche specific content

In order to come up with inspirational text, one needs to be niche specific. Choose the area of your interest and stick to it. With time and experience by your side, you will be able to bring quality in the content and make the same inspirational.

3.) Read a lot

A good blog writer reads a lot. Reading helps you broaden your horizon and learn new facts. These will definitely help you to come up with good text. The reflection of the same will be evident in your writing and the readers will be inspired lot to connect and share your vision with others.

4.) Discuss with your friends and family

Share your ideas with others in the family. This will help you learn new facts and come up with interesting information for the readers. Amongst your friends and family, you will be having people who have interests similar to you.

Information sharing with such people will help you to work on new ideas and concepts. Incorporate the learning in your writing. This will make the presentation informative as real life ideas and concepts are much practical and relevant.

5.) Observe people

There is no better learning than a practical experience. In our daily life, we meet many people who have distinct ideas and visions. Observe them and you will have many inspirational ideas to share with your readers.

6.) Follow the rules

Do not let your efforts put in for qualitative research go waste. Content writing has some rules. Follow these, else all your efforts put in to catch the eye of the reader will go waste. Optimum keyword usage, incorporation of short sentences and real life examples are some of the key requirements, in case you wish to come up with inspiring content. Sticking to the rule book is the imperative criterion for success and you need to follow these in true earnest.

Blog writing is a creative means of sharing your ideas and though with the readers. Follow the above listed steps and you are sure to come up with inspiring text that will catch the eye of the reader and help you to establish your competence in the field.

Author Bio: Brianne is a writer blogger. She loves writing, travelling and reading books.  She contributes to Christopher Ryan Porter

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Social Media Marketing For Dummies Book Free Download

Social Media Marketing For Dummies
English | 2009 | ISBN: 0470289341 | 288 pages | PDF | 8,5 MB

Get the last word on the most up-to-date social media marketing techniques

If you're not tweeting, Facebooking, or blogging by now, your business is getting left behind. Social media marketing is a highly effective way to engage with your customers. It's an easy, inexpensive way to enlarge your audience, add customers, and build your business. This guide provides an indispensable resource for small businesses and start-ups looking for low-cost online marketing strategies, as well as for marketers in larger companies who want to be more involved with social media. Learn which social media sites best fit your business and how to take full advantage of them.

• Explore the many aspects of social media, including reviewing sites, monitoring competitors, and fitting social into your current marketing plans
• Launch a campaign, develop a voice, reach your audience on key and niche platforms, and embrace the influencers
• Identify social media sites that appeal to your target audience and learn which social platform works best for which objectives
• Learn to monitor results and assess your program's effectiveness
• This straightforward guide is exactly what busy marketers and entrepreneurs need to help them get up and running!

DOWNLOAD LINKS

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How Video Marketing Trends is good in on-line Video Industry

The video marketing trends all point towards viral video marketing which is currently the 'it' thing at present. You can launch and have successful marketing campaigns through viral videos which are trending these days. There are a few things that you need to keep into consideration when planning a successful video marketing strategy:

1. Know your client

It is important to understand the requirements of your client so that you can reach out to him/her emphatically. Do a little bit of research on what age group you should target and how you can make the content interesting and entertaining so that they pass it on to their peers and friends via social networking sites.

2. Find out the trigger words that best describe the video

Once you place your online marketing video, try to gather an understanding of what the audience likes by identifying the triggers. Triggers such as shocking, funny, sexy are associated with a lot of curiosity and therefore triggers a lot of sharing activity on the Internet. 

3. Make the content focused that hits the right chords with the audience

It is important that you follow up on the social triggers and enhance that particular aspect to the extent that the audience is moved to tears, goosebumps, sighs and laughs. Choose one or two triggers and make the most of them. 

4. Spread your video to the audience

It is not possible for marketing videos to get noticed on YouTube alone as you need as much exposure as possible. Hence, go in for a multiple platform approach to make the video viral. You could use HeySpread or TubeMogul that are free. If you aim to target only a certain group of people, then you can go in for paid seeding services like UnrulyMedia, StumbleUpon or Facebook Social ads etc.

5. Make your content user friendly

Make your content downloadable with comments, embeds and links that are short and Twitter-friendly. Make the video a sensation that catches the public's imagination and breaks the common mold. Once you start getting mashed up remakes of your original video, you can be sure that your marketing video has become popular and is here to stay!

6. Time your move and target viral dissemination

It is important to have a planned strategy of how to turn your marketing video into a viral rage. For this, you would require a lot of views when you initially upload it so that it achieves the category of being the most viewed and stays at the top. You would also need to popularize the video via blogging and microblogging instantly so that your video is trending.

To sum it all up, it is important to find your target audience and narrow down your social triggers so that your marketing video reaches out to the audience and becomes a trending viral video. Remember great content always goes a long way, hence impact your viewers.

About The Author: Brianne is a self-employed designer, illustrator & blogger. She loves writing, along with travelling. These days she is working on Rank monitoring software and keeping a close watch how Google is updating its algo. 

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Will Social Media Choose the next US President ?

Anyone with a Facebook or Twitter account has probably noticed an increase in the number of political postings over the past few years. This is due, in part, to the explosive rise in social media outlets and users. But voters are not the only people who use social media; among politicians, 9 out of 10 Senators and Representatives have Twitter accounts. However, many are starting to wonder if social media is becoming less a reporter of political races and more of a predictor of the results. In Senate races, the candidate with more Facebook friends than his or her opponent has won 81% of the time. And one email sent to 60 million Facebook users prompted an additional 340,000 people to vote in the 2010 election. This infographic illustrates just how politics and social media are affecting each other.

Created by: Open-Site.org

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Seven Powerful Social Media Marketing Tools for Your Business

WordPress

This is a good apparatus if we are looking into dabbling in a blogging accumulation of amicable media. It is a good amicable media apparatus for tiny businesses, and is good for removing a word out. No matter how vast or successful a blogger, any chairman has their possess particular contend online. The blog websites we are means to emanate with WordPress are not usually good for coordinating amicable media marketing; it can also be a alighting page of your amicable media selling campaigns. You are not authorised to direct-sell on your other amicable media sites, though if we approach them to your amicable media blog, we might strike them tough with some critical promotions, and calls to action.

WordPress is easy to refurbish and supplement calm to, and is really good during permitting we to incorporate your other amicable media efforts into. WordPress is also really rarely SEO ready, that is because a blogs on WordPress arise so fast by Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

PageLever

This apparatus is essentially for Facebook. It gives we some really minute analytics about your Facebook efforts that goes good over that of Facebook’s possess Insights. The apparatus will cost you, though gives we a transparent denote of your brand’s recognition on Facebook. It gives we overview reports and some-more minute in abyss charts, so that we might see your Facebook opening visually instead of in numbered format.

HootSuite Publisher

This is a good apparatus for posting to your Facebook or Twitter account. It can also be used to tell calm onto your personal form and your groups on LinkedIn. With this apparatus we might bond to ping.fm, WordPress.com, MySpace, Mixi and Foursquare. It allows we to report your posts too. There is a common faith that scheduling does not count as “automation” and so will not negatively impact your Google rankings.

With this apparatus we might check all of your mentions (@mentions) on all of your Twitter accounts. You might also respond to them, with messages such as appreciate you, etc. You can also use a same routine to answer any questions on Twitter, and looking by during what has been common and combined to a retweets.

The publisher duty is used for checking and formulating any scheduled posts, all that can be concurrent with a inbuilt calendar. The analytics functions uncover we where we are removing a many attention, and gives we a probable reason as to why. You might also make reports that we are means to download. The reports are a really good approach of tracking your swell over a long-term.

Google Alerts

With this apparatus we might find out who mentioned you, where and when. It’s as elementary as that. Easy!

Disqus

This is a criticism plug-in for your blog. When your readers pointer into their Google, Disqus, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter or OpenID account, a Disqus commenter that we use will give them a series of opposite options. This vastly increases a chances of your blog going viral in some way. The fact that a reader has a choice to repost a partial of your blog somewhere else (for example), is all a proclivity that some people need.

The comments that are posted on a bottom of your blog, regulating a Disqus commenter, can be common opposite all of a aforementioned amicable media. They can widespread opposite a net, with minimal bid on your part. This drives other people to demeanour during your site, and has a really good SEO effect.

Buffer

This is a good apparatus for scheduling all of your amicable media posts. All we need to do to post is record onto this tool, supplement your content, click report and that’s it.

NutshellMail

Keeping on tip of all a things that need to be finished is formidable for a tiny business to do. They already have HR, sales, book gripping and selling to contend with. Social media is (sadly) a vast empty on time, holding time divided from some-more dire issues.

Using NutshellMail is a good approach to stay on tip of your amicable media marketing, though in smaller bite-sized chunks. This apparatus will send we an email any morning, revelation we what has happened on your amicable media over a final 24 hours. All we need to do is spin off all of a notifications from all of your amicable media, so that nothing of them are emailing you, and synchronize your amicable media accounts with NutshellMail. That approach instead of trawling by a many hundreds of amicable media messages and alerts we accept around email, we might simply demeanour during your Nutshell mail each morning. It saves time and a lot of aggravation.

There are many collection out there built to assistance we all handling in a improved approach a amicable life on a web. If we know some, don`t demur to share them with us in a criticism territory below!

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How to Deal with Negative Feedback on Social Media

You can’t hide from negative feedback.

It’s part of the reality of running a business, and in today’s socially-connected world—it’s part of the reality of managing a Facebook or Twitter Page.

People “Like” and “Follow” brands like yours because they love the products you sell and appreciate the service you provide, and want to be kept up-to-date with everything you have going on.

But they also connect with you on social media so they have a way to have their voice heard and share their feedback—sometimes positive and sometimes negative.

While you cannot and should not hide from negative feedback on social media, you can avoid the backlash that often comes when handling feedback the wrong way. That starts with being prepared when negative feedback comes knocking at your door.

Watch this week’s Ask an Expert to find out how you should—and more importantly—should not handle negative feedback on social media from Constant Contact social media specialist, Kristen Curtiss.

Here is the transcript from our interview if you would rather read…

What can a small business do when they receive negative feedback on social media?

The first thing you want to remember is that social media is called social media for a reason. So, you want to make sure you’re connecting with your customers—whether it is positive or negative.

There’s always going to be some sort of negative feedback out there.

You want to make sure to answer your customers, connect with them, and show your entire audience on social media that you really care about what they have to say.

Make sure your response is precise and that you’re showing customers that you really want to solve their problem.

What shouldn’t a small business do when they receive negative feedback on social media?

The first thing I would say is: do not ignore negative feedback.

You’re on social media to show customers you care and that you’re really trying to take the time to connect with them. So, you want to make sure you’re addressing the issue as quickly as possible.

You’re really there to help them—that’s the reason you’re on social media. To say, “Hey, we’re here and we’re willing to help…”

It’s a great thing when you’re able to respond as quickly as you can and address the issue.

What is your best advice for a small business that has received negative feedback?

I think there are two things you need to make sure you’re doing. One is to answer it in the first 24 hours, if possible.

Social is ever-moving, people expect you to be on there all the time, and you want to make sure you’re on there looking for this feedback, and making sure to help them as soon as possible.

The second thing I would say to do is try to take it offline if it seems to go on longer than expected. Try to connect with them once or twice, and if it’s still ongoing, tell them “You can reach me at this email address…” or “You can reach me at this phone number… Please connect with me and we will make sure to satisfy your needs.”

Don’t lose sleep, just make sure you’re prepared

Is the threat of negative feedback still keeping you up at night?

You’re not alone.

But don’t toss and turn or exhaust yourself by continuously refreshing your browser expecting negative posts or tweets.

Instead, take some time to better prepare yourself for handling negative feedback so you can use it as a way to showcase your customer service and improve customer relationships online and off.

Do you have your own advice for handling negative feedback on social media? Tell us in the comments.

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Top 15 Search-Related Terms in Internet Marketing or e-Marketing

Does your organization have a comprehensive SEM plan that utilizes SEO, PPC, SMM, and content marketing paradigms to boost conversion rates and bring about both a higher on-site ROI and greater website profits?

Does any of that even make sense to you?

If you find yourself falling behind when it comes to discussing online marketing plans and practices, you’ll want to brush up on the following search-related phrases. Digital marketing isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon, so get familiar with these words, as well as what they could mean for your business!

Term #1: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one type of online promotion that seeks to increase traffic flow from the results provided by the search engines to individual websites, as the result of user engagement with the lists of results provided by individual engines.

To achieve these results, SEO may include on-site activities (for example, enhancing website content or improving page meta tags) and off-site actions (in the case of backlink building, which is discussed below).

Term #2: Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

An alternative to SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising involves purchasing website visitors through programs like Google Adwords.  Advertisers using this program are able to bid the amount they’re willing to pay each time a search engine user clicks through from the sponsored listings area of the search results to a website.

Term #3: Content Marketing

Content marketing is an inbound online marketing technique that relies on populating a website with high-value, highly-shareable content. The goal of these particular advertising campaigns is to build brand awareness and perceived authority through the distribution of content marketing pieces, which should ultimately result in increased repeat sales and a greater number of customer referrals leading to sales.

Term #4: Social Media Marketing (SMM)

One final digital marketing strategy employed by many organizations these days is social media marketing (SMM)—the practice of building a dynamic, engaging presence on popular social networking websites with the intention of driving website traffic and customer relationships. SMM campaigns typically make use of sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ in order to connect with customers in a value-added and non-threatening way.

Term #5: Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

While you’ll likely hear the previous four terms thrown around in any discussion about the best ways to attract website visitors, you may also see the phrase, “search engine marketing” or “SEM.”  SEM is a general term, encompassing all of the above strategies and referring to an organization’s online marketing plan as a whole.

Term #6: Algorithm

Every search engine maintains a separate index of all the different webpages it’s identified online, which is populated by the data generated from the engine’s automated indexing bot programs.

However, since manually sorting through all of this information in order to return the best possible results whenever searches are run would be extremely time-consuming, the search engines rely on complex sets of algorithms in order to parse their indexes and return results based on a number of different criteria.

The exact workings of each engine’s algorithms are never fully revealed (in order to prevent manipulation), though enterprising SEOs often identify ranking factors on their own through experimentation. As seen in Google’s recent Panda and Penguin changes, search engine algorithms are constantly being updated—much to the chagrin of SEOs.

Term #7: Keyword

A “keyword” or “search query” represents the string of words search engines users type into the search boxes on their browsers. If a woman types, “women’s shoes size 9” into Google, this phrase will be used by the search giant to determine which indexed pages will provide the most relevant information for her query.

Because websites receive little natural search traffic if they aren’t featured in these results listings, many organizations choose to focus their digital marketing efforts on targeting particular keywords with their individual web pages. A “good” keyword is one that meets the organization’s standards of competitiveness and relative search volume, both pieces of data that can be found using popular SEO keyword research programs.

Term #8: Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

When users type search queries into the engines, the results that are displayed are referred to as the “search engine results page” or “SERP.” The websites displayed in the natural SERPS (as in, the results that are displayed separately from the engine’s sponsored PPC results, where applicable) are shown as the result of each engine’s complex ranking algorithms.

If you hear a digital marketer refer to the difficulty of obtaining a page one SERP ranking, know that he’s having trouble deploying SEM best practices in a way that ensures his site is displayed in the top position whenever search users enter his target keywords into the engine.

Term #9: Conversion

A conversion is a completed action that occurs on a website that indicates a meaningful, measurable connection has been formed with a website visitor. On most websites, tracked conversions consist primarily of product sales, though you’ll also find sites that track lead gen form submissions, email newsletter subscriptions, document downloads, or video views as conversions.

Term #10: Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization, or “CRO,” refers to the process of improving the number or quality of conversions that occur on a website.

As an example, if your company’s website measures success in terms of the number of new customers who purchase your products, a good CRO plan might include testing new traffic sources, improving your site’s introductory content or crafting more appealing offers to encourage new website visitors to buy.

Term #11: Split Testing

Split testing is one common tool used in CRO plans. The process involves installing programs that randomly serve up different webpage variations in order to determine which variant performs better.

Split testing may be carried out using “A/B” protocols, in which two page versions are served to visitors with only a single variable changed, or it may use a “multivariate” setup, during which several variables have been altered across 3+ webpage variants.

Term #12: Backlink

A backlink is simply an HTML connection between two webpages. Backlinks can be either internal (connecting the pages within a single URL) or external (connecting pages on two entirely separate URLs).

The number and quality of external, inbound backlinks pointing at a website plays a major role in its relative SEO value, as the search engines treat backlinks as editorial votes. The engines’ algorithms are set up to view backlinks as votes of confidence between sites, which is why it’s so important for webmasters to attract a number of high-quality links.

Term #13: Anchor Text

The anchor text is the text-based element of a backlink that appears on the referring page. For example, if you see a website using the text, “Click here,” as a directive encouraging visitors to move to a different page on the site, the words, “Click here,” represent the link’s anchor text.

The specific words used in the anchor text of the external, inbound backlinks you create plays a role in your website’s off-site SEO, as the search engines use keywords found in this area to determine link relevancy. However, don’t go overboard by using the same target SEO keyword in the anchor text of every link you create, as this may be deemed spamming and lead to penalization. Instead, aim for a natural blend of SEO, branded and non-optimized anchor texts.

Term #14: PageRank

PageRank is a measure of page authority, as developed by Google. The system assigns every webpage online a score from PR0-PR10, based on a logarithmic scale that accounts for the number and quality of external backlinks pointing at a site.

Though you may see this term referred to as a means of reporting site authority, keep in mind that it’s only one of more than 200+ ranking factors considered by Google’s algorithms. A high PageRank is good, but won’t automatically translate into better online performance.

Term #15: Meta Tags

Meta tags are pieces of HTML code that can be added to a website that provide information to the search engines, but that aren’t visible to site viewers.

In the past, tags like the “meta keyword” and “meta description” codes played a role in on-site optimization, though these have since been devalued in response to widespread manipulation. Today, SEOs see better results from providing helpful information through the page title tag, image ALT and description tags, and the “rel=author” tag.

Of course, this isn’t a comprehensive list, as putting together a document containing all the different bits of industry jargon used in the digital marketing world would be nearly impossible. However, if you have questions about specific search-related terms you’ve seen online, feel free to share it in the comments section below and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Sujan Patel

Digital Marketing Agency

Sujan Patel is the co-founder of Single Grain, an SEO Agency based in San Francisco, CA. Single Grain specializes in helping start ups and Fortune 500 companies with their digital marketing strategy. You should follow Sujan onTwitter.

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Basics Fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The purpose of search engine optimization is to grow non-paid traffic from search engines that will lead to increased conversions or earn greater influence with the search engines.

The ultimate purpose of non-paid or organic search engine traffic is to produce more conversions or sales. However, this is a narrow view. Sound SEO advances each level of the marketing funnel:Awareness > Engagement > Desire > Sales > Referrals and Repeat Sales.

The Marketing and Sales Funnel

Only a fraction of visitors will convert or buy, yet it is necessary to apply SEO practices to the entire marketing funnel to achieve success.

The second purpose of SEO is to earn greater influence over search engines. This may seem circular, conducting SEO to achieve SEO. The practical truth is successful optimization requires activities that increase search relevance and authority without regard to sales. Most SEO work occurs at the awareness and engagement levels of the marketing funnel because they offer the most opportunities to grow search engine ranking authority.

Search Engine Optimization is one of the most effective online marketing tools available.

SEO works. Study after study proves it.

• Hubspot’s The State of Inbound Marketing in 2012 found SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound sourced leads have a 1.7% close rate and SEO leads are eight times more likely to close into customers than outbound leads.
• Webmmarketing123′s 2012 State of Digital Marketing Report found SEO to be the top lead generator among B2B companies (59%) followed by social media (21%), and pay-per-click (20%). The numbers for B2C companies were SEO (49%), pay-per-click (26%), and social media (25%).
• In 2009 Forbes magazine conducted a study that found SEO, Email and e-newsletter marketing are the most popular methods of digital marketing. SEO was the most effective tool with 81% of respondents grading SEO as meeting or exceeding expectations.

In addition to generating leads, a strong SEO program increases referrals from direct links and social media.

Organic search or non-paid search is a traffic channel, not a marketing channel.

SEO is not a marketing channel. It is a set of practices for businesses to apply to all marketing activities. SEO influences and informs web design, organization, and code. It guides content creation, social media, and relationship building. SEO even reaches offline. When speakers show a slide with a Twitter or Facebook address and invite audience members to follow or like, they are engaging in SEO. It is important to teach and evangelize search engine optimization throughout marketing.

Search engine optimization works best for businesses that engage enthusiastically in all best SEO practices. It is least effective when companies cherry-pick.

Google uses over 200 signals in its search ranking algorithms; most are interdependent. While businesses may find some quick SEO wins, real success requires a well-rounded multi-disciplinary approach. Optimizing for a limited set of ranking signals may not move the needle.

Search engine optimization requires ongoing and evolving effort.

Search engine algorithms are not static. Google makes over 500 updates to its ranking methods every year, usually one or two a day. Effective SEO requires keeping-up and applying new knowledge.

SEO is an arms race. Competitors that use SEO are continually improving their search engine relevance and authority. To succeed a business must catch-up to its competitors then accelerate ahead and maintain its lead.

Search engine optimization takes time.

It takes time for search engines to find new optimized signals and incorporate them into their ranking results. Some ranking signals use age as a measurement. Like fine wine, these improve with age. Measure results over weeks and months, not days.

Ethical search engine optimizers guarantee the quality of their work, not higher rankings, visibility, or traffic.

While optimization professionals know quite a lot about search engines and ranking signals, the search engine companies a secretive about their ranking formulas and methods. Both Google and Bing consider guaranteed promises of higher rankings, visibility, and traffic as unethical. AsGoogle states,

Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google.

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