I recently conducted a website review and wrote the resulting report for an old manager to help him provide consultation to his newly acquired client. He found the information quite useful and wanted to know where I got some of the competitor benchmark statistics from.
One of which was PageRank score. For those of you who are new to SEO, PageRank is a score given by Google to every web page on the planet. It provides an indication of the level of authority the site has compared with other websites. It is one indicator among hundreds of others that helps Google to determine what pages should rank within their search results.
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SiteVisibility discovered on 22nd April that Google added local search volume to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. When you tailor your results to a specific region around the world, Google Keyword Tool displays local search volume for the previous month.
This is essentially the same as what it was before. The earlier version of Google Keyword Tool provided Search Volume for the previous month which one presumes was displaying number of searches based upon the region you had tailored results to. One can now be sure with Local Search Volume that this is the case. Read the rest of this entry »
Altwebmedia poses the question on Twitter: Social Media seems to be beating SEO in online branding??
Personally, I think that social media is a form of organic link building. Whether you are a business or an individual, when you socialize online you spread the word about your cause. If the subject matter that you’re talking about generates a stir, other people in turn will talk about you and many will link to your website or comments.
If social media is considered “online branding” and is a type of link building; and link building is a main part of SEO; then SEO is certainly online branding. Social Media and SEO are not at odds with each other. They compliment and support one another. Read the rest of this entry »
This week (14th Tuesday 2009), Google announced upcoming changes to the search referrer strings they display when people conduct a search. This new referring url format will not affect Google Analytics, but other analytic software packages due to the way they record referral data.
You need to be aware of this in case your analytics vendor has not made the appropriate changes to their software which means that referral data will not be reported upon correctly. Read the rest of this entry »
Jayman777 asked the question on Twitter: Who has the best simple guide to SEO out there?
Earlier this year I found that Google produced their own SEO starter guide in November 2008. It covers many of the basics of search engine optimization and is easy for inexperienced people to understand.
So, why would Google offer SEO advice? Simply because they are in the business of finding and organizing the world’s information and if they can help website owners make their sites more accessible and identifiable, then it makes their job a whole lot easier.
The Google team states that the guide is not intended to provide secrets of gaining first page rankings. 
For other SEO tips, join Keyword Intent on Twitter.
KeywordIntent currently supports keyword research data from popular tools Google Keyword Tool, KeywordDiscovery.com and keywords from your own website analytics application such as Google Analytics. Over time, KeywordIntent will support other tools and extend functionality of existing tools as requested by our users.
This “how to” guide shows you how to export research data from these tools to ensure that all your keywords are added to KeywordIntent as smoothly as possible and without breakages along the way. Read the rest of this entry »
Keyword research is a critical component of search engine optimization. It provides insight into the way people search for products and services just like the ones you offer.
The reason why you need keyword research is to provide direction of what words you need to place into your titles, meta descriptions and content of your pages.
You may be surprised to learn that people don’t always type in your business name exactly, but rather use a myriad of word combinations that describe the product or service they are looking for. Read the rest of this entry »
A Keyword Strategy is the culmination of comprehensive keyword research, selection and prioritization. It is an important document as it forms the basis of your website content, landing pages and overall search strategy.
There are 5 steps to creating a Keyword Strategy with KeywordIntent. Read the rest of this entry »
What are keyword markets?
The web is made up of many thousands of keyword markets. It is a collection of related keywords in which customers use within their search queries in order to browse, research, compare and buy products and services on the Internet and offline.
For example, the online industry “travel” is made up of many vertical keyword markets. Some keyword markets that make up part of the online travel industry are “holiday ideas”, “travel destinations”, “accommodation”, “car rental”, “flights” and “boat cruises”. Plus there are many more. Read the rest of this entry »
Brandon Shapiro a consultant at Bain & Company asks the question:
Does anyone have a good sense for what operating margins are for search engine marketing firms (SEMs) that offer paid placement and SEO services? I imagine margins are very different for the two types of services but… Read the rest of this entry »