Getting a New Site Indexed Quickly

So you’ve decided to start a website. You’ve done the research and have selected the best domain to help you rank well in the search engines. You know exactly what purpose your site will serve and have everything planned out.




I have been in this position many times and always get excited to see how quickly I can get my new site to rank well. It’s fun to do and I have learned a lot about what it takes to get a new website on the first page quickly. For the record, I have learned that you can get a site on the first page within a short period of time, but keeping it there and even getting it to move up to the most important positions can take a lot of hard work and time.



One of the things that I have been frustrated with in the past is the amount of time it would take Google to index my sites. I had the site up with some good content on it and everything was optimized perfectly–so why hadn’t Google crawled my site yet? After asking myself this a few times I decided to go out and tell Google about my site. I’m going to give you a couple tips on how to do this. Please keep in mind that with the new Google Caffeine, Google has promised faster indexing, but these tips should still prove useful.



Set up a free Google Webmaster account and verify it. This is a great way to tell Google about a new site and a great way to set things up the way you want them.

Submit your url to Google for free. What? You can actually just submit your url to the all powerful Google? Yes. You can.

Set up a free Google Analytics account. This is another way to tell Google about your site and is also the best free analytics program you can get.

Build a few directory links to it with the directories you know accept free links fast. I’ve always had quick success with ones like Directory-Free.com and Jayde.com. There are thousands out there, these are just a couple of examples.

Throw a quick link up to it on another site you own that gets crawled frequently. Usually one of your blogs would be best since it gets crawled every day because you post on it every day…right?

If you are concerned about Yahoo, they also have a place to submit your url.

Post a link to your new site on Twitter and Facebook to get some initial traffic to it. If your site is freaking awesome, you may get a couple links out of it at the same time.

Stumble your site. Digg your site. Wibb-it your site. Basically, go out and put it in every social bookmarking site you know of.

By following these simple guidelines, I have seen some great success with getting my sites indexed quickly. I’m not going to tell you how quickly, because there is no guarantee, but you can believe me when I say quickly. Once your site is indexed and optimized, it’s time to bust out your super SEO powers and build a ton more sweet links!

10 Tips For Video SEO

Do you know how to do SEO for your videos? Do you have a video or two on your site but are unsure how to do search engine optimization for them?




You are not alone. For a long time it was difficult to say what would help a video rank well in search engines such as Google, but it has become a lot easier than it used to be.



Here are the top 10 SEO tips for videos:



1- If you plan to upload a video to both your site and video distribution sites like YouTube, be sure to post it to your site first. That way you can get links through the embed codes where possible.



2- Make sure that your site has more content than you give the video distribution sites. For example, your site could include a “part 2” to the video or a textual transcription that can’t be had anywhere else. This can entice people to link to your site rather than the video distribution site.



3- Use your targeted keywords in the video’s file name, title, and in the tags where it is appropriate.



4- Build links to the video both internally and externally. Video, like any other content on the Web, will be judged by the same link standards.



5- Create a video sitemap for any videos on your site to make it easier for search engines to find all the video content.



6- Optimize the URL of the page where the video is located by naming the page with the keywords. Only have one video per URL.



7- Tweeting, bookmarking, and mentioning the video on social media sites are great ways to gather links.



8- Cross link your video to other relevant videos that you have done. This will help all of your videos rank better and be more useful for your visitor, which always leads to more views.



9- Create useful content that your visitors will want to link to. This will help to build natural links and encourage comments which also influence search engine rankings.



10- Use a video distribution service such as TubeMogul or Traffic Geyser to spread the video quickly across the Internet. These services can save you a lot of time.



These tips are primarily SEO related. There are a lot of topics about video that need to be discussed to get the most out of a multimedia campaign, but we shall talk about them in another post. Watch for them to come in the future. In the meantime, start recording!



Bonus tip: YouTube will soon let you connect with your friends easier. They are going to suggest people you know by recommending those you have sent videos to via email. Also, if you have connected your Gmail account with your YouTube account, they will suggest people from your contacts that also have a YouTube account.



The idea is to promote subscriptions between friends. One of the key factors in making all of this work is to be sure that your account settings are correct. If you’re not sure, simply go to the privacy settings within your YouTube account. There is a box there that states, “Let others find my channel on YouTube if they have my email address.” Make sure that the box is checked so you can be found and maybe even increase your subscriptions.

Removing a Ban from Google

Banned from Google? Ouch. Anyone who’s been banned from Google before knows that it’s not a fun ordeal. As of June 22, 2009, a report shows that google.com is used for around 90% of all searches done on the internet (worldwide). And with the next closest search engines in the running being 85 points away (yahoo.com at 5.5% and the new bing.com at about 4.5%) that’s a pretty big chunk of your traffic being cut out when Google decides to ban your site.




How to Know if you are Banned from Google



Sometimes it’s not so easy to know if you are banned from Google. So I’ve started a “You Might be Banned from Google if…” list. Feel free to add to the list in the comments.



If yesterday you were ranking on the first page of Google and today your site is nowhere to be found in the SERPS, you might be banned from Google.

If you do a site search (site:yoursite.com) on Google, and it brings up no results, you might be banned from Google.

If yesterday your page rank was 5 and today it is 0, you might be banned from Google.

Common ways of getting banned from Google.



Now, of course, if you’ve been banned, you probably already know why it happened. But just in case you’re still in a daze, here are some common ways to get your site banned from the ever powerful Google search engine:



Hidden text or hidden links – when you think about how this is done (making the color of the text the same color as the background that it’s placed over, how hard would this really be for Google to detect with a small piece of code in their algorithm?

Use of cloaking or sneaky redirects – and yes, Google calls them “sneaky.”

Loading pages with irrelevant keywords – aka keyword stuffing.

Creating multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.

Creating pages with malicious behavior, such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other mal-ware.

Producing “Doorway” pages created just for search engines with little or no original content. The key to this is “little or no original content.” If you’re actually adding new content to the web then this shouldn’t be a problem.

There are also some “back-door” ways of getting your site banned from Google, such as including several links to sites that are known for spamming, thus causing Google to draw the conclusion that you’re affiliated with them.



Should you feel the urge to read more on this topic, visit google.com for a few more tips on creating a “Google-friendly” site.



If anyone knows of any other sure-fire ways of getting banned from Google, let me know in the comments!



So what if you do get banned? Then what?



How to remove a ban from Google

The thing to remember with a Google ban is that it is not always permanent. In fact, most of the time, you can just change whatever it was that got you banned and then submit a reconsideration request. To resubmit to Google, visit this link, which will take you to a page within the Google Webmaster Tools. From there they will walk you through the process which can also include sending an email to Google regarding what you have changed and why you feel you should be included in the search engine once again. Remember when you compose this email that there will be a real person reading it on the other end. Be kind and business-like in your request and you will have much more of a chance of getting the ban lifted and once again being indexed in the largest and most used search engine on the web.

10 Link Building Strategies For New Website Or Business Owners

Believe it or not, all SEO’s were newbies at one time or another. Launching a website can be a very exciting event for an individual or new business owner. However, that excitement can quickly turn to disappointment when the site owner finds out that they are getting little or no traffic. If they are getting traffic, it is most likely coming from family members or friends who they notified through an email or Facebook.




Being involved in SEO and marketing in general, I am usually bombarded by family members and friends with questions about marketing their website or their future website on the Internet. Because of this and my willingness to help just about anyone I know, you can usually find me in a small dark corner at a family party (it has to be small and dark because my wife gets ticked when I’m not up and socializing with everyone), on the phone in the car, or answering an email, Facebook message, or Twitter message about SEO and other internet marketing tactics.



I was on a call yesterday with one of my best friends from high school. Our conversation was focused on general search engine optimization principles and link building tactics that could provide a good foundation and hopefully, if he does them right, some strong rankings in the search engines. One thing I emphasized is the fact that what ever he does, he needs to build links naturally. A natural link building campaign is crucial for success in SEO.



A natural link building campaign is one that is just that, natural! Getting 50,000 links within the first twenty days of your website’s existence is definitely not natural. Getting a slow trickle of links coming into your website and then building up looks much more natural. Also, getting 50,000 links pointing to your home page with the same anchor text is not natural. Vary your anchor text and include long tail versions of your keywords. You should also build links to other pages of your site in addition to your home page. All of these things help with building a natural link campaign.



In terms of links, there are two types of links you can get for your websites, external and internal links. Both are very important and can make a huge difference in your search engine rankings. I want to discuss in detail, ten ways to effectively jump-start your link building campaign.



Friends & Family Members



When beginning a link building campaign, one very natural way of obtaining links is from friends and family members. I just opened up our family blog and counted all of the friends and family who we have added in our blogroll. The grand total… 41. How hard is it to simply call up (recommended – it’s more personal) or email your family and friends who have blogs or other sites, and ask them for a link to your new website? Not hard at all! In fact, because they are your friends or family members, they will probably do it without hesitation. You can do the same thing with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.



Add A Blog To Your Domain



Google loves blogs! Google loves fresh content! Google loves internal links! Internal links from other pages of your website are a guaranteed way to help you increase your rankings in the search engines. Adding a blog to your domain is a great way for you to easily add new content to your website on a regular basis. In most cases, adding a blog to your main domain is rather simple and can be done in as little as three clicks of your mouse. Web hosting companies like myhosting.com, Hostmonster, & Bluehost offer one click installations of blog platforms like Wordpress or b2evolution.



Adding a blog, posting to it at least once daily, and linking back to your home page and other important pages of your website with keyword anchor text is a great way to gain a lot of internal links. When blogging, you should also link out to other websites that interest you and websites that are in similar industries. You might also consider adding images, videos, polls, etc. Mix things up! Make it look natural! Most important, have fun!



Local Organizations



Just about every city in the country has a local chamber of commerce; mine would be the Lehi Area Chamber of Commerce. Joining a chamber of commerce will not only get you a very good link back to your website, but also provides networking opportunities with other local businesses. Most times, depending on your business, you can generate new leads rather easily by getting to know other individuals and businesses in your area.



Local News



Developing relationships with local newspaper writers and always making yourself available for comments on news stories that involve your industry is a great way to build awareness about your company and get links back to your website (if the newspaper is published online).



Help A Non Profit Organization



You would be surprised how many non-profit organizations are operating in your city and your state. Every one of us has been given talents and certain things that we are good at. I guarantee that there is a non-profit organization that could use your help, whether it is with designing their website or painting the conference room of their new office building. If you offer of yourself and your services freely, you can most likely ask for, and get a link to your website from theirs.



Submit Your Site To Local & Industry Specific Online Business Directories



Anyone studying SEO can usually find a blog post about submitting your website to directories on the Internet. Yes, this is a valuable link building tactic, but before you go crazy and start submitting to thousands of directories, seek out local directories and directories that are specific to your business. Submit to these first and take your time filling out all of the information that they ask for. These will be some of your most valuable links since they are so relevant to your website and business.



Social Bookmarking



You have probably heard the term social bookmarking. You have probably heard that social bookmarking is a great way to build links. Well, it is and it isn’t… You can waste a lot of time social bookmarking if you are submitting to the wrong sites. I limit my social bookmarking to Mixx, Propeller and sometimes Kirtsy. The trick to social bookmarking is to not only bookmark your website, your blog posts, and other things related to your website, but bookmarking lots of different things that interest you. This will make your bookmarking profiles look much more natural to both viewers and the search engines.



Write An Article And Submit To Article Directories



Writing articles and submitting them to sites like Ezine Articles, Article City, and Go Articles, also known as article marketing, is a great way to get links back to your website. Take time to write a very detailed article about your industry and submit it to a few article directories like the ones I listed above. You will get links back to your website by properly using the author resource or bio box at the end of the article. You should tell a little about yourself and your company, while adding keyword rich anchor text links pointing back to your website.



Write And Submit A Press Release



Writing press releases and submitting them to places like PR Web or Web Wire is a great way to generate interest and buzz about your business and also to get links back to your website. This method of link building is a little more difficult than other links that you can get for your website. Writing a press release takes skill… a skill, which the average person, like me, does not have. Press releases have certain requirements that must be met, a certain format that must be followed, and in most cases, need to be super interesting. Not having any of these elements can almost guarantee that your press release will either be outright rejected or not distributed to other news related websites.



Build A Hub Page Or Squidoo Lens



Building a Hub Page or Squidoo Lens is a fun way to get links back to your website. To date, I have built 73 Hubs and 25 Lenses for my own personal websites and hundreds for clients that I have managed. The most effective Hub Pages and Squidoo Lenses are those that have at least 450 words of text about a certain topic or subject, videos, pictures, polls, and other gadgets that are easy to add. You want to make the page as interactive as possible so it provides value for anyone who happens to read it. You are allowed two links to other websites from your Hubs and a handful of links (be conservative, don’t spam) from your Lenses.



Building links isn’t pretty. But, in order to rank well in the search engines, it is absolutely necessary. These are ten excellent ways for new companies or new website owners to start building links to their websites. There are many others and I encourage any of our readers to add to this list by commenting on this post.

Transformers of SEO Part 2: The Decepticons

Before anyone asks the question, the answer is: “Yes, I finally got out to the theater to see Revenge of the Fallen.” About 10 years ago life was much simpler. I could just pick a night, meet some of my friends and head out to the theater to see a movie. Now I am married and have a couple of kids. Getting out to the theater has become a rare event, but I did manage to make time over the weekend to see it with my brother in-law.




Thanks to a couple of comments from Princess Zelda and Dan Schulz on my previous post about Transformers of SEO, I have had some inspiration to write a sequel. My previous post compared a few optimization strategies to the Autobots. This post will contrast some of the current blackhat SEO strategies to the Decepticons. I think this comparison is appropriate because, in the end, blackhat SEO only “deceives” the person using it by making them think that it will bring top rankings and instant wealth.



Cloaking (Megatron):



Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons and one of the most powerful Transformers. Just like Megatron, cloaking can be a powerful blackhat SEO tactic that could result in high search engine rankings. The negative aspect of this tactic is that once a site has been caught cloaking it is removed from the search index and all the top rankings are instantly taken away. Cloaking is done by making a website appear to be something completely different for site visitors than it does for search engine spiders. There are many ways a web developer can go accomplish it, but whatever method is used, the end result is always the same.



Doorway Pages (Devastator):



Several Decepticons combined together to transform into one large robot called Devastator. When combined together they were a powerful and formidable opponent. Doorway pages can be compared to these Decepticons. One doorway page on its own can be an effective tool for driving traffic to a website, but multiple doorway pages can have a “devastating” effect. Doorway pages are single web pages that are set up and optimized for a couple of search terms with the singular goal of sending people from that page to a main website. Creating several doorway pages targeting multiple search terms can eventually help a webmaster rank well for all their targeted search terms. Doorway pages are just another way of tricking or deceiving the search engines. The goal of search engines is to provide the searcher with the most relevant websites to their search query. They want those websites to be what is displayed in the search results and not a page that directs a visitor to another site. Once doorway pages are discovered, they will be removed from the search index and all the work of creating them will be for nothing.



Keyword Stuffing (Starscream):



Starscream is the sidekick to Megatron but always seems to be more like a thorn in Megatron’s side. He was useful when he assisted the Decepticons in battle but was usually more of a hindrance then a help to Megatron because he was constantly plotting to overthrow him and take over as leader. I think keyword stuffing is much like Starscream. Many webmasters stuff webpage elements like titles tags, alt attributes and headers, full of keywords to either target many different search terms or inflate keyword density. While this strategy may have worked in the past, today it only results in reducing the weight of the elements that have been stuffed. So instead of possibly ranking well for a few targeted search terms, the site will struggle to rank for any search terms at all. Keyword stuffing is a strategy of the past that is dead and gone. Anyone practicing it today can expect their SEO campaign to also be dead and gone.



Don’t be fooled by any of these blackhat strategies, they deceive webmasters into believing they can bring quick rankings and wealth, but in the end it is the ethical SEO techniques that will bring the lasting results.

Marketing Team Players

SEO.com is doing its part to help boost the struggling economy. The Utah Internet marketing company today announced its Ultimate Web Marketing Makeover, which will give one organization the chance to emerge from the recession via a comprehensive Internet marketing campaign.




“We’ve been fortunate to experience great growth during the recession, and now we want to give back to help someone else have similar success,” said Dave Bascom, chief executive officer of SEO.com.



Through October, SEO.com will accept submissions from various organizations that detail how the recession has affected them, and how they believe Internet marketing services could improve their situation. SEO.com will then award one of those businesses a six-month contract worth more than $60,000. Some of the services will include:



Web Site Redesign

Search Engine Optimization

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Link Building

Press Releases, Writing and Distribution

Copywriting

Local Search Optimization

Social Media Optimization

Website Analytics

Blog Marketing

“With all the services we’ll provide over the period of six months, we expect to lay a foundation that will literally change the future of a struggling organization,” Bascom said. “To the winning organization, this will be worth much more than the $60,000. We will provide them with a strong online presence so they can attract many more customers through search engines, and we’ll design their site so more of those visitors will turn into paying customers.”



To participate in the contest, participants must fill out the Ultimate Makeover form which includes a section to write a 500-word essay that explains why they should be selected.



Any organizations that offer quality products or services and have been negatively affected by the recession are encouraged to apply. SEO.com will judge the participants based on the quality of business or service, the industry, the story behind the company, how it has struggled during the recession, and the potential to not only succeed, but to benefit the community.



“We really want to help a deserving company or organization get back on its feet,” said Nelson James, vice president of SEO.com. “We are good at what we do, and we are confident that the services we are offering in this package will do just that.”



SEO.com is accepting submissions for the Ultimate Web Marketing Makeover through Oct. 31, and will announce the winner in early November. If you know anyone who could benefit from this contest, please spread the word. For more information, visit http://www.seo.com/web-marketing-makeover/



About SEO.com

SEO.com is a full-service Internet marketing firm that specializes in search engine optimization. The SEO firm’s search engine marketing tactics help numerous clients reach millions of potential customers on the Internet. SEO.com has grown rapidly since its inception and continues to expand its offerings as a full-service online marketing firm. The company offers everything from organic search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) to social media marketing, online public relations and search friendly-Web design. Clients range from small startups to Fortune 100 companies. For more information, log on to SEO.com.

Google are Now Bringing in More Real Time Results

The current popularity of Twitter and the fact that Twitter are trying to turn them selves into a real time search engine has made Google stand up and react.




Although we all know that fresh unique content was always essential to build power and authority on your site and also give your new post a freshness boost, there has been a slight tweak in the algo from what I am seeing over the last few days to give further power to fresh posts from authority and powerful sites.



What seems to be happening is that when a new post is created it gets indexed and then placed into a Top 10 position for some highly competitive terms, this ten over the next few days drops off on to page two, three and then eventually disappears from the SERPs.



It seems as though Google have increased the algothirm to bring in fresh results a lot more. Again this is great for that extra little bit of exposure

A great example of this is the term “SEO”. Firstly it was Dave Naylor’s post about geo targeting which came straight into the Top 10 and then slowly faded out as the post aged and then the Search engine journal post which hit the first page and then slowly started shifting out.