Google Instant Search Offers Challenges to SEO Content

Ranking well with the search engines is something all businesses try to be cognizant of. It is the reason why SEO material is created for the main pages of a website as well as in all of the rest of the content which is added later on. The idea is to make sure that no matter what someone is looking for on the internet, they will be able to find the sites which are the most helpful to what they are looking for. The challenge is in making content which is friendly to the reader and to the search engines at the same time.

The new instant search from Google has created a new caveat that web owners have to pay attention to. The service from Google makes it possible for the search engine to offer suggestions of websites which might fit your need as you are typing in the keywords into the search window. The list is constantly updated based on what is being typed in. An educated guess by the system can cause a problem for the many websites looking to be found. The problem is how to make sure that your website will always be found in instant search.

Understanding the New Service
The new product from Google is something which they hope will offer users an easier time of surfing the internet by offering even faster results. By offering lists based on even a few letters, it is possible that users will be able to find useful content within seconds of the time that they get started. The hope is that the users will be able to return to the search engine even more because they find the new service even more useful. You will be able to find something like internet VoIP service without having to enter a long string keyword. It is something which will save time for the user, but create a challenge for websites.

Deciding on Keywords
Many websites have started to take a look at the kinds of keywords they are using with the content that they have. They wonder how they will be able to utilize keywords which will give them better rankings even when only a fraction of the keyword is used. It is important to remember that you should not try to use fractions of keywords in content as it will be caught by the spiders and could even cause your website to be ignored altogether. Rather you should pay attention to which keywords are being searched most often as this will likely change now with the new feature from Google.

Focusing on Content
It is a good idea to take a good look at the kind of content you are offering on your website to make sure you have the kind of information which will allow for better results with the instant search option on Google. Your content is what the spiders are looking for when they crawl the web. They are tending to avoid the sites which are geared more towards the search engine rather than the search engine users. Focus more on the kind of content which provides useful information to those interested in your company and what you have to offer. Remember you can include content which has to do with the industry you are in as well. Adding industry news to your site will only help to lend to the idea that you are an authority within your industry.

Learning the New Algorithms
The new ideals being looked for with Google is that they want to only feature websites which are produced in an organic manner. They advise all websites to focus on the kind of content which will be useful once the visitor lands on the site. They are paying attention to the kinds of analytics which suggest whether or not those who visit the site have found what they are looking for or not. If there is a high bounce rate for certain keywords on your site, they tend to send you less traffic as a result. Focus your attention on the keywords which tend to make sure that people are spending the right amount of time on your site.

Defining Your Website
It is a good idea to take a look at exactly what kind of content your website should have on it so that you can further define your message and the direction of your website. By defining your website, it is possible for more people to grasp the concept and for you to get a higher ranking with the search engines. Things like website organization and content will play heavily in the usefulness of your website to those who visit. Paying attention to these factors will help your site to be highly successful with Google instant search.

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Article Submission Trumps Ezine Ads and Google AdWords

You may have heard advice from Internet marketing gurus that ezine ads are one of the best forms of advertising. You may also have heard that Google AdWords and other pay per click search engines are one of the best advertising methods. But when it comes to marketing your web site, article submission trumps ezine ads and Google AdWords anytime.

The advantage of article submission is trust. Suppose you subscribe to an ezine in the form of an email newsletter. You've just sat down at your PC, coffee in hand, to read your email. There in your inbox is a copy of one of your favorite ezines, the one you read every time. Clicking on the newsletter, you see that this edition starts with a sponsor ad and then has a couple of great sounding articles and a couple more ezine ads. Sipping your coffee, one of the articles catches your attention. You read the article, and you were right. It's a great article.

At the bottom of the article, there is a link to the author's web site and a short biography. You notice the author has a link to pick up a free report with more information about the article's topic. Then you notice that right below that there's a sponsor link in an ezine ad. The sponsor's link is for a different web site, but it also offers a free report about the same topic.

Now you might click both links. But if you could only click one, which would you choose: the one by the author of the great article you just read or the one in the ezine ad?

If you would click on the one from the author of the article you just read, you're not alone. Most people would, wouldn't they?

Now suppose you're surfing around on the web. You do a Google search on a topic you're interested in, and you follow a link to a great article with some excellent advice on the topic. Again, there is a link to the author's web site and a link to a free report with more information on the topic.

Right beside it are five Google AdWords ads on the same topic. As luck would have it, they are also each offering a free report on the same topic.

You would still be most likely to click on the author's link at the bottom of the article, though, wouldn't you?

A Article submission trumps ezine ads and Google AdWords because you establish a relationship and build trust with your reader. You are obviously the expert. After all, you wrote the article. And the webmaster or ezine publisher wouldn't have published the article if they didn't think you knew what you were talking about, right?

Years ago, I used to do direct sales in people's homes. I learned that one of the first things you need to do is the "warm up." You've just entered someone's home, they don't know who you are as a person, and they know you're going to be trying to get money from them before you leave.

If you don't establish rapport quickly, it's difficult to overcome people's natural sales resistance. In direct sales in the home, you do that by talking a little with people before you begin your sales presentation. They get to know you as a person, and their resistance is lowered.

Most people can't do sales because they remain the "enemy," the horrible sales person who wants to sell something. Let's face it, people hate sales people!

But imagine if you could warm up to people easily - and not just one or two people, but thousands of people. Imagine if instead of selling them something, you could educate them about something that will solve a problem and be of great benefit to them. That's entirely different, isn't it?

Article submission allows you to do exactly this, and on a massive scale. If you submit many articles to article submission sites and article directories, many will be published on web sites and in ezines around the Internet. People will read your articles and warm up to you. Solve their problems and they'll want more.

It's hard to accomplish that with Google AdWords. You only have three lines and a few words to build interest and trust and to get the click. It's also hard to achieve that with ezine ads. Even with solo ezine ads, evéryone knows they are advertisements.

Article submission is the secret. Writing and submitting articles is relatively easy. Just write very helpful articles on your topic and link to your web site. Through article submission you will build your reputation. Through article submission you will gain trust. And through article submission you will get visitors to your web site that already like you, value your advice, and want to know more about what you can do to help them.

That's already an incredible benefit, but it gets even better. Article submission is usually free, or low cost if you use an article submission service. Ezine ads and Google AdWords can be very expensive, and it is unlikely you could ever get traffic coming to your site as open to listening to you and trusting you as they will be from an article submission.

This is why article submission trumps ezine ads and Google AdWords.

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SEO FAQ

What is a Search Engine?
A search engine is an online database of websites that allows Internet users to search for information contained on websites contained in the database by "Keywords".
Keywords are words that Internet searches are likely to use when looking for information on a specific topic. For example, the words "grad schools" would likely be used when looking for information on continuing post-secondary education.
Each search engine has slightly different behaviors and characteristics.

What is a Directory?
A directory is a search tool much like a search engine but with a few major differences. Directories tend to employ human editors to review and rank websites submitted to their database. Yahoo! is the most well known example of a directory. Most directories catalog websites based on a variety of topic categories such as Business and Economics, or Arts and Culture. Most directories demand payment before assigning a website review to one of their editors.

What is PPC or Pay Per Click?
Several Search tools are now offering Pay per Click rankings. Companies such as GoTo and iWon allow webmasters the chance to purchase placement in an auction system. StepForth has several plans for managing bidding accounts and finding the least expensive keywords to bid on.

Is there a simple solution to top placement?
There is no simple solution to attaining high search engine rankings. Search engine optimization is time consuming work and requires a healthy knowledge of how the Internet functions and how search engines operate.

Are not all search engines the same?
Each search tool has its own unique characteristics. As businesses, each search tool has found ways to make its service slightly different from other search tools.

Will my website stay at the #1 position once my website is placed there by StepForth?
Search Engine rankings fluctuate frequently, however, if your site is properly maintained by search engine specialists month to month then it is likely that the movement will be confined to within the top10 positions.

TIP: StepForth offers a monthly maintenance service which is designed to maintain optimal positioning for existing clientele.

My website did not get accepted last time I submitted to the search engines... why?
Search Engine listings are not guaranteed to everyone who posts a website to the Internet. Search engines are for-profit businesses and have the right to refuse to list any site for virtually any reason. At StepForth we specialize in getting sites listed on search engines. We ensure all bases are covered and all necessary elements are present before submitting the finalized site to the search engines or directories.

How long does it take to see results?
It can take between 2 - 12 weeks to see results, depending on each search engine. StepForth starts tracking your website's performance 14 days after submission. We will forward all results as they come in over time. Ask about our reporting services.

How does the Search Engine find websites?
There are two ways a search engine can find a website to add to its database. The first and most direct method is to accept submissions from website designers and optimizers. Most search engines have a "submit your URL" section inviting submissions from Internet users.
The second, and least obvious method of finding websites is to send a "spider" to follow each and every link on, off, and through a website. New URLs encountered by the spider will be added to the database. In this way, some search engines will grow very rapidly.

What is a "Spider"?
A "spider" is an electronic robot that travels the web examining websites in order to add them to a search engine database and rank them according to the specific ranking criteria for that search engine. Most search engines use spiders to quickly and efficiently canvass the web for information.

What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization is the process of making websites search engine friendly. The process often involves minor modifications to, or additions of, several standard elements of a website.

What do you mean by Search Engine Friendly?
We use this term to describe a website that has specific elements added or modified to attract and please search engine spiders or live directory editors. Here is a link to an article that will provide you with more information: "Is Your Web Site Search Engine Friendly? Your Personal Checklist"

Why might I need to have extra elements added to my website?
A search engine spider is an automated program that electronically probes every URL submitted to its database. As the spider is a computer program, it is designed to look for and rank very specific items on each page it probes. If those elements are present, the spider computes a higher ranking than it would if those elements were not present.

If these elements are so important, why didn't they get added when my site was originally designed?
Most website designers haven't learned the importance of search engine friendly design. In almost every case we've encountered, the site designer is a highly skilled and creative person whose job is to put your ideas on the web. More often than not, the designers have not received any training in search engine optimization and don't think about it while pursuing a cool looking design. Search engines are also constantly changing their ranking criteria. They do this to prevent gross manipulation of their search tools. Often, website designers are not fully up to date with changes at search engines. For an example, ask your website designers about Theme Engines. At StepForth, we spend a good portion of our time studying how search engines work and how any sudden changes might effect our clients.

Why don't I just do the work myself and save money?
You can do the work yourself. You will need to continuously update your knowledge of how the various search engines work and any changes made in the way they work. This shouldn't take you too much time. Once you get the hang of it, search engine optimization can be as simple as re-shoeing the brake pads on your car or replacing the motherboard and system bios in your computer.

You should know that if you make a mistake in optimization and submission, it can take months to find the mistake and fix it, resubmit the site and obtain the search engine ranking you desired. Our 10+ years of experience with search engine optimization helps us avoid most mistakes.

What is an Affiliate Program?
A mutually beneficial relationship between a website and a company. The company seeks to either generate more web traffic, sell more products, or seek out potential customers through leads. The website seeks to make a profit by selling ad revenue on the site. Affiliate programs come in many shapes and forms.

What is an Affiliate Network?
This is by far the quickest and easiest way to begin selling advertising on your website. A secondary company called an affiliate network acts as a liaison between the advertiser and your website. The affiliate network sells ad space on your site and then takes a cut of the profit generated from this advertising. This can be an especially good method for small sites or people just starting in the advertising market, because it is extremely difficult to find individual advertisers on your own. In addition, the hardware and software needed to run and track an advertising campaign is all taken care of by the affiliate network.

What is CPS (Cost Per Sale)?
The cost an advertiser pays per sale. This is a very common method of selling advertising. You receive a credit for a sale when a web surfer clicks on one of the ads on your site and ends up buying something from your advertiser's site. A sale does not always occur directly after the click as most advertisers will have a certain time during which both the sale and click through must occur in order to receive credit. This time period is often called the 'cookie duration'.

What is CPL (Cost Per Lead)?
The cost an advertiser pays per lead. This is a very common method of selling advertising. A lead can be anything from an email address for a newsletter to a complete survey that needs to be completely filled out and verified in order to get credit. CPL prices can range greatly depending on the program.

What is CPA (Cost Per Action)?
This term refers to pay per lead and pay per sale affiliate programs.

What is CPC (Cost Per Click)?
The cost an advertiser pays per click.

Does meta tags make your site rank better?
This is NOT true. The fact is that according to the W3C HTML coding standards it is good coding practice to make use of Meta tags. Meta tags are also used by some directories and Yahoo! also admited at looking at meta tags 2 years ago. It is also true that search engines like Google DO NOT care much for meta tags. Meta tags therefore does very little if any for your rankings. It is also good practice not to stuff a bunch of keywords in your meta tags but that the meta tags should be relevant to the theme and keywords targeted on the specific page it is located on.

Is page titles important?
Yes, a good page title assist the search engine in determining the targeted theme of the page. Each page must have it’s own unique title that are representative of the page content. Also just target a single keyword phrase per page title.

Should I target many keywords on a single page?
No, the best strategy is to target a single keyword phrase for every individual page. This can cause a single page to rank for several keywords relevant to the incoming backlinks and the keywords targeted by the page.

What is a reciprocal link?
Reciprocal linking is when you link to a site and they link to your site in return.

What is a triangular link?
This is a link strategy whereby you link to a site form your one domain and they link back to another of your domains.

What is Natural rank
This the rankings that you obtain without paying for position. In Google the paid rankings normally is located on the right hand side of their search results and the natural rankings are the results listed on the entire left hand side of the search results.

What is hidden text?
This is text that is visible to a search engine spider as it views the HTML source code but it is not visually visible to a human visitor. Webmasters usually make use of style sheets and the class attribute to fool search engines. This will definitely end up with a removal and penalty by a search engine when detected.

What is a Doorway page?
These are normally single pages created with the sole purpose to target specific keywords. It usually do not reflect the rest of the site. A splash page can be mistaken as a doorway page and should be avoided as search engines can penalize a domain for the use of doorway pages.

My web design company submitted my site to 1000’s of search engines, do I still need to do SEO?
Submission software is to a large degree a selling mechanism that means nothing to the website. Only a handful of search engines being submitted to are actually useful and those will focus on other factors to determine your site’s rankings. It is a well known fact that Google uses more than 200 factors to rank a website. The only thing that submission software does is letting search engines know that your site is out there. Obtaining backlinks from sites already being indexed however has the same result.

What is SEO?
It is the process that enable search engines to access and understand the content of a site with the end result of improved positioning on the SERPS of relevant search engines in order to obtain relevant targeted referrals with improved conversion ratios, from search engines.

What is Cloaking?
In short cloaking means to determine who visits the website and then presenting the applicable visitor with the site content relevant to their needs. In other words serving Google bot with a different page than for example the Yahoo! spider is cloaking. This will definitely result in a banning of the relevant site in a search engine, if discovered. Enabling actual human visitors to view only information relevant to their needs is not considdered cloaking. Cloaking's main objective is fooling search engines.

What is an Algo?
The abbreviation for algorithm. This is a mathematical formula that determines the ranking of pages in the relevant search engines search results.

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SEO Tools

SEO Tools

Seo Administrator is an integrated suite of web promotion utilities that cover all aspects of website optimization and promotion. Professionals and newcomers alike have successfully used Seo Administrator to enhance their websites and have found it to be simple and intuitive to operate.

Here is an overview of the powerful utilities that are included in the Seo Administrator package:

The "Ranking Monitor" utility. This seo tool uses your website keywords to obtain the ranking position of your website from a wide range of search engines. The list of over thirty major international search engines includes: Google, Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista, AllTheweb, Lycos, HotBot and so on.

The "Link popularity checker" seo tool. The number of inbound links to your website is a major factor in successful search engine promotion and this tool analyzes these links. The Seo Administrator package enables you to create a comprehensive list of links to your web project and follow their dynamics by revealing new and out-dated links. The module can also analyze your competitor's websites and search for potential link exchange resources.

The "Site indexation tool" utility. This seo tool checks for website page indexing. Before being included in keyword-based search results, a web page needs to be indexed by the search engines. Seo Administrator reveals the pages of your site that have been indexed by various search engines. The program supports all major international search engines

The "Log analyzer" program is designed for analysis of your website log-files. It provides comprehensive estimates of resource usage, numbers of visitors, search queries that were used to find your site, site referrers, visitors' countries and much more.

The "Page Rank analyzer" seo tool automatically obtains the Google PageRank value for your list of URLs. The number of inbound links is also obtained. It also checks for the presence of each URL in the DMOZ and Yahoo catalogues.

The "Keyword suggestion tool". Choosing the right keywords and keyphrases to target in your pages is extremely important to help people find your website. This seo tool uses a variety of sources to suggest keywords relevant to each page. The program also provides the competition number of the keywords. Less competition means that you may get higher ranking in search engines.

The "HTML analyzer" module is a seo program that analyzes html page content. The program provides a full report on the weight and density of keywords and keyphrases in your web pages. As well as providing a preliminary analysis of your own site, it can be used to analyze your competitors' sites.

The "Google Data Centers" program. This seo program is a tool that allows you to query all of Google's Data Centers from one convenient interface

The "Snippets viewer" seo program. The brief, automated descriptions (snippets) of your resource displayed by search engines are also very important. An attractive description will make visitors to choose your link among all the others suggested by a search engine. This seo program analyses your snippets and compiles a database of them.

Seo Administrator automates site promotion allowing you to utilize your time spent on the project more effectively, efficiently and productively.

SEO tools collection

Hey fellows, recently written an article Ultimate SEO tools collection based on some SEO tools. Hope it helps.

Page Rank

Rank Checker - Get a overview of your website's ranking
PageRank Lookup - check the PageRank for a website
Google PageRank Prediction - check predicted PR of a site
Multi-Rank Checker - View your Google PageRank and Alexa Ranking in bulk
PageRank Checker - View your Google PageRank on differnet Google servers

Links related


Bookmark & Blog Search Check - Find your backlinks in the major bookmarking sites and blog search engines
Reciprocal Link Check - check whether your link partners are linking back to your website
Link Popularity Checker - a popularity score given to a website based on inbound links
LinkPrice Lookup - check the price of your link
Link Price Calculator - another tool for checking the price of links
Link Checker - check your links to see if it's still valid or not
Link Popularity - checks the total number of web pages which link to a website
Link Price Calculator - help to determine the approximate amount you should be paying (or charging) per month for a text link (ad) from each and every page of the specified website
Site Link Analyzer - analyze a given web page and return a table of data containing columns of outbound links and their associated anchor text
URL Rewriting - convert dynamic URLs into static looking HTML URLs
Link Extractor - Extract links from a specific web page
Link Shortener - shorten a web address
Back Links Finder - Build relevant website back links
Backlink Anchor Text Analyzer - check link text used by your backlinks to Link to your wesbite

Keyword related

Keyword Verification - checks to see if your site is in the top three pages of a search engine result for a specific keyword
Keyword Density Analyser - another SEO tools for keywords
Keyword Cloud - a visual representation of keywords used on a website
Keyword Density - another SEO tool for checking keyword density
Keyword Difficulty Check - see how difficult it would be to rank for specific keywords or phrases
Keyword Optimizer - optimizer your keywords with this tool
Keyword Typo Generator - generate a list of suggestions for likely human misspellings and typos
Keyword Suggestion - Find related keywords matching your search
Free Keyword Research Tool - analyze the meta keywords of your competition

Sitemap

XML-Sitemaps - Build your Site Map online (XML, ROR, Text, HTML)
Gsitecrawler - Google (and Yahoo!) Sitemap Generator for Windows
Validate XML Sitemap - Search Engine Optimizion Tool for validating your xml sitemaps

Search Engines

Google Analytics - tells you everything about your visitors
Google Backlinks Check - Check Google and 9 data centers for backward link updates
Google Banned Checker - check whether a site is banned by Google or not
Search Engine Bot Simulator - SEO Tool to simulate search engine parsing of webpages and display discovered links.
Indexed pages - check the no. of indexed pages for your blog
Spider Simulator - simulates a search engine by displaying the contents of a web page
Search Engine Friendly Redirect Checker - checks the exact HTTP headers that a web server is sending with an HTTP response.
Search Engine Position - Locate your search listings on Google and Yahoo!
Search Listings Preview - Preview your website on Google, MSN and Yahoo! Search

HTML related

HTML Encrypt - Hide your HTML source code
HTML Optimizer - Optimize and clean your HTML source code
HTTP Headers - Extract the HTTP Headers of a web page
HTTP Headers Viewer - check HTTP headers for any specific URL
Meta-tags Extractor - Extract meta-tags information from a web page
Meta-tags Generator - Generate and configure your meta-tags
META Analyzer - analyze a website's meta tags
Meta Tag Generator - help you to generate meta tags
Meta Tag Optimization - Check your Title and Meta Tags for keyword optimization
Source Code Viewer - View the source code of a page

Domain related

Alexa Traffic Rank - View and compare Alexa Ranking graphs
Domain Age Tool - find out the age of your competitor's domains
Domain Stats Tool - get all kind of statistics of your competitor's domains
Domain Availability - Check the availability of domains
Domain Look-up - Retrieve a range of information about a domain
Domain Whois - Retrieve domain whois information
Instant Domain Checker - Check the availability of domains instantly
Ping Test - Check the presence of an active connection
Reverse IP/Look-up - Resolve a host to an IP address
Server Status - Check if your website is online or offline
Website Speed Test - Find out how fast your website loads
What Is My IP Address - shows your ip address
Class C Checker - check if some sites are hosted on the same Class C IP Range
IP to City - determine the Country, City, Latitude and Longitude of an IP Address
Website to Country - determine the Country in which the specified website is Hosted

Web stats

Statcounter - famous free web tracker
HiStats - Free, real time updated web stats service
Addfreestats - provide free website statistics

Miscellaneous

FEED Validator - for Atom and RSS
W3C Markup Validation Service - check for conformance to W3C Recommendations and other standards
Kontera Ads Preview - preview Kontera Ads on your website
Online spell checker - simple online spell checking tools
Browser Screen Resolution Checker - shows what your site looks like with different screen resolutions
Your Browser Details - View your IP address and your browser details
Anonymous Emailer - Send e-mails to users anonymously
md5 Encrypt - Encrypt text to MD5
Online Calculator - A simple online calculator

http://moneybloggers.net/2007/03/25/ultimate-seo-tools-collection/

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A new Browser by Google - Google Chrome

Google Chrome Review

Before i start, let me just say that the only browsers i use are firefox (THE Browser) and IE (just to check if the pages that i develop appear correctly and work). So, in advance, i’m sorry if i point some feature in google Chrome that already exists natively in other browser.

Yesterday i finally got access to Google Chrome Download Page, some time after the anouncement made on google’s official blog. The expectation was high and Google didn’t disappoint.

First, the installation is very quick. I went to http://www.google.com/chrome , Clicked the big blue button, downloaded a setup file, and chrome was installed in no time. Simple, quick, straight to the point.

First thing i noticed: The speed!!! The browser loads in a flash (not like firefox that, at least in my computer, takes a little time to load). When i started to browse some pages, i was astonished with the load speed.

Like google explained in the google chrome presentation comic book, chrome uses one process for each tab. This has several advantages. The ones that i best remember are:

• If a page crashes, only that page is closed, not the browser;
• When we don’t need a page, the process of that tab is closed and the memory allocated is released.

After this i decided to explore the developer suport that the browser offered. Well, i was amazed because chrome is only a beta and already has several features that are really useful. All of this without installing any plugin.

The dom inspector makes me remember Firebug. Can inspect every element and, at the same time, travel through the dom and see the styles aplied to each element. Yes, we already have this feature in firefox using firebug, but in chrome this feature is native, thats the beauty of it.

For javascript i found a console and a text mode debugger. I didn’t spent any time exploring them. Maybe one of this days i’ll take a few hours to explore this tools.

Finally two features that are really handy (at least for me):

• native language corrector (it has some bugs, but this is only a beta, i give a discount).
• element inspector in the right context menu.

Google Chrome surprised me. Fast, Simple, Lite. Can be both a browser for the common internet user, has it can be a browser for a developer. Google exceeded my expectations and proved, once more, to be a company that studies the market and knowns what the users want.

Chrome is going to be a first choice for now on. I’m official Chromed!!! I hope that future releases bring more and more new features to help improve even more this browser.

Download Google Chrome at http://www.google.com/chrome

Source: http://nunos.zi-yu.com

————————————————————

to download google chrome and use visit: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/google-chrome-now-live.html or view this also

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html

some draw back of this all.

its only available for windows.

no extra plug in can be downloaded now for this.

google toolbar is not with this neither it can be downloaded till yet with this.

some times it seems using some features of IE8.0

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Video Search Engine Optimization

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SEO Tips - improve Google ranking of your website

Search Engine Optimization activities can be divided into two sets of ongoing processes: on-site optimization (ways of building and improving your website) and off-site optimization (outside factors, such as links from other websites). These techniques may be further divided into “good” SEO, that is accepted by the search engines, also known as “White Hat SEO Practices”, and the bad, techniques, such as spam, link farming, etc., that can get your website penalized or even banned from search engines like Google or Yahoo.

Here are some of my tips for working your site’s SEO:

On-Site Optimization

• Choosing the right domain name

One of the first choices that you have to make when starting your website is the choice of your domain name. This is important because Google and other search engines look at your domain name when determining the relevancy of the search engine results page (SERP). It is therefore beneficial to have the keywords that you are targeting present in your domain name.

• Title

Title of your web page (specified with the use of the

• Keyword density

When writing content for your website, try to include all your keywords within the body of your pages. That way, when a search engine bot (crawler) indexes your website, it sees the keyphrases included in your copy, and thus can determine the relevancy of your website for a given search querry.

• Header tags

Divide the content of your site into certain parts and begin each with a relevant (keyword-rich) description bound by the header tags (h1, h2, h3, etc.).

• Links

Make sure that your site does not have any broken links, for it is frowned upon by the search engines. The anchor text (name that your link is displayed as) should be relevant, and keyword rich. If certain keywords are more important to you, you may increased their value in the eyes of search engines by using one of the bold and strong tags or putting them as a header.

• File names

Make sure that the file names of your web pages contain the targeted keywords. For example instead of calling your gallery page gallery.html, call it fast-cars-photogallery.html (for a gallery of sports cars). Remember not to go overboard with sticking too many keywords into one file name, because it may appear too spamy to search engines.

• Image alternative text.

Remember to include the alternative text for all your images (ex: ). Alt text is important for a variety of reasons: it helps visually disabled people to read your website, helps when somebody is using text only web browser, it is standards compliant, and of course it is yet another place to put some more keywords.

• Meta Data: description, keywords

In your html code, be sure to put adequate, not too long, not too short description of your website and the list of your keywords.

• Url rewriting

Remember that you can manipulate your urls and make them more search engine friendly with such tools as .htaccess on an Apache server or the IIS on a Microsoft platform.

• W3C compliant syntax

Make sure that the html you are coding is compliant with the standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium. You can check your site at validator.w3.org. Some people believe that having valid html helps with your SERP, some think otherwise. In my opinion it is a good prudent and proactive step to take; it won’t hurt, but it may help. I myself, try to always use valid strict xhtml (specified in the doctype statement in the top part of your code).

Off-Site Optimization

• Link building - you can submit your link for free to many websites such as:

• Yahoo & Google Locals

At these sites you can submit your business listing, and not only get a valuable link from an important, high PR site, but also increase your brand awareness and potentially land some business deals.

• Directories (DMOZ, Yahoo Directories (paid listing), etc.)

There is an abundance of online directories floating on the internet. Some of them are free such as DMOZ (very hard to get listed, but extremely beneficial to your SEO and eMarketing efforts), some offer paid inclusion (Yahoo directories, I think annual fee of $290), and some offer you a listing in exchange for a link back to their site. Be careful with linking to those directories because some might be treated as link-farms and will get you penalized by the search engines. If linking to a directory, find out if it is a legitimate website first. Also, try linking only to those sites that are related to yours in some way.

• Video sharing (Youtube.com, Google Videos, etc.)

If you have some skills at shooting interesting videos or making video tutorials (such as a SEO tutorial or a witty Photoshop technique tutorial) you can post them on a variety of video-sharing networks, and put a link to your website in the description of your input.

• Social Networking (MySpace.com, Facebook.com, etc.)

Social networking sites are a great way to show of your business along with your website to the world. A profile on MySpace or Facebook can gain you new clients, help to stay in touch with existing ones, develop business relations with other companies, and be a source of links and traffic to your website.

• Blogs (blogger.com, wordpress.com, etc.)

Blogs, similarly to social networking sites, are a good way of sharing information about your business/website with the world. By writing relevant content, you can gain links and exposure

• Message boards, forums
• Digg.com
• Wikipedia.org
• Google Pages
• Link Exchange

• Email Marketing/Newsletter

A company online newsletter can keep your visitors updated and in touch with your website. Marketing emails can also attract possible clients for your business. If you decide to engage in an email marketing campaign, keep one thing in mind: “Don’t SPAM!”

I will be posting new techniques and tips for search engine optimization, as well as discussing the ones contained in this article in more detail, so stay tuned!

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