At WordCamp 2007, Matt Cutts suggested the SEO Title Tag plug-in for WordPress and I have added this plug-in to this blog. It allows for mass editing of title tags for pages, categories, and posts.
Search engines place a great deal of importance on title tags, and while you want your post titles to attract readers, it is optimal to consider Google when creating SEO title tags.
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The following are things that I have heard (and sometimes read) from people who don’t know about search engines or SEO. This is not to poke fun at people who do not understand SEO, as a majority of the world does not, but rather just to flesh out some myths and identify them as being just that.
And it is this last point that I really wanted to discuss, as it is related to all the others. I have heard this time and time again from local companies, but then looking at their sites along with link popularity, I can tell them that: No. You may have paid for SEO services. And since they are not informed with regards to SEO, it is difficult to gauge whether or not it has actually been done, and done well.
I suggest to anyone that they educate themselves before paying for search engine optimization services, learn a little bit about how search engines work and the basics of how sites come to rank well. There are a number of questions you should ask an SEO consultant before hiring one, but I suggest going that one step further to learn the basics of search engine optimization and the workings of search engines in general.
Ranking well in the search engines can have a big impact on the growth of a company, and it is not something that should take lightly. Hiring an SEO consultant can also be rather expensive, so it should be hard to justify learning a bit about search engines so one can make an informed decision.
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Big Bob’s Frankfurter Co. in Toronto, Canada has created a website, and Big Bob wants a first page Google listing. He optimizes his page and ranks #1 for the word frankfurter in Google, Yahoo and MSN, but is shocked when the Big Bob’s Frankfurter Co. website gets very little traffic. Where did Big Bob go wrong? He was marketing frankfurters when he should be selling hot dogs. Nobody uses the word frankfurters anymore, at least not in this neck of the woods, and if you are trying to rank for keywords, make sure that you are optimizing for keywords that people actually search for.
Finding the right keywords to rank for is really a big part of the battle, as what people actually search for to find sites like yours will dictate the amount of relevant traffic your site will receive.
There are applications available to help you make this happen. The WordTracker Free Keyword Tool is one service that will help you find what keywords you should be optimizing for. WordTracker also has a paid service if you are looking to get a little more involved in the SEO process.
But while you can use an online tool such as WordTracker, you should not underestimate the power of your own brain! After all, you are a person, what search strings might you use? I like doing brainstorming before using any tools, and I might even ask some people to see what they would search for to find different things online. Personally I find this helpful in giving me some direction and real life ideas that go beyond using tools.
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The seocontest, as I had intended, was an incredibly informative experience for me. It gave me the opportunity to watch how search engines react to different approaches in SEO, and I watched all search engines closely to see how they all worked, and under “duress”.
I thought I would give a quick rundown of what I noticed about Yahoo!, MSN and Google.
Google – I saw a very high importance being placed on number of backlinks, and I found that often number could trump quality links temporarily. The anchor text of those backlinks is not near as important as would think, though it does give a boost. Use of keywords in content and new content is also helps. Google has a bit of regard to the age of the domain, but this can be circumvented.
MSN is stodgy. Backlinks don’t appear to matter that much, though you will need backlinks to have them find you. They do not crawl near as often as Google. MSN is a very big fan of internal links, as well as content. My site always ranked very well in MSN, but I did not have many backlinks recognized to my site in MSN. MSN does not care about the age of the domain it seems.
Yahoo! seems to be all about domain age, and they really don’t seem to mind nofollow tags at all for backlinks. The domain age issue can be easily circumvented however using an old domain and a 301 redirect, and the change in ranking happens quickly.
So pretty abridged guide I guess, and I am sure I can do more lengthy reporting on all of the topics I just discussed, but generally that is what I saw.
If you want to add to this, or disagree… please comment!
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If you follow Harry Potter at all, you know that Voldemort is “He Who Must Not Be Named”. He is the evil villain, and speaking about him gives him power. That is how I feel about comment spam.
There are many in SEO who see this as a viable way to increase links to your site, and some very popular SEO blogs promote it, as well. This is upsetting for me on many counts – both my SEO and my blogging sensibilities are offended by this.
Does comment spam really help your search engine ranking?
While Google uses the nofollow tags, Yahoo! and MSN do not. This means that these are considered to be viable links in these search engines, and while these two search engines are not near as popular as Google, and sometimes the butt of jokes by people “in-the-know”, some still use them, especially people who are not “in-the-know”. And many blogs do not utilize the nofollow tags in their comments, and more so now since the U Comment – I Follow movement gains the support of bloggers. This, meant to promote commenting on their blog, can also make these blogs targets for this type of spamming. These links, then, become viable links in Google and help to increase the ranking of sites in Google, as well.
So comment spamming, no matter how offensive to me and to others I am sure, is in reality a quick and easy way to help your rankings in the search engines.
But what are the other consequences of comment spamming?
For one, you get a bad reputation. Bloggers will soon come to recognize you as a spammer, and even when you wish to leave a viable comment on their blog, they may not wish to approve your comment. Word travels fast on the interweb, so don’t expect to get away with it for long, especially if you are exceedingly prolific in your efforts.
As well, by entering into an SEO campaign by comment spamming, you are wasting valuable time that could be used to do actual off-site search engine optimization or creating valuable content for people to link to.
And, in truth, you end up losing the respect in the SEO community. There is a blog I know of, and that many people follow that promotes this form of SEO, and the only reason I read is to inform myself on what not to do.
Why must we not speak of it and why do I speak of it now?
By speaking of it, more people become aware of how to undertake a comment spam campaign, and more people think it is okay to do this. After all, if it is working for others, why can’t it work for you as well, and it is hard to stay “good” when everyone else is being “bad”.
So what makes me think it is okay for me to talk about it anyways? Well, for one, I am clearly not saying good things. I am saying something that “should be named”. And I hope that by writing this I might discourage people and make them see that though this may help your rankings, you will lose in the end to those who have undertaken real link building campaigns.
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