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There's More to SEO than Rankings

Posted on 5:08 AM No Comments Label:
By David Leonhardt

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions in SEO is that ranking at Google and Yahoo is all that counts in search engine optimization. Potential clients come to me with a single goal: "Get me a top-ten ranking at Google." Some will also mention MSN, and a few will rhyme off a list of search engines and want to rank well at the top 200 of them.

It is time to separate fact from fiction.

Yes, I can get you a top-ten placement at Google. But...
  • If the placement is for "dirty brown shoes", it probably won't help your shoe store one bit, even if I get you the first place ranking. Few people are actually searching for that term.
    Being number ten might not help much either, depending on the term. People searching for "Essential Nectar liquid vitamins", will probably click on the first result they see, or at least on one of the "above-the-fold" results that do not require scrolling. On the other hand, someone searching for "liquid vitamins" might check through two pages of results to familiarize herself with the options available.
  • If your title tag reads like a cheap list of search terms, it will not be enticing. For instance, if it reads: "vitamins, liquid vitamins, multivitamins, multi-vitamins", you might skip over it in favor of the next result that reads "Liquid vitamins from the Liquid Vitamin Supplements Store".
  • If your description tag is a mess, people will more likely skip over your listing, even if it does rank number one, in favor of one that sounds like what they are looking for. Google and others use the description tag usually when the term searched for is found in it, so make sure to include your key search terms in a description tag that actually reads well.
Predicting traffic from SEO results
I recently responded to a forum question, which went something like this: My site ranks number one for this term at this engine. The term is searched this many times per day, and the engine has this percentage marketshare. Can I expect this many visitors?

That's not an SEO challenge; that's a math problem: searches x marketshare = visitors

I responded with a few factors that override mathematics in the SEO game, including the site's title tag and description tag, as well as whether the term lends itself to scrolling. I also pointed out that it depends on the title tags and description tags of the competition, too.

Another factor that makes predicting traffic difficult is the abandonment factor - how many people click on none of the results because they get interrupted or confused, or abandon the search for a new one because they find themselves off-topic or searching too broadly.

It also depends on how many sponsored links there are and how they are marked. Often at Yahoo and Lycos, for example, there are so many ads that the average searcher might never scroll a screen or two to see the organic (natural) results.

And, of course, it also depends on the color of the walls in the room the searcher is clicking from, the weather outside and how well they slept last night. But there is little you can do about that.

What you can do is to work with your SEO consultant to choose the most effective search terms for your business and make sure he develops a title tag and description tag that sell to both humans and the search engines. Then make sure he is monitoring not just the rankings for your key search terms, but also the description used by each of the search engines.

A good ranking at Google and Yahoo is just one measure of your SEO consultant's success. A more complete evaluation is that he is your partner in building long-term, targeted traffic
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Are You A Bill Clinton Webmaster?

Posted on 5:02 AM No Comments Label:
By David Leonhardt

Post-Florida Google Pulls Back the Fig Leaf

One of the most frequent questions I get asked about my ebook, Don't Get Banned BY The Search Engines , is whether I amended it to include post-Florida Google. "Florida" is the code name that search engine optimizer wizards gave to a November, 2003, shakeup at Google that left many webmasters covering themselves up with makeshift fig leaves while dangling upside down above the proverbial crocodile moat.

I am tempted to explain that, "No, I did not amend it, because nothing has really changed." But just try telling the world that Bill Clinton did not have "sex" with Monica Lewinski. Yeah, right.
So I take the lazy way out and I just say, "Yes."

But the guilt has been creeping up on me, grasping at my skin, gnawing away at my bones, chewing on my heart, mauling my conscience, and spitting out my toenails one by one. So this is confession time. Don't Get Banned BY The Search Engines has not been amended to include post-Florida Google.

Is this because I am peddling stale goods? Am I leading people astray? Do I have a clue what's going on? "No", "I hope so", and "Maybe".

In fact, nothing really has changed at Google, and webmasters who have been following Google's guidelines can just keep doing what they have always been doing, just as Presidents who follow public decency guidelines can keep doing what they are doing (until we vote them out of office for other reasons, of course).

"But I followed the guidelines, and I still took bullets in several vital organs," I hear many webmasters say. In fact, very few webmasters have been following Google's guidelines. Most have been following the Clinton what-can-I-get-away-with fig leaf guidelines.

Remember that Bill Clinton never had "sex" with Monica Lewinski. Technically. Honest, he did nothing wrong. He followed the rules by not having "sex" with Monica Lewinski. In fact, he was seen in public not having sex with Monica Lewinski on several occasions.

And webmasters follow the rules by not linking to "link farms" or "overoptimizing". Sure, they will link to sites that have nothing to do with their site's topic, but not to a "link farm". And they will "exchange links", but surely that does not violate Google's" uniquely democratic nature of the web" principle. As long as you are not actually caught publicly stuffing the ballot box, how could Google possibly suggest that you are doing so?

So here are my post-Florida rules:

You only link to relevant sites, because that's what you know Google and your visitors want. Keep doing that.

You don't exchange links, because that would be stuffing Google's ballot box - and that is NOT something Google wants. Keep not doing that.

Your link does not appear on many useless "links" pages, where it has to share PageRank with dozens of other web sites. Keep not doing that.

You accept links only from relevant web pages, because you know that's the only meaningful traffic ... and that's what Google wants. Keep doing that.

Your links look different on different web pages around the Internet, because that's how a democratic process would create your links. Keep doing that.

You keep adding relevant content to your web site, because that's what you know Google and your visitors want. Keep doing that.

See? No change. And if there is a change, it simply means that you were not following Google's guidelines in the past. Oh sure, technically you might have been following Google's guidelines, but technically Bill Clinton didn't have sex with Monika Lewinski. Another round of fig leaves, anyone?

Google implemented "stemming" along with the Florida update, or more likely a few weeks earlier. Since your inbound links are varied and often unique, you probably already are taking advantage of stemming, so it won't bother you. And since you write meaningful copy for your visitors, you probably already have all the stemming you need right in your copy. You are ready to really excel in post-Florida Google.

Google is also implementing a "communities" factor. Since your inbound links all come from relevant web pages, you are already part of the community. You are already well placed to succeed in post-Florida Google, right?

Google has implemented "penalties" for some typically overoptimized terms. Actually, I think penalties is probably the wrong word, but that is what most SEOs are using. Since you write quality content, meaningful headers, and don't cut and paste the same phrase over and over in every possible place, you are ready to conquer Mount Google.

In other words, if you were following Google's guidelines, not the Bill Clinton fig leaf guidelines, just keep doing what you are doing. For the rest of you, isn't it time you dropped the fig leaf and wrapped yourself up in something a little more substantial that will weather the high winds of Google's next big storm?

And, "No." I did not amend Don't Get Banned BY The Search Engines to include post-Florida Google - because I never advised people to follow the Bill Clinton fig leaf guidelines in the original edition.
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