The text that is used in the links that point to your website has a major effect on the position of your website in Google’s search results.

For example, if many people use the text “buy blue widgets” to link to your website, then it is very likely that the linked web page will get high rankings for the keyphrase “buy blue widgets” in Google’s search results.

The link text (also called anchor text) is the text that is used in text links. Example:

< a href="http://www.example.com">this is the link text

Unfortunately, not all anchor texts will be used by Google. Check the following things to make sure that the links to your website pass the correct anchor tag:

1. The nofollow attribute

This is a no-brainer. Links to your website that use the rel=”nofollow” attribute don’t pass the link text to Google. Example:

< a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.example.com">great keyword

You can use IBP to find out if the websites that link to you use the nofollow attribute: start IBP, click the “Links” button and click “Check links”.

2. Invalid characters in the URL

If an URL contains invalid extra characters then chances are that search engines won’t be able to index the link correctly. Example:

< a href="http://www.example.com ">great keyword

In this example, there’s a space at the end of the URL. Some webmasters found out that anchor text is not passed to Google if the link contains an extra space character.

Note that most browsers are able to correct this link and they will display the web page correctly. Unfortunately, search engine spiders seem to have more difficulty with malformed links (or they take them as a signal of low quality).

3. The links use 301 redirects

Google’s Matt Cutts recently confirmed that Google won’t consider all anchor texts that are used in 301 redirected links. Example:

< a href="http://www.example.com/page.htm">great keyword

The web server redirects “http://www.example.com/page.htm” to “http://www.example.com” with a 301 redirect. In that case, it’s likely that Google won’t use the link text.

4. The first link passes the link text

If a page links twice to the same page then Google will use the first link text and discard the other link texts. Example:

< a href="http://www.example.com">This is an example. The link text < a href="http://www.example.com">great keyword will be ignored by Google.

The first and the second link go to the same URL. In this example, Google will use the link text of the first link, which is “This”. The link text of the second link will be ignored by Google.

If the second link points to another page of the linked website, then both link texts will be used by Google:

< a href="http://www.example.com/page1.htm">This is an example. The link text < a href="http://www.example.com/page2.htm">great keyword will be ignored by Google.

Links are the most important factor when it comes to getting top 10 rankings on Google and other major search engines.

Copyright by Axandra.com. Web site promotion software

Latent semantic indexing (LSI) is a technique that is used by all major search engines nowadays. Does your website take this into account? How does it influence the position of your web pages in Google’s search results?

What is latent semantic indexing?

LSI means that a search engine tries to associate certain terms with concepts when indexing web pages. For example, Paris and Hilton are associated with a woman instead of a city and a hotel, Tiger and Woods are associated with golf.

To find out which other keywords Google finds related to a keyword, search for a keyword and add a tilde in front of it. Google will mark the related keywords in bold on the result page. It seems that Google finds the word “Nokia” related to “phone“.

How can Google match keywords with certain concepts?

Google has billions of web pages in its index. If Google finds that many web pages contain both the word Paris and the word Hilton then Google might assume that these keywords are related. The other words on these pages could give Google a hint that this special word combination is about a woman.

Words that frequently appear very close to each other could get a tighter connection. Google has a lot of data that allows them to calculate the relation between different words.

What does this mean for the position of your web pages in Google’s search results?

If you want to be listed for certain keywords, you must show Google that your website is relevant to a certain topic. There are several things that you can do to increase the relevancy of your website for a topic:

1. Optimize different pages of your website for different keywords

If you’re targeting the search term “used cars” you should also create pages that are relevant to the keywords “auto”, “suv”, etc.

The more pages of your website are relevant to a certain topic, the more likely it is that your web pages will be listed for keywords that are related to that topic. Make sure that your keywords appear in the right elements on your web pages.

2. Get links from semantically relevant pages

If you’re selling cars then the “Cars” web page that links to your site should not be about the movie. Links from topically related pages will be semantically beneficial to your site.

A link to your website that comes from a page that contains links to other web pages that deal with the same topic has a greater effect on the rankings of your website then a link from a page that links to totally different pages and your site.

For that reason, it is important that you try to get links from related websites. It is also very important that you submit your website to the right category in Internet directories. If your website is listed in the wrong category, this can have a negative effect on your rankings.

3. Use a meaningful site architecture

Use a logical system to organize your website content. Create content sections that deal with different parts of your main topic and make sure that everything that is related to your topic is mentioned on your web pages.

Make sure that your web pages are put in the right categories on your website and that it’s easy to find the different categories.

4. Find out why other pages rank higher than yours

If you ever asked yourself why another page has been ranked higher than yours although you perfectly optimized your pages for your search terms then you should analyze the inbound links of the top ranked pages.

The number and the authority of inbound links are important. However, it’s also important that the links come from semantically and topically related pages.

Don’t focus on a single keyword when optimizing your pages. If you want to prepare your website for advanced search engine algorithms then you have to create a website that has been optimized for many different but related search terms.

In addition, it’s important that the links to your website come from topically related pages so that search engines put your website in the right context

Copyright Axandra.com – Web site promotion software

Here is what Google’s Matt Cutts has to say about the Semantic matter.  The key point occurs at about 2 minutes 50 seconds.  Enjoy….

The SEO business is becoming more and more competitive by the day. There is no shortage of small business owners wanting to achieve top search engine rankings and there is no shortage of individuals and companies offering SEO services.  As a result of the growing demand for SEO services and the low barrier to entry to set yourself up as an SEOer, there are problems emerging.

If I can draw a quick comparison.  Cast your mind back when the Government announced the water tank rebates during 2008 and 2009.  An instant demand was created in the market place for not only suppliers and manufacturers of water tanks but also the supplementary services such as installation, cleaning and servicing.  There where existing players in all these market sectors and I would suggest that they were chiseling away at earning a decent and honest living servicing what “was” a fairly niche market.

Enter the rebate scheme and the proliferation of water tank businesses skyrocketed.  It would appear that every man and his dog wanted to get in on the action and make a quick buck.  Who knew how long the drought would last and how long we would be on ever tightening water restrictions?

Competition was fierce,  prices where slashed, and so began the battle for business.  There is generally one aspect of a product or service that you can guarantee is going to suffer when the market is driven by high demand and cheap supply…. and that is quality.  In an effort to reap some sort of margin (insert Profit), short cuts have to be made.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that every operator in the water tank business was “shonky”, cut corners or delivered less than standard work.  The point is simply that low barriers to entry into a market inevitably fosters (on average) a less than optimal result.  Marry that with a lack of accreditation and you’ve got a free for all.  Imagine the quality of medicine if you didn’t have to train to be a doctor.  We’ve even see the demand problem effect this market!!!

If you want recent proof of these types of market forces in action, you’ve only got to look no further than the government’s recent home insulation scheme.  Another perfect case of an instant demand needed to be met by instant supply.  The result, less than spectacular.  Enough from me – your turn.

So how does this apply to SEO?

There is a growing demand from for small business wanting to snare the coveted number #1 search engine result and there is an ever growing number of SEOers prepared to do what ever it takes to fulfill their client’s wishes.   As a result of this often frenzied scramble to the top of the search engines, unscrupulous or “Black Hat” SEO techniques are applied.  Now black hat SEO techniques are best described as those activities that are designed to trick or fool the search engines.  There are very clear guidelines set out by the major search engines as to how best to optimise your site for top results.   They even go as far as to outline what “not to do” so as to avoid any type of penalty.  Check out the Google Webmaster Tools, you can’t get much clearer than that.  For those of you that want to dig a little bit deeper, you only have to read Google’s official blog and you’ll find many articles about SEO best practice.

Simply put – SEO is an ongoing process, it is not an event.  To get lasting results it takes time.  And here in lies the problem.  The instant gratification sought by the business owner and the pressure on the SEOer to deliver on something they have over promised in a bid to win the work.  Sound familiar?

It would appear that “black hatters” need to stoop to applying trickery and deceit to deliver results.  For business owners who are looking for a solution and place their faith in the smooth and fast talking SEOer, their business is treading a very fine line between instant gratification and disaster.

Here is a blatant example of keyword stuffing. Click on the image to enlarge

Now this example appears at the very bottom of the web page.  It is clearly a list of keywords that they are either wanting to rank highly for or are bidding on through pay-per-click platforms such as Adwords.  I simply ask myself why???  This site is ranking well for a range of keywords and it would appear that they are ranking well not as a result of stuffing keywords on the page but rather good on-page SEO and a healthy network of incoming links.  There is simply no need to run the gauntlet.

I have no idea who is responsible for the above indiscretion and frankly I don’t care.  Keyword stuffing like this is usually a clear sign of a DIY approach to SEO or a “Black Hat” SEOer at work.  It is often a lack of knowledge mixed with a combination of inexperience usually fueled by a misguided article or two written by people who really don’t know what they are talking about.

The right approach to keyword SEO is first stick to the rules as laid out by the search engines and in doing so you will be doing your readers a favour by delivering quality content and making the copy on the page easier to read as it won’t be stuffed unnecessarily with keywords.  Good content leads to more inbound links, which ultimately leads to greater authority and higher rankings.

Lets take a wider view and look at the effects of “Black Hat” SEO.  We have grown to expect that the search engines are going to deliver us the best matched results for our search queries.   If the search engines are being fooled into displaying less than optimal results then we are all being cheated.  Black hat SEO effects us all.  There is no winner.

Here is the Google SPAM report link.  They take this sort of thing very seriously.  If you are aware of any sites that are “breaking the rules”, this is how you can take action.  Use it wisely and for the good of the internet.  Don’t be tempted to use it in a vindictive way.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport?hl=en

Sites that are found to be in breach of the rules can find themselves heading towards the back of the que or even worse de-indexed (removed from Google’s Index all together).

If you are a business owner looking for a SEO company to take on your optimisation, do your due diligence.  SEO is not voodoo, magic or a secret only known to a few, it is a logical process and any reputable SEO company will be more than happy to show you their results and tell you how they went about doing it.  If they are not comfortable telling you want they did, then chances are they use black hat techniques and you should continue your search.

Visit our Search Engine Optimisaton page to view the range of services we offer.

If you have an example of poor SEO form or have an example or cross to bare, leave a comment.

The final word, If you are going to play the game, stick to the rules, or…. be prepared to pay the penalty.

Good luck

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Google’s Matt Cutts recently made a new announcement about paid links. Buying links is a very hot and controversial topic among webmasters. Should you buy links to increase the position of your website on Google? Do paid links help your rankings? Are there any risks?

Can you increase your website rankings by buying links?

Yes, you can. Links that point to your website are the most important factor that influences the position of your website in Google’s search results.

If you buy backlinks, you can quickly get high rankings for your website on Google. However, that’s only one side of the medal.

If buying links works, why shouldn’t you use it for your website?

Buying links is against Google’s terms of service: “Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.”

Google’s anti-spam engineer Matt Cutts recently announced that Google has been working on new algorithms and tools to detect paid links.

Google has a report form for paid links. If one of your competitors finds a paid link that points to your website, he might report it to Google.

Google actively searches for paid links and it’s likely that they will detect all paid links sooner or later. While you can get away with them for some time (that’s why paid links work for some time), your website will be penalized as soon as Google finds out that you tried to game the system.

Buying links leads to quick results and strong penalties

If you use spammy SEO methods such as buying links, you will quickly get high rankings on search engines. Unfortunately, Google will completely remove your website from the search results as soon as they find out that you use these methods:

If you use ethical SEO methods, it will take longer until you get high search engine rankings. However, your rankings will grow steadily and you’ll get a much better performance in the long run

Do not use spammy SEO methods to increase your rankings on Google. It will backfire on you.

There are better ways to get inbound links

As mentioned above, the links to your website are the most important factor that influences the position of your website in Google’s search results.

For that reason, it is very important to get as many good backlinks as possible to your website. The quality of the backlinks is more important than the quantity.

Most people use a keyword suggestion tool when they try to find new keywords for their campaigns. While keyword suggestion tools are good, they should not be the first step in your keyword research activities.

Before you use a keyword suggestion tool, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What problems can your product or your service solve?
2. Which questions do potential customers ask?
3. Can you offer unusual solutions?
4. Which products and services do you offer?

As you can see, the products and services that you offer are the least important. A person with a headache might not know that the Shiatsu that you offer will help them. They even might now know what Shiatsu is and if they know it, they might not be able to spell it properly. The same applies to all other services and industries.

For that reason, it is important that you focus on the first three points before using your products or services in the keywords.

1. What problems can your product or service solve?

In this example, the problem that your product or service can solve is a headache. Create a list of words that describe the problem:

headache, racking headache, migraine, vicious headache, splitting headache, megrim, constant headache, etc.

2. Which questions do potential customers ask?

People type different things in Google’s search box when they try to find a solution to their problem. Here are some real queries that have been done on Google:

• why does my head hurt
• why does my head hurt when I cough
• how to get rid of migraines without medication
• how to get rid of migraines when pregnant
• why can’t i concentrate on anything
• why am i so tired
• etc.

The problem that your product solves creates certain circumstances (fatigue, temper, concentration problems). Address these circumstances in your keyword phrases.

The problem can also be connected to another factor (for example migraine and pregnancy). Create keyword phrases that are related to these factors.

3. Can you offer unusual solutions?

Most people will take a pill when they have a headache. In this example, you offer a solution that many people don’t know about (Shiatsu). The following phrases would work for you:

• get rid of migraines without medication
• get rid of headache without pills

The unusual solutions that you offer can also be used in your AdWords ad copy and on your web pages. For example, you might create web pages around the following topics:

• How to get rid of headaches without using Aspirin
• An unusual way of healing migraine without medication
• etc.

4. Which products or services do you offer?

Of course, you should also use the names of the products and services that you offer in your ads and SEO campaigns. In this example, this would be:

shiatsu, shiatsu massage, etc.

When you try to find new keywords, tell a short story that describes the problem and the solution: “A person has a racking headache. The person cannot concentrate because of that headache and the person is tired. Instead of taking a pill, there can be other solutions. That solution is my Shiatsu service.”

By doing this, you’ll find many keywords around which you can create new web pages and PPC ads. Of course, you can also combine this method with keyword suggestion tools.

Copyright by Axandra.com. Web site promotion software

Hi Marshall and Gary here

Life is pretty hectic here at Small Business Internet Marketing.  It is amazing the number of small businesses that we come into help who do not have a website, or have a very poorly optimised website, or are having the most cost inefficient Adwords campaign run that you have ever seen.  These are generally a symptom of not having an internet strategy and doing things piecemeal.

Anyway, today it is about affiliate selling online.  As you are probably aware, affiliate selling would be one of the biggest drivers in the growth of the internet.  The fact that so many products today are available digitally mean that the owners of the products are happy to pay away large commissions to sell their product.  This is because once produced, the cost to provide the product is quite often only the bandwidth to download it.  In fact, most internet courses (you know – make $5,000 a week from home for 4 hours work) recommend that you do not deal with products that pay less than 60% commission.   Many internet marketing based offerings pay at 75% – have a look at http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm and search the internet category.

Continue Reading – Undisclosed affiliate selling – how to spot it

Hi, Marshall and Gary here

One of the reasons we run the Small Business Internet Marketing blog is that there are many people in the internet marketing space that want to make you an offer too good to refuse.  But as the saying goes “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!”.  One example we look at here is whether a high search engine ranking for an article with the rarely searched keyword combination of Marketing for Online Business A Marketing Business Secret will really assist your business.

We believe that our blog offers unbiased and sensible information and advice that can really benefit small business owners, business consultants and anyone wanting to use the internet for commercial purposes.  Have a read though our older posts – you will hopefully learn a few useful internet concepts.

By far the most common “great” offers we see revolve around 2 themes:

1. Get your website built for free;  and
2. Let me drive huge amounts of traffic to your website by achieving high Google search engine rankings.

We have no problem with these offers – when all is as it seems and clearly laid out – but it rarely is.

Offer # 1:  Get a free website built

Continue Reading – The Free offers that cost you