Setting SEO Expectations and Commitments with Clients
Today, there is growing dissatisfaction among business owners with SEO consultants and are questioning the effectiveness of SEO and if they should actually allocate a budget for hiring someone who can manage their SEO campaigns.
While there is some truth to the fact that a lot of SEO providers don’t really know what they are talking about and employ tricks to merely game search engines, I believe many legitimate SEOs fail to clearly set expectations and commitments with clients.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become very popular today because of the constantly growing number of people who find information, products and services through search engines. As a result, more and more companies try to get their service offers across by being visible to their potential customers at the moment it is needed. This has created a greater demand for SEO service providers who work with clients to get their websites visible on a search engine, and by visible the ultimate goal is to get a website ranked number 1 for words or phrases that a potential customer may be using; to educate himself and or make a purchase decision.
Here are some points that both the SEO provider and client should be aware about and agree upon.
1. Top Rankings are not Guaranteed
This may sound appalling to the business owner who engages someone for SEO services, but the truth is no one can actually guarantee top rankings on search engines like Google, unless they own it. I remember a conference I attended some time ago that Bruce Clay spoke at.. he talked about how his clients want guarantees on rankings and he simply replies rather smugly, “buy me Google.”
Good SEOs are constantly up to date with what works and how search engines works, especially Google which constantly tweaks its ranking algorithm, as often as 500 times in a year, or so they say. I want to underscore the “so they say” part because no one really knows what Google does, they keep everything secret and for good reason. Spammers that learn how to rank well on Google will only abuse this knowledge.
The bottom line is, how to rank well is a mystery. SEO is not an accepted science with known rules. SEO providers try to keep updated constantly because what may work today may not work tomorrow, and they do more than just surfing the web and reading posts online but I won’t get into that now.
The practice of SEO is the application of current knowledge of the SEO provider to improve a website’s chances for ranking well for its target keywords and at the end of the day a business owner engages an SEO provider not for guaranteed rankings but for the legitimate process that a provider is able to show, that has yielded good results for other clients through a span of several years and numerous algorithm adjustments.
2. SEO is about Process and not just Results
It is important for the client to understand that SEO is a process to achieve a result, and results are not instant. In fact, the metrics you use to gauge results of the management of that SEO process can sometimes be erratic. What is important is long term consistency that helps build legitimacy and authority.
The business owner must realize that they hire a provider for an SEO management process that makes sense to them, that as revealed by past results of using that process, can lead to better rankings. Just stick to the plan.
3. Adapting to Google’s Changes Quickly
Regardless of what other people may say, I don’t really do much to optimize for rankings on all search engines, just Google. This is where most of the traffic comes from. Of all projects, websites and analytics data I have access to, among the top search engines, Google delivers up to 70% of organic search traffic. So I don’t really bother with Bing or Yahoo.
That said, Google does not only make several constant tweaks, they roll out major updates that is disastrous for many websites, even the ones that the update did not intend to target.
When Google rolls out with an update, and if rankings take a dive, the SEO provider must know how to quickly react and adjust strategy to arrest any drop, maintain current rank or even regain the rank.
Again, this is why no one can guarantee rankings; because the SEO game is a game where rules are not all clearly known and are subject to change as Google deems necessary.
4. Trust
The business owner has to trust the SEO provider. Most of my successful projects were a result of having control of every aspect. Some projects had delayed results because there were too many people to coordinate with and get approval from, or the website owner had to consider other opinions before making a decision.
5. A Mutually Proactive Relationship
Some business owners may leave an SEO person to his own devices… actually there needs to be close coordination between both. Apart from being able to correspond constantly especially in trying to measure results of actions, the SEO provider needs to understand and know what is going on with the business and see how these things may have an impact on the SEO process. I believe for an SEO provider to help the business, he should understand the business and how it works.
6. A Marketing Plan
SEO is not merely link building or slapping on a few articles on some free blog sites.. it is marketing.
Some small business owners with brick and mortar stories, and several online business owners know little about marketing and may not have a sound marketing plan in place, in fact many think that link building is all that is needed. On a side note, this is why a lot of online entrepreneurs that turn to freelancers on sites like ODesk for writing or link building, end up closing up shop. They were made to believe that was all they need to do, by all these info-products and SEO / online marketing gurus.. inevitably their venture fails and they conclude that online marketing or SEO is not effective, when what was really lacking was a solid marketing plan.
There is a need for the SEO provider to connect and coordinate with the business’ marketing person, or directly with the business owner to ensure that whatever they do online is consistent with a decided marketing strategy. If a client does not have a marketing in place and expects link building to be all that is needed, then the SEO provider needs to develop a marketing strategy for them. There are generally two types of successful SEO consultants, those with a programming and web development background and those with a marketing background. I belong to the latter, 15 years of traditional marketing has helped me develop sound yet cost efficient strategies to help clients achieve their ranking goals.
Anyone can build links and deliver results; short term results that get wiped out when Google does something to get rid of low quality low authority website. What is actually required to succeed is having a good online presence and a diverse marketing mix that would involve traditional marketing channels.
So what expectations should be set and agreed upon? What helps a client decide on a provider?
The answer, the SEO provider’s experience and methods of managing the SEO process, a verifiable successfully strategy that has delivered favorable results, prevailing over numerous search engine updates and changes, not by simply building links but by marketing the business’ brand unique service offerings on the offline and online space that both permeate to and support the other.
The Top 3 Reasons to Use Search Engine Optimization on Your Website
Search Engine Optimization is one of today’s most effective website traffic and online branding strategies that website owners use. In my own words, it simply is the process of applying one’s knowledge of how search engine’s rank pages to ensure that web content you publish, easily gets found by the search engines’ users, who would find that content useful.
In practical application, people search for words or phrases on a search engine like Google, and a page on your website gets ranked visibly on the search results page, catching the searcher’s attention and getting him to click through to that page on your website. Pages that are highly visible, get more attention.
But why practice Search Engine Optimization?
Here are the top 3 reasons to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on your website.
Increase Website Traffic
Every website has a purpose; goals that you can quantify and count. Websites are basically pages of information, created to conveniently serve the needs of people who need that information. Getting more traffic to your website means more people finding, reading, learning, and using the information you provide. In the online marketing space, websites are used to promote and sell products and services, or get leads for a business.
Regardless of purpose, any website can benefit from getting more visitors.
Build a Reputation
More visitors means a bigger audience for you and what you might have to say. If you are blogger or a writer who regularly publishes new posts that people find interesting enough to read and follow, you will be able to build your reputation amongst your chosen audience. A lot of people today use this to brand themselves or their businesses online; establish themselves as authorities and or credible sources of information about specific topics.
Create Opportunities
We have heard all to often that you need to grab opportunities that present themselves. However, in an environment where competition is fierce,you cannot simply wait for opportunities to present themselves, you need to create these opportunities. The proactive beat the passive.
The ability to put yourself, your brand, what you stand for or what you do out there helps increase your chances at opportunities coming your way. The Internet is just another medium of communication that you should leverage on in order to attract opportunities. Successful people do more than everybody else. They often fail more than everybody else, but that’s the idea.. doing more may mean failing in more things than the regular person but at the same time likely succeeding or accomplishing more than the rest.
Search engine optimization is certainly a useful skill any website or online business owner would greatly benefit from. Unfortunately, it takes time to learn and master, and SEO enthusiasts and students need to cope and keep abreast with changes that regularly occur with these search engines. To be successful at SEO you need to know how search engines work, and how they work constantly changes. The established search engines safeguard their systems of ranking, protecting it like some esoteric knowledge that won’t make sense to the uninitiated, in order to ensure the credibility of search results and delivery of the most relevant to its users. It may just be better to consult with a Search Engine Optimization consultant who has a history of proven and verifiable SEO results.
Inside Google Instant: How It Works
Google Instant is a new feature on the Google search engine that is characterized by predictive search and instant filtering of search results. This feature can be turned off and on depending on the preference of the search engine user.
Google’s goal is to quickly deliver what their uses are trying to find, by automatically filling up or completing the search phrase being typed, at the same time displaying other related keywords below.. while displaying organic search results and PPC results based on the auto-completed phrase that appears in the search box.
How Does Google Instant Work?
- search engine user starts typing a keyword in the Google search box
- search results and PPC results change as user completes typing a search phrase but the results being instantly displayed are for the phrase that Google auto-completes
- as a search engine user types a search phrase, Google guesses and auto completes what the user is typing and the organic results and PPC results change accordingly
- the way pages are being ranked remains the same, but this new feature will affect and change the way people search for information on Google
My Two Cents on Google Instant
Google Instant is essentially a search engine browsing and research aid, it encourages exploring… and is helpful for search engine users who may not have something specific or not already know exactly what they are looking.
Is is also helpful for search engine users who have already decided what search phrase to use in finding the information they want, as it allows them to drill down further and make their search queries even more specific.
Google Instant’s Impact on Google Users and SEO
The Good
- search engine users easily find what they are looking for, and faster
- search engine users are able to define their searches better
- user intentions are clearer due to more defined searches
- search engine users can do a variety of more search queries and get a mix of different results in a shorter span of time
- a possible increase in targeted traffic for sites that rank well for specific keyword searches that exactly match intentions of a search engine user
The Bad
- predictive results while offering more possible search options to the user, can be a distraction:
- may divert the user from the original search phrase they were intending on using, to a Google predicted/auto-filled search phrase or search results that catches their attention, while in the middle of typing
- may divert user from topic they were searching for altogether, for instance a user interested in one topic may click another topic as it gets displayed in the search box when he types the first few letters of his query.. for instance a person interested in lawyer, starts typing the keyword lawyer, but gets diverted by lady gaga upon reaching “la”, or clicks off to law and order when having typed “law
- a possible increase in less targeted traffic because of incidental clicks (through auto completed results)
- a possible increase in less targeted traffic for sites ranked for broad keywords or phrases of 1 or 2 word phrases because of predictive results that may catch a user’s attention
Google Instant is a double edged sword; disruptive and perceptive, ultimately dependent on the user and how he uses this feature.
The official statement goes, Google Instant is an update Google rolled out with to further develop its product for users. In the process Google also increases revenue as a result of higher ad impressions generated, as opposed to static search impressions. Its effectiveness is dependent on the user and his intentions; capable of steering a user in the right direction to find exactly what he is looking for, or distracting an unsure researcher who proceeds with a different keyword / topic and takes a different browsing direction.
WordStream Keyword Tool Demo
Just concluded an interview with Larry Kim of WordStream and he showed us an onpage SEO tool that would help website owners and bloggers develop content for their pages and find the right words and topics to attract their desired audiences.
Uploaded by RoySencio. – College experience videos.
Understanding Google Personalized Search and Implications on SEO
If I were to pick one word and use that same word as the sole criteria and absolute basis for how well your website is ranked on Google, the word would be relevance. Relevance of a search term to content on a page; relevance as evidenced by link popularity of that page on other web pages on the same website or on other websites and corresponding click throughs from those links; relevance as manifested in behavior of visitors that land on that page; relevance as quantified by click throughs from a website’s search engine results page (SERP) listing. The latter two, has recently recently become even more important to SEO professionals with Google’s personalized search results feature that rolled out in December of 2009.
With Google personalized search, the search results (listings) you see on Google’s SERPs will show you websites that you have actually visited in the past and spent time on because Google has factored in your previous search behavior (your act of searching on Google, clicking a listing and spending time on certain websites, and how often you visit) into the way they rank pages on your search. Google does that automatically, even if you have not activated this feature, but you can actually get search results that does not take into consideration your previous search behavior by clicking the “view customizations link” on the SERP.
So if you are a website owner tracking your rankings or an SEO professional tracking rankings because it is a key metric to gauge results of your SEO activities, then your metrics are skewed or to a graver extent, inaccurate and misleading.
Google is watching what you click on in search results and learns that you like certain sites. For example, if you often search for specific keywords, and on the top 10 organic listings on the next page there is a web page ranked on the number 9 spot, if you click that site and visit that site regularly, or search for the same keywords later or search for related keywords and you end up visiting that same website, over time Google gives that site a boost in rankings, might end up being in the top 3 or even ranked number 1, because it starts to believe that you like that website. But the ranking boost it gets are only for your results you see on your browser, and not for all other searchers and users. In other words if the site is number 1 on the Google listings you see on your browser, it is not number 1 on other users’ browsers especially if those users have not had previous interaction with that website.
So if you are tracking your rankings, if done with the personalized search feature active, you will not get an accurate representation of what your rankings actually are in general for the city/country you are in.
There has also been a question of privacy, “is Google invading your privacy by watching what you are doing and taking note of your behavior on the websites you visit?”
More information about you is actually kept if you are logged into to your Google account while performing these searches, if logged out, there is only limited data that Google collects about you and your behavior, but still it is enough to change what you see on the results page. Below is a table that shows you what they gather if you are logged in or logged out.
So is personalized search bad?
In the aspect of tracking behavior I believe Google to be walking a thin line.. as the char above shows, it appears that by logging in to your Google account, Google takes this as a sign that you allow your behavior and identity to be monitored. But, has Google informed you about this?
Second thing is, as a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consultant, the biggest concern is keyword rankings of clients might not be credible or accurate, however this can be easily remedied by simply doing the search again without search customizations. Moreover with a better understanding of how personalized search works, SEOs can make adjustments in order to even leverage on personalized search that is active by default, and use that to get that a ranking boost for their websites. I know I have, but if asked how… I am afraid I rather keep this strategy to myself and not make it easily and publicly available.
Reference and Image Source: http://searchengineland.com/google-now-personalizes-everyones-search-results-31195
How to Rank on Google for the Phrase Cebu Wedding Photography
I recently reviewed another website that wanted to get ranked for a very targeted keyword phrase for its market, Cebu Wedding Photography
.
I recorded a screen capture video during the evaluation of the website and in the video I talked about…
- another keyword research tool I use aside from the Google Keyword Tool
- ways how to increase traffic and increase the number of external links to a website
I suggest you choose FULL screen mode by clicking the screen icon on the lower right portion of the video box.
SEO Evaluation of MalaysianHomeBusiness.com
In this SEO Evaluation I took a look at a website called malaysianhomebusiness.com, and did the routine things:
- check on the number of pages indexed on Google
- check on how many external links are pointing to the main page and to all pages on the website
- check Alexa traffic ranking
- check source code to see what keywords the main page contains to give me an idea what keywords they want that page to rank for
- verify identified keywords and check for monthly search volumes, did competitive research and took a look at the sites on the top 10 for those keywords and getting a profile of them, how authoritative they are and establishing how easy or difficult it would be to rank for those keywords
Important points on the video I made are:
- I recommended a few simple traffic generation, link building strategies to increase traffic to the website
- I revealed a practical approach to SEO… going for top rankings for multiple non competitive keywords that keep you afloat and fund long term SEO goals for competitive keywords
The thing about doing these videos live and unscripted is, there are some points that I miss or things that I would have normally done but forget to, here they are.
Important points and tasks I DID NOT discuss or DID NOT do.
1. Check Source Code for Google Analytics
You should always have Google Analytics installed. You just must. If you can, also register your website on Google Webmaster Tools, and even more information and statistics about your website will be available to you, especially when you want to really optimize performance.
2. Market Research
You might have heard me talk about keyword research and competitive research in the past, but there is one thing that I have not mentioned… market research. With keyword research and competitive research you are identifying keywords that your potential audience is using to find the information or content you have as well as evaluating if you can rank for those keywords within a reasonable time period.
But if you are selling something (product/service), you also need to be sure if a keyword is indeed going to be profitable… by profitable I mean, are people using this keyword the type who would buy something or are they simply researchers looking for information. If your conversion goals are sales, then you have to also make sure you do not spend all that time, money and effort to get a number 1 ranking for a keyword that simply brings in researchers or freebie seekers and not hot buyers.
There are simple ways to do that; you can check for PPC ads for that keyword on Google, the more ads the better, more ads appearing on Google for that keyword on a regular basis means money is spent by people using this keyword. You can also simply do a PPC test on Google to verify which keywords convert and which don’t, before you pursue the SEO route and rank for those keywords. There is also a tool that helps identify commercial intent on MSN AdLabs (MSN’s PPC platform) and you can find it here, http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx.
3. Link Examination of Competing Websites for Target Keywords
I did not take a look at each and every one of the websites listed on the top 10 for each of the keywords of interest, and taken a look at their authority, establishing how huge the website is and how many links point to the ranking page and to all pages on the website.
Finally I wish to stress that the evaluation you have seen pretty much covers aspects that I can access or uncover. A key part of SEO is engagement and visitor experience which we can only get a picture of, if first of all the website is tracking statistics through Google Analytics or any other system that provides comprehensive tracking, and if we had access to that data to take a look at metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators).
So here are those videos broken into three parts. To get a clearer bigger picture, click the FULL SCREEN button.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Free Website Traffic and SEO Analysis
I did a free website traffic and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Analysis on a website owned by a friend of mine. This is a Philippines based real estate website.
In the videos you will learn:
- how to check how many other websites are linking to your website or web page
- about a free SEO tool to use in checking websites
- about the Alexa ranking
- how to find the right keywords to get your website or web pages ranked for on search engines
- how to verify if your web pages are properly optimized, and will rank for the right keywords
- how to increase your website traffic
- more…
Free Website Traffic and SEO Analysis Part 1
Free Website Traffic and SEO Analysis Part 2
Free Website Traffic and SEO Analysis Part 3
Free Website Traffic and SEO Analysis Part 4
SEO is Feng Shui for Websites
Happy Chinese New Year to friends and some of my relatives!
I thought I’d write this post, and say SEO is actually Feng Shui for websites… a fitting and timely post for the Chinese New Year.
A lot of people believe SEO to be mysterious and difficult. I disagree.
First, what likely makes it mysterious is the fact that the rules to ranking well through SEO are not known, since these rules change often. Google itself may not even know with certainty how it ranks a website since the algorithm is composed of so many rules, and likely different teams working on each.
Second… SEO being difficult. It has actually become even easier, so easy that anyone can do it and what has made it easy is that there are so many social sites and user generated sites out there that are high authority high traffic websites that can be leveraged to achieve SEO goals.
But what is SEO?
To simplify, SEO is a traffic generating strategy that involves improving both website content (design, layout, structure, etc) and website visibility / accessibility on other sites (through links) that result in better visibility on search engines for keyword searches made by your desired visitors or target audience.
What is Feng Shui?
While there are several mysterious sounding esoteric definitions of Feng Shui, I subscribe to the idea that it is the practical placement and arrangement of items, ideas, designs or things that create the least resistance to movement or use and thus enhance efficiency or productivity.
In Relation to Your Website Attributes
Each and every item on your website and each of the pages have a purpose and that is to lead a visitor to perform a specific conversion goal.
At the page level, each and every page has to have the right layout, design, use the right images and the right text in order to make the visitor’s experience on that page fluid and with least resistance. They are guided smoothly to what you eventually want them to do.
At the website level, all pages and their content are connected together through a well thought out structure of links, making visitor navigability and ease of going from one page to the next, the top priority.
In Relation to Your Website Visibility / Accessibility
Now that you have optimized your website you would need to invite people to see it. Much like a well appointed home which you have spent a lot of time decorating, making sure to arrange everything in a manner that feels comfortable and stress free… you would then invite people to your home.
To get people to visit your home on the web, you would need to create action on other websites where people you would want visiting your home are found. What I mean by creating action is to initiate contact or activity such as being proactive on social media and social networking sites, interacting with other people and making sure that there is a link within those interactions so that people you interact with as well as people following the discussion can visit your website through those links.
You would need to also choose the right places/website, use the right words to get attention, and use the right offer or incentives that would make people want to visit your website.
Simplified.. that is how SEO actually works… ensuring your website is ready to welcome visitors from all the links you have been able to create on the web, that in turn yields more visitors that find you through rankings on search engines for keywords relevant to content on each of the pages of your website.
Online Reputation Management: The Only Reason You Need It
Online Reputation Management
has become an important part of any company’s marketing strategy today, simply because purchase decisions made by your customers are influenced by reviews, feedback and other forms of information about your product or company found on the internet.
What is Online Reputation Management?
The act of monitoring, addressing or mitigating undesirable search engine results or mentions in online media for a company or product. Techniques include generating new content and creating posts on existing content. – Defined by Anvil Media in their Search Engine Marketing Glossary.
Everybody has an opinion on just about anything. Thanks to Web 2.0 and Social Media, anyone can make that opinion public over the internet, and a majority of these are not journalistic or editorial in nature but posts by the ordinary Joe on user generated content websites. Some of those opinions might not be too flattering, which in turn can affect your sales.
For this reason, businesses need to manage their reputations online by being a little more proactive on social sites, and would need to make time for search engine reputation management. Of course that also means, you also need to make sure your customers are happy by providing them good service and observing good business practices.
But reputation management is not simply about managing damaging or negative commentary, but ensuring that you are able to get your marketing messages across and they are received accurately by your audience. This will help establish or reinforce your company or product brand, and be key to achieving your marketing and sales goals.
If you have questions or comments about Online Reputation Management, please post them in the comment section below. You can also send me questions through the Contact Form.
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