Google has been very busy indeed this year and in fact this year has seen many changes for the search engine. If you have a website and want to ensure that you maintain or increase your level of traffic then it is important that you should keep abreast of these changes and find out how they will impact you. Here we will look at what the latest changes entail that you may want to keep in mind.

If your site is not all it should be this will affect your ranking

The first of these is that Google are now using algorithms in their rankings so that they can remove websites that are of a poor standard from their listings. This will mean that those sites that have been put together by scraping content, or have not created a high enough standard of content will receive less traffic as they will not be allowed to rank highly anymore. The main lesson here is that spending time on your content to ensure that the quality remains high is more beneficial to you than simply trying to throw something together quickly.

Google now considers social networking behaviours

Google is also now impacted by social networking sites so that Facebook likes and mentions etc. as well as twitter references can alter how your website ranks in the search listings that are pulled up. The social plugin could help you here. If you provide people with the opportunity to connect to your site from their networking site then their activity can be seen in their newsfeeds etc.

Listings now include links to media

Google now pulls up much more than a straightforward link to another website. Links to videos and images will also now be provided where possible. As such, you should look to include as much content as possible in your site so that your videos and images may also be pulled up. You could include backlinks too to add value to the quality of your content. All of this will help you to rank higher and give Google more of your content to list.

The speed of your site is still important

It is important to ensure that all of the pages on your site load properly and in good time because people will not want to wait. Although the speed of your site is only a partial determiner of how highly your site is ranked, it is useful to keep in mind that people will not sit around for a while to see your pages. In the main, your visitors will expect speedy results.

Keep in mind the competition

Google is the market leader but like anything it does still have its competitors so it is important that you do not ignore these. Yahoo and Bing are becoming increasingly relevant so you should be looking to stream traffic from these search engines too. Monitor the traffic you receive from each of the channels and if you want to increase the flow of traffic from any given channel simply optimise your pages for their listings.

These are just some of the changes that have occurred this year and no doubt there will be many more to come. It is important that if you want to stay ahead of the game and ensure that you rank as highly as you can, you keep all of these updates in mind.

Google have spoken about their planned changes to the algorithm they intend to use in their search
results in order to improve the freshness of the content the search engine pulls up. These changes
could affect up to, or over, a third of all searches, impacting both the relevance and quality of results
listed under a search item.

It was not long ago that Google changed their infrastructure to make improvements to the speed with
which search results could be indexed and then returned, but now the algorithmic change will improve
the quality of what is returned too, making the user experience far more efficient.

The new changes are set to build on the success of the implementation and roll out of the Caffeine
system that was put in place only a year ago, by ensuring that the results that are pulled up under
a given search item are current, relevant, and in accordance with their freshness.

Changes expected to impact over a third of searches
With over a third of all searches set to be affected by the planned changes, the impact should be far
greater than that made by the Panda update, which only had the potential to affect 12% of the changes.

In terms of the experience of the user, whereas at one time they may have entered a search item and
found pages of links that may have linked back to old content that had become irrelevant, pages of
new information that may only be moments old will be displayed. This of course means that access
to the most recent information posted on the web will be much more readily available. It will be much
easier to stay up to date with current events as and when they happen.

For events that occur with regularity, such as sporting events, it has historically been difficult to locate
the most recent information, but the new changes will mean that the latest information will be given
automatically unless the search item specifies otherwise.

Sourcing the latest information
Information may be sought about an event that occurs with the same regularity as a sporting event,
for instance, but is less popular. Again, the latest updates will be given for these searches too so that
in the event that you are just looking for some information about a car you are interesting in buying,
the latest products and links will be provided as opposed to content that is a number of years old.

The switch to the caffeine system presented a number of ways for Google to improve its searches. As
content was being pulled in faster, the potential was there for it to be ranked in a way that was more
useful too. The new approach will rank according to how fresh the content is. Although it is said that
the new algorithm will affect over a third of searches, there is no data yet to inform us of how many
searches were already being impacted by freshness before the changes.

Freshness to affect twice the number of searches
It has been said that prior to the changes, freshness affected only 17.5 per cent of the searches returned
but this is set to double. Although, overall the impact will be a positive one and the changes would be
welcomed by most users, there are downsides that should be considered. For instance, if freshness is
going to be given priority then questions must be asked as to what merits ‘freshness’, because if content
that is updated only by adding in a new link is deemed fresh, then the results may still be offering up quite
a bit of out of date material. The case may be that reposts are given priority simply because a new title or
a back link has been included even though all of the information is the same, making it possible for old
stories to hit the top of the search engine results page.

Determining quality by dating the source
Perhaps freshness will not be the only attribute that is rewarded, or perhaps certain criteria will be used
to determine what content is not only fresh but of a high quality too. How relevant and topical a piece of
information is in terms of its relation to the search item should be given consideration. The date that the
information was first used could be one criterion to use to measure how current a piece of information is,
so that the age of the piece can be ascertained before a decision as to whether to list it as relevant or not
can be made.

Addressing the ‘Twitter problem’
}One problem that must still be addressed is that of Twitter and the fact that the most up to date information
available on the internet comes in the form of tweets. As Google cannot yet keep up with Twitter feeds it is not
able to list this information and the new algorithm has not provided an adequate solution to this problem.

Whilst Google are undoubtedly searching for ways to remedy this situation, the fact still remains that whilst
we may start to see changes to the way searches are carried out so that the information returned is generally
more relevant, there are no guarantees that all of these changes will equate to an overall improvement.

Does change mean improvement?
It is more likely that the changes to over a third of searches will add up to nothing more than that – changes,
and as we are all too aware when we hear about new technologies and awe-inspiring software, changes are
not synonymous with improvements in quality, but perhaps rather the general way information is sought and
provided instead.

If you want to rank highly in Google search results and appear on the very first page then you will need
to make sure that you have included quality, credible backlinks in your website. There are actually four
such links you can include, all of which will make your website a stronger candidate for the top listings
so that you will be seen by more people.

Using Informational backlinks
The first of these is the informational backlink that can take the visitor to other pages and sites that link
to the content of your site. So, if you decide to write about ‘who has the site with the most backlinks’ in a
given year, you can link this text with a site that can pull up this information. There are different ways that
you can do this. When you are looking to ‘add sites’ through the link manager you can search for relevant
sites by a keyword, or by searching for a keyword plus resources so that you can locate sites that are
related to the same topic and content as your own website.

Including a Definitional backlink
There is also the definitional backlink and it seems self-explanatory what this might be. If you are discussing
a certain topic or using certain phrases that may require a more lengthy description then you can include links
that will take your site visitor to a definition that will help them understand what you are writing about in greater
detail. To do this, you could create a ‘glossary of terms’ that describes some of the words and phrases you have
used. Here you can include the pages you wish to link with. Those who choose to write about you or what you do
can then also link in with your text and the pages that you have included, which will further strengthen your position.

Why use Referential backlinks?
The referential backlink is one which states the origin of your information if you have stated something as
fact or included some detail that you have taken from another source. To create a need to do this, you will
firstly need to include some information that requires citation. The easiest way to do this is to include statistics
or graphics that need to be referenced. Use your link manager to locate blogs that are relevant to your website
and let them know about your linkable content and references.

The benefits of the Promotional backlink
Lastly, there is the promotional backlink, which works in a way that promotes other websites in return for
their promotion of your own. This doesn’t mean including links to your rivals, though. It means finding sites
that are in a similar industry to yours, so that if you sell clothes, they sell jewellery, for instance. You could
also find bloggers and encourage them to promote your site in return for a link to their blog.

The number of links and linkable content you have in your site, the stronger you will be in the search engine
results. It goes without saying that your ranking correlates with the amount of hits your website will get and
therefore the amount of business you will get too.

If you have a website that you would like to get to the top of the search engine then there are some
simple rules you can follow that will help you do just that. Obviously what you do is country-specific
so you will need to tailor your website to the Google listing appropriate for your country.

Hopefully you will find the information we have included interesting and useful to you. Maybe you
will even want to share our tips with your friends….

The first thing to think about is where you are going to sell your goods or services. Just as you might
if you were marketing your business in one country and targeting specific groups of people, you should
do the same but on a larger scale. What is different about the country you are going to sell to. Use this
information to help you work on your website. The results that are pulled up in a search listing will differ
by country so you will need to do slightly different things if you want your website to rank highly in
each of them.

Why you should try to appear in versions that are specific to the country
If it isn’t immediately obvious to you why you should look to have your website listed in other versions
of Google then lets go through some of the reasons. Google.com takes your IP address to locate you and
direct you to the appropriate version. For instance, if you were based in the UK, then this would be the
Google.co.uk version. If you have a listing through the .com version then this would not appear in the local,
by-country version. If you want to be visible to other countries, and choose which countries these will be
then you need to ensure you are listed in their specific versions.

How to ensure you appear in the search engine results
The next question, is how you can do this. Firstly, make sure you have a domain name that is relevant for
that country. A .co.uk domain would not be appropriate for Germany, for instance, so making sure that you
have the country-specific domain name will help you and give you a greater chance of achieving a higher
ranking. If you cannot get a domain name that is specific to that country then the next thing you can do is
to get an IP address that is local to that country instead. At least this way, Google will recognise the IP address
as based within the country you are trying to market and therefore allow you to list within those search results.

Make the content of your site relevant to that country
Including a postal address on your website that is based in the country you wish to target will help Google to
list you in the relevant search engine results, as will having your address information listed on different pages
of your site. The more information that can be collected from your site to help identify your location the better.

Use the right language
Of course, it goes without saying that your website should be in an appropriate language. There is very little point
having your website in French if you are selling to the Spanish, but more than this, your website should use the
right phraseology. If you are an English speaker based in the US but targeting a UK audience, you should adjust
your spellings and phrasing to suit the market. This is not just a concern in terms of reaching the people you want
to market yourself to, but also in terms of having Google recognise you as a site that is appropriate for the listing
you wish to appear in.If you do the things above, you will dramatically improve your chances of being listed in
Google’s results for a particular country.

Getting to the top of the listings
Once you have appeared in the listing you wish to rank highly in you now need to think about how you will get to
the top of the search. Using the right keywords and in the right density will help you in this regard. Google should
not only recognise you as appropriate for a specific country, but relevant to a particular search. You should ensure
that the content of your website is as relevant as possible in terms of text and using the associated keywords.
Hopefully you will find that by using all of this information you are able to get to the top of the search engine listings
and target the market you are looking to break into!

Click through rates have so much to do with the way Google works out a quality score.
Although Google was not specific about what precisely the quality score is, a good number
of PPC advertisers perceive that CTR is a top deciding factor. Of course, the lower cost incurred
per clicks has resulted in lower cost per leads and hence more earnings.

By the time web marketing experts shifted their focus purely on click through rates, nearly 40%
of the campaigns they embarked on achieved a click through that was above their target or goal.
They then used several months to work out on optimization, which finally led to about 80% of
their campaigns going above the CTR goals they had set.

Following are the tips and tricks that web marketing experts used in achieving such stunning
results with Click through rate optimization:

1. Make a change in keywords that generate searches but not clicks
   Experts often tend to have certain keywords that they feel important for their campaigns.
   However, some of these keywords do not generate substantial amount of traffic. If you have
   such keywords, it is time to make a change. It could be that you don’t really need such
   keywords after all, or the ads are not captivating to the target audience. When you make
   some well concieved changes to the keywords it not only results in more efficient customer
   targeting, but also helps reduce the search volume quite drastically.
2. Experiment with an entirely new ad copy
   Carry out an evaluation of the ad copy currently in use and maintain the most excellent
   performing ad. Create an entirely fresh ad and replace the old one with it, leaving it to run
   for a few weeks. At the expiration of the one week or two weeks period, rotate in another
   ad and finally keep the winning one for longer time.
3. Track down on constant search query reports
   This is a great way to set aside keywords that result in unwanted clicks or high volume of
   impressions. When you come across irrelevant search queries as triggers, tag them as
   negative keywords to enhance Click through Rates.
4. Examine the Search Partners Network
   It was also observed that Google’s Search Partners network was good at generating
   improved impressions without clicks. At other times, the Search Partner CTR was nearly
   half the same result it had generated on Google Searches. 

   Consequently, it is sensible to pause the Search Partners if no conversions are taking place.
   For instance, in one campaign recently carried out, it recorded 0.88 percent CTR. However
   when analyzed, it was realized that there actually was 1.19 percent CTR on Google Search
   and 0 percent on the Search Partners. Consequently, the entire campaign was dropping to
   under 1 percent.

Over the last decade, the scope and importance of social networking
has grown leaps and bounds. The position of Facebook in social media
marketing has remained unshakable and non-controversial.

Google+: On several occasions, Google has attempted
to penetrate the realm of social networking with google
buzz which had little success. However, Google+ appears
to be a serious contender now to Facebook and is
expected to have a gradual but steady growth in marke
t share in the social media networking world.
Google plus is already steadily growing in popularity.

How Does Google+ Work, and how does it differ from the others.

Google and Social Networking

Google’s history with social networking is quite long and historical. Google’s earliest social networking
platform attempt is “Orkut”; and was the most successful of all Google’s attempt to have its own social
networking platform. This platform was never used much in the United States. However, Orkut was and
is still popular in places like Brazil, till date.

Friend Connect was another attempt by Google to own a social media platform. This was launched in 2008.
This technique was similar to MySpace or Facebook social network. However, there was a slight difference;
Friend connect employed open standards in creating the platform across a wide range of accounts as well
as websites.

Open Social is yet another of Google’s several attempts to own a social media network. Technically, this
network launched in 2007, does not reflect social platform in itself. The program, along with MySpace tried
to come up with a common programming interface that is applicable to a wide range of social platforms,
so that programmers can incorporate the networks into websites as well as other web applications. However,
Facebook features have beaten this attempt hands down.

Google Lively is among the list of social media platforms that Google has tried to set up. The primary reason
of this platform is to enable the user logins using their personas, in order to connect and interact with one
another. The program was discontinued too soon, it only existed for a few months.

Other social medial networking attempts by Google include Google Wave and Google Buzz.
All these platforms were short-lived.

The core concept of the technique in Google+ is termed as ‘Circles’. This concept is also the most outstanding
features of Google Plus compared to Google’s competitors.

This these circles work;
if you wish to communicate with people, they will go into your ‘circle’ or more than one circle, or, to the circles
of group of people that are known to you. Thus, it is possible to have a circle of co-workers, circle of friends,
circle of family members, and so on.

Only you can view the people in your circle. You will also decide the circles to share contents with, during the
course of writing a status update. This makes Google plus a flexible network in terms of privacy setting management.
Even Facebook does not have such flexible privacy setting – in fact, privacy setting is complex in Facebook.

This latest attempt of Google+ is starting to generate waves; will it live on and compete with Facebook and other
social media networks? Only time will tell.

A good number of webmasters are very much concerned about the PageRank that Google’s toolbar displays. Focusing on this value is not quite prudent enough. Few years back, there was an official statement by Google, pointing out clearly that webmasters should pay attention to other things that count more, instead of getting obsessed with pageRank.

Here’s what Google has to say about PageRank:

“For some years now, the Webmaster Central has continuously told webmasters not to place all their attention on PageRanks as the yardstick for measuring the success of one’s website.

Even if PageRank made Google – distinct as a search engine in 1998 when it was founded, we certainly had a good number of opportunities to bump up and upgrade our systems of ranking over the past decade. PageRank has now stopped being (has it really been?) the all-in-all of ranking.

The publicly visible PR is not the same as the number used by our algorithm for ranking. It is not sensible bothering about a number that is at most three steps taken off from your real goal; meanwhile, it is possible for you to measure what you want to achieve directly.”

If PageRank does not really count, what counts then?

In order to ascertain a website’s position on search results, Google employs a wide range of factors. According to Google’s recent blog, there are three key examples of metrics that count:

1. Conversion Rate: This refers to the percentage of your site’s visitors that translate to actual clients.
2. Click-through Rate: Out of the number of times your website was displayed in the search results page, how many times did people click on it?
3. Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of visitors to your website who do not stay on your site a moment longer.

In addition to these top three examples, there are other things that would help you generate enhanced outcome with your search engine listings.

Plan and Set Realistic Goals

It could be that what you want is more than a high PageRank. Your passion is to generate income with your website. You desire to get more leads, more people signing up for your newsletter…and such things.

Tips on Achieving Your Goal

• Select the proper keywords: The most important aspect of keyword is to have it get the targeted visitors to your site – visitors that would convert to buyers.
• Rank high for these targeted keywords: note that what is important is to rank high for the right keywords, not PageRank.
• Generate quality backlinks: your website will benefit severally when you generate quality backlinks. One, traffic will pour directly via the links. Also, the position of your site in Google will improve significantly.

Perhaps you haven’t been attentive to the news going on about Google Panda; if so, there are key things you need to know, especially if content creation is one of your tools for marketing your business. Recently, Google introduced another technique regarding the ranking of websites that feature contents. As it stands, the article directories no longer receive priority when it comes to ranking on Google’s search result page.

In essence, Google is now currently assessing the quality of sites linking to your site to know their worth. Well, we can’t say exactly what Google’s formula for this recent development is. However, here are some things we can deduce from the whole picture as being disqualifying factors:

• Websites that feature much advertisements
• Sites that feature several unrelated content
• Poorly moderated websites
• Sites with too many keywords
• Unnecessary multiple linking to other websites.

If you are a regular web surfer who has good judgmental acumen, you can easily spot these sites when you come across them. Well, a lot of companies or businesses do not like the new ranking technique; however, these new rules can work to your advantage if you know the tips and tricks that work.

Here are the tricks and tips that ought to work:

• Create and offer quality content
  In my opinion, this is the most important tip. It is needless reproducing countless contents that do not add value but features too many keywords. If you are a culprit in this regard, change your strategy and concentrate more on valuable info that would benefit your customers. Such valuable contents include FAQs, ‘how to’ articles which should be directed to your product or service, company news and others.
• Pour in more quality and fresh articles
  Google is quick to pick websites that feature fresh articles. Therefore, make plan to create a lot of valuable articles on a weekly basis. Also, you need to decide on relevant topics to write on. To keep it diverse, you can appoint people in your company to cover different topics related to your product or general theme.
• Ensure that people get to know about your content
  Your contents would serve no purpose if people do not get to read them. One of the ways to share your content is to set up RSS feed from your site (blog). You can also use your company’s emails to share links. Also, include links to the posts you make on Facebook and other social media platforms. These are ways to help people find and read your content.
• Ridiculously low paid writers would produce low quality content. Invest reasonably in article writing in order to get the best result from marketing your business with articles. So, if you don’t have time or the skill to create irresistible, quality articles, hire a professional freelance writer for the job.

Don’t see Google Panda as an obstacle; instead, see it as a propelling force to push you to compete better.

A recently conducted study reveals that it is very important to rank very high in Google’s search results. The average click-through rate of the top results is almost 40%. The cost per click as well as the amount of searches is also an influencing factor on the clicks. What is the implication of this to your efforts toward search engine optimization?

The Exact Numbers
Based on the study, the web pages that occupy the first position generates 36% CTR (Click Through Rate). Second position’s CTR is 13%, third position up to the 10th position gets 10%, 8%, 6%, 4%, 3.8%, 3% and 2% respectively. You can see that the CTR for first position is higher than CTR of position 2-5 put together.

It may surprise you to know that the 11th position generates slightly more clicks compared to the 10th position. Perhaps, the reason may be traceable to the fact that position 11 tops page two of Google results.

There is relationship between CPC (Cost per Click) for AdWords and CTR
Based on the information curled from the study, high CPC (Cost Per Click) on Google AdWords generates lower click-through rate for organic results.

For a keyword that has a high Click Per Cost, the first organic result generates not up to 20 percent of the clicks. On the other hand, for keywords that have low CPC, the first result gets over 30 percent of the entire clicks.

The click-through rate is also Influenced by the search volume
The study further reveals that keywords with high number of searches generate higher click-through rate for the first position – the rate is 32% for widely sought-after keywords, while long tail keywords get 25%.

The overall click-through rate for long tail keywords on page one of Google result is better – 9% vs. 5% for popular keywords.

What is the implication of this to your SEO efforts?

• More than they appear on the surface, popular keywords are quite competitive.

If your optimization efforts are geared towards highly competitive keywords, you are not likely to see much result until you make it to the first 5 results.

• Long tail keywords optimization is a sensible thing to do.

There are several benefits attributed to long tail keywords; compared to popular keywords, long tail keywords are more targeted and the conversion rate is much higher as well. You are likely to generate more visitors via your long tail keywords; the exception is if you are ranking in the top 5 results for a keyword that is popular. Another benefit is that ranking high for long tail keywords is much easier since the competition is less.

For a larger part of the businesses,  it is quite easier to rank in page one for several long tail keywords and this is more beneficial compared to generating high rankings for only a couple of keywords that are popular.

Indeed, high ranking is very important; it is still far more valuable to rank on page one for a relevant keyword to your offerings than elsewhere.

The quickest way to have your website listed on Google’s search result page is to ensure that your website features all that is required by Google. And what are those requirements?

1. Your server has to be Google-friendly, in such way that it becomes easier for Google to index your page.So, what should you do to make your server and webpages Google indexing friendly?
   • Get rid of the ‘disallow’ lines in your robots.txt file if necessary.
   • Do not feature ‘noindex’ tags on your webpages – check to ensure that such tags are not found in your webpages.
   • Also, your web server would not be Google indexing-friendly if it uses cloaking scripts or bot blocking software.
2. Google indexes webpages with quality backlinks faster.Google bots often visit websites that have more quality backlinks pointing to them. Thus Google would be fast to feature your webpage on its search result page if your site has good backlinks that point to it.

   Bear this in mind; you need to wait for a while before Google can display your site on its search result page – why? Here are the reasons below;

   • Technical reasons: it is the procedure with this search engine, for an optimized website to wait for a while before it is indexed. Even when the bot eventually visits your website, it may only crawl some pages and leave some, and not all the pages crawled by the bot would undergo indexing.For the indexed pages, they would be parsed – the parsing process assigns the indexed pages to search queries. Again, why you must wait for a while is that Google would need to assess the content featured on your site and compare it with other websites’ contents, and subsequently rate your site in terms of quality. The entire process drags on for a while. However, if you have more backlinks pointing to your site, the process will speed up.
   • Competitive keywords: getting listed on Google search result page takes longer time for competitive keywords. So, you may need to target less competitive keywords first, then after achieving chains of top 10 ranking for these keywords, your chances of ranking higher for the highly competitive keywords would increase greatly.
   • Also, Google would take time to evaluate the quality of a new website, so ranking on Google’s top 10 search result page takes time for a new website. But as the website gets older and generates multiple quality backlinks, the chances of getting to Google’s result page increases.
3. Make your website meaningful to Google
   Google is slow to index single-page site. Google is likely not to find substantial valuable content on such site, especially a completely Flash site.
   Do not focus on just few pages of your website when optimizing your site, work on all the pages and fill them with valuable contents worth presenting to visitors. Google is concerned with presenting the most excellent webpages to web visitors who pass through it to search for information.

Don’t be deceived, there’s no short-cut to climbing to Google’s top 10 search result page. High quality content and valuable backlinks are necessary.

Right now, the dust has settled a bit on Google’s latest ‘farmer’ update – thus, this is the right time to let you know how you can take advantage of it as an article marketer. No doubts, some people out there are saying that this latest development means the end for article marketing – well, we’ve been hearing that for decades now. The truth is that article marketing has come to stay.

Let’s begin by saying that the essence of the ‘farmer’ update was to provide searchers with sites that feature high quality content when they are looking for something on the web. Yes, this is exactly the intention; Google is of the opinion that those who carry out searches through their search engine (primary users, not webmasters) are worth rewarding with enhanced user experience. Well, you don’t blame them for that – a good number of webpages are merely spammy, crappy, and are focused solely on money making and do not care about featuring quality and valuable information.

That’s the issue, a lot of people are tired of being provided with craps when they surf the web for information. Just imagine for  a moment what would happen to a restaurant that serves low quality meal, it will go out of business of course, in just a little while. If searchers keep on clicking on the back button each time Google displays its search result, that speaks volume.

Thus, if your webpages or articles feature high quality information, and if such pieces of information have been submitted effectively to reach out a wider audience, you are bound to get the reward of your labor more than those who did not get it right with their contents. So, if you are complaining about the latest algorithm change as an article marketer, it implies that you don’t have quality content or articles to offer.

Back to latest Google algorithm topic; Google states that, just approximately 12 percent of the search terms are affected by this latest development in its algorithm. Therefore, it can be deduced that the change has got more to do with some topics than any other thing.

Obviously, some search terms are more likely to attract detestable content or website compared to other search terms. It really keeps the webmasters wondering what these search terms may be and keeps them on their toes.

Places Search is one of the latest developments on Google. Google Search is the former Google Local/Google Maps. Sites listed in Google Places are currently listed on top of the search result pages when local searches are conducted. If your business is local area based, it is an excellent idea that you get listed in Google Places.

Tips on Optimizing Your Google Places Listing

There are several factors that influence the way your website is listed on Google Places. Some of those factors include your business’ location, your keywords as well as the industry your business is inclined to.

• First Ranking Feature: Your Address

Do you want to rank high for keywords associated with a given city? If yes, then it is necessary that your business be located in such a city. For instance, if you want your business to be discovered for local searches in New York, then the physical address of your business must be in New York.

• Second Ranking Feature: Your Business Category Listing Must be Correct

It is important that your business be listed in the appropriate category on Google Places. It would be a serious mistake and to your disadvantage if you list auto business under real estate category on Google Places!

• Third Ranking Feature: Put Your Main Keyword in Your Business Name

If you want to improve your chances of being listed in the Google Places results for higher ranking in the main Google result page, then you must ensure that your business’s name contains your main keyword – the keyword you would want visitors to find you with. For instance, if you run an auto business, try and incorporate auto or car in your business name – e.g. John Mark’s Auto.

• Fourth Ranking Feature: Your Business Web References or Citations

Web references or citations refer to the mentions of your business information – especially your business name and address on other websites. It doesn’t matter whether or not the webpages referencing your business name are linked to your website or not. Some webpages that may list your business address without linking to your site include the local chamber of commerce or yellow pages directory. Citations of your business helps improve its chances of being listed for local searches, hence higher ranking.

• Fifth Ranking Feature: Positive Reviews

Basically, Google Places is a recommendation search engine; all it does is to recommend local businesses in the search results; it recommends local plumbers, restaurants, hotels and many others. Ensure that your business is worth recommending by offering quality products as well as services.

Positive reviews as well as ratings enable Google to place more value on your business. Thus, it is good idea to encourage your customers to leave positive ratings and reviews when they are pleased with your services.

• Sixth Ranking Feature: Nearness to the Searched Location

The nearer your business is to the search location, the more chance it has to be listed in the search results.

Take advantage of Google Places today. Target your customer base within local domains and extend your business reach by increasing your search engine ranking for local searches.

Presently, it looks like every individual owns a smart-phone. This signifies that mobile search traffic is increasing alongside with the availability of more mobile devices as well as full internet browsing capabilities. Now, here’s the question; is it likely that those searching with their iPhone will devote time to explore your website for a phone number or fill out a lead form? Google has come out with their Mobile Click-to-Call feature for tackling such a situation. Of course, every marketer would want to assess the result that the fund they are investing is producing. Click-to-Call is a feature you can employ as a marketer to monitor how your PPC campaigns on mobile facilities are performing.

What is Click-to-Call?

Click-to-call is a Facebook feature that enables the display of your phone number alongside your paid ad when people search with Google through their mobile devices. As soon as the searcher clicks on the phone number, it will connect and start calling your business line immediately – your own role is to simply pick up the call.

It is possible to track Click-to-Call all the way down to keyphrase or keyword level; this way, you will see the keywords that are bringing the calls and also the leads.

Tips and Strategy on How to Utilize Click-to-Call Effectively

• Ensure that you set your campaigns to run on “All Devices”.

• Under Phone Extensions, locate the Ad Extensions tab and enter your phone number.

• In a situation where you have a dedicated customer/sales service line, let that be the phone number that should be displayed.

• Consider using your RCF tracking line that features recording capabilities (if you have one) to track call quality.

• If your target is just a small local geographical area, you can save yourself 800 number charges by using a local phone number.

Click-to-Call does not require implementation of any tracking code; this is one of its excellent features. The only thing you need to do is to load your phone number as an Ad Extension and start reaping the fruits that comes with it.

Following the launching of the new user interface – Google Instant – just about two weeks ago, a large number of people across the search engine spectrum have come out with different speculations about it.

The game is simply known as localization and personalization. The major concern is that it will not be possible again to predict search queries; and that it is most likely for users to start redefining their search terms massively. The misconceptions about Google Instant also include a likely negative impact on the website visibility, particularly for smaller businesses. The most prominent fear being that Google Instant could positively or negatively affect the overall impression rates for certain keywords; well, if you embark on a deeper reasoning, you will discover that this is not likely to be.

Industry experts are of the opinion that Google Instant may eventually change SEO with the passage of time. Here are some of their submissions:

• For a query, the search results will not be altered; however, overtime, people are most likely to learn searching in a different way. For those who really desire to succeed in the SEO industry, it is very important to expect and embrace change. To buttress the importance of this; Matt Cutts has this to say in his blog; “SEO authorities take note, adapt and also thrive favourably when there is change”. Players in the industry also attested to this fact.

• This is the opinion of Jonathan Allen of Search Engine Watch; ‘the significance of Google Instant to promoters/marketers can be equated with the importance of Universal Search update… just as it once happened when lost real estate for the search results of organic search engines offered new opportunities to the experienced marketers. This is what is probably going to happen now’.

• Provided people continue to use search engines such as Google to search for information on the internet, there is need to apply ‘optimization techniques’ to such information. A content that is properly rounded in its development and optimization is very likely to benefit from Google Instant. Also, the manner in which web visitors look for and locate essential information for the products and services on the web would be impacted. Well structured SEO will not find it difficult adapting to any changes which Google Instant would trigger in the behaviour of searchers.

Therefore, of course, Google Instant is likely to demand a certain measure of adaptation; however, as pointed out previously, it’s not going to be the cause for an entire industry meltdown. Rather, it will be a motivational force to go back to the basic factors that are responsible for the high ranking of great websites. Thus, which of the top factors made websites rank consistently on the topmost positions on Google result page? The answer is simple; unique, relevant and captivating search engine-friendly articles. This fact has not been changed by the introduction of Google Instant; it may have only altered the techniques people employ in achieving it. Besides optimization and standard keyword, it may also be necessary that companies:

• Focus on the phrases or terms that are displayed around their major keywords when instant searches are carried out.
• Construct page titles in such a way as to attract users’ attention.

Indeed, Google Instant is something that surely requires the commitment of experts across the SEO industry.

Recently, Google announced that Google Local Business Centre has been replaced by Google Places. This change that seems to be a minor one, presents huge opportunities for hotels as well as destinations.

Each day, the importance of local content for online success tends to become more prioritized. As users carry out local search, they are presented with a map placed at the top of the search results, containing a concise list of area businesses. It is Google’s prerogative to determine as to what should be regarded as ‘local search’ depending on the search word entered – and automatically Google will provide the relevant local content. Each business is given a ‘push pin’ within the results. This pushpin identifies the business location on a map. When a visitor clicks on the pushpin, additional information powered by Google Places is presented to such a visitor. The concept is one caveat straightforward thing. It is also more likely that listings with detailed information will show up using the pushpin, while listings with little or no-inspiring info are excluded from the search results.

Indeed, Google Places is a great benefit for hotel businesses as well as destinations. If a web surfer (who is of course a potential customer) uses your city or neighbourhood along with ‘hotel’ as a search term, the possibility of reaching such visitor with content that is highly related with the search keyword entered is high. This is also very applicable to destinations that sharpen on the local businesses promotion as well as their marketing efforts. Also, very large portion of searches are being accounted for by local search. Recently, a research carried out by Google discovered that nearly 75% of every activity online is associated with local content. When you enhance your profile for local search, it is not just your online revenue that would be impacted positively, your offline revenue will also benefit from the effort. A study carried out in 2009 showed that about 80 percent of local search users got in touch with the business quite conventionally – that’s a whole lot.

How Can You Show Up Frequently and with Increased Placement?

Google Places enables for enhancement of several listings which were existing already via Local Business Center. Those who run hotel businesses can make available up-to-date information for their property. Such info includes business details, phone numbers, addresses as well as website URL. Such persons can also employ videos and photos to further showcase their property. Again, hotel owners can highlight on features that make their hotel business exceptional – e.g. state-of-the-art amenities, nearby sightseeing locations as well as pool hours.

Google Places also pull information that may be needful to customers and automatically embark on enhancement of some listings; such information includes reviews from independent sites.

Also, Google Places offers the following:

• Improved Listings Via Google Tags. In order to have outstanding listings in Goggle Map Results, you can pay a monthly fee of 25 USD to include photo, coupon as well as other exceptional elements.

• Realtime Updates: Google Places Page is a great place to promote property that runs a 48 hour coupon or sale.

Other benefits of the Google Places include free hotel photo shoot as well as customized QR code.

If you’ve got Google Places, Yelp or Binge account, the tips outlined here will assist you in attaining the top of local search results.

If you operate your business locally as an attorney, plumber, florist, local accountant, coffee shop operator and similar services, it is important that you claim your free listing on Google or other search engines’ Local search. You can then, employ the below given tips to get on top of the listings:

First thing first – claim your listing

If you want to be successful on Google Places, Binge or Yelp for local search, the most important thing to do is to claim your listing on each of these places.

Your Listing must emphasise your keywords heavily

Web visitors who are looking for any information, make their search by typing in keywords. For instance, someone looking for a good hair stylist in Los Angeles will Google-in ‘hair stylists Los Angeles. Emphasize heavily on your keywords when writing your business listing, but ensure that you are neither too spammy nor too modest about it.

Emphasize on your business areas

A good number of service providers such as plumbers, roofers as well as yard-care service providers go to people’s homes to render the services, while others may pitch at a place in one community which could be a petite town near a renowned or big city. An instance can be cited when a wedding florist who services the whole of New York happens to be located in Yonkers. When creating a Google Places listing account, it is important to set your service area accurately. Go to ‘Service Area’ icon and choose the applicable description. This way, you can expand your service area so as to service more customers. However, ensure that you are only setting service areas you are skilful at.

Online customers’ review is very important

Make sure you encourage online customer reviews, but you must do it carefully. In addition to the keywords contained in your company name, categories and descriptions, customer reviews help immensely in assisting a business achieve stunning success at Google Places, Bing as well as Yelp Local. However, you must not solicit for reviews from colleagues and relatives; let the reviews come naturally from your customers by encouraging them to do so. Of course, if you render exceptional service to customers, they will surely leave good reviews. Encouraging customers to leave a review should be done tactfully.

If you need help – Go ahead and Ask

Google provides ‘Google Places Help Forum’, there is also ‘Yelp for Business Owners as well as Bing help Forums. These help features come with helpful videos to assist you.

Track Conversation

Master your keywords and ensure that you search out your competitors’ details. Also, be quick at recognizing your own name. It helps to put up saved searches on the various places – Google, Bing and Yelp; searching for fresh reviews on your company will be easier and faster. Google Alerts service is also a quick way to get information via mail regarding any review on your business or offerings.

Don’t expect positive reviews always, some people would want to review your business negatively. However, you have to react politely and look for a way to improve and make customers happy in order to get better reviews subsequently.

Google Places: A whole lot of local businesses strive to attain top ranking in Google with a judicious inference of relevant keywords or phrases that the users ought to be searching for. You can find a wide range of information sources on how to get your site into the Big Search Engine – Google. However, one of the essential things missing in such articles is the mention of Google Places as one of the best means to get on top of the Google search page.

‘Places’ is the default business directory of Google; the previous Google business directory was replaced by  Google Places, which provides more versatile ways of promoting a business, as well as the ability to include video, photos, promotions or coupons. Google Places also enables you to include updates that have similar status as Twitter.

Someone who already has Google local business listing is integrated already and can simply sign in to experiment with the new features. If everything is new to you, get the directions here.

Google Places Listing – Why it is important

Google Places account is as important to every business as food is to living beings. Google wants to ensure that valuable and relevant business listings are made available to web visitors searching for those who provide services locally. For instance, in a situation where a person residing in Tucson, AZ is searching for Tucson florists on Google, it will display a set of Places listings for florists in Tucson AZ. In search results for real estate, these placements are the most excellent that you can find. Literally, they are showed first since Google sees them to be highly prioritized in terms of relevancy.

Therefore, if you are yet to be listed, you have missed massive valuable traffic that has high potential of translating to real business. Do you know that you don’t even need a website to be listed in Google Places? Some business owners who were not able to generate meaningful traffic have attested to the fact that their traffic skyrocketed immediately after they created a Google Places account. If you are a local business owner, you are doing your business a lot of harm by not getting listed on Google Places.

Tips on Setting Up Google Places Account

You must have a Google account to set up Google Places account. This is not a big deal; Google will walk you through the process on how to get it done if you don’t have Google account.

Note:

• If the Google account you currently have is just as your personal account such as gmail, it is necessary to sign up for a separate account dedicated to your business.
• Verification of account is necessary; this can be achieved either via voice call, text message or via mail. The essence is to prevent any scam or fraud.

To create your Google Places account:

1. Log on to http://www.google.com/places

Start filling out all the details for your business; then click next.

1. You will be asked if you have an already existing business listing; depending on your answer, choose either ‘Add Listing’  or ‘Claim Listing’
2. Verify your listing immediately via phone to quicken the publishing of your listing. Other options are mail and SMS.

Once your account is verified, you are listed in Google Places! Note that if you choose ‘verify by phone’ you must keep your phone handy for Google call.

Recently, Google introduced Place Search; this is a modified local search result which organises information around places.

Google has gathered search results within particular locations to make it easier for a searcher to make comparisons and have informed decision on where to go.

Product Manager, Jackie Bavaro has this to say: “We are easily hooking up websites in their millions to over fifty million real-world locations using Place Search. We are able to automatically know when websites are referring to physical places as well as cluster links, even if there is no address provided or if they use different names”.

Google said that among the notable things about the technique they employ in local search is that, it is easier to get a detailed view of each place. The new layout provides users with a good number of more relevant links on just one result page – the links are usually 30 or more. So, rather than carrying 8 searches or more to locate the site you are looking for, a single search is enough to get the sites. “We found out that on the average, about two seconds is saved when searching for local information because of Place Search implementation”.

The Significance

More than anytime, it has become critical for any business to apply Local Search, SEO strategy as well as Online Review, in order to achieve significant exposure in Google result pages for searches related to a location.

Place Search is an evidence of the ongoing commitment by Google to make sure that relevant results are made available when local search queries are initiated. According to Jon Schepke (interactive marketing agency expert), Google’s local and organic search merger reflects a major change in the manner the top search engine displays info in search terms or phrases that initiate localized results”. In the days to come, a lot of businesses that depend on organic traffic for generating their revenue will be affected by the changes.  Sadly, those who are not ready could face unpleasant awakening when they discover that their listings have changed in search results without any prior notice.

Therefore, it is recommended that businesses track their search rankings closely in order to embark on the optimization of their Google Places page profile. They should also make sure that the presence of their businesses in other second and third-tier search engines as well as directories is optimum.

What a Company Should Do to Optimize a Google Places Listing

• Ensure that relevant Places categories are included.
• Let there be a good mix of both short tail and long tail keywords; however, make sure that you do not duplicate keywords.
• Come up with very creative and highly informative descriptions for your business; make sure that the keywords used in the descriptions are highly related to your business.
• The videos and photos you use should be brand-approved.
• Ensure that you do not miss any important or relevant field – fields such as payment methods, service areas and your business hours of operation should all be included.
• In order to keep information relevant and ever fresh, Google Places Posts is a valuable tool at your disposal.
• Ensure that you encourage customer reviews online.

]]> http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/google/optimizing-google-places-listing-%e2%80%93-how-it-works/feed/ 0 http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/google/submitting-your-business-to-google-places-%e2%80%93-how-it-functions/ http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/google/submitting-your-business-to-google-places-%e2%80%93-how-it-functions/#comments Sat, 04 Dec 2010 07:36:22 +0000 admin http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/?p=971

You would certainly not want to ignore the opportunity to promote your offering (business) and thus generate a level of online exposure via Google Places.

What is Google Places all About?

Google Places replaced the former Google Local Business Centre. Google Place assists web visitors by guiding them on their decision regarding where to go when searching for something online. Google Listings integrate just anything you can think of including hotels, dry cleaning outfits, bike shops and even non-business places such as parks and museums.

People are connected to relevant information from the best sources on the internet by Place Pages, which also displays reviews, photos, important facts and real-time updates as well as offers from those who own businesses.

Procedures for Submitting Your Business to Google Places

First step: Click on ‘List your businesses’ from Google Places. The bulk upload features will enable you to add more than 10 business listings easily.

Second step: Verify if Google Places has already picked up your business. To do this, input your phone contact number on the initial sign up screen to find out if it matches exactly with your business number as well as location. If the matching is right, you can proceed with editing your existing listing. But if it is not matched correctly, you need to create fresh listing and ensure that the Google account you are signed in is the account you want to use.

Third step: Ensure that you do not miss any step that Google guides you through.

Put in all your basic information. Use only categories that are relevant to your business such as payment options, hours of operation, videos, photos, including any other piece of information you want prospects to learn about your business.

Fourth step: Verify your listing. Ensure that you have your phone handy, since Google will call you to verify your listing. Another option for achieving the verification is via SMS or postcard. After the verification, your listing will appear in 12 hours or less. It is now time to monitor the progress of your business listing on Google using a customized dashboard provided within Google Places.

This is virtually all it takes to getting your business listed in Google Places. Once you are done with this process, watch out for the amazing exposure this will bring about for your online business.

]]> http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/google/submitting-your-business-to-google-places-%e2%80%93-how-it-functions/feed/ 0 http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/google/take-advantage-of-google%e2%80%99s-power-for-your-business-expansion/ http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/google/take-advantage-of-google%e2%80%99s-power-for-your-business-expansion/#comments Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:37:23 +0000 admin http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/?p=968

If you want your company to turn out as a Big Fish in your niche for the local market, there is need to generate free exposure on the top search engines. In fact, you cannot do without exposure on renowned search engines. Google Places is speedily translating to the role that Yellow Pages played in the recent past years, particularly now that smart mobile devices are all over the place.

Google Places is largely hinged upon location. Most of the searches carried out involve location. For instance, instead of searching for ‘BMW auto dealership’, we search for ‘BMW auto dealership Houston’ or Houston BMW auto dealership’. Your business can generate massive exposure by just taking advantage of this fact. The best part of it is that the exposure is directly relevant to your market niche; in essence, the prospective client carrying out the search is immensely motivated.

Setting Up Your Google Places Page for Success

It is easy to set up your Google Places page just the normal way you sign up for online accounts. The next step is to click the link for ‘Google Places’. You will be presented with a form to fill out. The field that reads ‘Category’ is where you start filling in details for the kind of business that you do – you will eventually generate a list. You may need to add another category (if needful) by clicking on the ‘Add another category’ link. You can add up to 5 categories.  For instance, if your business is all about ‘auto repairs’, it may be sensible to put up different aspects or categories of the business such as ‘tires’, ‘brake services’ etc. Just ponder on the key areas of your business and use them as your sub categories.

Keep on loading the form with pertinent details of your business. Ensure that you use your primary business phone contact when filling your business contact info.

Verifying Your Account

When you are done with the signing up process, request that Google verify your registration by phone. Without any delay, Google Places will make the call with a PIN number; this is the number you will use to verify your account.

Verify Your Listing for Accuracy

Specifically, ensure that certain Google Maps have proper location of your business. While signed-in to your account, the map is located on the right hand side. If there is incorrect Google’s mapping, this means that your business will not display well when it is running live.  A link has been placed on the right hand side just below the map to help you change the map location. Simply click on the link and drag to the right location.

Alongside with Google, other search engines and directories such as Yahoo, CitySlick, Bing and Yellow Pages provide listing service for local businesses. All of them share similar features in their modes of operation. However, Google Places is the biggest among them. As smart phones are becoming increasingly popular, it is highly important for every business to have a presence on Google Places.

Google Places is one of the most excellent and efficient techniques you can employ when trying to achieve local search marketing. Google Places is also known as Local Business Center (LBC).

What Google Places is all about

First of all, estimation has it that Google takes a huge share of the search market – approximately 91 percent in comparison with Yahoo and Bing. Thus, Google is the leading search engine that is worth featuring in. Each time web users carry out local searches on Google, Google Places is what is usually presented to them at the top of the page, alongside a catchy map. This is great news if you happen to be among the first 7 listed there. Actually, in certain instances, the local search results garner more clicks in comparison with the entire results underneath them; a perfect instance of this scenario is hotel-related searches.

You may be wondering how cool this is. Google is providing you with the opportunity to climb to the top of result page for keywords related to your business in your area or location using a shortcut; that is not just all, they let you achieve this at no cost. Your only part is to provide them with the quality content they desire in your listing.

Are you seeking to project your Google Places listing to the best positions in the local search results related to your location or area? Here are top search engine optimization tips to assist you:

• The first thing is to make sure that the name of your business, phone number as well as address is very correct. The authenticity of your business is verified by Google. Also, if you own a website, remember to include it. Take time to fill out the section that has to do with your business and ensure that you supply all the details. The information you supply should be very helpful to your prospects when it is time for them to look for you and your offering. Google cherishes valuable and correct content; if they find that in your content, they won’t hesitate to bring it first to those who search the web through them.

• Ensure that you attach importance to an engaging, keyword-rich business description which is capable of captivating your viewers. It is the platform for speaking directly with your prospects. Be concise about it and remember to integrate a call to action towards the end.

• It is important to be accurate when filling out your business categories. At least, take one of the categories which the system suggests; keep in mind to integrate keywords phrases for your other categories.

• Remember to include photos and video as they engage your prospective customers.  A lot of people would love to take a look at the examples of your work, your product, something to show them a glimpse of your store.

Other things include getting reviews from your customers about your business, as well as citation from other authorities.

Google Instant is an innovation introduced by Google; it’s all about “search before you type”. This innovation is simply the Google Suggestions box extension; it works with the recent top suggestion and subsequently offers instant search results for such a term.

Following the announcement of Google Instant, a lot of pandemonium arose in the blogosphere, to the extent that some rashly declared that SEO would no longer be recognized.

What is the meaning of instant search in context to the long tail keyword? Is optimization now geared towards letters instead of words? What about the frightening Google Analytics post warning that some keywords are likely to experience substantially, fewer or more impressions henceforth?

Is there need to panic now?

Here are very interesting opinions from industry experts’ about Google Instant.

• Such tense moments have been witnessed before. A good number of those who are raising alarm now concerning Google Instant are also those who panicked when Google introduced Local/Universal search and Caffeine. These people saw SEO as a game to gain mastery over, rather than accepting it as an established technique that has come to stay. If you are the type who is always searching for opportunity to trick the search engines, then you would not benefit from SEO. Great content still remains the major source of traffic rather than cheap tricks.
• Google Instant is not particularly a new method for searching information on Google. The whole essence of this new entrant is to enable web visitors find their search object much quicker. It does not matter if ‘Instant’ is turned on or off, Google search results would not change. So, if we painstakingly create unique and valuable content, Google Instant will quicken the finding of such content.
• It seems top rankings attract more exposure. Well, time will tell; however, the major change ‘Instant’ seems to exert on search tactics is that more exposure is given to top results. With the aid of the Google Suggestions box, the web visitor can see the top 2 or 3 results without having to scroll.
• Resiliency of the long-tail keywords; in the past, Google has made it known that approximately 20% of its daily queries are entirely unique. Any person who is implying that Google Instant means immediate termination of long-tail keywords should rather take a look at the least impact which Suggestions box exerted on these types of searches. People will always type out what they want with the number of words it may require.

Presently, ‘Instant’ has become the default search technique on Google for browsers including Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer 8. In the next few months and weeks, Google is working towards making sure that it’s new search style would be made available to all platforms as well as geographies. ‘Instant’ has come to stay; therefore, rather than looking for a new brand technique to play trick on the search engine, it is time to go back to a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign established on fresh and compelling content.

]]> http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/google/google-introduces-google-instant-%e2%80%93-no-concerns-for-panicking/feed/ 0 http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/google/increasing-sales-with-google-analytics/ http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/google/increasing-sales-with-google-analytics/#comments Thu, 14 Oct 2010 01:58:05 +0000 admin http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net/?p=819

One of the most excellent tracking and analytics software tool around today, is the Google Analytics. Majority of the leading sites now employ Google Analytics in tracking down their visitors. If you check through the sites that rank high on Google, virtually all of them have the Google Analytics set up. Do not underestimate the utility of this valuable tool, just because the software is obtained and used at no cost. If it is correctly used, Google Analytics can offer you what it takes to transform your website from the ‘usual’ to an ‘unusual’.

The number of reports you gain access to with Google Analytics is quite astonishing. It can be used to optimize your website performance and hence your sales and profits.

How to Set Up Google Analytics

If you look ahead to receive the most desirable website statistics, then it is compulsory to correctly set up Google Analytics. You may follow the below given procedure:

• Sign up for Google Analytics if you haven’t done that yet
• You will be prompted to include your website.  Do that and subsequently paste the provided tracking script on your site pages one after another.
• Next, click on Analytics Settings; have the website profile edited and establish goals for your website. Ensure that you add the thank you page – this is where your visitors are taken to following their completion of your online product purchase form; this step is very crucial and makes a better level of reporting detail available.

Now that tracking code is in place on each page of your website and you have set up your conversion goals, just commence with the analysis of your website in order to enhance its performance.

Essential Analytics Reports

The reports outlined here are very essential in understanding the source of your traffic and the manner in which they interact with your website.

• The Top Traffic Sources:
  you can access this report at Traffic Sources and it will give you information on where your traffic is coming from. The tool generally shows you referring sites, search engines, paid ads and others. When you know the exact source of your traffic, this will help you determine where to target your resources so that you can achieve maximum leverage.

• Keywords:
  to access this report, go to Traffic Sources, then to keywords. This will display keywords that web visitors are searching for – on Google and other search engines to get to your website. Having a solid knowledge about the keywords that are generating your website conversions will help you refocus your SEO to such result-oriented keywords.

• Search Engines:
  the search engines report reveals the search engines that are driving traffic to your site. If your website optimization is Google-based, it very possible that most of your traffic comes from Google. The search engine reports help you know which search engine to focus your SEO efforts on.

• Top Content: you can access this report from the Content Menu; it will reveal the most widely sought after pages of your website.

There are other numerous Google Analytics Reports as well, that are quite valuable and helpful.

There are some very important and essential factors that need be considered when choosing a domain name for an international business.

First of all, it is amazing how some brand consultancies make scary errors of recommending names that are intended for international business without first checking the availability of the domain names being recommended.
Again, when trying to decide on branding, do not forget to bring the domain into view –  given the fact that the two in recent time are too closely linked to be separated and especially so, when it comes to the international scenario.

Marketers tend to follow the single global identity
Single identity has a wide appeal to marketers. The evidence is clear with the popularity of dotcom built sites among global marketers. But the simple truth is that single identity may be ideal for some, but not to all. Above all, the global inference of going for a single identity, rather than going for something that catches the attention of the CEO is also there to consider.

English or Keyword – Which One Suites, A Single Name?
For a potential global player, it is sensible to avoid the first snappy English name that comes to heart, which perfectly seems to give the description of your service. Here’s an example, if you are a globally known localization consultancy, it will be a shabby idea to choose your domain name as ‘Localization.com’, especially if you have intentions of running the same domain name across the entire world. Here’s the reasoning: it is possible and easy for most of the English-speaking population to assume that you only miss-spelt the word ‘localisation’.

On the other hand, if you intend using a keyword domain name, here are essential things to do:

• Verify the meaning of such a keyword in the different languages; don’t commit some blunders that were previously committed by many when they choose a brand name which simply meant genitals in certain languages!
• You may save yourself needless heartache in the future by checking the global trademark registrations.
• Verify the registrations in a vast domain names set, it is not sufficient to check only the dot com, you may be surprised to discover that another person is using that name actively in different markets.

A good number of trademark registrars are equipped with online systems to help you verify if the registration trademarks you intend to use are already existing or not. A simple means to checking the word-meaning of your intended name in other languages is to reset the Google Keyword Tool to show ‘all languages’ and ‘all countries’. If you eventually come across huge amount of search results for a keyword you supposed to be flawless, take a closer look and you may be amazed to discover certain unanticipated and funny meanings that you would not want to associate your business with.

Abstract Names – Secure Abstracts
Generally, it is quite difficult to come across a reasonable domain name that causes no problem either in English or other languages. The option that most people prefer is an abstract name. Such abstracts may entirely have no meaning; example is concise acronym which may stand for anything. Alternatively, it could be a coined or invented name usually based on combining various Latin words into an entirely new name.

Inbound links have always been a very important when it comes to
Search Engine Optimization. Ascertaining the worth of these links
can also be very essential. This is particularly the case when any
kind of investment is being made in deriving these links.

Here’s how to identify valuable inbound links:

• The Webpage Source Should be Indexed By Google
  Before settling for a link from any webpage, verify if such web page is indexed by Google. It is easy to tell that a page not indexed by Google would not be recognized when it links to your page; so it is as good as not having any link.
• The Relevance of the Link to Your Business Model
  How relevant is the link to your business theme. As an instance, if you offer debt relief services, it will make sense to link to web pages that contain information about debt management services.
• Page Rank – PR
  Although not the ultimate, Google Page Rank 5 is definitely prioritized than a PR 1. And of course, a PR 7 or something higher offers something real juicy. The bottom line is this; it is better to have a mix of links from various page ranks to make it appear really natural.
• Detecting Paid Links
  Any link that is identified directly as paid link should be avoided. To spot such web pages, look out for terms such as ‘advertisements’, ‘sponsored’, ‘partners’ etc. Major search engines such as Google dislike paid links and would easily identify them with the words specified;
  when this happens, such links will attract no value.If you must link to a ‘paid’ web page, employ techniques such as the use of image instead of text. Then, avoid anything that may indicate the status of the site in the image’s alt attribute. This is very essential if you really want such link to count, otherwise Google will ignore the link outright.
• Inbound Links
  Does the page link to other web pages? And what is the nature of the sites that link back to it? Better still, what is the anchor text of those sites indicating?
• Outbound Links
  Ensure that the page is linking to less than or exactly ten other sites including your own. More outbound links depreciates the link value passed to each webpage.
• Link Placement
  Google in particular, and other search engines have put so much effort in the recent past years in making attempts to spot none ‘editorial’ link in terms of context. To this end, it is sensible to stay away from links placed in blog rolls, footers, and similar link placements that indicate ‘non editorial’. Links placed within the content is to be considered. Good link placement can attract great worth, as well as pass link juice.
• Avoid ‘NoFollow’ Link
  Do not look at links that feature ‘nofollow’ attribute since they have minute offer when it comes to passing link popularity or juice to your webpage.
  However, you can sometimes consider them because they can offer a natural look to your link building, to the search engines, and also bring you traffic – e.g. is Twitter.
• How Long has the Domain Been Around
  Domains that have existed for a substantial period of time tend to attract search engines. The reason is that such domain must have garnered some good links itself during these periods it has existed.
• Site’s Alexa Rank
  This can serve as a clue to the extent of popularity of a website.

If you aim at getting a high rank on Google and other renowned search engines, it is imperative that you get quality links to your website.

It is unfortunate that this task is among the most difficult ones to achieve. How well are you taking advantage of your existing links?
More often, it is quite simple and easy to enhance your existing backlinks than getting entirely new links.

• Make corrections on the links that point to your initial domain name
  If you have previously changed your domain name, it is possible that some people still link to it. Certainly, the links to your previous domain name ought to redirect to your current domain name using a 301 redirect to make sure you still retain the link. However, links via 301 redirects do not go by the full link power to your site.As a result, you need to get in touch with the webmasters that linked to your old domain name, and request that they link to your current domain. This is great way to improve the effects of the links on the ranking of your website in search engines’ result.
• Make Necessary Changes Or Corrections to Broken Pages on Your Websit
  Examine the statistics of your website and redirect every link that points to a non-existing (404) page on your site, to a real page (existing page) on your website. This will help in giving a proper direction to your visitors. Like in the first instance, you can contact the previous webmasters and request that they change the links.
• Endeavour to Enhance the Link Texts
  While in touch with webmasters to request for links to your new domain name, you can also use the opportunity to propose new link texts to be used for your links.
• Make Suggestions of Other Related Websites to the Webmasters
  This is another technique that can get your ranking on top slots. When you request for links from webmasters, it is a good idea to also suggest relevant websites to them. “Relevant”, means that the websites you are suggesting must be related to yours and more importantly should also have quality content. In a situation where a website links to your website, and that same website links to other websites that are relevant to the central topic of your site, there is always a higher possibility that search engines will see your website as being relevant to that topic.
• Examine the Links Residing on Your Website
  In order to see some of your web pages in the search results of Google, you have to link those pages from your own web pages.
  When a page is concealed in the navigation process of your site, there are little chances that the specific page will gain a satisfactory position in Google’s search result.

Without adequate care, you can end up spending too much on Google AdWords and not get anything in return. However, your conversion rate can greatly be improved by effecting a few little changes.
A lot of people incur lots of expenses on their Google AdWords because of the wrong settings they employ in their campaigns.

Achieve better conversion with Long Tail Keywords – You can find many of them

Detailed studies have revealed that long tail keywords achieve quite high conversion rates when compared with single word keywords.
Long tail keywords refer to specific keywords consisting of 4 words or more.

The result of a recent Hitwise study shows that over 18% of searches have 5 keywords or more. Google also confirms that 20% of the queries they receive on a daily basis are ones that haven’t been tried in at least 3 months (90 days), and sometimes turn out to be first time keywords.

Using wrong Long Tail Keywords will cost you money

It may be a great idea to employ broad match for every keyword you use. Including all possible keywords manually in your campaigns is something that cannot be done and so, Google recommends that you employ broad match with your keywords.

Broad match is an excellent way to take advantage of those unanticipated but relevant keywords. When you incorporate a keyword as a broad match, your ad that follows will be qualified to appear next to queries with that precise spelling, in addition, it is also capable of capturing keyword expansions which include synonyms, applicable variation of your keywords, singular/plural forms, as well as phrases that contain your keywords.

However, it may not be as easy as it sounds, if you employ a broad match for every keyword of yours, it means your ads will be displayed for many irrelevant searches, and you will spend much money without having anything to show for it. For instance, the word “union” would be employed in carrying out searches about unions equipment, marriage union, trade union etc.

Because of this, it is necessary not to include the long tail keywords that are not relevant to your website.

Conversion Rate Increases with the Use of Negative Keywords

You can use negative keywords (as it is referred) in your Google AdWords campaigns. If one of your negative keywords is contained in a long tail keyword, your AdWords ads would not be displayed.

For instance, a case where you enter “-free” as a negative keyword, you won’t have your AdWord ad displayed when someone carries out a search for free things. The use of negative keywords is excellent for excluding web visitors searching for only free items.

You can employ a negative keyword when displaying the ad for a particular target group or audience.

When any of your keywords has two or more meanings as seen in the case of “union”, given above, a great way to exclude searches that are not related is to add negative keywords.

Broad match is a good way to garner more clients; however, you need to use this option with care. When you employ broad match with your keywords, remember to use negative keywords to avoid paying for needless traffic.

Google has in a recent statement, made it public that they have commenced using website upload speed as part of the 200 signals that determines the placement of a website in Google’s search result page.

Since the speed of a page upload shows the response time of a website in replying to a web request, Google has decided to consider site speed in their search rankings. In order to ascertain the speed of a website in comparison with other websites, they will employ a wide range of sources.

Effect of the decision on your website ranking
Math Cutts from Google affirms that the new development will affect only certain websites and that less than 1% of search queries will be altered as a result of including website speed in their ranking factor. This implies that only fewer search results will be affected. This is because, the average search request returns about 10 search results on each page.

Although 1% seems insignificant, it may pose an issue if your website is among the webpages that will drop in their ranking.
Presently, this is only applicable to web visitors who are searching on Google in English.

Techniques for Keeping your Web Pages Listed on top Google Search Results

Take a tour of these simple techniques and enhance the speed of your web pages.

• Go for a fast and dependable web host that has excellent connection to the internet. You can encounter problems by settling for a “cheap” web host.
• Merge external JavaScript code files into a single file. When the server has fewer files to request, your web pages will load faster.
• In order to make the JavaScript smaller, you need to compress your JavaScript code.
• Merge external CSS files to a single file, and then compress the CSS files.
• Enable gZip compression; but this is only if it is supported by your web server. This is what a web host can help you achieve.
• The images in your website should be as fewer as possible, and ensure that the images are compressed. A good number of graphic tools will give you the option to select a compression rate when an image is being saved for the web.
• At the end of your web pages, include tracking codes as well as JavaScript snippets.

Those who search the web are usually desirous of immediate result, and as such are not willing to wait even a moment longer. When your web pages load faster, there is an increased chance of visitors getting to see your website contents.

Web page speed is not the top ranking signal used by Google. This is confirmed by a statement made towards the end of Google’s page speed announcement; “Although site speed is a latest signal factor, the relevance of the page is weightier than its speed when accomplishing ranking”.

However, it is essential that you optimize the speed of your web pages; you also need to have other features of your web pages optimized in order to be listed on Google’s first result page.

Webmasters would do their best to get listed on Google’s first result page. However, a vast majority of them do not embark on the right techniques necessary for achieving this end.

A single strategy will definitely not get you listed among the first 10 rankings on Google’s result page. You need to work on all possible elements of your website in order to increase the chances of being listed.

Explore the top 5 factors listed below that influence your website’s ranking on Google’s search results:

1. Accessibility of the Website
It is senseless to embark on optimization of your web pages when your web pages are not accessible by search engines.

• The accessibility of the search engines to your website should be made possible by your robots.
  Txt file. If this file has errors in it, then a lot of search engines will not access your site, or even list it.
• Also, the underlying HTML codes of your web pages must be free of errors, the correct response code should be returned by your web server.
  Your web page contents should be such that the search engine spiders can read them.

Prior to your web pages optimization, verify if the contents of your web pages are readable to the search engines. This can be achieved with a spider simulator.

2. Site Architecture
Google is only interested in displaying relevant sites in the search result page. Ensuring that there is relationship between the pages of your website is a good way to be ranked among the top 10 positions in Google search results. Therefore, don’t structure your website in a way that makes it look more like a collection of random web pages.

The arrangement of your web pages should indicate to Google that your site is related to a central topic. It is necessary that the pages of your website be linked. A web visitor should be able to access your site with few clicks.

The categorization of your website contents should be made easier for search engine by the way you structure your links and directory.

3. Keywords
Among the top secrets of earning a higher ranking on Google, is the right choice of keywords.
A wrong selection of keywords means total failure of your campaign.

• Different pages of your website should be optimized for different keyphrases.
  It is better to have more pages of your website optimized.
• Begin with highly targeted keyphrases that have different keywords -
  e.g. “get a cheap web designer in Chicago”
• When you have attained good ranking for your targeted keyphrases, move on to the ones that are more general -
  e.g. “web designers in Chicago”.

Generally, the conversion rate for targeted keywords is much higher when compared to general keywords.

Again, consider the nature of visitors that will be attracted with the keyphrase based on whether they want to make an actual purchase or just need some information.

4. Uniqueness of Website Content
If your website contents are a mere duplication of articles and links from other websites, then don’t even hope to earn high rankings.

Distinguish your site from the crowd by creating high quality and unique content; also ensure that the articles are centred on your general topic.
Your website should contain useful resources.

5. Other Websites that Link to Your Website
One of the top factors for ranking high in Google is the links from other websites. But ensure that such links are from relevant and quality websites.

10 Effective Strategies

A business website is capable of pulling huge traffic and is potentially capable of creating clientele from the attracted traffic; however, without appropriate Ezine subscription procedure, the odds of generating customers from internet traffic is low.

It is difficult for a website to attract customers without providing resources that would benefit a targeted audience. And even with the availability of sufficient information, those who visit a particular website do not usually buy the product or service being advertised.

People do not often patronize a product or service without being familiar with the provider of the offerings. To this effect, it is important that you give a reason for visitors to keep being interested in your business. The most effective way to achieve this is by giving a free Ezine-periodic publication, disseminated via e-mail and often in newsletter form, video, ebook and various helpful resources that may be needed by your target audience.

Top 10 Tips

• Tip 1:
  Having the right visitors is very important.

To convert online traffic to actual customers, you need the right visitors. These are visitors that need your product or service. Make sure you use the appropriate keywords and link your website to businesses that will suit the information being conveyed by your website.

You can keep track of the traffic you are generating by using Google Analytics (it’s free), this will help you carry out proper analysis of the outcome of your efforts. Know that traffic from referrals have more potential to metamorphose into actual customers.
Content creation, exchanging links with relevant businesses as well as guest blogging are powerful ways to refer traffic to your website.

• Tip 2:
  Let your visitors know what you expect from them.

Look for a way to tell your visitors what to do with the resources you made available for them or else they may not know. To this effect, your homepage information and direction should be kept simple – don’t create confusion with much information and choices. Tell your visitors to sign up free for your ezine and don’t forget to tell them if it is an ebook, newsletter etc.

• Tip 3:
  How easy is it for your web visitors to take action?

It is useless if your visitors cannot find the useful information you have for them. The best place to place your subscription section or box is the top left side of your homepage to enable easy visibility. It may also help to place the signup form on each page of your website to achieve increased visibility, regardless of what page generates traffic. Also, make your signup form of an easy and user-friendly nature – no too much of clicks.

• Tip 4:
  What will your visitors benefit from your offer?

Don’t forget to explain what the freebie for your Ezine is, and the value it will add to them. A good number of successful Ezines give some kind of enticement to sign up. Again, you need to clearly state how the resources you are offering could be accessed; is it downloadable or is to be emailed?

• Tip 5:
  Keep your visitors’ mind at ease.

Remember to state outright that the information they are providing will not be transmitted to a third party in any way. Your privacy policy should make this known and they should be able to unsubscribe if they wish.

• Tip 6:
  Let your subscribers know the next step to take.

• Tip 7:
  Tell your subscribers how to white list you.

This will prevent your mail from being sent to junk mail by email programs. Tell them to also white list your entire website.

• Tip 8:
  Ensure that your confirmation email is customized.

You can personalize your confirmation emails and employ same graphics and language used on your website. This will help remind the subscriber about who is sending them the information. Avoid using generic language.

• Tip 9:
  Ensure that you keep up to your promise without delay.

• Tip 10:
  Don’t forget to send a ‘thank you’ mail to your subscribers; make is clear, concise and information rich.

Website ranking will change after the advent of Google Caffeine. Although nothing detailed has been released about Google Caffeine, the insiders and webmasters are sure that it will bring a lot of change in the ranking of your webpage. Google Caffeine is going to change a lot of its parameters to rank the website. Though some of the old parameters are sure to stay, yet you need to do a bit extra to rank your website high on the search engines.
The changes that will be brought to Google’s next index – Google Caffeine
The expected changes that will affect the ranking of websites include:
• The speed of the website: The speed with which a website loads will play a vital role in determining its ranking on a search engine. The websites which take longer to load will be left behind by websites that open quickly. With high speed comes higher Google ranking.
• Bad links: If the website has too many broken links or links from spammers then it is bound to have a lower ranking. These two factors will be major yardsticks in the ranking process. A bad neighborhood or too many known spammer links can actually have negative impact on the search engine.
• Quality does matter: The Google Caffeine will rank a webpage according to its quality of content. The content should be highly optimized and the navigation of the website must be easy with good inbound links.
• Social bookmarking: Social bookmarks will also have a positive impact on the ranking of the websites. If the website has more social bookmarks, then it is assured to attain a higher rank on the search engines.
What you can do for a higher ranking of your website on Google Caffeine
Knowing that there might be changes in the ranking criteria for the websites when Google Caffeine is released, the following tips can undoubtedly put your website on top of the search engines.
• Spam free website: Make sure that your website doesn’t contain any spam and in case there is any spammer website that puts its link on your page, remove it at the earliest. Ensure that nothing on your website represents a spam like camouflaged text or image links etc.
• Website design: Design of your website becomes significant with the Google Caffeine. Make sure that the font color of the text matter stands out clearly from the background. The website should avoid having fully automated linking systems as it may be considered as spam and could lead the way to losing your ranking.
• Easy navigation: Your website should have easy parsing by the search engine spiders so as to make the navigation easy and clear. This will help the website in achieving a better ranking.
• Inbound links: Link building will continue to remain important even after the Google Caffeine is introduced. You must therefore focus on quality links that will improve the ranking of your website. Getting good links from social networking sites will increase the page rank of any website and hence you must focus on that.

Search terms that are most recently talked about on social networking sites are displayed by Google as real-time results on the search engine result pages. As a prelude to this newly introduced feature, Google has joined hands with Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku, Identi.ca and Twitter.
In simple terms, Googles real time results display the latest and most sought after links of network communities, for a particular keyword search. It is placed at the bottom of the search page.
Simple procedures that get your site references into Google’s real-time results
Although Google has not yet disclosed the criteria for choosing your tweet on real-time results, the below given factors do influence this process.
1. Do not post contents that look like spam because Google scrutinizes the quality of contents posted on your blog post, tweet, etc.
2. If a twitter assumes high authority and attains huge fan following, Google appears to create profiles of real-time results for such users that are re-tweeted.
3. Quite interestingly, it has been found that Google identifies spammers by the quality of their messages as well as the followers.
Data so collected will be used by Google to evaluate an “Update Rank” for each user.
Invest quality time in Google’s real-time results
The real-time results that Google displays has a few problems. It does not appear for all search terms and quickly replaces one result with another. This characteristic feature doesn’t allow for lasting real-time results on Google. It is hence a better and wiser option to invest time and money on getting to the top of regular Google search results. The higher you rank on Google’s regular search results, the more will be your website’s targeted visitors. This helps increase your revenue.
Honest is the best policy
The real-time results does enhance Google’s portfolio, but it seems to be problematic in the long run. It is quite unlikely that high authority posters will sell links in their tweets. A stark reality is that, the veracity of a posted message cannot be ascertained by Google on time. The recent report of the death of actress Natalie Portman on Google real-time results is a glaring example of the damaging effects of displaying wrong information. When it comes to business, the damage could be multi-fold.
Make honest effort to be found in a natural way to your social media posts. Cheating the system could get you blacklisted. Add keywords that converge targeted visitors to your site. Offer interesting and fresh content on your website every week so that people talk and tweet about it. This will ensure that you get to the Top 10 results of Google’s search pages.

Most of you must have had bad experiences with Google AdWords. Your website advertisements might have brought in fewer returns and you must have doled out lots of money on AdWords. Fairly speaking, if properly used, Google Adwords transforms into a money minting tool.

Effectively using Google AdWords with the right settings for the right campaigns will undoubtedly ensure that your costs are reduced and sales are increased.

Relevance of the Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords consist of 4 or more words and are of a very specific nature. Studies have proved that the conversion rate of long tail keywords is higher than that of single word keywords.

Based on the recently conducted Hitwise study, it has been found that more than 18% of the searches contain five or more keywords.

Google has also confirmed that 20% of the queries received everyday on Google are either unique ones or are probably seen once in 90 days.

With improper Long Tail Keywords, you could end up spending more

Including all possible keywords in a campaign is not an easy task. A helpful and great option as recommended by Google would be to use a broad match for all of your keywords. A broad match keyword exploits unexpected, but relevant queries. Your advertisement thus appears not only with phrases containing your keywords and exact spelling, but also with keyword expansions that include synonyms, singular/plural forms and relevant variants of your keywords.

However, proper usage of a broad match is easier said than done. This is because of the countless unrelated searches that results due to the use of a broad match. You could end up paying more and getting meager returns. For example, if you have a product named “Cobra”, the word cobra would be used for searches related to the reptile variants of cobra, the vintage car or the body spray with similar name.

Enhance your conversion rate with Negative keywords

Negative keywords are included in Google AdWords campaigns to bypass searches containing these words. Your AdWords advertisement is not displayed if the negative keyword is present in a long tail keyword.

If for example, you include “-free” as a negative keyword in the Google AdWords campaigns, your advertisement is not displayed to those who are searching for free offers. This provides direction to your advertisements.

Negative keywords are also used to target advertisements at specific groups. An insurance broker could include “book” and “books” as negative keywords in his Google AdWords campaigns so as to avoid people who are searching for insurance based books.

It is hence quite essentially required that a well thought out broad match warrants the use of negative keywords, so as to could help attract potential customers. Negative keywords also wards off unwanted traffic and hence reduces the payments you would have h