Monthly Archives: August 2013

Confused About Rel=Nofollow? Here’s What You Need To Know

image(Flickr/Les Chatfield)

image(Flickr/Les Chatfield)

Matt Cutts recently made another of the videos in which he answers questions from the webmaster and SEO communities. This video specifically dealt with the subject of whether “rel=nofollow” should be used with widgets and infographic links.

If one were to judge by the number of questions and confused statements on the subject of nofollow links, it would be a safe bet that Google’s message about what exactly should or should not be passing link juice is not clear to the vast majority of people. Continue reading

Do You Need To Switch Hosts To Work With An SEO Company?

image(Flickr/masochismtango)

image(Flickr/masochismtango)

For businesses new to the SEO world, the process of optimizing a site can be confusing. SEO is a technical process and for those without the necessary understanding, there is the potential for exploitation by unscrupulous practitioners. One of the questions that frequently arises is: “Do I need to switch hosts to work with an SEO company?”

The one word answer is “no,” and a slightly more expanded response would be “Definitely not, and if anyone tells you otherwise, exercise caution.” Continue reading

Is Keyword Anchor Text Killing Your SEO?

image(Flickr/Andrew Stawarz)

image(Flickr/Andrew Stawarz)

Since the release of Penguin 2.0, many sites have taken a dive in the SERPs. One of the causes of poor SERP performance is an excess of anchor text containing specific keywords.

Back in the old days, one of the main goals of link building was to cultivate as many incoming links as possible with anchor text that included keywords and key phrases relevant to a site’s SEO strategy. In recent years, Google has started paying a great deal of attention to the features of a naturally accrued link graph and penalizing sites with backlink profiles that show signs of being engineered by SEOs.

High quality sites tend to gather links with a diverse range of anchor text. Most linkers aren’t interested in contributing towards a site’s SEO strategy and won’t choose to include keywords in anchor text, instead using site, brand, or author names, topics, and a collection of generic nouns (“article”), verbs (“said”), adverbs (“here”), and so on. Continue reading

Increase Conversions With Minimalist On-Site Notification Bars

Let’s be honest with ourselves: pop-ups, pop-unders, intrusive Flash advertising, and content-obscuring modal dialogues all suck, both from an aesthetic perspective and for site users.

In modern web design, the trend is towards elegance and simplicity; providing awesome content that’s pleasant to consume is the order of the day. But, we have to make money, and that’s what intrusive advertising is supposed to achieve. The web is growing up, and part of its developing maturity is that serious sites that want to make money from content – particularly bloggers – are tying to look less like the flyers we find under our windshield wipers advertising quack remedies in garish colors and fonts, and more like credible publications.

A key driver in this trend is the growing prevalence of mobile. What’s annoying on full-size screens is a deal-killer on the small screens of mobile devices. Mobile first design is largely responsible for motivating the move to simpler pages. Because screen real-estate is scarce, subtle integration of promotional material that doesn’t detract from the overall experience is essential.

When aesthetic requirements and technological trends clash with opportunities for revenue generation, a fertile ground for innovation is opened up. One of the solutions that has arisen to maintain both elegance and the prominent display of calls-to-action takes the form of minimalist, non-intrusive, but very noticeable message bars. Continue reading

SEO, Content Marketing, and Social Media: The Best Of July 2013

Love & Marriage. Peanut Butter & Jelly. SEO & Content Marketing (or SEO & Social Media)??? These days, the letters SEO are usually followed by one of two pairs of words. Like other great combinations from history, it seems that you can’t have one without the other. In that spirit, we’ve gathered up the best SEO, content marketing, and social media articles from July for your enjoyment. When you’ve finished reading, let us know your favorites in the comment section below.

SEO

10 Effective Tips on Ways to Use Search Engine Optimization for Your E-Commerce Siteeffective-SEO-300x193

1. Compile an In-depth Keyword Research ReportCentering around your business products, services, brand, industry and demographics of your targeted customers, you’ll have to pick specific long tail keyword search terms and keyword phrases and test them on something like Google Keyword Tools to ascertain the estimated traffic and competitiveness for each keyword phrase.

Continue reading