Keyword research is one of the first steps in the content development process and for the non-SEO, it's a task that's usually dreaded. After all, with all of that writing on your plate, it can be hard to find the time and the energy to spend hours researching keywords. If you're not a full-time SEO and you're expected to be a keyword whiz, don't worry. Here are a few tips to help you save time (and frustration) when it comes to keyword research.

Use a System

Keyword research works best when you have a system for getting it done.

For most writers, keyword research doesn't come as naturally, since we tend to be more focused on the content itself, rather than how readers arrive to it. However, in today's world, keywords can maximize the impact of your content. Remember – great content is still great content, but it's even better when it's able to be found.

When setting up a system, first figure out how much time you'd like to spend (or have to spend) on finding the right keywords.

If you have a lot of time, great! Go keyword crazy!

But if you don't, think about a set number of keywords you'd like to research and decide your maximum allotment of time. For example, five keywords in 45 minutes.

Follow A Set Process

Next, you'll need to come up with an actual process. Here's a solid way to research keywords without having to worry about crazy competitor analysis or other exhausting metrics:

Step 1: First, take a closer look at the core values, services, and value propositions of your organization or business.

Get a clear understanding of what you're hoping to communicate to your audience and how someone might search for or arrive at your site.

Step 2: Make a list of potential search phrases that you, as a searcher, would use to find your company.

Also make a list of other keyword ideas based on language you use on your website, customer feedback or customer inquiries, etc.

Basically, you create a list of possible phrases to research. This doesn't have to be an exhaustive list. Just a few phrases to get you started.

Step 3: Next, take that list and think of different variations.

Are there different ways to say the same thing? Different names for a particular service or product? Pluralizations of the phrases?

Add variations to the list. Also, while you're at it, open up a spreadsheet. Add three columns: one for "keywords", one for "search volume", and one for "competition volume".

Step 4: Take your list of keywords and put them into the Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool (this one is my favorite keyword research tool). Click "Search". (P.S. – if you're worried about non-related terms cluttering up your results, select the box that only shows ideas close to your search terms.)

Step 5: The Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool will give you a report on your keywords.

Ignore the competition column. Instead, pay attention to "Global Monthly Search Volume" and "Local Monthly Search Volume".

Global monthly search volume is the average number of times that particular keyword phrase is searched worldwide in a month. Local just pertains to the average searched in your country each month.

Depending on the direction of your SEO campaign (localized or global), choose the average search volume number that best pertains to that phrase. Paste the keyword and that average search volume into your spreadsheet under the appropriate columns.

Step6: Now it's time to get the competition volume. Start out by logging out of any Google products (it'll skew the results).

Then, run one of your prospective keywords through Google search and look for the number of results that come up. That's the number of sites you're competing against for that term.

Add the number of sites under the competition volume column on your spreadsheet. Rinse and repeat.

Step 7: In general, select keywords that have the best ratio of low competition volume to high search volume.

After you've chosen the keywords, start moving forward with content development or work with your client/manager/keyword-approver on making sure these are the terms you want to focus on.

Rejoice that the task is complete!

Build Up Reserves

Another way to cut back on time spent on keyword research is to build up keyword reserves.

Essentially, you spend a huge chunk of time doing only keyword research, but in the long run, it can save you a lot of time and hassle. Set aside a few hours each month to build up your keyword reserves.

Speaking of reserves, you can also look back at past keywords you've used in your copywriting efforts. Don't be afraid to work with these keywords again or to play around with variations of past phrases. When you're stuck, looking back at past copywriting can be a great way to gain perspective and maybe, get some new keyword ideas. For example, do you see

Check your Analytics

Analytics programs like Google Analytics give you a great glimpse into keywords to use when building your SEO campaign.

See what's driving traffic and work from there as a baseline for your keyword research.

You'd be surprised on what drives traffic and hey, maybe you'll find a phrase or a variation you never would have thought of before. (Bonus: Check the internal search history of your site if you have the ability. That's a goldmine for keyword ideas.)

Throw the Rules Out the Window

Another thing you can do is just throw all of the keyword research tools and rules I've described above and go with your gut.

There are plenty of keywords that occur naturally throughout content as you develop it, so you can always just write first and work in keywords afterward.

There are different opinions and strategies on the subject, but the best advice I can give is to find a keyword research and copywriting method that works for you so that you don't dread opening up the Google Adwords Keyword Tool from time to time.

How do you complete keyword research in a pinch?

• How To Optimize A Web Page For A Keyword
• Abandon The One True Keyword & Live In The Real World
• Keyword Specific Ranking with Internal Linking

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Keyword Research For Those Who Have Something Else to Do

Google Search, despite its dominance, is anything but perfect. In fact, the results it presents can get pretty stale over time.

For instance, a user searching for email marketing trends is probably looking for the most recent information on the subject, but may be presented with results from years ago.

Realizing that the freshness of results was starting to become a problem, Google decided to make some adjustments to its algorithm that address the issue. This latest update is a huge deal, so lets take a closer at the details and what it all means.

• Assessing Your Freshness Factor

Trending Topics

Trending topics is terminology that is frequently associated with Twitter, but is now an approach Google is applying to search results.

According to Google, searches for hot topics that a lot of people are talking about, and recent events will now automatically produce results with updated information.

So, for example, a sports fan searching for the latest details on the ongoing NBA lockout will receive results that are at the very least, a few hours old, opposed to days, weeks, or months old.

Regular Updates

In order to provide users with fresher search results, Google has tweaked its algorithm to give prevalence to sites that publish regular updates.

The details on this particular aspect of the update are not exactly clear, but it appears as if sites with the most recent information on a specific topic will rank higher than those with information that is outdated.

From what we have been able to gather, this means that someone looking for reviews on say, GoDaddys web hosting service, will see reviews posted last week, before they see those published last month, months ago, and so forth.

This is a pretty significant change with huge implications from an SEO standpoint.

Recurring Events

Be it in the sporting field or entertainment industry, there are quite a few events that occur on a regular basis.

Some that come to mind are the NFLs Super Bowl, the annual Daytona 500, and the Coachella Music and Arts Festival.

Realizing this, Google made the decision to update its algorithm accordingly by tweaking it to put a special focus on such events.

With the recent changes in effect, users searching for information on a specific event will be presented with the most recent details opposed to results with information on older events.

Again, this follows the theme of giving prevalence to sites with the freshest content on a given topic.

SEO Implications

According to Google itself, the recent tweaks will impact about 35% of the searches conducted through its search platform. This is substantial in comparison to the controversial Panda update, which was estimated to impact roughly only 12% of searches.

The biggest implications here may apply to content publishers and marketers, the entities who optimize their sites for Google traffic.

If you are a website owner who has been enjoying high rankings and traffic on the strength of your content, that could all change now that the freshness and recency of your content is more important than ever.

Content Reads:

• The 5 Point Checklist To Quality Content
• 10 Ways To Beat The Panda Update
• 10 Reasons For Editing Your Published Blog Posts

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

What Is The Importance Of Freshness And Recency To Google’s Latest Algorithm Tweaks?

* article updated: see bottom of article

Josh Davis reported on how Pinterest, the web's new this is going to change everything" social site, seems to make its money; by stealthily inserting affiliate codes into your links.

If you post a pin to Pinterest, and it links to an ecommerce site that happens to have an affiliate program, Pinterest modifies the link to add their own affiliate tracking code. [...] They dont have any disclosure of this link modification on their site [...]
– Josh Davis, Pinterest is quietly generating revenue by modifying user submitted pins

Thats not cool.

Its totally OK to make money with a site. Really, were all for it! And if you want to do that by doing the we modify links so they become affiliate links for our benefit – more power to you.

IF there is is clear, upfront disclosure, that is.

If not, well, then it becomes as sneaky and backhanded as ISPs hijacking search sessions to inject moolah inducing content (another reason why Google going HTTPS is cool).

Clear, upfront disclosure is key.

Like the +1 button as fake spam blocker earlier this week, this may all very well fit just between the lines — but it feels wrong.

And talking about wrong, how is Google going to balance their intense dislike of affiliate-driven sites and Pinterest's 36+ million indexed pages?

Of course there are two sides to everything with those that are all for disclosure and those that don't really see the point; some calling it outright the  hypocrisy of affiliate disclosure rules.

Their House, Their Rules

Of course if it can be done, if it's fully allowed, then it's their house, their rules. As long as we're not throwing that out there to simply cut off any discussion I'm fine with that. But the question how we want our Internet to be is one in flux and not a bad one to discuss.

How do you feel about this? Would it matter to you if Twitter were to start modifying it's t.co links to add Twitter-benefiting affiliate code?

* Update: Skimlinks, the company powering the link injection, informally responds via its blog, distancing itself every so slightly from Pinterest's non-disclosure :

Pinterests use of Skimlinks technology is nothing new, nor is it secretive. Skimlinks has been around for almost 4 years now [...] Creating a beautiful, user-friendly site, as Pinterest has done, mandates a non-intrusive way to make money. [...]

While we fully encourage transparency and disclosure, at the very least because it is a nice thing to do, many sites choose not to be blatant about their monetization techniques [...]

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Pinterest Changing Your Links Into Their Affiliate Ones

So yeah, the Daily Mail is now the world's most read online newspaper. If that gives you a "so what" moment consider what was left behind to reach that spot; top properties like the New York Times, The Guardian, The L.A. Times, and the Boston Globe, to name a few.

That's an impressive feat especially considering what the Daily Mail is.

What's The Daily Mail All About?

The Daily Mail is to news and newspapers what Cosmopolitan is to feminism and women literature. For our US readers: the Daily Mail is the text-version of Fox News, sorta.

That's what beat the New York Times and I can assure you much hand wringing will follow. Woe us, the Internets are making us dumb(er), "I'm above all this and don't even watch TV", and likely someone will yell "first!" somewhere. That kind of thing.

But — they did it. And that's what counts.

How Did They Do It?

First, their home page takes cues from the long sales letter. Their home page is long. I mean, it's huge. Just how huge is it, Ruud?

The Daily Mail home page is 22,000 pixels long. More than 5 times longer than the New York Times' measly 3900 pixels (amateurs!).

I tell you; if you go there now, there's no way you'll make it to end of the page without having clicked at least one headline. Yes, even those that are far beneath you… Go, I'll wait. <10 minutes later> See, that was scary, wasn't it? That's what a black hole feels like…

The long sales letter works and the Daily Mail's home page is proof of it.

Always Be Selling

Not counting the celebrity news headlines in the sidebar, the Daily Mail sports roughly 100 headlines on its front page. The New York Times has roughly as many.

What's different is how those stories are brought to market, how they are sold.

The Daily Mail uses 4 times as many words to sell copy as the New York Times.

To sell its copy, to get its clicks, the Daily Mail uses 7900 words; almost 80 words per story. The New York Times uses a sparse 1900: no more than 19 words per story.

HUGE headlines … Really?

Part of that long copy must come from the Daily Mail's long, run-on headlines. They're famous (infamous?) for their tabloid-style headlines.

30+ words run-on headlines are non uncommon at the Daily Mail online, but the (mean) average is 17 words.

Headlines at the New York times tend to run 11-13 words; 40% of Daily Mail headlines are 15 words or less. About a third are mini stories of 20 words and more.

But yeah, those are some headlines man.

Relentlessly Be Above It All

You can laugh at the Daily Mail, sneer it, look down upon its readers and vilify it in many other ways — some of which may be creative — but the fact of the matter is that they don't look down on their audience.

Neither should you. I know, you were there today for the first time. Or maybe the second time, counting that clickthrough you did from that post your friend shared on Facebook. But to get this many readers at least some of them have to be the highly educated, super intelligent people your site goes for. Right?

The Daily Mail is never "above" getting the click. They're not of the "TV? I don't even have a TV!" crowd. Heck no; they like Damon over Stefan, think Meredith should stop whining, and that Walter is doing awfully good for a regular with this much blood on his hands.

ps: Heba Hosny knows how to write those kind of descriptive headlines too. Stuff like 7 Easy Steps To Turn Your Twitter Account Into A SEO Magnet, From a Mess To Success! 5 Twitter Time Management Tips For The "Twittaholics", or 7 Awesome Twitter Content Curation Tips Inspired By Paper.li

If you want to learn more about writing good headlines, don't miss these:

• Prevent Your Blog Titles From Sabotaging Your Efforts [Headline Writing 101]
• 5 Traits of a Great Headline
• Social Sharing: How To Optimize Page Titles To Generate More Clickable Links To Your Website

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Why The Daily Mail Is The World's #1 Newspaper And You Can't Get A Single Click

Google Instant Previews evoked some discussion in the SEO world when it was launched officially. However, as far as I know, this discourse was limited primarily to web design and landing pages. Even so, some writers tried to link Google's Panda Update to Instant Previews, which was presented at about the same time. The ground for this linkage was user experience, which both updates had focused on.

Now, one may argue that Instant Previews is simply a search aid to enhance user experience. However, as studies in search behavior confirmed over and over again, most users ignore such tools probably due to short term memory overload. This was probably the motivation behind Google's minimalist design.

Moreover, Google had avoided the inclusion of a previews tool in its homepage, although other search engines had suggested previews years before. Thus, there must be another reason for Google to add a column that occupies the same width as the search results column for Instant Previews.

Instant Previews

Although similar tools had preceded Instant Previews, Google was the first to combine visual previews with relevant textual snippets (AKA "call-outs") on the fly. In addition, when officially announced, Google advanced its benefits in determining web-page layout before clicking on a search result. Although the layout in itself may help to identify web-pages with thin content or the web-page medium, when combined with text call-outs it may benefit the users by positioning their keywords in the page layout.

At the same time, Instant Previews may be used for Google's quality control. In other words, if the user avoids entering a web-page after looking at the page preview it probably means that the users keywords appear in marginal parts of the page layout. Of course, the user may avoid a web-page because he is intimidated by some formats like forums or comments sections. At the same time these formats may represent an unrefined data that may have less value than refined information for the average user.

Extracting the main sections from web-pages may be helpful for web-indexing where text is mixed with ads, navigation, and comments sections. (Moreover, websites owners may use different layouts in the same domain.) Therefore, getting an implicit feedback from users may help Google to improve their indexing algorithms to locate keywords that are placed in strategic positions. Moreover, this may represent a gradual progress from bag-of-words to semantic indexing algorithms.

The Semantic Web

Although the semantic web vision poses some serious technical issues, it seems that it had made a gradual progress, at least in the web-standards issue, namely HTML5. However, there are still some unresolved problems like how to deal with writers' semantic-web self-annotations in terms of valid phrasing and reliable tags utilization.

Google has stated it wont parse HTML5 markups until they will be widely used . Google has further stated that it would support only the tags that benefit its indexing system. Still, as a leading web-search company it is probably experimenting with HTML5 at some level. (Incidentally, Google parses RDFa semantic web annotations which is now a part of HTML5). Now, Google's Instant Previews may serve as a reliability test specifically for HTML5 "structural" tags. Thus, I can think of some current applications for Instant Previews: limited testing, evaluating semi-supervised algorithms, and evaluating unsupervised algorithms.

First, Google may use Instant Previews to evaluate which HTML5 tags may predict the structure of a web-page and their frequency in common practice, as well as to possibly evaluate algorithms for recognition of unreliable annotations. Second, Google may use HTML5 as a markup language for semi-supervised learning algorithms. In this case, Instant Previews may serve as a reliability test for its automatic annotation algorithms. Third, as some of Googles employees had declared, they may prefer to compliantly ignore any markup language and interpret web-pages as-is with unsupervised learning algorithms. In this case, again, Instant Previews may be utilized to evaluate the reliability of these algorithms or even incorporate them into the machine learning algorithm. Of course Google may test more than one of these strategies simultaneously.

Search Tool or Test Tool?

As Google states, it constantly tests its users response to possible updates in the search engine algorithms and the user interface. Now, there is at least one disclosed example where Google used a search tool to test user experience. When Google discussed its new automatic spelling correction feature, they exposed that it has included an escape hatch for both users and Google" let users search their original query and in turn provide Google with feedback to help evaluate its algorithm. Actually, the idea of implicit feedback is the heart of many new personalization algorithms. Although, in this case, extra search aids are not necessary.

Related:

• The 10 Business Implications of Google Instant Previews
• How to Add Schema Data to a WordPress Website
• Using Semantic Markup To Strengthen Your Local SEO Efforts

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Instant Previews and the Semantic Web

By the way, I backed the New York Giants on the wholly unscientific and almost unreasonable basis that they are from New York " and I like New York (disclaimer: I've never actually been to New York Go figure). A previous choice which team to back was based on the color of their uniforms Hey, I like yellow, OK?

So Who Is The Super Bowl Winner?

And is it super bowl or superbowl? According to US Americans, it's super bowl; the rest of us are either somewhat divided or we lean towards superbowl.

15 Minutes After The Game

About 15 minutes after the game had ended I asked Google "superbowl won".

Notice that there is no spelling correction. Google does know about the two different ways of writing this and highlights both superbowl and super bowl.

There's news on top but it's old news; there is no winner.

There is a best guess instant answer for the previous super bowl.

The authoritative NFL domain superbowl.com has the score and Google is able to parse it into its search results but this information doesn't seem to be fed back into the system to conclude that the game is over and/or who the winner is.

Half An Hour After The Game

30 minutes after the game 3 out of 4 searches give a winner in the news items.

superbowl winner is the only search to not feature news on top. It does show the best guess and does so prominently as the first result. About both I wonder; Why?

superbowl won still shows best guess but super bowl won does not show best guess. Why?

Over An Hour Later

More than an hour later all searches show who won the super bowl.

Notice how supebowl won and superbowl winner will get a "Showing Results For" notification on top; only who won the superbowl doesn't get a "Showing Results For" notice.

The Best Guess is gone for superbowl won. It's still there on superbowl winner but in that search news has moved up from #3 to #1, overtaking the best guess spot. None of the searches features a best guess for this year's super bowl

This Morning

It takes until this morning before the best guess is gone on who won the superbowl as well.

It still includes search results for both superbowl and super bowl but no notice on top yet that that is the case.

Some Observations

• although Google has historic spelling data for some reason the notice "Showing Results For" starts to appear on searches only later; it is as if we're starting from scratch here
• the best guess instant answer for last year's super bowl was stubbornly persistent. That's especially surprising in light of Google's freshness changes which specifically list regularly recurring events. I had expected that this specific instant answer would have a date reset; if today = superbowl then don't show old best guess.
• and talking about that best guess; the search superbowl won has it while the more (US) correct super bowl won hasn't.
• superbowl winner had news on 3rd, best guess on top. While the other searches showed the latest news including who the winner was, this search showed old news. Old facts with old news. Again, weird in the eyes of the freshness update.
• logged in or not, anonymous or not, these were all straight forward results; not a social result in site.

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Super Bowl XLVI Winner: Google Freshness & "Who Won The Super Bowl" Searches

First off, what exactly is social SEO? Social SEO is a hybridization of social media marketing and SEO. The two disciplines are actually much more intertwined than some marketers may believe and it no longer makes sense to operate them in separate silos.

Fragmentation of your online marketing efforts often means your actions aren't being properly leveraged across various platforms, leading to a diluted and confused brand messaging strategy.

However, just because you recognize that social media marketing and SEO go hand-in-hand, that doesn't mean there aren't pitfalls you should be careful to avoid. Here are 4 social SEO mistakes to watch out for:

1. Using Social Media As An Advertising Vehicle

Please don't turn your social profiles into a soapbox to sell your products.

Most social media interactions are being driven by the consumer. Social profiles are a great way to interact and engage your target audience, build your online brand presence (with a well optimized profile), share and promote your content and much more but they are not an advertising medium for your company.

Businesses that use social media solely as a platform to sell their products/services quickly learn that no one is listening.

2. Assuming Social Profiles Will Replace Your Website

At the other end of the spectrum, there are a handful of companies that invest so much time/effort/manpower into their social profiles that they decide to basically abandon their company website in favor of their Facebook page.

This move could prove deadly for your company. You don't really own your Facebook page, Facebook does. They have the power to shut down your page without warning or explanation. Where would that leave you and your company?

Not to say that I think Facebook is leaving anytime soon, but imagine if Facebook vanished off the face of the Earth tomorrow. If your entire web presence was built on the social network it would vanish too.

3. Expecting Overnight Success

Both SEO and social media are incredibly long term processes. Joining the two together doesn't make them any shorter so don't expect instant success.

Too many site owners are in a hurry to prove ROI (which is understandable in todays economy), but it means that long terms projects are often sacrificed for short term gains. That is no way to succeed in the online marketplace.

Social SEO requires a constant and dedicated effort in order to help your online business thrive.

Remember, social media is built on real relationships (even if they are online) with real people. You cant force someone to interact with your company online, so you have to give them enough time and enough incentive to bother.

4. Targeting The Wrong Audience

One of the basics fundamentals of marketing is to identify and understand your target audience. If you don't have a firm grasp on who you are trying to reach all of your messaging will fall on deaf ears.

When it comes to social SEO, you not only need to know who your audience is, but you also need to learn their online behaviors. You might be trying to sell products to IT directors, but how does the average IT director use the Internet? What sites do they visit? How comfortable are they with social networking? How do they search for things? Knowing how your target audience interacts with the Internet will help you position your website in the best possible way.

Social SEO has the power to radically improve your online brand presence when managed correctly. It takes the best of social media marketing and SEO and fuses them together for an even stronger campaign. However, there are plenty of opportunities to make a simple mistake that could limit or derail your campaign entirely. Try to keep these four in mind when executing your social SEO campaign and you'll be much better off.

See Also:

• Social Networks and the New Challenge for Ranking in Search
• Why You Cant Separate Social Media and SEO
• 15 Second Twitter SEO Do-Over: Making Social Count Every Which Way

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

4 Social SEO Mistakes to Avoid

Theoretically, anything that influences online searches can indirectly affect SERP position. On several occasions, Google hinted on the role of organic CTR and search impressions in SERP ranking. Moreover, many can notice the positive relationship between organic search impressions and SERP position. Given these evidences, can we indirectly attribute improved SERP position to online ads?

display and
video
ads can
increase search queries
on generic
and brand-specific terms
three timesIn this post, I will deviate from a common line of reasoning used to rule out any positive effect of advertising on organic search results. Paid inclusion and other types of online ads are not meant to improve the organic search results of advertisers, but we should not overlook the behavioral effects of advertising which can impact online searches and thus SERP ranking.

A study conducted by Fox Networks and market research firm comScore in 2010 showed that display and video ads can increase search queries on generic and brand-specific terms three times. Video ads have more immediate impact on search queries than display ads. Those who were exposed to video ads were twice more likely to search about the sponsored trademarks than display ad viewers do. But as display ad impressions increase, so does its effect on the search behavior of the audience.

The study analyzed behavioral responses to four ad campaigns aimed at travel, finance, government and utilities sectors over a four-week period. Around 80,000 British online users were involved in the study.

Optimizing Ads for Organic Search

The volume, relevancy and frequency of traffic from search engines are long believed to be a crucial SERP ranking factor. The research findings explain why new brands heavily advertised on TV stand out even in organic searches. Here are some ways you can turn your ads into an SEO tool.

1. Use targeted keywords in your brand name and prominent areas of banner and landing page. This will influence search queries and improve brand recall when users search for those keywords. The more often your domain or brand name appears in keyword-rich search queries, the higher would be the SERP ranking of your site.

2. Use paid press releases to complement your ads. This would fuel more searches when your product or website is mentioned in various domains.

3. Include paid reviews in your ad campaign. Sponsored reviews have the advantage of giving you a customized URL or title, thus increasing impressions from organic searches.

Building search engine traffic is entirely different from direct traffic generation. The latter is one of the main objectives of online advertising, while the former is often seen as an unpredictable upshot rather than an important aspect of an online marketing campaign.

By influencing online search behavior through ads, online marketers can build organic search engine traffic, especially if the advertising campaign generates millions of impressions as those used in the Fox study.

Advertisement & SEO:

• David Ogilvy on SEO
• How To Squeeze The Most Out Of Every Internet Marketing Dollar
• Advertise on Facebook to Learn More About Your Customers [Quick Idea]

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

Turn Your Ads Into An SEO Tool: How Ads Can Affect Organic SERP Ranking

In the third and final post of my "3 Ps of WordPress Site Structure for SEO" series I'm going to cover "P for Performance". If you havent read the previous posts, make sure you catch up with "P#1: Preparation" and "P#2: Publishing" first of all.

Test And Refine

The first part of P#3: Performance starts off with testing and refining, knowing exactly which keyword phrases work for your business.

As I'm sure you know, you should have monetary goals set up within Google Analytics. If this is the case youll be able to see which keyword phrases, and which links bring you the highest quality of traffic then you can re-focus your effort on areas that are most relevant for your business.

I also use a tools called Market Samurai to determine which keyword phrases I should be targeting, and how my targeted keyword phrases are currently ranking.

• Think Test Track : The Improvement Framework

Increase Speed

You also need to make sure that your site is loading quickly for the majority of your visitors. Make sure you check out your site loading speed using the Vertain site speed tool.

Also, you need to make sure that your WordPress installation including your site structure such as your plugins is loading efficiently. You can do this using the W3 Total Cache and Optimize DB Plugins.

And of course, you need to be able to trust your host. I've had good shared hosting experience with HostGator, HostMonster and Vidahost. If youre building a big, popular site then you should take a look at VPS.net.

• How to Optimize Your Website's Loading Time and Performance

Direct Search Engines

As well as making sure your website visitors have a good experience, you also of course need to make sure that search engines understand what your site offers, and can easily navigate through your various pages.

You can do this by using a good theme which ensures that your site coding is efficient and easy to crawl. Personally I like Thesis, but there are lots of other good alternatives about nowadays.

Another good way of improving efficiency is to make better use of old, irrelevant content that still ranks well in Google. Why not 301-redirect this to fresh, new, relevant content?

• How to Organize & Structure Your Website Content for SEO and People

Conversion Optimization

Finally, you need to make sure that your site conversion rates are optimized. I like using the theme OptimizePress which is a great way to create an opt-in base WordPress site.

However, if youre not doing this then you should at least be using Google Website Optimizer to run A/B and then multivariate split-tests. Improving your website conversion rates could be a lot easier than getting more visitors!

• How to Use Google Website Optimizer

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

3 P’s of WordPress Site Structure for SEO – P#3: Performance

Social Networks

When it comes to promoting or marketing just about anything, social networking should always be the first thing on your list. Youll be surprised at what a quick tweet on Twitter or status update on Facebook can do. Most press release submissionsites now have integrated social sharing buttons so that you can quickly share your press release on various social networking and social bookmarking sites. You can even get creative and create a short video about your release and post to sites like YouTube and Vimeo. If you are a member of a group or fan page, be sure to share your press release on any of them that are based on the same niche.

Blogger Outreach

When it comes getting the word out about your press release, bloggers in your related industry can give you an extra boost. Using some of the top blogdirectories will help you find blogs in your niche that you can contact and pitch to. Look for blogs with at least a page rank of 3 and a decent amount of traffic. If they agree to do a writeup about and link to your press release, this is sure to help extend the life. Not only can you take advantage of their current subscribers, but you will benefit from the extra search engine traffic and increase rankings as well.

Email Marketing

Even though some feel that targeted email marketing and newsletters are dead, thats farfromthetruth. You can benefit a lot from creating emailing lists and providing a newsletter for your customers to subscribe to. Newsletters really can come in handy when it comes to important news, events and of course press releases. Not only can you integrate your release into your own email marketing efforts, but you can possibly get other businesses in your industry to do the same. There are many companies who are willing to do features in their newsletters and you can then benefit from their subscribers as well as your own.

If you dont already have an email list or newsletter, you can use a tool like MailChimp to manage your email lists and get started with email marketing. MailChimp helps you design email newsletters, share them on social networks, integrate with services you already use, and track your results. So again we have social media integration to help further publicize your press release once you integrate it into your email newsletter.

Get Others Involved

Surely you have colleagues or even family and friends that can help you spread the word for free. Have them share the press release on their own social networking sites, but not all at once. Find out the people who are willing to help and divide them into small groups. Then you can have each group spread the word at different times throughout the month or even spread across a few months. That way you wont bombard (or spam) the Web with your release. This gradual promotion is sure to help extend the life of your press release and help resurrect your buzz from the dead.

Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog

How To Extend The Life of a Press Release Online