Website Redesign: Improving Website Usability and SEO

Every site owner and Webmaster has either contemplated or participated in a website redesign at some time in the history of their sites. Unfortunately the vast majority do not factor in the search engines and SEO when completing their website redesign. How many times have we seen people come to us after they have performed a site redesign only to see their search engine rankings tank? If I had a dollar for every time this has happened…
The question becomes why do so many site owners and Webmaster make this critical mistake when they redesign their sites? The fact is that most designers only look [...]

What Factors Should be Considered for an Online Competitive Analysis?

Coming from an agency, there are often times when there is need to perform a competitive analysis for a client in order to better understand the client’s position in the competitive landscape. The main purpose of a competitive analysis should be to gain awareness of the competitive factors analyzed and to leverage the client’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to their advantage. So what kind of factors should be included in an online competitive analysis? Below are a few that I feel should always make the competitive analysis list:

Domain Age: The age of your domain can have an affect [...]

In-Bound Linking from Mini-Sites Vs. On-Page SEO

We received a great question from Karen in California who wanted to know:
Have a quick question…..we have been told that we should be building lots of mini-sites to help with our in-bound linking and that will help our SEO efforts. Do you believe that or is on page SEO much better and time and resources should be spent doing that and not worrying about in-bound linking from your own mini-sites?
I know in-bound linking is very important to build your “authority” but does in-bound linking from your own sites do much?
Great question Karen!  The answer is it depends.  Inbound links or as [...]

Search Marketing Trends 2008

Last week I was able to catch up with Jeffrey Pruitt, EVP, Corporate Partnerships at iCrossing, to discuss his thoughts on search marketing trends and paradigm shifts in 2008. We also discussed some useful sessions people should check out while attending Search Engine Strategies in New York. Here’s how our conversation went:
[Manoj]: Can you give me a brief overview of the trends you think the search marketing industry will see this year?
[Jeffrey Pruitt]:
1) Convergence of Search and Display
As advertising becomes more and more digitized, we will see a changed landscape over the next few years. Non-Premium inventory (not on [...]

SEO Strategy: What Should it Consist Of?

SEO strategy is something that has been difficult to define as the search landscape tends to change quite frequently with new innovations and technologies popping up all over the place.  While many have tried to outline the definitive SEO strategy, the fact is that a sound SEO strategy may be different for each and every business or web property.  An effective search engine optimization strategy does not mean simply getting a webpage to number one in Google, Yahoo or ASK.  A successful SEO strategy should focus on three areas:

Getting Traffic to Your Web Properties via Carefully Selected Keywords
Having Compelling and [...]

The Last Word on Breaking the Google Habit

When I started this series of columns, I had no intention of making it a series. But now, with the 5th (and final) installment, it looks like I may finally break this particular habit. It’s been fascinating for me. Hopefully it’s been equally interesting for you.
We Develop Strings of Habits
 
In last week’s column, I talked about environmental cueing and reinforcement. Here, cues in our environment (the ubiquitous toolbar search box, for example) trigger a habit, and the expected outcome (the delivery of relevant results) reinforces the habit. This creates a sustaining cycle.
 
But there’s one other aspect of habits [...]

More Steps to Breaking the Google Habit

Let’s imagine that my ongoing series about the forming of habits (installment 1, installment 2 and installment 3) has so captured your curiosity that you want to find out more. You’re reading this column from your computer. You make the decision to find more information about breaking a habit. Now, let’s slow down time and look at the steps. There, in the upper left of your browser, is the Google toolbar. Or maybe you have the Google sidebar in the lower right of your window. Perhaps you’ve got Google’s homepage bookmarked. Whatever the shortcut, you don’t suddenly stop and think, [...]