Ask the SEO Guru

Don’t you just hate feeling like someone is cheating and winning while you play by the rules and lose? How good would it feel if you knew you were playing by the rules and winning for a change? Well, I’m about to tell you how you can do just that.

When I was first starting out placing websites in the tops of search engines like most I spent a lot of time in forums asking questions and reading the advice of the other people just starting out. One tip that you could get on any seo or web promotion forum was PUT YOUR KEYWORDS IN YOUR TITLE.

Well like most things SE0, conventional wisdom seemed to be if one is good, then more is better. So, almost every search you would do started returning links that had the exact the same thing you searched for repeated over and over in the big blue links in the results. THAT’S how smart search engines and webmasters were back then.

Now over a decade later webmasters and search engines both are much smarter and realize repeated keywords in a title tag does not a relevant result make. With internet marketing now hitting the financial scale in the 10 digits the world knows now that a powerful marketing message and a value driven call to action is much more effective for a commercial search.

Weeeeeelllll  you might think so but take a look at this results page for hotels in London

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hotels+in+london&btnG=Google+Search

Out of the entire list of  some 20+ results, (counting both the paid and organic), the closest thing to a marketing message are the words discount, cheap and budget in about half of the listings. OOOHH, we’re selling now! <extreme textual sarcasm

I’m not saying SEO’s have done anything wrong. Obviously since Google highlights the matching words in the title and description, it must be a big part of the ranking algorithm right?

Wrong! I have long said that the blame for poor results and lack of relevancy lies not so much at the feet of the webmasters who are only doing what they think the engines want them to do, but at least some of the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the engines themselves.

Those words are highlighted not because it is tipping the hand of the algorithm, they are highlighted to give the searcher the impression that the engine has located relevant results.

GASP! SEO Guru, are you actually implying that the keywords in the title don’t play a part in an engine determining relevancy??? <multiple question marks to signify shock and disbelief<

No. I’m not implying anything. I’m telling you that:
#1. the keywords in the title tag don’t play nearly as big a role in the placement factors as the majority of people in the web marketing community believe and
#2. what difference does it make if you are not #1 and #1 gets over 70% of the clicks. And we can’t all be number 1 all the time for every keyword.

 While I’m talking about getting clicks, I’ll address the fact that there is no question that results on the first page with keyword repetition in the title do get clicks, but my contention is that they get the clicks because they are on the first page NOT because the message offers value or has a clear call to action. This may be the single biggest factor to the entire web marketing world thinking that a 2.5 conversion ratio is pretty good.

Search engines have done such a good job of public relations that the general consensus is that if it’s on the first page it MUST be relevant. In spite of the fact this is a misconception, it is actually a good thing because that is what enables a complete newbie to kick the butt of SEOs and steal their clicks.

Let’s take a look at another search term. Granted this one is not as commercial and therefore not as competitive, so that will leave plenty of room for argument, (I actually enjoy the arguments but then I also enjoy bus fumes), but there can be no question that it shows keywords do not HAVE to be in the title to rank on the first page for a search.

Let’s do a search  for rabbit husbandry. A VERY popular search term with young, affluent, adult male rabbits.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rabbit+husbandry&btnG=Search

Notice that four of the 10 results do not have either word in their titles yet they are on the first page. Also note that there are highlighted references to the words in the description but that goes back to the engines trying desperately to “prove” to the searcher they found “relevant” results. We’ll discuss that a little more later.

Also, check out a search for trajectory of the moon.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=trajectory+of+the+moon&btnG=Search
Now 6 out of the ten top results have neither word in the title. Obviously, keywords do not HAVE to be in the title to be on the first page.

GASP! Are you actually advising us to not put keywords in the title SEO Guru???? <there’s that shock thing again with the multiple question marks>

NO! If you omit the keyword from the title tag and description tag, the engine will have to hunt really hard to find matching words to highlight to give the impression that it found relevant results. This is the main reason, (well this and the fact that page rank is a little flawed and it needs some real help), that you don’t see your description tag in the results the way you write it.

You used to be able to sell with your description tag, but those were the good old days. Now they have to show highlighted words from the search terms or it looks like they made a mistake so they will butcher your description or even use weird places in your text to accomplish this. Which means selling anything is tough but the engine looks good to the searcher. No problem. Remember, that which doesn't kill us only makes us stronger --- and more money if we do it right.

The take away of today’s article is how to steal those clicks and what I’m telling you is that if you try to get more occurrences of your target term in your title tag which is limited to about 150 characters or so, including spaces, you are blowing it and letting the number 1 guy win. Use the space to make sure you have your target term in your description and text, (the anchor text of your inbound links actually have more to do with what gets highlighted from where on your site than your tags do), BUT if you want to steal the clicks from number 1 then sell the title tag!

What if your title tag said
Where do celebrities stay in London?
Riverviews of the Thames from your hotel room
Londons’sexiest concierge at your service
etc, etc, etc.

The point is almost anything besides Hotel London, london hotel, hotel discount in London, is going to stand out like a sore thumb and attract the eye.

If you focus on selling with your title instead of stuffing the keywords into the title tag, any newbie can steal those clicks.
 

Peace
Massa

 PS
If you’re thinking, “ok fine, SEO Guru,  but how do I get the top 10 away from all those seo’s in the first place?” Well, over the next few days, I’ll discuss how to use this strategy with long tail keywords and show you EXACTLY how.

 

There is a discussion today at Webmasterworld http://www.webmasterworld.com regarding the fact that that someone noticed last night that Google has added one significant word to their webmaster guidelines regarding link schemes http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66356&query=link+exchange&topic=&type

That word is excessive.

There has been a raging debate for years about how much is too much when it comes to reciprocal links. The debate rages for two basic reasons. #1. It is in Google's best interest to be a little vague when it comes to describing their policies and there can't be a single black/white answer because there are simply far too many variables.  #2. Those who can not see the point and the intent of Google's statements are very likely the ones most guilty of an infraction and simply do not want to see. 

Of course you are free to believe what and whom you choose but here is my simple to understand, works every time, nothing to worry about approach to the question. Keep in mind that when I discuss these things it is always from a commercial perspective. I don't run hobby sites or non-profit sites. I spend my time looking at this stuff with a value driven, risk vs reward, how to make sale approach and always discuss it that way too.

Is the link you are about to trade in a reciprocal deal, (reciprocal link means I will link to you if you will link to me), going to result in a desired action once the visitor gets to your site? Is the link you have pointing to you going to help convert enough visitors to make the link you are going to point to them worth sending a visitor from your site to theirs?

Look, there is only one reason to exchange links with anybody. Because you believe you will gain something of value from the deal. If you think that value is getting one paying customer from every link pointing to you from someone else's site, then a million of them are NOT excessive. That is smart business and if you have a million paying customers from a million reciprocal links, who cares whether Google likes it or not? You don't need Google with a million paying customers.

BUT, if you are telling people, (and yourself), that the reciprocal link is on theme and good for your visitors all the while you are not REALLY just wanting to help your visitors, what you are REALLY wanting is to see those links push you up higher in Google search results, then:
#1. You're lying to yourself and trying to justify it and that makes even one reciprocal link excessive, and deep down you know it and don't need to be asking the question "how many is too many" in the first place.
#2. You are looking for some easy way to "get around" the fact that building your business takes more than just being on the first page of Google and for some strange reason you have gotten it into your head that getting reciprocal links is easier than just building your business
#3. You are forgetting the number one guiding principle of making money online. Search engine placements without conversion are the epitome of irony.  Search engine placement is an expense and if that expense does not result in enough sales to make a profit, then who the hell cares how many reciprocal links is excessive?

#4. If you are trying to find out how many reciprocal links you can “get away with”, then whether you admit it or not, you are practicing black hat SEO. Just not very well. You would be better off accepting that you have now entered into high risk areas and your site could be penalized at any time so you might as well start learning about things like auto content generation, automated domain registrations, DNS manipulation, IP delivery, REAL link acquisition and so forth.

 
It is not about reciprocal links or how many is too many. It is about making more money from less visitors with less expense and more profit.

Don't let your self get sucked into wasting your time judging linking opportunities with a yardstick of whether Google will think it is excessive or not. Approach each reciprocal  link deal with a single thought. Will this link exchange bring me enough paying customers that I can justify recommending to my visitors to go to his site instead of staying at mine?

If you approach it that way you have a much better chance of making money and as a fringe benefit you get Google placements too. Doesn't that make more sense than trying to get Google placements and as a fringe benefit you hope to get some sales?

 

You don’t really need Google guidelines to tell you what is excessive. If you feel the need to ask, you know already.