Blogs

Posted by: Haig Kayserian

Just when you think the web industry could not pull out any more acronyms, we come up with SMO... humanly referred to as Social Media Optimisation.

 

Where the hugely mainstream Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the act of generating traffic to your websites through search engines like Google, Social Media Optimisation is basically the act of generating traffic for your website through social media applications like Facebook and Blogs.

 

In some ways, SEO and SMO are intertwined.

 

Effectively increasing your website's social media reputation will also catch the attention of search engines, which notice traffic increases from more popular websites to less popular websites (e.g. from Facebook to your website).

 

Therefore SMO helps you increase search engine traffic, while sending you some valuable and new non-search engine traffic.

 

Some ways to optimise your website through social media are:

  • Blogging: Your blog can be broadcast to a great number of websites which accept blog broadcasts, or 'pinging'.

  • Allow Sharing: Using SHARE buttons (see below this article), your visitors are able to share your blogs, articles, products, etc. with their social media networks (Facebook friends, Del.icio.us bookmarks, etc.)

  • Allow RSS: Really Simple Syndication allows visitors to subscribe to your content (blog, news, etc.) so they receive notification of anything new so they return to your website for more reading.

  • Multimedia Sharing: Broadcast your videos and images on popular websites such as YouTube and Flickr, tagging the right keywords and referencing your website in any public descriptions.

 

There are many other ways of course... but we can't give all out secrets away!

August 25, 2008

SEO web design essential

Posted by: Haig Kayserian

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an essential ingredient to consider when selecting your web design company, as a poorly built website has ZERO potential for traffic!

 

You may have heard terms like CSS, Strong Tags, Titles, URLs, Meta Tags, etc without really understanding them. The key is not for you to understand them, but for you to make sure your web designers know them... and more importantly, use them!

 

Simply ask them what they are doing while building your website to ensure it is in a form able to be optimised. If they cannot answer, show them the following YouTube Video, which is of an internet celebrity known as the SEO Rapper who tries to make SEO tutoring interesting.

 

 

That is about as entertaining as it gets. But I honestly doubt it will be enough to teach a non-SEO web designer about SEO web designing.

 

I have had potential clients come into our KayWeb offices in Melbourne and Bondi Junction (Sydney) and ask me why their competitor appears above them on Google! I have viewed these peoples' websites and picked the bones out of them, explaining that it was constructed in such a way that regardless of what SEO activities they attempted from here on end, it would be too little, too late with the website's skeletal structure in such a hideous state.

 

I am the first person to say that there are dozens of influencing elements that determine your Google position. However, the fundamental one is the structure of your website, and ensuring it is search engine-friendly. If not, no amount of Tag optimisation, content optimisation, or link-building will assist your rise to the top.

Posted by: Haig Kayserian

It is hindering to see web developers and SEO 'experts' still attempting to trick Google with their illegal search engine optimisation tactics. Illegal SEO tactics such as keyword spamming will do more damage to your website's standing on Google than good.

 

Recent Hitwise website statistics suggests Google's Australian search engine market share is a massive 88%. Therefore it is clear that impressing Google will assist your website's rise in search engine rankings. The fact that every tenth website visit is to Google means if Google rates your website highly, you will almost certainly receive referrals which could lead to crucial business.

 

So with Google as crucial as identified above, why would you want to piss it off?

 

This question is directed to those web developers and SEO 'experts' who feel dumping a bunch of keywords into an obscure area on a web page (keyword spamming/stuffing) will result in positive search engine results.

 

Technically, Google spiders will see these keywords. Technically, these spiders will recognise these keywords as keywords regardless of the fact that they may be totally irrelevant to services offered by the website. Technically, your website's ranking may rise in the short-term as a result of this tactic.

 

But is this short-term success worth it?

 

The reality is that Google has developed advanced spiders which will detect such keyword spamming. Also, Google has developed the largest network of 'dobbers', allowing spotters of keyword spamming to report spam to Google very easily.

 

And, when - not if - Google catches you, they will come down on you like a ton of bricks!

 

There are many examples of Google banning websites from appearing on the search engine for a certain period of time. A certain multi-national car manufacturing company was caught recently, and as a result, it did not receive a Google referral to their website for 6 months! For 6 long months, this company was unable to reach the widest worldwide audience due to an ill-advised decision to keyword spam.

 

Google is market leader due to the fact that it is the most relevant search engine. Their rules and guidelines are in place to ensure their relevance is maintained.

 

For example; if you were a business analyst, you wouldn't want a climate change company to appear when someone searches ‘business analyst'. If keyword spamming was allowed, this could be possible if the climate change company dumped the words ‘business analyst' on their website. The person searching for a business analyst would be upset because their search returned a climate change company, while the business analyst will feel dudded that they lost potential business.

 

As this example shows, Google's rules are there for very valid reasons, and everybody looking for SEO must target SEO companies that follow Google guidelines and optimise within Google's valid boundaries.