Popular Link Research Tools

The Common Back Links Tool:  This back links tool finds links that are linking to at least two domains, or specific pages, that you choose to compare.  One good reason to use this tool: if you compare two competitor sites, you will likely find links that you may have an opportunity to gain.

The SERP Research Tool This tool is one of my favorites.  It allows you to search for potential places to post your link, using your keywords to make sure the pages are relevant.  It also checks to make sure you haven’t already posted a link in that location, because if you post several links a. you’re annoying and b. it looks spammy.  (Your common (SEO) sense comes in to play here – this is a great way to find links to post on but if you aren’t posting something useful, you are going to look spammy even if you only post once.)

The Competitive Landscape Analyzer This tool basically compares you with your competitors, head to head, across several SEO metrics.  It can help you determine a strategy by pointing out your strengths and weaknesses.

The Backlink Profiler This tool looks up all of the backlinks for a domain and brings you back loads of information about each one.  With this tool, you can see the anchor text, the type of link (follow, no-follow), and what type of site is linking to you (blog, forum, directory, etc.).  Beyond the ability to find additional links, if you check out a competitor’s backlinks, you can also use this tool to organize and categorize your current links.

What Sets Link Research Tools Apart?

In talking to a Link Research Tools representative, my first question was to ask them how they differed from other SEO tools.  According to the representative, one of their major pulls stems from the fact that many other SEO tools (including SEOmoz) have their own pre-crawled and pre-analyzed data, which allows them to do analysis based on a limited number of metrics (mozRank, Page & Domain Authority, etc.) very, very quickly.  Also, for link data, although it the data is pulled quickly, it is very often outdated because they don’t know when a link goes down until they re-crawl the page on which the link should be.

Link Research Tools use not one but more than 20 different data sources and support approximately 50 different metrics – including all the SEOmoz metrics, but also many, many more. Additionally, Link Research Tools crawl all the data live, which means that the data in a report is never outdated. With Link Research Tools, you can be 100% sure that every single link you see in a Backlink Profiler report that is marked as “Follow” is actually still follow. Dropped links are marked as “[LinkNotFound]” (or ignored, if you have the Superhero package and choose to ignore dropped links from your report).

Also, according to the representative, Link Research Tools actually have a number of metrics that *no* other SEO tool, as far as he knows.  (I don’t know of any other tools that have these metrics either, so if you’ve heard of similar tools, I’d love to hear about them!) Link Research Tools exclusive metrics include the “Theme”, which shows you the topic a site has and is great for the analysis of the thematical relevance of the backlinks for a site.  They also have the “SiteType”, which shows the type of software that’s behind the site, like Blog, Forum or CMS. Link Research Tools also support social metrics like Facebook Likes, Retweets, etc.  I could glady talk all day about the (increasing) importance of social media in your SEO efforts but that’s another blog post.

If you look at the Case Studies at http://www.linkresearchtools.com/case-studies/ you’ll find that these metrics, exclusive to Link Research Tools, can actually matter quite a bit.

The downfall to Link Research Tools, is that it takes some time.  In order to aggregate loads of new data, you have to wait anywhere from a few minutes to an hour.  The length of time a report takes is proportional to the size of report and the number of metrics selected, so it’s not entirely out of your control if you need to run a few reports ASAP.   All in all, that’s a small price to pay for good data (and lots of it!), there are some tools that we use here at Hanapin that require us to run reports over night because they take so long.  Like I said, for good data, it’s worth it.

I’d love to hear a rebuttle from other representatives, namely an SEOmoz representative, since SEOmoz is widely known and was used as a benchmark in several comparisons.  Both Link Research Tools and the SEOmoz tools are very helpful in analyzing SEO efforts, especially linkbuilding.  There are pros and cons of all tools but the larger your toobox is, the more opportunities you have to build a strong search engine marketing strategy for your site.

Flash just throws up some huge red flags when it comes to SEO.  Take the loading time, for example.  Google has explicitly stated that long load times lead to reduced quality scores, and as SEOs we work hard to make sure that our websites become fully active in mere moments.  Flash sites, however, can take a full 10-30 seconds (or more!) to load with an average internet connection.  Not only does that upset Google and the other search engines, but it means there’s a good chance your viewer will leave the site even before they see it.  Waiting for a page to load?  That’s so dial-up.

And then there are the other problems.  For example, it’s more difficult for search engines to crawl and rank Flash sites because of the way they’re coded and structured.  Flash can be downright frustrating for users looking for quick answers, and for those with slow connections and/or old computers.  And although Adobe’s tackling the problem head-on, Flash has always had a rocky relationship with smartphones.  Laid out like this, Flash appears to be an SEO nightmare.

But.  Even with all of that, there’s that voice in my head saying “but you love Flash sites!  They can’t be all bad, right?”  Okay head, you’re on.  Let’s see what SEO principles Flash can work with.

Originality, Interactivity, & Branding

First and foremost, Flash sites can be new and, well, flashy.  Take the homepage for AgencyNet Interactive, for example.  As a viewer, this is not what I expected to find on a company website, and I immediately want to know more.  I begin by moving my mouse to see what reacts, and it only takes moments for me to find the buttons to the other pages.  While I’m looking, I come across several other details that keep me engaged, such as a playable dart game and an exploding file cabinet.  Notably, some of these smaller components work to demonstrate the company’s reach beyond web design: it’s easy for me to see what they’ve been tweeting, and there’s even a helicopter I can fly by using my smart phone.  When I do move off the homepage, I’m invited to change directions by drawing arrows on the screen, have my wishes spelled out by fireflies, and watch video explanations instead of reading text.  By the end of this, I feel awesome.  It really seems like they’ve welcomed me into their company, and included me in their products.  I’ve been in control of what’s happening, I feel like AgencyNet values my time, and I am excited to see all the new possibilities the internet offers.



This innovative, meticulous site pulls a ton of weight when it comes to branding.  Sure, this site has told me about AgencyNet’s services, past work, mission, and contact information – but that could have also been accomplished with traditional text.  Its real strength lies in how it reinforced this information in a visual/experiential way.   Because I’ve been able to see, hear, and engage with the company through its website, I feel like I know its personality as a whole, and I’m going to hold on to that impression much more concretely than if I simply had read a paragraph about what they do.  Also, because the website made me feel good (and included), I already have positive feelings towards the company.  Finally, because I’ve experienced the quality of its site first-hand, I trust that AgencyNet is an authority in its field.  And guess what – I’m going to tell all my friends.

Social & Linkbuilding

Show and tell just never gets old – when we find something cool, we want everyone else to see it too.  In terms of AgencyNet, the site is just so unusual, novel, and experimental that I want to share it with all my SEM pals, whether I link it in a blog (like, say, this one), or tweet about it.  In a way, the impressive, quirky, and interactive features of AgencyNet’s site provides ready-made linkbait for itself.

However, because Flash sites have the unique ability to be interactive, smooth, and creative, they can also be even more deliberately share-able.  For example, sites such as Romance Novel Yourself and Monoface are meant to be passed around the internet, with no other overt purpose.  This isn’t a new concept (remember Burger King’s subservient chicken?), but Flash can again bring the experimentation, heightened interaction, and novelty to the forefront.  With Flash, I only have to put the minimal amount of effort into playing with these sites, which means I can access them faster, play it more times, and be more willing to share them with others.  Of course, a well-done internet toy or tool is great for getting users to check out the designer’s home site, which can once again help establish authority and branding.

Ways to avoid SEO pitfalls with Flash

A great Flash website has enough originality, branding quality, and sharing incentive to help it make up for its visibility problems in a search engine.  For example, even though AgencyNet only ranks a measly #13 for “digital brand management” (one of their key services), they have well over 5,000 Twitter/Facebook followers, and a clientele that boasts of Jay-Z, Bacardi, Ruby Tuesday, Grey Goose, and Ice Age.  I wouldn’t mind those business cards on my desk!

However, there are ways to make sure your Flash site is as SEO friendly as possible.  Partially, these are SEO tips:

• Set up Flash Tracking in Google Analytics.
• Incorporate keywords wherever you can, and consider linking your flash site to a text-based site (such as your blog).
• Double-check for broken links and other issues that come up in WMT.

But because Flash is so reliant upon happy/engaged viewers, it’s also important to keep the following in mind:

• Consider the navigation in your site.  The Flash sites I found to be the easiest to use had the option to move to different pages at any time.  Here are two ways this can be accomplished:
  • Keep menus in the outside frame of the site, as demonstrated by Custom-Design and Media Boom

• Have the navigation elements available in every scene, even if their design elements change.  This is fantastically done in Lounge Lizard’s home site.

• Animate the load period so that viewers know the website is working, and so they are engaged during the wait.  This can be as simple as an animated logo (such as MediaBOOM uses), or an elaborate sequence (like the initial page used by AgencyNet).

• And speaking of wait times, give your viewer a faster way to get around the site if possible.  Watching a short animation/video between each page or part may be fun the first time around, but if this is someone who’s on their fifth or sixth visit, the wait may not be all that thrilling any more.  One good way to do this is to have a “skip” button installed in each animation, so that users can pick and choose where they want to spend their time.
• Make the extra effort to make sure that the site is connected, both in terms of its content and how it relates to other aspects of your company or brand, such as your social media accounts.  Just having an animated Flash site doesn’t guarantee that users will like your site or stay on it long: you have to put time and effort into it to make an immersive, detailed, and hiccup-free experience for the viewer.

Flash has a bright future ahead of it, and can be optimized for SEO despite its limitations.  What have you done to make a Flash site work for you?

To start, for those of you who don’t know, Quora at it’s simplest is a question and answer social network. Comparisons to Yahoo! Answers and Answerbag are of course warranted, but Quora is much more. To start, it was co-founded by Adam D’Angelo, who was Facebook’s former CTO (yeah, that Facebook), so it has a very competent managing team. Another huge difference (and factor into Quora’s success) is that there is no anonymity as is much the case with the other often maligned answer networks. So, as a result of this transparency, you tend to see much more insightful and helpful answers (without the wild card factor of anonymity). Also, with Quora, there is an intricate ranking system that gives you a result to your question (or keywords/topics searched).  This ranking system is based on upvotes or downvotes, which are given by users much like Digg. The more votes the answer gets, the more prominently it will be displayed. But, unlike Digg, votes carry different weight depending on the user. Voters who have given good answers previously will have much more influence based on their up/downvote than other users, or users who have had issues with the site. So much like Google’s quality score, user history plays a role. And also, Quora does not allow for solicitation for votes, and any user reported doing this will be banned.

To move past the operating procedures of Quora, there is also the dynamic way in which Quora sorts it’s answers and information. When you sign up as a user, you can have Quora as part of your RSS feed, depending on topics of your choosing. Quora users bookmark certain issues (i.e. religion, Iraq War, 2012 elections, etc.) and sort questions/answers into these topics, and can alert you of new questions and answers. Or, you can simply search questions, topics, or people in the easy to user Quora interface. A good analogy would be a scaled-down, more human version of Google, a mini-Google. And the more upvotes a question/answer gets, the more likely it will be relevant to the keyword/topic you search.

And finally, the sheer amount of people who are “reputable” on Quora is amazing. Quora’s community consists of constant contributors from the Silicon Valley (and other tech luminaries) such as Marc Andreessen, Dustin Moskovitz, and Steve Case. Virtually all PPC/SEO bloggers or authorities have a Quora account as well, making this a valuable and reputable source of information pertinent to the industry of internet marketing. All this being said, it is safe to say that the upside of Quora is very large, but how do you use this for SEO?

In an attempt to keep from commercializing Quora, the administrators have blocked corporations from making accounts and have limited it to individuals with email accounts, as well as prohibited advertising of any type on the site. But, there are definite ways around this to garner more traffic, be it directly or indirectly. Directly speaking, Quora has been added to Google Social. So, having a presence on Quora and having a large amount of followers could lead to your posts being more prominent in search results. The more people who feel your web presence, the more that will listen to your answers or questions.  And because of this, slipping a name in one of your posts or promoting a company blog could lead to a traffic spike, or at least more name recognition. In addition, if you make it clear that you are affiliated with either a client or company, if you are in good standing with many users of Quora, you could see some traffic from those mentions as well.

Indirectly speaking, Quora is a good way to get your name out to a reputable pool of contributors. For instance, based on the niche of your industry (or the industry that you are advertising for a client), you can find what is being asked or what is a hot topic. The more you contribute to this topic type, be it through questions or answers, the more you will get your name out there as an authority on the topic. And the more you capitalize by posting on what is trending or being discussed, not only will you be kept up to date on the issues, but you will have valuable insight into the industry you are advertising for.

Quora is a free question and answer service that is worth a look. It may not be as high in traffic as Yahoo! Answers, but for what it lacks in traffic it gains in reputation and sheer upside. And, being integrated into Google Social is a huge step forward in terms of affecting you or your clients SEO. Take into account the strategies above, and you could see an upswing in either traffic, search rank, or both for free. And be sure to check back with SEO Boy as we keep you up to date on Quora and everything else SEO.

Regardless of your device, you’ll need to download the Google app. For iPhone, it’s a simple matter of searching Google on the app store and downloading the app. I deleted my app and reinstalled it today and was greeted with an opening tutorial, specific to Goggles. This makes it easy to implement upon first downloading. Unfortunately, I’m not that familiar with the android operating system but I’d imagine it’s a very similar process. You can also have the download link sent to your phone by entering your mobile phone number through the Goggles website on a standard browser. When I first learned about Goggles about a month ago the process of getting it to work on my phone wasn’t exactly clear. The “send Goggles to iPhone” link wasn’t working. Fortunately it is now but this is a process you can avoid by simply downloading the app.

So getting the app is simple enough and honestly using it is just as easy. The basic premise of the app is that you take pictures with your phone and the images are translated into search results. The app breaks these functions into a few categories that I’ll break down individually:

Text – The text translator can be particularly useful for international travelers. I haven’t found an application for it here in the states but I could see myself pulling it out for a quick translation. You might find yourself in a situation where you need a fast translation and typing a paragraph in a foreign language might not sound like a great idea. Simply open the app and snap a photo and you’ll have a decent translation in a few seconds.

Landmarks – This is another feature I feel is exceptionally useful while traveling. I’m the type of person that actually likes to learn a thing or two about the landmarks I’m visiting while site seeing but I’m not the type to pay for or even wait in line for a guided tour. If you’re out exploring a new city, simply snapping a photo of an unknown landmark can provide you instant and relevant Google results.  Not too shabby of a tool if you ask me.

Books – This can be tremendously useful if you’re an avid reader. I generally get my book recommendations from friends and usually by being a little nosy on their book shelves. In the event you find something you’re interested in, you can simply snap a picture and have all of the information surrounding the book readily available on your phone. In addition to providing author, title, publisher, ISBN number, and publishing date, you’ll also have an image of the book, standard Google results surrounding it, and a direct link to Google shopping results. I liken this feature as the book version of Shazam (the popular app that recognizes songs through a few seconds of audio sampling). I use them both and without them, I’d never remember any of my book recommendations or random songs I hear on the radio.

Contact Info – This again is a tremendously usable feature. The app is able to easily recognize contact information from letterhead or business cards and translate it directly into your phone contacts. This is particularly useful for business contacts. I know I can get a little lazy when entering all the information – things that could be useful like business names or address (which you always tend to need when you aren’t in front of your computer) are automatically generated for you with a simple image capture.

Artwork – This function goes hand-in-hand with the landmarks functionality. If it’s something that is rather well known and has a decent amount of photographed history on the web, you can feel fairly certain that Goggles will recognize the image and deliver search results. I tried this out on a photographic print I have hanging on a wall. While Goggles wasn’t able to tell me the photographer, it did tell me where I purchased this print, which happened to be Ikea. I was more impressed by this then if they had told me the lens and camera body the photo was shot with.

Wine – The wine tool is another one of those simple tools that can be useful in a pinch. Maybe you’re out to dinner and have a great wine pairing you want to remember or at a friends and are drink a sensible glass you want to purchase on your own. A simple snap of the label will give you all the info you need to add that bottle to your cellar. A little known fact about Southern Indiana is that we have a number of fantastic local wineries. These are small obscure bottles and Goggles was able to identify every local bottle we have in our rack. My friend Mike who I mentioned earlier just got back from New York and mentioned he used the app a few times to find someplace local to buy some wine they had with dinner and that it worked like a charm. Bonus feature is that it works for Beer too!

Logos – This is another obvious one but Goggles is pretty capable of picking out brands. If there is a logo you want to commit to memory, Goggles can handle it.

So these are the core functions that Goggles has been advertising from the start. Today they announced some new and added functionality. Some of these added features I’ll admit aren’t the greatest. Barcode reading for example works but isn’t as advanced as some of the dedicated barcode readers. It’ll tell you what the product is and if you can shop for it online, it’ll provide some shopping results but (at least from the codes I scanned) doesn’t provide the in depth cost comparison analysis that I’ve come to expect from the dedicated apps. Google also claims that Goggles is doing a better job at recognizing print ads. I tested this on the Louis Vuitton ad that features Bono and while it did recognize the ad, I wasn’t sure what the point is. I mean, I knew it was Louis Vuitton by the ad, why did I need an app to tell me so?

Finally, the most useless, in my opinion, function. Google Goggles solves soduku puzzles. While I admit it shows the power of the software, I’m not a soduku guy and even if I was isn’t using a robot to solve your puzzle cheating?

I’ve been using this app for about a month now and while I don’t find a use for it on a daily basis, it has come in handy time and time again. It’s good to know that Google is committed to making it better and I think this technology only has room to grow. It’s too bad you have to open an app to actually make use of it. I think it would be even more powerful if it was built into our mobile browsers. Let me know what you think about Goggles. Have you been using it? Do you think it’s here to stay?

Wanting to get your site ranked higher is a normal, rational goal. You find who is above you, find out how they are put together, do one better and rise up. There are times that I have had to compose myself and not fly off the handle. There are things that happen that are more of a damage to pride issue rather than a loss of business issue. There are some signs that you need to start taking your SEO very seriously and figure out what is going on and a plan to fix it.

1. Your site drops below the fold on the 1st page.

If you are climbing your way to the first page, you are on your way. That’s fine. An SEO campaign takes time. The problem is when you start to lose your footing. Trading off the first and second positions is normal for many sites. If you drop further and even below the fold, you need to pay attention to what it going on. If you research a little, you’ll find a lot of people who like to vent. Look at the sites that are outranking you. Check how many sites link to you and how many link to your competitors. A quick way to check is to use the link: operator in google - link: www.mysite.com Try to gain as much of an understanding of why some one’s  site is preferred over yours.

2. Your time on site drops

Depending on what you have as far as content on your site, your measurement of people’s time on your site will be different. If you’ve been enjoying a two minutes and 30 seconds average time for your site and your site suddenly drops to 30 seconds, you have an issue to address quickly. Are you keywords no longer relevant? Are people being misled by your content? Have you updated your site in awhile?

3. Your conversions drop below 1%

Conversion rates are fun to compare and brag about and argue over. The conversion rates of direct mail pieces are considered good if you achieve 1%. I think online SEO conversion rates should aim for 5-8%. Your website should always consider the types of customers you have and create strong calls to action. If your conversions drop in proportion to your unique visitors, you need to see how people are using your site. The mindset has changed, the offer is not compelling anymore, the language is not answering their need, you are not presented as a solution provider.

4. Negative Reviews Increase … Quickly

There are negative people out there. It’s also easier to write a bad review than a good one. Your SEO efforts will bring this negative review to everyone. Your online reputation management needs someone work. You may need to take some time and review the procedures in your company. If you have a good BBB rating, put that on your website near the top. The BBB rating that links to your profile is more powerful than an anonymous review from Redbaron69.

1. You shouldn’t develop a site in Flash. 1998 was an awesome time of promise for Flash being the new Internet standard. Once it was discovered that the search bots couldn’t read flash sites, it didn’t take despite the rantings of my graphic design friends.

2. Flash can be weighty.Desigining an ad in flash doesn’t take many kilobytes, but start putting in more and more functionality, like a game, and it starts tack on more KBs than you want.

3. Flash is popular.There are several sites that host fun little flash games that can keep you busy for hours. Even the mighty Farmtown is in Flash. Flash-built tools and trinkets have made Flash very ubiquitous. It will be very hard to dislodge out of the common internet surfer.

With these three truths, you can see that you could put something useful on your site built in flash. A nice calculator, game or tool that can make your site note-worthy.

or should you?

Apple has been bold in its stance on not allowing Flash on iPhones or iPads, the future(?) of computing. There are good points to abandon Flash, but there are reasons to keep it. (If Farmville suddenly couldn’t be accessed by millions, there would be blood.)

I had trouble in which way to lean on this issue. There are several plans for flash objects to be included in my web properties, but if Apple was going to grab a hold of the market, I didn’t want to waste an investment in an abandoned technology (remember betamax?). With the antitrust probe possibility, it didn’t clear up my decision.

Today, however, I was running some reports in Google Analytics and I noticed a report that I passed over before or that I didn’t see.

Under “Visitors” you’ll see a “Mobile” category that you can expand. If you expand it you’ll see “Mobile Devices” and “Mobile Carriers.”

For my main site, I had 8 times more visits from the iPhone than the Android. I already had iPad hits, which I didn’t expect to see for awhile. (I aim low and pessimistically with my SEO work, it makes me feel better when I exceed a goal.)

For my local area, the Apple iPhone is clearly the winner. This means that if I put a neat little flash object on there, only 1 out of 8 mobile users would have seen it.

Is it time to abandon Flash?

Well, no, for two reasons:

1. The possible antitrust probe – This could force Apple to open up to 3rd Party developers like Adobe and

2. Android is outselling the iPhone right now - At this point, more phones that can support Flash are entering the market.

For your website development and SEO campaigns, keep track of your visitors trending concerning mobile devices. It is definitely worth while to include this information periodically in your plans to develop flash objects.

If you have a website already, you may not be the one updating it and making changes to it. And that’s OK! Really! You have a business to run and the website is just a part of your business marketing. You may have another company or a freelancer looking over your site and it’s important to bring them in on what you want to accomplish with your site.  You want to grab a hold of this “Internet marketing” quickly, but where do you start?

First, ask your webdesigner if they know of any “methods to bring more leads to the website.” Don’t start throwing around acronyms like SEO, SEM or PPC because people may have different definitions of what these are in initial conversations and what they entail. Just begin by talking about leads. If they aren’t interested in helping in that, it’s probably time to ask for the keys to the admin side of your website and look for someone else who is interested.

Being a former freelancer and having worked with several web companies, below is a list of personalities I have come across when the subject of SEO comes into play. I want to suggest some methods on how to get the momentum going and continue with each of these personalities.  Your experience may vary.

Note: I tried to find some sources for how to communicate properly with your webmaster, but most articles are for webmasters dealing with clients.  Times are changing as SMB owners are going to the net looking for advice and so we may see more topics on the subject.

Personality #1: The Controller

This personality seems to portray that every suggestion or update is a huge problem. There might be reasons for this. Are your suggestions presented in a constant stream with little or no end in sight? It’s important to define the goal of your site and have every update go toward that goal. Remember that not every new bell and whistle available on the Internet will benefit your business – it will most likely distract you from your overall purpose.  Bring them into the conversation of how to increase leads to your site and what they think might be the right Internet strategy for your website.  Remember, you’re trying to develop a communicative relationship.

Personality #2: The Artist

This personality is more concerned with the look and feel of the website. More than likely, they designed your site in 95% Flash. The web artist is in a vulnerable spot since their portfolio usually consists of web links that include your site as one of their clients. When approaching the world of “increasing web leads,” a garish spam-looking site might enter their mind and their portfolio loses a page.  It will help when you point out that their success in making a website that generates leads while designing a pleasing look will increase exponentially. To those that refuse to change any design to include SEO I say “if a website can’t be found in searches, does it really exist?”

Personality #3: The MIA

This personality is one who is hard to pin down because they seem to be always ”missing in action.” Emails are brief and not fully answered. Their voicemail greeting seems to be the only time you hear their voice. Besides providing poor customer service, the MIA is inadvertently holding your website hostage. No, that doesn’t mean you go in guns a-blazin’. Hostage negotiation is more appropriate. Bring the MIA in on more agreeable ground. Respect. Contract Extending Respect. Bring them into your confidence on what your goal is “to generate more leads.” Leave it open to see how they can be a part of it. Have them show you access to the admin part of your site. If they don’t seem to want to go along with you on the journey, ask them for your administration access and give it to someone else.

Who do you give it to?

Why, a reputable  internet marketing firm of course! SEO companies not only have Search and Social Marketing techniques in mind for your industry, they also have graphic designers to make your site pleasing to look at and smooth to use.

Remember that your website is an invaluable tool for your business.  The person who controls your website is not an enemy but a great resource, no matter their personality.  Remember to cultivate communication and ask for education on what they know either in design or Internet technology necessary for your business.

Page Titles

If you don’t know how page titles play into users or search, that’s okay. Many small to medium business owners don’t know how to exactly use them or how they can be effective. Think of the page title as your first chance to explain to the user what is on the page. It’s not only found on the top of the browser window, but it’s also the heading in your result in a search engine. Adding in hierarchical page titles can be a very quick fix for your site, depending on its size, if you don’t have them or have just your site’s name for each page. Of the few things that Google does recommend to us, correct page titles is one of them.

Flash Navigation and Footer Links

Flash navigation is something small business owners would like on their site, so when a design firm dangles that carrot, it’s hard to resist. If you can’t resist, make sure you also request they include static navigation in the footer. Flash navigation can give some users trouble (even more depending on what you’re selling and the demographic of customers it draws), as well as block search engines. Now you might say that you read somewhere that Google is indexing Flash, but is it worth the risk to not include the static navigation? Didn’t think so. You’re better off with it; it won’t cost that much to implement and changes the feel of the page very little from the user’s point of view.

Header Tags

I came across a site the other day that wasn’t utilizing header tags properly. In fact, they weren’t using header tags at all. This struck me as odd and reminded me that, at this stage of web progress and development, not all websites are created equal. Additionally, they weren’t all created or updated at the same time. Using header tags correctly not only organizes your content on each page, but also boosts the relevancy of that page in the eyes of the search engines. Header tags are relatively inexpensive to implement and should be on everyone’s to-do list if they haven’t done them already. Carrie gives a quick how-to in Step 3 of her post On-Page Keyword Optimization.

If you’re thinking of investments to make this coming year or even want to squeeze in some upgrades before the end of the year (great for taxes), keep in mind these simple adjustments that could also be your first steps in SEO.

SEO is, by nature, competition.  Ranking higher than the other guy is the purpose of SEO because people don’t have time or interest to visit every single page that comes up for a certain keyword.  I read a forum that said the word “spam” can stand for “Sites Placed Above Mine.”  The war continues with Black Hat SEOs pointing and laughing at White Hats, while White Hats frustrate them with upgrading algorithms and actually providing quality content and service.

It’s all competition.

Luckily, you don’t have to take on the entire community of SEO experts, you just have to worry about your keyword family.  Researching keywords and search behavior of your potential customers is a large and should be the biggest part of SEO.  You want to define your service or product into words that the customer will type into a search engine.  Sadly, the competition is so fierce that it can’t stop there.

Fortunately, SEO efforts of your competition can be partially viewed and analyzed.  Knowing your main competition and what they are doing will help you see what you need to do better.

1. Write Down Your Main Keywords and Phrases
These will serve as a guide for all your SEO efforts.  If you still are stuck at this part, then take 5 minutes and go here.

2. Enter Those into Google, Yahoo! and Live
The top three search engines have the most market share together.

3. Take Note of the Top 3 Places
Do this once a week to gauge any movement.  If you specialize in local search, take note of all 10 of the movement of the Google Map results.  Movement of certain names up the list should be flagged for interest.

Lets say after a few weeks of tallying, you notice that there is one other site that seems to your main competitor.  There could be several, but you should concern yourself with the top three.  After you have your “enemy” in your sites, it is time to start some basic analysis.

4. Note How They are Using Their Title Bar and H1 Tags
This will show you if there is some low hanging fruit to pick off and add to your site.  If your competitor has “Welcome to Competitor.com” or “Home,” you are free to giggle only if you have put your keywords in your own title bar.

5. Note Who is Linking to Them by Typing “link:competitor.com -competitor.com” in Google
This is a quick way to see how many sites are linking to them.  The “-competitor.com” part takes out any internal linking in the results.  For a comprehensive look, also hop on over to Yahoo! and enter “linkdomain:competitor.com -competitor.com”.

6. Setup Google Alerts With Their Name and URL to Keep on Top of Any Activity
A comprehensive alert will keep email you any news story or blog or anything else that might have been “crawled” by a bot.  Press Releases and Reviews of your competitors can be sent to your inbox.

Doing these basic steps will give you more knowledge on how to pursue your own SEO efforts. If you are feeling particularly blood-thirsty, I recommend reading this.

Remember, it’s all fun and games until someone is knocked down in rank.