Posts Tagged ‘SEO’

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SEO Basics: Why SEO?

Monday, December 8th, 2008

I have tried to explain this in extremely simple language from a layman’s perspective. Now that you know what SEO is all about, it’s time to know the importance of content in SEO. SEO techniques involve using targeted keywords in the content, restructuring the website to make it more search engine friendly, building back links, and using quality internet marketing techniques to get a steady flow of traffic to your website. Now, first and foremost comes the content. I am sure you have heard the phrase, ‘Content is king’. Here’s why it is one of the truest statements that you would have ever heard. 

It’s all about keywords 

Picture this. Mr. White who lives in Staten Island, New York wants to throw a party for his 8 year old son. He plans to hire an event management company for the party. A friend of his suggests to him to look up online. So he logs on to Google and searches for ‘Event Management Companies’. The search engine instantly pulls up a huge list of websites. But wait, most of these are irrelevant. Some of the companies are located in places as far as China. That’s not what he was looking for. So he refines the search and searches for ‘Event management, Staten Island’ and Bingo. He gets a list of event companies in Staten Island offering complete event management services. You see, a change in keyword brought about a huge change in the kind of search results that he got. This is what SEO content can do. The websites that Mr. White got in the second search attempt have targeted SEO keywords like ‘Event Management Staten Island’, ‘Staten Island event services’ and so on and so forth. 

While using targeted keywords can bring about a huge change in the search results, the content writer has to be extremely careful while using it. There is a very thin line between using and abusing keywords. Keyword stuffing is considered to be spam and many search engines have a zero tolerance policy against keyword spamming. So the onus is on the content writer to create an informative write up for the website, which showcases the myriad services on offer. Hidden within this write-up will be the keywords that will bring traffic. 

The content will be written for web users but with search engines in mind. Simple, isn’t it?

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The role of content in SEO

Monday, December 8th, 2008

I have tried to explain this in extremely simple language from a layman’s perspective. Now that you know what SEO is all about, it’s time to know the importance of content in SEO. SEO techniques involve using targeted keywords in the content, restructuring the website to make it more search engine friendly, building back links, and using quality internet marketing techniques to get a steady flow of traffic to your website. Now, first and foremost comes the content. I am sure you have heard the phrase, ‘Content is king’. Here’s why it is one of the truest statements that you would have ever heard. 

It’s all about keywords 

Picture this. Mr. White who lives in Staten Island, New York wants to throw a party for his 8 year old son. He plans to hire an event management company for the party. A friend of his suggests to him to look up online. So he logs on to Google and searches for ‘Event Management Companies’. The search engine instantly pulls up a huge list of websites. But wait, most of these are irrelevant. Some of the companies are located in places as far as China. That’s not what he was looking for. So he refines the search and searches for ‘Event management, Staten Island’ and Bingo. He gets a list of event companies in Staten Island offering complete event management services. You see, a change in keyword brought about a huge change in the kind of search results that he got. This is what SEO content can do. The websites that Mr. White got in the second search attempt have targeted SEO keywords like ‘Event Management Staten Island’, ‘Staten Island event services’ and so on and so forth. 

While using targeted keywords can bring about a huge change in the search results, the content writer has to be extremely careful while using it. There is a very thin line between using and abusing keywords. Keyword stuffing is considered to be spam and many search engines have a zero tolerance policy against keyword spamming. So the onus is on the content writer to create an informative write up for the website, which showcases the myriad services on offer. Hidden within this write-up will be the keywords that will bring traffic. 

The content will be written for web users but with search engines in mind. Simple, isn’t it?

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Posted in Content, SEO | No Comments »

SEO Basics: Black Hat SEO

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Black hat SEO is a set of unethical strategies which are used to gain higher positions in search engine rankings. They are called black hat because they are considered to be unethical or plain illegal by most search engines and the SEO community on the whole. These techniques evolved over a period of time as SEO experts were trying to generate faster results. As a matter of fact, most of these strategies were acceptable and ethical at a point of time. But then some people started to go over the board with it and search results started to get affected. So search engines started penalizing websites utilizing these strategies. 

What are black hat SEO strategies and how do we differentiate them from white hat SEO? 

Black hat SEO techniques are used to gain much faster results and may actually work for a short period of time. Some websites have skyrocketed to the top of Google SERPS (Search engine results pages) within as less as a week of using these techniques. But do not be surprised at all if your website is banned for as many as three years by Google if it is detected that you are using these techniques. 

Here are some BLACK hat SEO techniques commonly used by shady SEO experts. 

  • Keyword Stuffing: A huge list of the most searched keywords on a particular subject is created and then the webpage is stuffed with those keywords with not even a comma to separate them. A web user is usually shocked at reaching such a page that is stuffed with keywords and unwanted advertisements. The page is totally irrelevant and contains no useful information that the web user was looking for in the first place.
  • Invisible text: Once again, the keywords are stuffed on the webpage. However, this time the color of the keywords and the page background is matched so that it can be hidden from users but attracts search engine spiders. For example, a webpage with a white background will have keyword phrases in white so that they are invisible.
  • Doorway Pages: This is once again something that the end user will never see. It is a fake page that is created with the sole aim of tricking search engines into listing the website higher.  

I have noticed that the maximum number of webmasters who use black hat SEO or fall prey to unscrupulous SEO experts who promise them instant glory in SERPS, are people who are on a tight budget. However, before you hire any such SEO company, take a moment to think about the risk. Is it worth it? Always make a wise and informed decision.

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