SEO Dance

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May all of your keywords be top search engine results in 2008.

Do you ever just search for words to see what is listed at the top of the search result? Some days when I feel there is nothing new to see on the Internet, this is what I do. Today I decided to see just what is at the top of the search results for the word ‘Christmas.’

For Google, it wasn’t really a surprise to see the first link to be the Wikipedia page. Google must love Wikipedia because their search results are usually number one or close to it. The second spot on Google belongs to Northpole.com. The third result is a like from History.com on the history of Christmas.

Let’s move on to Ask.com. The top search result at Ask is Northpole.com followed by Merry-Christmas.com and How Stuff Works.com’s answer to Christmas questions.

Yahoo must be in a love triangle with Google for Wikipedia’s affection since the Wikipedia page is at the top of the search results. Kaboose.com’s subdomain on holidays and Christmas comes in second followed by How Stuff Works.

It’s interesting to see some of the same results on search engines and wonder why one site takes top result. It’s a fun game to put off all of those holiday tasks I should be tackling instead.

I take more pictures with my digital camera in a month that I ever did with a film camera. That might be a slight exaggeration since I have piles of pictures taken throughout the years with a film camera. I average about 200-300 pictures a month. Most are not that spectacular but a few I am proud of. Those that I want to share, I load onto my Flickr account.

Users can share your Flickr photos through Digg, delicious, or countless other social bookmarking websites. With each photo, you can write a little something about it. You can also tag your photos, add friends and join groups. Flickr is a fun way to connect with others. SEO is only part of the battle when it comes to Internet traffic. While you can’t directly put in your website address into your profile, pick a username that if searched will help curious folks find you. Networking with people can help with long-term success.

Besides, it’s a lot of fun to share my favorite photos with the world.

Google may not be the only search engine in town but there is no doubt that they are very powerful. Millions use their search engine to find the information they are looking for while webmasters try their best to optimize their website to get noticed in the search results. But what happens when your search ratings fall because of lost PageRank or even worse, de-indexed by Google?

It is hard to overcome a loss of traffic but with time and a plan, that traffic will come back. Here are some suggestions for marketing your website should you find a sudden loss in traffic.

For blogs:

Taking part in a MEME is a nice traffic booster even if it might only be for a day. When taking part in a MEME, choose one closely related to your blog and then comment on other participant’s blog. Over time, MEMEs can help build your community of readers.

Blog carnivals are a collection of articles that all cover a common theme. Blog carnivals are advertised as magazines with some being published as often as monthly. Blogcarnival.com will list the blog carnivals and their next publishing date, how to submit, etc.

Comment on other blogs. It’s amazing how many people do click on URLs through comments. Say something insightful, thought provoking as a comment. Help add to the conversation, and you will certainly pique the interest of at least a few readers.

For websites:

Link exchanges are a way to find new visitors. It does take time and patience, i.e, not a quick fix solution. Sadly, other than paying for visitors, it will take time to once again have traffic flowing to your website.

Have a contest or write an in-depth article. Then write your own press release then submit to press release distribution websites that will help to get the word out about your news.

Submit to directories. Even if some are paid, if they are well recognized then it could possibly be worth it.

For blogs or websites:

Submit articles to social networks like Digg, delicious, and Stumble Upon. Be sure to take part in the social network communities by commenting and voting for other articles. Build your friends and network with Send out bulletins of your best article to your friends on My Space.

Being penalized by Google can really hurt traffic and search results. It might take time to bounce back but using web resources can help you gain exposure and win some of that traffic and hopefully more within time.

What is this? An article on New Year’s resolutions? But we haven’t even made it past Christmas yet you might be saying. The New Year can be full of hope and promise, so why not start planning for it as soon as possible? Besides it will get your mind off all that Christmas shopping still left to do.

Since all of my websites are blogs, my resolutions all revolve around making my blogs better for search engines and for readers. Here is my list of resolutions:

Blog on-topic. I maintain several blogs that all are about a different subject and yet I still manage to stray from the topic.I just cringe when I notice that I have more posts filed under MISC or off topic than that are on topic. I will put my readers first by staying on topic. If they come to my gaming blog, then they will find only game-related articles. It’s so easy for me to get off topic but in 2008 I will try very hard to stay focus.

Comment on comments. I love to receive comments but seldom respond to them. To hopefully encourage more, I will make an effort to respond to each and every comment I receive.

Blog daily. I’ve become quite fond of blogging during the evening hours. I will start dating some of those posts to go live the next day. This way I will have fresh content each day instead of having one day with three posts and then two days with none. It can be very hard to blog each day on every blog. I usually make it to each blog every three days, so if I write a few extra posts when inspired, then I will have fresh content all the time on every blog.

Concentrate on SEO. Maybe not to much on individual posts but as an overall theme for the blog. Some keywords are extremely competitive but are the words people use for searches. So, I will continue to go for long tail keywords but also try to concentrate on a few narrow keywords. An example would be my casual games blog. I will try to work in the words ‘casual game’ more into my articles since this is what my blog is all about.

I will probably add more as the new year gets closer, and I really think about how I can improve my websites.

There has been much speculation about the recent PageRank loss of several blogs and websites. Several has suggested that the PageRank loss was due to paid links, and it appears they are right as Google posts more information about paid links when it comes to PageRank.

Matt Cutts from Google posts a compelling post about paid links. Paid links that don’t use no follow or use another method to not pass PageRank can cause a search term to be more popular that it naturally is. In his example, he gives a medical example that if someone wants to learn more about a medical condition and the top results are paid links, they won’t find any useful information. Google wants to make sure that those searching for terms find the most relevant and useful information fast and easy.

His analogy might be interesting and tug at the heart strings, but frankly when I have taken information I have learned from the Internet to my doctor I’m quickly given a lesson on you can’t believe everything you read. At it’s core the Internet is entertainment and not necessarily a great source for factual information. I thought the example was in poor taste since it tugs at emotions and not on what Google is really doing when it comes to devaluing very good blogs and websites.

For me personally, Google has their hand in too many virtual cookie jars around the Internet. It would be nice to see a watchdog group do an unbiased PageRank-type system. Sadly, since it would take so many resources, I doubt that will ever happen.