Posts Tagged ‘search engine optimization’

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What Does Domain Aliasing do for SEO?

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Perhaps there is a wealth of information out there on domain aliasing and the effects it has on SEO, but I sure couldn’t find it.

Domain aliasing is by no means a new trick. It’s been used for years as a way to direct Web traffic to particular sites on the same domain.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, I’ll be happy to briefly explain it.

It short, domain aliasing allows you to host a Web site on one domain, and then direct other domain names to the same site. For example, if you visited originalsite.com, but wanted to direct secondarysite.com to the same Web site, you could use domain aliasing.

This is possible through a very simple server configuration. Both domain names (originalsite.com and secondarysite.com) head to the exact same place on the server. The Name Alias (on your server) will point to your Name Server (where your Website is hosted). Consequently, whatever is in that HTML file will appear on both sites, rendering both exactly the same.

The question is what sort of impact, if any, this has on search engine optimization.

Here is where I ran into some problems with my research. There doesn’t seem to be much out there about actual domain aliasing and the effects on SEO. I found some interesting posts about a 301 redirect and SEO, but that’s not what I wanted to discuss. Perhaps the best article was posted here by Zen Zoomie.

Under a forum, I found an older post about domain aliasing and SEO, and the general consensus seems to be to stick with a 301 redirect.

Most of what I read about domain aliasing, domain mapping, and indexing seemed to say the duplicate content created by the alias site would harm a Web site’s results within organic searches.

Considering the goal of search engine optimization is to improve the SERP, I have concluded the best approach for this kind of work is a 301 redirect. This means a permanent change in where a URL will take you. When you type in secondarysite.com, your URL will actually change to originalsite.com, and that’s where the content will be.

Does this mean you won’t have two sites out there to be indexed by Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. that includes your business information? Yes.

But that’s not a bad thing. Virtually all search engines frown on duplicate content. The best case scenario for sites with duplicate content is that one will rank and the other will not. It’s entirely possible both sites will suffer in SERPs.

To avoid a negative response to your search engine optimization efforts, I would strongly recommend a permanent 301 redirect for a secondary domain that points to the primary. Don’t let both domains suffer because you want to “juice” the search engines for a slightly higher rank.

By: Zack S.

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Posted in Blog Posts | 1 Comment »

Having a Website without SEO is Like…

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

…owning a brand new car but not having any tires. It might look great, but you aren’t going to go anywhere.

Search engine optimization leapt out of obscurity several years ago and it has raced to the forefront on the online marketing industry. Acronyms like PPC, PPA, and SEO are tossed around like rice at a wedding, but what does it all mean to the average business owner and their website?

Well what good is having a Web site if no one is seeing it? Just putting your business name on a Web site is no longer good enough to generate the kind of traffic you need to be successful.

You need to focus some attention on various online advertising methods, and this means acronyms: SEO, PPA and PPC.

In case you aren’t already aware of what they stand for, those are “search engine optimization”, “pay per action” and “pay per click”. Each represents a different approach to online marketing, although PPA and PPC are quite similar.

Any great marketing campaign should include a number of facets, and I’m certainly not discrediting PPA and PPC. You can run into problems with any type of advertising though, as you can read about cases of PPC fraud here if you’d like.

With that said, I turn my attention to SEO. Why? Well USA SEO Pros is a professional search engine optimization company, based in Las Vegas. I use SEO techniques on almost a daily basis, from my own personal blog at home to my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts. It’s remarkable how some choice key words and geographical targeting can boost my Twitter followers! Don’t believe me? Check out my Gmail trash. I’ve blurred out my information since it is my personal email, but every time I make an SEO post, I get another 5 or so followers…

So business owners, how can you make this work for you? Well, you can make a concerted effort to learn everything there is to know about search engine optimization. It takes a fair amount of time, and because the rules are constantly changing, it means you really have to keep up on it.

You can also opt to have your “web guy” do it. But I think you’ll quickly find that’s not the best result. Collyn Floyd has some choice words for that on the blog post titled 9 Common SEO Myths.

That leaves hiring a professional SEO company. Any form of advertising should be viewed as an investment in your business. Just imagine what a huge increase in traffic to your site can yield…more visitors…more sales!

Proper search engine optimization goes far beyond just a keyword or two on your site. You need to provide your visitors with quality content that engages the reader. Ideally you should maintain a blog and keep rotating content through your site throughout the year. Static sites are a thing of the past. Google, Yahoo and MSN respond much more favorably to Web sites that offer visitors a forum to discuss topics or a blog to respond to.

Research should be done into the right key words to be used on a site. For every industry, certain key words rank differently on various search engines. Some key words are exceedingly difficult to rank well due to the sheer number of sites that use it. Go to Google.com and type in “free money”. Last I checked there were 189 million sites listed.

The point is that you shouldn’t approach online marketing with a half-hearted effort. Consider how you would like your business to succeed and the web traffic you’ll need to get there. You wouldn’t try to drive without wheels on your car. Please don’t try to run a website without giving consideration to solid SEO techniques!

By: Zack S.

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Posted in Blog Posts | 2 Comments »

Here’s Some Food for Thought: Google’s Sandbox vs. SEO

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

After reading a recent blog post about a particular well-known and respected site (at least within the technical internet realm) having trouble ranking on Google, I began to dig a little deeper. What I found was a wealth of information - or rather speculation – about the idea of a Google Sandbox Effect.

A quick trip to the online information repository (Wikipedia) will give you bit of information about this idea that Google somehow holds back rankings on new sites. “New” is of course subjective. I personally don’t consider a site that has been around for longer than a year to be new, but the aforementioned website has been around for more than a year, and yet seems to have found itself in the Sandbox. Strangely, brand new sites sometimes rank very well at first, and then drop out of the 1000 after a week or two without any apparent reason.

The basic hypothesis behind the Sandbox Effect is two parts. First is the idea that sites can be indexed by Google and found via their company name, but a search for relevant key terms will not return the same listing. The second part has to do with sites that are indexed and ranking well on Google, but get a flood of link backs to it and will suddenly disappear from the search results.

In the past Google has used the sudden spurt in links to target spammers who use forums, blogs and other sites to post thousands of links to their own site in an effort to game the search engines. It would appear that Google is very effective at doing this – but we’re running into a problem with the growth of Web 2.0.

The very idea of Web 2.0 and social media is user driven content. Sites like Digg, Reddit, Bebo, Facebook, StumbleUpon and Twitter are all geared towards the very latest trends, breaking news and information. Links can form very quickly when news breaks that the internet community finds interesting.

Take for instance the recent Domino’s viral video created by a couple of (now ex) employees. Within several days of the video being posted, it was all you could hear about on the internet. News agencies aired segments and criminal charges were even brought against the two alleged offenders. As you can see, the internet and specific web sites can play a very powerful role in the real world.

This leads me back to the Sandbox. Google announced a major overhaul of their ranking algorithm recently, and that is sure to affect search engine optimization companies. However it’s not something that we’re unaccustomed to. In 2007 alone Google made 450 tweaks to their algorithm.

While the upcoming algorithm change will no doubt challenge some of the conventional methods of SEO, I think it will help what good companies are able to do. By filtering out more spam and more fraudulent attempts for your clicks, white hat SEO companies may find their job suddenly easier. But that may not drag them out of the sandbox.

Some have theorized that the sandbox serves as an aging delay for sites newer than 6-8 months. How long a site can stay in Google jail isn’t entirely clear, but is clear is that there is a mass exodus when the search giant finally lifts the gates. It seems that after this website aging process, a large bundle of sites are suddenly released and allowed to rank and play with the top dogs.

So what does this all mean for an SEO company? It means making sure a client understands the Google doesn’t play as nicely as Yahoo and MSN. While certainly the biggest kid on the block, Google isn’t the only one around to play with. Often first page placements on the other major search engines like Yahoo, MSN Live Search and AOL will yield a great amount of internet traffic.

But ultimately what Google’s Sandbox means is having patience. The ranks and indexing on Google will come, it just requires a bit of time. At USASEOPros, our Las Vegas search engine optimization company understands this and we try to counsel our clients about the entire SEO process. It is patience and understanding that makes for a beneficial business relationship, and that’s what we offer to business owners. This SEO game is fast-paced, fun and exciting, but we’re still playing at Google’s table. We’ll play by the rules and we’ll continue to create great organic ranks for our clients.

By: Zack S.

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A No-Wait SEO Opportunity!

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

At our Las Vegas SEO office, we work with clients who are looking to get on the first page of search engine results naturally. When it comes to online marketing, you have plenty of options, including SEO opportunities, pay per click, pay per action, and “old-fashioned” banner space.

But like many things in life, these various types of advertising techniques are not equal. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and today I want to share a bit about an opportunity that we have available.

At USASEOPros we work with our clients generally for a six month SEO contract period. This means we do industry research, generate business specific keywords, write the content, build a website, submit the site and provide regular maintenance to the site for six months.

The goal is always to get our clients’ website a large amount of exposure and traffic by appearing on the first page of sites like Google, Yahoo and MSN Live. We have become quite efficient with our SEO practices and consequently we have “leftover” first page placements after a six month campaign is over.

A lot of our clients choose to renew their contracts, but some do not – whether it’s due to finances or other personal choices. Because we worked hard to achieve those first page placements, we are now offering new clients the opportunity to get on the first page of Google, Yahoo and MSN Live today! Here’s an example of an available first page Google placement.

By offering already-ranking keywords to businesses within the same industry, we can drastically cut down the wait time for your search engine optimization to kick in. Whereas it can sometimes take up to a month for the search engines to recognize and index a site – we’ve already accomplished that with these key phrases!

SEO Opportunity

I just received the latest numbers of available first page placements for the USA SEO Pros licensing program, and we’ve topped 2.5 million available placements!

This doesn’t mean we have 2.5 million keywords that are ranking that high – rather we aim to have our key words rank on the first page for every major search engine! For example, the key phrase “marriage agency in southern California” currently has 11 first page placements that are available! Here’s a shot of our first page placement on this keyword.

Of course we aren’t limited to just wedding companies. If you visit our licensing demonstration page at USASEOPros.com, you can see if we have SEO key words available in your industry.

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USA SEO Pros Reaches 4 Million Placements

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Las Vegas, NV, April 20, 2009 – Internet advertising firm USA SEO Pros set a new record today as it leapt past the 4 million first page placements mark and grew client placements at over 20 percent.

The online marketing and ad company, based in Las Vegas, works in the field of search engine optimization – an industry dominated by first page placement statistics. Today USASEOPros beat its own expectation by growing its overall placements by 10 percent while improving client first page placements 20 percent and breaking the 4 million mark. The total now stands at over 4.3 million top spots.

“I’m simply ecstatic with the results we’ve been able to achieve for our clients lately,” said Steve Howe, the operations manager for USA SEO Pros. “Google had made an algorithm change, and yet in the past 4 weeks we have grown the first page placements for our clients by 20 percent.”

Search engine sites like Google and Yahoo rely on complex mathematical formulas for indexing and ranking individual sites. When the formulas change, search engine optimization companies must change their own processes.

“Our development team has been working hard on our new SEO project called Septuro,” Howe said. “The system will allow us to keep pace with the search engines even better and should really benefit our clients. The race to 5 million has begun.”

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USA SEO Pros is a search engine optimization company and has been in business for over 6 years. With thousands of satisfied clients and team of highly skilled professionals, USA SEO Pros has continued to grow and expand its business. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company has built itself into a leader in the online advertising and marketing field. USASEOPros.com currently holds over 4 million placements for its clients and uses its knowledge and expertise to continue to grow that number.

By: Zack S.

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Which Type of Internet Advertising is Right for Me?

Friday, April 17th, 2009

One of the things I’m asked most frequently in the search engine optimization industry is which kind of internet advertising methods are most effective. Because I work for an SEO company, the programmed response is “SEO, always”…but I believe in a little truth in advertising. Let’s take a look into both pay per click advertising and search engine optimization together.

Of course first and foremost, businesses want to know how to get ranked on the first page of the major search engines. You can go about it several ways – the most popular of them being SEO and PPC.

Let’s begin with pay per click advertising (PPC). A surefire way to increase search engine traffic is through PPC. Yes, I work for an SEO company and I said that.

But there’s a caveat.

PPC advertising can bring traffic to your site, but that doesn’t mean it’s the kind of traffic you’re looking for. Getting people to visit your site does not mean they are looking to buy what you’re offering.

If you need proof of this, read my blog post about recent PPC scams at both Google and Yahoo. You really can’t be too careful these days.

Aside from just fraudulent clicks on your PPC, receiving traffic from PPC does not mean the visitor is there to buy. They may have accidentally clicked the link, thought it was for another site, or were redirected from somewhere else. The point is traffic from PPC isn’t necessarily quality traffic.

Quality traffic – that’s what online marketing is all about, right? That’s what we strive for at USASEOPros.

We use search engine optimization to improve our clients rankings on search engine results. From professional content written with geo-targeted key words to using blogs to increase SEO, we do it all.

Yes, I work at an SEO company, so perhaps I’m biased, but I’m able to see first-hand the results we can bring to our clients. From the first page of MSN to the first page of Yahoo to the first page of Google – we have managed to put our clients right there front and center.

The most important thing about organic SEO though is the quality of the traffic. Having tens of thousands of people visiting your site won’t help your business grow if they aren’t buying. Instead, SEO key phrases will help drive visitors to your site who are looking for what you sell and are ready to buy.

Let’s say you sell custom made signs and you’re based in Miami. If someone in southern Florida types your key word (we’ll use custom metal signs in Miami), your site will pop up right in front of them! Not in the “sponsored results” box, but in the top placements in the search results. That’s the kind of traffic you’re looking for as a business owner, and that’s the kind of traffic we can bring you!

By: Zack S.

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Sale Offer for USA SEO Pros’ Twitter Followers

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Las Vegas, NV, April 15, 2009 – Internet advertising company USA SEO Pros is announcing a sale on its services to the company’s followers on the social networking site Twitter.

Starting early next week, followers of the account realusaseopros on Twitter will be able to take advantage of a 5 percent discount on search engine optimization services. The discount code will only been mentioned on the social networking site, so interested businesses will want to keep their eyes peeled for the tweets that will begin next week.

The sale will go live the morning of April 20, 2009, around 9:00 am PST. Businesses wanting to take advantage of the sale should call 1-866-743-8960 and mention the discount code given on Twitter for a 5 percent discount. To find the code, simply follow the user realusaseopros on Twitter.

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USA SEO Pros is a search engine optimization company and has been in business for over 6 years. With thousands of satisfied clients and team of highly skilled professionals, USA SEO Pros has continued to grow and expand its business. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company has built itself into a leader in the online advertising and marketing field. USASEOPros.com currently holds nearly 4 million placements for its clients and uses its knowledge and expertise to continue to grow that number.

By: Zack S.

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Search Engine Optimization and You

Monday, April 13th, 2009

The internet has grown to become a significant force in the global economy, and if you want to be successful through internet commerce, you need to be proactive and forward-thinking in your marketing techniques.

“Easier said than done,” you say - but you might be surprised.

Here at USA SEO Pros, we specialize in a powerful form of internet advertising called search engine optimization. We utilize our skills and knowledge to help businesses just like yours achieve ideal placement on the search engines.

Online marketing is so much more than simply putting a website up. After all, what’s the point in having the site if no one is seeing it? Through search engine placement, we can help you attract the visitors you need to truly become successful online.

Our SEO consultants and experienced web developers work diligently to keep up with the fast-paced world of search engine optimization. Sites like Google and Yahoo frequently update how they track and rank individual web pages, and a company like USA SEO Pros can help you stay on top of the online business leader board!

We have been counseling business owners for over six years and have achieved some incredible milestones in the search engine optimization business. We’ve worked with thousands of clients and carved out millions of first page placements on sites like Google, Yahoo and MSN. We pride ourselves on being one of the absolute best search engine optimization and internet marketing companies out there!

Our repertoire of package options ranges from our 5 keyword Nickel plan to our VIP submission and 100 keyword Diamond package. You pick the plan, and we’ll get to work putting your business website at the top!

All of our packages include:

• Full company and industry consulting and research
• Business-specific keyword research and generation
o Geo-targeting tailored to fit the area you want to market to
• Professional content writing
• Site hosting
• Website validation with W3C standards
• Submission to every major search engine, yellow pages, and hundreds of smaller search engines
• Re-optimization (as needed)
• Each marketing campaign runs for 6 months, with the option for a discounted extension.

We offer a full suite of optional services as well, which includes:

• Press release writing
• Blogging
• Conversion consultancy
• Unique web page creation
o Splash page, Content Management System (CMS)
• Conversion Consultancy

By: Zack S.

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Using SEO and Social Media to Gain Authentic Exposure

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Working in the SEO and marketing industry has exposed me to all sorts of social media, and today I incorporate Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Myspace into my daily routine. As a result, I come across plenty of news articles, blog posts, pod casts and various other social media flotsam throughout the day. Today I found a blog post from Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist who works with companies that are addressing new marketing platforms.

In his blog, Fred talks about the social media platform and his remarkable experience with @kogibbq on Twitter. Briefly, Kogi BBQ is two taco trucks that drive around Los Angeles and tweet their location throughout the day. They have become remarkably success, and have attracted a large following on Twitter as well as throughout LA. Wilson says this type of media exposure is of the “earned” variety, a phrase he picked up from Jerry Solomon – the executive producer of Epoch media and Wilson’s brother in law.

Solomon compares the brand/consumer relationship to that of a man and a mistress. After a while, the jewelry and other gifts grow old, and the mistress begins to want more. The same is true with a brand/consumer relationship Solomon says. Brands should focus on dialogue with the consumer instead of engaging in mere monologue.

This all felt remarkably familiar to me. The goal of search engine optimization is to draw attention to a particular business or website. We do that in a variety of ways, but blogging is one particular approach we use. This creates a platform for feedback from consumers, both potential and current. The conversation can move from just the monologue to a true dialogue. I use Twitter and Facebook daily, and it opens the door for feedback from the public and the consumer.

Aside from large companies with very deep pockets, the days of effective TV advertising are gone. Kogi BBQ can’t afford a spot during the Superbowl, but they don’t need to. They are able to use tools like Twitter to build a following and grow their business.

Fred Wilson said the big challenge for marketers and advertisers now is to engage consumers without alienating them with perceived spam. Despite the popularity of Google’s Adwords program, how often do you click on a “sponsored link”? I know I never do, because I know it’s a marketing link. And an unwelcome one at that. I prefer to digest my internet material organically

A very effective way for businesses to reach their intended audience is through tools like blogs, Twitter and by using techniques like search engine optimization. This way you’re ensuring that your audience sees the message, but it doesn’t feel like they’re being advertised at. Perception is reality. If you’d like to learn more about what SEO can do for you, visit our site or find me on Twitter (@realusaseopros). I would love to start a dialogue with you!

By: Zack S.

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Opportunity Awaits with USA SEO Pros’ Licensing Program

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Las Vegas, NV, April 6, 2009 – The numbers have come back for USA SEO Pros’ licensing program and the internet advertising company reports there are over 1.75 million available first page placements for purchase.

Las Vegas-based USASEOPros specializes in search engine optimization, and at the end of a client campaign, the optimized site often has leftover keywords that are ranking very well on the search engines. The licensing program takes advantage of the work already done and offers the already-ranking keywords to interested businesses.

The program works only with related businesses, but the entire catalog of available industries and keywords can be viewed on the company’s website. This represents an opportunity for interested business owners and marketers to grab an organic first page placement and avoid the kiss-of-death “sponsored results” box that comes from pay per click advertising.

“We’ve recently reopened our licensing program and it’s encouraging to know we have this many first page placements to work with,” said Steve Howe, the operations manager for USA SEO Pros. “Having 1.75 million first page placements just from campaigns that have ended proves we are doing our jobs. Ideally SEO should always create a lasting imprint that extends far beyond the campaign end-date.”

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USA SEO Pros is a search engine optimization company and has been in business for over 6 years. With thousands of satisfied clients and team of highly skilled professionals, USA SEO Pros has continued to grow and expand its business. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company has built itself into a leader in the online advertising and marketing field. USASEOPros.com currently holds nearly 4 million placements for its clients and uses its knowledge and expertise to continue to grow that number.

For more information about USA SEO Pros and the licensing program, please visit http://license.usaseopros.com/

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