Market Appeal

Posts Tagged ‘seo’

Up until now only websites with their homepage in the root domain (example.com/home.html) and not a folder (example.com/site/home.html) could have Google site links.

This has recently changed, however, so now websites with their main pages in a folder can get Sitelinks too.

For example, Matt Cutts, Google’s Head of Web Spam, wrote that he deliberately left a holing page on his root domain (www.mattcutts.com/) even though his blog’s homepage was in the “blog” folder (www.mattcutts.com/blog/)

so that he would be able to tell once Google managed to work with websites with their main pages mainly in a subfoler, as with his own.

As you can see from the screen shot above, Google is now showing Sitelinks for his domain for the first time, suggesting that this is also the case for other websites too.

This Sitelink update could well have coincided with their recent introduction of horizontal Sitelinks a few days ago.

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With all of the fuss about the Yahoo Google advertising deal and the global economic crisis it seems that one of the more interesting stories, Google Gadget Ads, has gone almost completely unnoticed.

Google Gadget Ads [widget ads] are a new hybrid ad format employing JavaScript, XML (i.e. AJAX) and Flash video to add Web 2.0 style interactivity to their ads. They are distributed over their existing Video Ads channels already available to AdWords and AdSense customers. The same ads can also be uloaded as Gadgets to iGoogle homepages with minimal modification.

While gadgets so far have tended to be fairly straightforward reporting on things such as the weather or news, really the sky is the limit and everything from games to full blown applications – which Google calls “mini-websites” – is possible. If your familiar with the range of plugins for Facebook then you probably have the right idea.

While access to Gadget Ads is currently limited to a few big spenders, due to the complexity of the ads creation, they clearly hope to widen participation in due course and so this is one to watch given that Google already controls a sizeable chunk of world wide web advertising revenues.

Also, Google has recently started running post-view advertising on some of their more popular videos, as the site’s revenue is very low considering its incredible number of page views. Google had previously made noises about wanting to create emmbedded ads, as they are rumoured to perform well, however it’s now thought that pragmatism has forced them go for a less technically challenging solution in the interim.

Gadget Ads as Video 2.0

Clearly, however, Google has a vision, along with a plan already under way. Just as flat “brochure ware” websites were once commonplace, but now web 2.0 complete with Flash and AJAX enabled interaction is all the rage, I think that in years to come “flat video” could become passée as basic editing and hyperlinking tool are embedded into phone-cams and interactive video will be the order of the day.

Don’t get me wrong, text ads will be their bread and butter for a while yet, not least due to their speed and simplicity, however, between youtube and their AdSense network and AdWords ad management platform, not to mention Google’s new ad planner, Google are well placed to lead the new video generation and, importantly, the race to monetise it too.

As I covered in a recent post widgets are great for SEO, even as cheap techniques such as directory listings are fading, largely due to the fact that they tend too offer the webmaster valuable content (news feeds, the weather etc.) in exchange for what is essentially free advertising and hyperlink or two.

Soon it seems, thanks to Google, widgets will be great for paid search advertising too. It’s early days yet, but they have the infrastructure and the potential profits of fun, engaging ads could be huge.

Several clients that I’ve consulted for have made great use of widgets to help boost their search engine rankings, as well as to drive additional traffic and get some free advertising too.

The social-local review directory TrustedPlaces, for example, have had an excellent map widget out for while now and off that back of its success have now launched a personalised widget for their reviewers too.

Unlike the map widget this one is more exclusive, only being on offer to their trusted reviewers (it’s free to join, so you can become one too), so to demonstrate their widget I’ve pasted a copy of it on both its forms below:

If you look closely you’ll notice that the upper widget has several links to “recommended” locations embedded in it. This is clever use of widget personalisation to present user generated content on a scalable basis. By doing so they offer “real” content that provides an incentive for bloggers who wish to publicise their reviews to employ the widget and by offering something of value, make it far less likely that anybody will complain about the fact that there are half a dozen backlinks embedded in it (which point to place pages and so are great for SEO).

Given that some of their competitors have resorted to buy links on occasion, I consider content based widgets a much “higher value” technique as far as user perception is concerned, as it appeals to their reviewers’ desire for self publicity rather than reducing linkbuilding to a series of clandestine commercial exchanges, which the company with the biggest backers could expect to win.

Additionally, both html iFrame and JavaScipt versions of the widget are offered to provide maximum flexibility. I found that the iFrame version worked best on my Wordpress based blog, however, others may differ.

There are many articles out there claiming to tell you how to get your site listed in Google in a day, or three days, or thirty days or whatever, but virtually none of them tell you specifically what to do.

Some, for example, will advise that a link from a PR 5 website should get your site indexed in under a week, and a link from a PR6 website will do the trick in around a day, but that doesn’t help you if you don’t already have access to a PR 6 website; which you probably don’t if you’re reading this article.

What follows is a list of the steps that I have used to get new, unknown domains indexed by Google in under 7 days, without resorting to placing links on established websites already under my control.

First, however, for your safety, I should highlight what not to do.

1. Suggest your site to Google using their add your url tool.Well, you can if you want to, it’s harmless, but this approach usually takes weeks, and besides probably won’t work if your site doesn’t already have links from other websites.
2. Using the sitemap submit tool in webmaster tools.OK, so step 1 is harmless and submitting sitemaps is really a good thing, but it still isn’t likely to help you get index in under seven days, so let’s move on…
3. Buy one of those “website promotion” tools that promises to submit your site to thousands of search engines for a small fee.This is, at best, a waste of time. Google has around a 66% of the UK and US search market share and Yahoo!, MSN and Ask mop up the remaining 33% or so, leaving less that 1% for all of the other search engines combined.Further, if you have to give out your email address to register for the “service” there is every chance that you’ll be spammed to high heaven, and probably be charged for the privilege too.Worse, some of them charge a monthly fee offering to resubmit your site in return. This is to be avoided at all costs, as it is a form of search engine spamming and risks getting your site banned altogether.
4. Buy a “Get listed in Google in under 72 hours Guaranteed” package from a far-flung company that randomly sent you a spam email. You may be amused to hear that Google get these too!

You see, SEO isn’t a dark-art any more. Some “experts” may read this and pull their hair out because I’m giving away their “trade secrets”, but they way I see it any SEO company, consultant or marketing agency worth their salt should be able to tell you how they get results.

Besides, you can’t afford to risk having your site banned by Google, due to dodgy “black hat” practices, and how do you know that they’re not if they won’t even tell you?

How to Get in to Google in Under 3 Days

The trick to getting into Google in under three days, does indeed involve linking to your website from high PageRank (PR) websites.

In addition to a high PageRank, there are two criteria that such websites need to meet in order to be of interest to you.

Firstly, they must allow for user generated content i.e. they must allow you to create a blog, personal profile upload an article, submit a press release or tag a favourite site fast, and for free.

Secondly, they must have a high update speed i.e. they have a main page that changes frequently – at least daily – that you can somehow get access to. Thankfully most of the sites meeting the first condition automatically meet this one as well.

Getting in to Google – What to do

1. Write a couple of short summaries “elevator pitches” of your site’s main features and benefits and it’s target audience of different lengths – 100 and 300 words – or longer if you actually have something to say.
2. Go to a selection of the following websites and create a post, profile, ad, article or whatever and use your nicely polished, pitch as the body copy.

Ensure that your post of tagged and filed appropriately and be sure to include a link to your website using your full url. For example, my SEO Consultancy CV

You may need to vary the tone to suit each site, as a community forum will prefer chatty styles to stuffy press releases, so choose your language accordingly. If in doubt, emulate the style of currently popular posts to prevent yours from being deleting as spam.

“But where do I post it?”, I hear you ask.

To find suitable places all you have to do is Google a few of the leading “free business classified” sites.

These sites have sections specifically designed for advertising your business online, which makes this approach preferable to forum and blog spamming and other parasitic activities.

There are of course other types of suitable sites, many classier than the free classifieds, but I’m not ready to give them all away quite yet. For more upmarket alternatives, you can always try asking me.

If this turns out to be a hit topic, I may revisit it later.

Getting listed in Google in under three days

Now, there are in fact a handful of sites out there so rapidly spidered that they can have new pages indexed in under an hour!

Better still, done the right way, links from them can get your site into Google in less than 72 hours.

Incidentally, if you’re facing a big launch, and are in a hurry and desperately need your site indexed in under three days, I can probably help.

A word of caution

Please note that I am NOT suggesting that you ever set out to spam the aforementioned sites. That is not what this is about and nor will that do you any favours with Google. My aim is for genuine websites with uniquely valuable content to gain some initial exposure and backlinks through professionally written press releases posted to sites open to this kind of promotion.

As such, there can be a massive difference between “budget” agencies that can damage your brand with spam tactics and badly written copy and the same work carried out by a reputable SEO agency. Also, remember that it can be nearly impossible to undo mistakes on the web, so if in doubt hire a professional that will take the time to understand your audience and target your marketing accordingly.