As many other people have noticed, sometimes, SEO efforts can tend to become too focused on search engines. Though obviously, the search engines should be a prime consideration, we cannot totally discount the importance of the end users – human users. This is what user experience is all about.

In SEO parlance, user experience is also dubbed as UE or UX. To be honest, I only came across this term recently, thanks to Shari Thurow at Search Engine Land. In a post she published, she shares her thoughts on UX:

Search engine optimization is all about the user experience, because the idea behind SEO is to get users to their desired information and destination(s) as quickly and easily as possible by using the users’ language (keywords). Searchers type in keywords at a commercial web search engine. Searchers’ expectations are validated in search results pages and, hopefully, after they click on links within those search results…a perfect, seamless user experience.

An important point that we should put under consideration is the difference between UX and the perceived UX, the former being what human users actually experience and the latter being what SEO experts may think their users want to experience. Though sometimes, these two factors jive, more often than not, there is a disparity. That is why it is important that when working on SEO, you have to bear in mind UX – the real deal. Do not be limited by your own perceptions, actually open your mind to reality and adjust your strategies accordingly.

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Admit it or not, there are some aspects in SEO that can be classified as traditional.  These are the practices that have been established from the beginning and are considered to be the building blocks of all SEO activities. These are ideas which have withstood the test of time and that everyone takes for granted to be the “ultimate truth.”

Take the use of keywords for one.  We all know that in order to optimize our web sites, we need to choose those keywords which most people are using when they search for information.  For a certain niche, there is a group of words or phrases that are most commonly employed by people who want to find out more about that niche.  And these are the words that we want to use most in our web sites in order to rank well in the search engine results.

Now how about if we diverge a bit from that traditional way of thinking?  Let us say that we try to use other keywords which may not be as popular?  Non-traditional indeed but it just might give good results in the long run.  Come to think of it, this concept is not that new.  We have heard of the argument which pits short-tail keywords and long-tail keywords against each other so many times.  In essence, using the not so popular keywords mean using long-tail keywords, right?

Experts say that SEO is going to enjoy a modest boost in 2009.  Perhaps it is time to be part of that success and try other less common methods – such as using less popular keywords.  What do you think?

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When it comes to choosing your site URL you’d better make the right choice because it definitely has a significant effect not only one your website SEO but also on user-friendliness.

To make things clear right off the bat let me state that you should use STATIC URLS.

Static URLs have clear advantages over dynamic URLs but before I point out the differences let me make it clear that Google can crawl both URLs even though they also do recommend the use of static URLs.

So why are static URLs preferable over dynamic URLs? Because according to a post in SEOmoz static URLS have the following advantages:

• Higher click-through rates in the SERPs, emails, web pages, etc.
• Higher keyword prominence and relevancy
• Easier to copy, paste and share on or offline
• Easy to remember and thus, usable in branding and offline media
• Creates an accurate expectation from users of what they’re about to see on the page
• Can be made to contain good anchor text to help the page rank higher when linked-to directly in URL format
• All 4 of the major search engines (and plenty of minor engines) generally handle static URLs more easily than dynamic ones, particularly if there are multiple parameters

Note though that according to Google if you already use a dynamic URL it is best to leave it alone since re-writing it just to make it look like a static URL can lead to more problems. As their search quality team said, “If you transform your dynamic URL to make it look static you should be aware that we might not be able to interpret the information correctly in all cases. If you want to serve a static equivalent of your site, you might want to consider transforming the underlying content by serving a replacement which is truly static…However, if you’re using URL rewriting (rather than making a copy of the content) to produce static-looking URLs from a dynamic site, you could be doing harm rather than good.”

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In the previous post, we took a look at gray hat SEO techniques in general. This time, let us take a closer look at these practices and be a bit more specific.

Cloaking
Cloaking is the practice wherein the web site owner provides information to the search engines which is different from what the site actually contains. Obviously, this is a practice that reeks of deception. However, there are certain cases when this practice can be deemed acceptable. For example, if the web site has content that is available only to members then it could be acceptable. Then again, this practice can very well be abused. That is the main reason cloaking is considered gray hat SEO.

Paid links
We all know how important links are for SEO. That is why it is quite understandable that the practice of buying links can become questionable. Purchasing links for advertising purposes is fine. However, if you purchase links solely because you want in link-popularity, then it could be considered shady. In fact, the suggestion is that you work on links to increase your traffic and just consider the increase in link-popularity as icing on top of the cake.

Duplicate content
Duplicate content can be considered legitimate in certain cases but rarely. For example, indexing and abstracting web sites may have duplicate content. In most cases, though, duplicate content is considered unacceptable.

Bottom line: when in doubt, be on the safe side.

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I’ve heard about black hat SEO and white hat SEO but have you ever encountered gray hat SEO? If you think about it, it does not really take a rocket scientist to figure out what gray hat SEO is all about. As in the real world, things are not always black and white, there will always be gray areas – those activities and ideologies which do not clearly conform to either extreme.

When it comes to SEO, the gray areas abound. However, in my point of view – as well as many others, I believe – gray hat SEO leans towards black hat more than white hat. This is because gray hat SEO simply employs techniques that are quite akin to spamming but not quite labeled by Google (and other authorities in the field) as black hat – as of yet.

Practicing gray hat SEO is much like trying to fly below the radar, trying not to get the attention of those who are in the lookout. However, the fact that you feel that you need to fly under the radar means that you are engaging in illegitimate activities or, at the very least, activities bordering on the illegitimate.

Why would anyone want to engage in gray hat SEO? If you are asking that question, then you may very well ask, “Why would anyone want to engage in black hat SEO?” The bottom line is the same – they want to achieve good search engine rankings the “easy” way. Somewhere along the road though, Google will catch up on these practitioners and penalize them – then, regret will be felt.

In the next post, let’s look at some gray hat SEO tactics.

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Some people do not do well when it comes to long-term planning.  I have to admit that I can be one of them.  There are times when I can barely plan my activities a month from now.  Then again, I do know the importance of planning for the long run and I do my best to do that.

When it comes to SEO, long-term thinking may be the best way to go.  Anyone who has had any experience with SEO and all its intricacies would know that sometimes, short cuts just don’t work.  Oh, they may get short-term results, that’s for sure.  But in the long run, what a web site owner wants is to build a lasting impression online.

Think about it, why are you maintaining that web site or blog?  Do you merely want to reap the benefits within a few months time?  Perhaps for some specific purposes, that would be enough.  But for many, the idea is to keep the blog or web site up and running for as long as it could.  More than that, you would want to keep that site popular and alive for years to come.

The only really clean way to do this would be to plan for the future.  This is where white hat SEO has the most advantage over black hat and gray hat SEO, I believe.  The latter two activities may bring about quicker results but in the long run, they may also be the downfall of the site.  Believe it or not, Google would probably catch up on these shady activities and bring the hammer down on the site.  What happens to the long-term growth then?

If I were you, I’d look into long-term results before deciding on any SEO practice.

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Yes, it’s quite a risky (and risqué!) topic. However, good SEO techniques have many important similarities with the other most popular topic on the net (a.k.a. sex). To be a great SEO practitioner, you also need to apply the philosophies of great lovers.

Always add something new to your knowledge and technique. If you want to be the best lover, you keep improving your skills by learning new ways to touch, new positions. To be the best SEO practitioner, you also need to update your knowledge often. After all, search engines update their algorithms all the time, new SEO tools are constantly being developed, and new angles of internet marketing are always explored. Keep abreast (haha!) with the latest SEO news so you won’t be behind everyone else.

For each move, measure a response and let that be your guide. If you stroke your lover’s side and you sense that he or she feels pleasure, you keep doing it. If they seem disinterested or (gasp) in pain, stop doing it. (Unless you’re doing some BDSM stuff that really doesn’t apply here). The same goes for SEO – you apply a certain tactic, then measure its results to see if you’ll keep on doing it or change it altogether. For example, you can reword the homepage title to contain a specific keyword. If you come up higher on SE results for that keyword, then this means you should let the new title stay. If nothing happens, then look for better keywords to use on the title, keywords that will convert more. Also, don’t make several changes at once – do it little by little or else the results will be more difficult to measure.

Stay focused. You need to know your goal and focus all your efforts on them. If a lover strays and forgets about the orgasm he or she intended to induce, then the rhythm is lost. If it’s SEO we’re talking about, you need a list of goals and all your SEO efforts must be concrete steps towards those goals. You must not be distracted. Directing your SEO towards too many things at the same time leads to a disorganized campaign.

You can do it yourself, but not with the same results. Some things are better done alone, but S-E-X and SEO aren’t included in that list. You may think you can do all there is to do and know all there is to know, but without the involvement of other experts or assistants, it’ll be a much heavier task. So you have to read all the SEO material you need to get your hands on, get the opinion of experts, or get an assistant to do the menial tasks (such as submitting to directories). If you do everything yourself, it’ll take a long time and by the time you finish, the search engine trends would’ve changed.

Keep these ideas in mind the next time you’re passionate – about an SEO campaign, that is. Who knows? By applying these tips you might reach an all time high… in search engine results.

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In the previous post, we took a look at the hands off client, who pretty much leaves everything to his SEO company. Here are the other two types of SEO clients.

The Moderately Involved Client
According to Jeff Quip, this type of client has some knowledge of SEO and its potential results. As such, the moderately involved client spends more time interacting with his SEO company. The thought that his involvement might bring about better results has also crossed the mind of the moderately involved client. There is some tentativeness still, however, hence the moderation with regard to interaction. The important thing for this type of client is that he takes on a more active role when it comes to the SEO process. He may dabble in content writing every once in a while as well.

The Whatever You Need Client
This client is described by Jeff Quip as being committed to reach the top rank in his niche. When it comes to being at the top, you would want to be recognized as an authority in your field. Building this reputation, however, needs more than SEO. It takes hard work – both on the part of the SEO company and the web site or blog owner – and requires a lot of input from the authority – the client. In short, the point of view of this client is long term.

So, which type of SEO client are you?

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Just recently, one of my blogger friends asked me again about how to remove the no-follow attribute in her blog comments. She read about the “do follow” movement and wanted to be part of that. That got me to reading up on new developments with regard to no follow and do follow…

I found an interesting article at Econsultancy, which promotes the use of the no follow attribute as part of your SEO best practices. Naturally, being a do follow enthusiast, I had to read the whole article in an effort to understand the rationale behind the statement. This is what I found out:

While the concept of ‘PageRank leak’ – the idea that you can potentially ‘dilute’ your PageRank by linking out too much – has been widely debated for years, there’s no doubt that good linking practices are important to maintaining PageRank.

Linking to third party websites that Google thinks are ‘spammy’ can harm you. As Google itself advises, “avoid links to web spammers or ‘bad neighborhoods’ on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.”

This is where using the ‘nofollow’ attribute on outbound links can be a valuable SEO tool.

One of my personal blogs has had no PR for months now – after having a halfway decent PR of 3. Perhaps I am leaking out PageRank because of not using the no follow attribute. I should take a look into this. Maybe you should, too.

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Yes, I am aware that the image on the left is not exactly deadly. However, I wanted to balance the photo included in yesterday’s post, Part One of “Have You Committed the 7 Deadly SEO Sins?”. And now, for part two:

4. Using image files as text. Some people have a huge block of text not in the format of text which you can copy and paste (or which the search engines can read), rather, typed in an image editing software and placed on the website as a jpeg file or something. Here’s an example:

You may feel the need to use image files that are really just blocks of text if you need to display them in a stylized font that not everyone has. This has its merits, but you shouldn’t do it too often. And this is why:

First of all, search engines can’t read the text in your image file. They don’t have eyes. You’ll be losing a lot of keyword potential. Secondly, if you display too many blocks of text in stylized fonts, it usually won’t look good on your site design. You’re probably getting a bit too “font happy”. Third, it takes a bit longer to load images than just actual text.

5. Not taking site stats seriously. If you think you should just look at the number of pageviews you’re getting, that’s oversimplifying the purpose of reading site statistics. You need to know where your visitors are coming from, how long they stay, what search engines they use, and the color of their underwear. Well, maybe not the latter.

Looking through your site stats (via something like Google Analytics) gives you an idea of which SEO tactics are effective. Is it detailed blog post titles with keywords that bring in your search engine traffic? Which links bring you the most visitors? And so on. There’s a lot you can learn about your current SEO tactics from just looking at site stats. And if you aren’t even measuring site stats, shame on you.

6. Depending on SEO alone to increase sales. Proper SEO may bring in some traffic, but it won’t guarantee sales. First of all, your site has to look credible, your web copy needs to be persuasive, and there’s also the aspect of pricing – plus the dozens of other factors that contribute to sales.

One of my web design clients keeps emphasizing his need for better SEO, because, as he said, the SEO services we weren’t providing weren’t bringing him sales. I pointed out to him in the very beginning that his site was gonna need more work than just SEO. His major problem is his bad business sense altogether – I’ve clocked in hundreds of hours of consulting with him but he won’t listen to any of my advice. SEO isn’t the be-all and end-all of online business. You have to remember that when you’re thinking about your expectations from your campaign.

7. Not keeping yourself updated with SEO news. SEO is a field that’s constantly changing, especially since search engines keep changing their algorithms, new web trends emerge, etc. Five years ago, social media wasn’t carrying the weight it does now. For an online marketing campaign nowadays, social media is indispensable. You need to factor in all these trends when planning your SEO campaign. Reading SEO related blogs and websites regularly can help you stay updated, so you can adjust your campaign accordingly.

Do you commit any of these SEO sins? Think of other SEO sins you’ve committed? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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