I recently set up a new site for my own pleasure – just something I can play around with and use as a personal outlet when I need to vent. Just because it is mainly for my own pleasure does not mean that I don’t want to work on promoting it as well. That’s when I realized that I have to go back to the beginning and start building up the site’s PR from 0 to as high as I can get it to be.

As of now, I am not getting far – it has only been a week or so anyway. I think the hardest part is being patient. I am doing a lot of things but results do not come overnight. For now, I am focusing on getting the PR up. For starters, PR0 to PR2 would not be bad in several months. So how do I plan on going about this?

We all know that Google has not disclosed – and probably never will – how it calculates PR exactly. We do have a general sense of what they are doing, however, so we can try to work with this idea in mind.

The number of links that point to your site seems to be the major consideration when it comes to Google PR. So obviously, this is what you need to work on if you want to increase PR. So my site has PR0 right now – maybe a couple of external sites link back to it. How many do I need to get PR1 or PR2? I don’t have exact figures here (only Google knows) but Mark Walters suggests more than 50.

How do you get these many links? Let’s look at that in the next post.

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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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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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In the previous post, we took a look at why you should not outsource your SEO.  In this post, let us give the other side a look.  At the end of this post, I leave it up to you to decide which option is best for your company.

Why has outsourcing become popular?  I think the main reason lies in the difference between core activities and non-core activities.  In fact, outsourcing arose from this difference.  The whole idea of outsourcing is to delegate non-core activities to another entity so that you can focus on your core activities.  This frees up your time to focus on the most essential elements of your business.

Another point is that if you are not really that knowledgeable when it comes to SEO practices. It is true that the basic principles of SEO have not changed all that much.  Of course, there have been developments but anyone can learn the basics of SEO.  However, we cannot deny the fact that there are SEO experts who can do the job much better than you can.  If you do not feel comfortable working on your own SEO, then it is best to outsource it as you will get better results.

Last, but not the least, there are many SEO experts offshore.  They can bring about good results for much lower costs than if you work on SEO in-house.  Not only will you be freeing up those employees of yours for more essential tasks, but you will be saving up on expenses as well.

So what’s it going to be?

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Outsourcing is a major trend in many businesses today. From accounting to customer service to web design, many companies prefer to outsource these departments. When it comes to SEO, does outsourcing make sense as well? I suppose that the answer cannot be clear cut. There are pros and cons to outsourcing your SEO activities.

Take this line of thought from Leigh Hunt:

I’d even go so far as to say that SEO companies are detrimental for your online business.
And here’s why:

As any good online marketer will tell you, attracting targeted traffic to your website is the most important aspect of creating success in your online business.

It’s this knowledge to attract and convert traffic that will really empower you in your online business.

It’s this knowledge, or lack thereof, that will determine how successful you will be in the long term.

Do you really want to give this power to somebody else?

Do you want to put the knowledge of how to build your online business in the hands of someone who does not have any interest in your long term success beyond the fee you pay them month after month?

She does have a point, doesn’t she? Yet she herself admits that she got “royally screwed” by an SEO company in the past. Perhaps her bias is showing. Then again, I believe that you should empower yourself in order to be successful in anything. As she points out, with knowledge of SEO, you have full control over the success or failure of your business.

Let’s look at the other side of the coin in the next post.

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For many beginners, the default choice is to set up their web site with a free hosting group. This may make sense financially as one does not have to lay out any money for the hosting of the web site or the blog. Yet if there is one thing that you could do at the beginning to improve your online presence, it would be to get your own domain. After all, you can get domains these days for relatively cheap prices. Why should you get your own domain name when you can get one for free?

The main reason is that with the free web sites or blogs, you normally have limited choices as to what your domain name would be. The typical domain name would have the (free) host’s name and then your chosen name as a sub-domain or an add on. This does not do much for SEO, really.

I like how Aftab Ahmed Siddiqui explained how important the domain name is when it comes to SEO. In his article, he outlines how he was able to optimize a web site for certain keywords using a specific keyword in the domain name. He goes on to say:

Google considers your domain name as a part of its algorithm or ranking criteria. If your web site is well optimized and your domain name contains your main keyword, you definitely have better chance of higher placement on SERPS.

So if you want to up your chances of being in the higher ranks with search engines, you might want to shell out a little bit of money to get your own domain name. More than giving credence to Google’s algorithm, you would also want to make it easier for your visitors to remember your URL – and with your own domain name, you can do so easily.

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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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