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SEO
Competitive Intelligence and SEO
For search engine marketers, it’s very easy to get engulfed in our day to day tasks to improve our search rankings. Many factors come into play when performing SEO including: varied on-page optimization practices, editorial outreach, and social media creation and curation. However, the most effective search marketers understand that while it is extremely important to constantly monitor their own actions, they must also carefully monitor the competition to identify “ranking cues” for a given marketplace.
The purpose of this article is to dive into exactly how we can go about getting a “leg-up” on the competition by beating them at their own game. For the purposes of this article, we will assume the role of a prominent eCommerce company which retails electronics. We’ll call this company “Standard Electronics.”
So, as the sole internal SEO guru, you finally sit down at your computer to start the competitive research process. The first thing that you’re going to want to do is identify who your competitors are. You may already have quite a bit of this information from your initial SEO Plan (if you have one), but you’re going to want to do some more research as well.
The first and most obvious way is to search for your keywords on a search engine (preferably Google). Your top competitors are going to be on the first and second SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages) for any given keyword and may differ for certain keywords. For example, as Standard Electronics, your competitors may be different for “Televisions” than for “Laptops.” While you may have many more direct and indirect competitors, the competitors on the first two (or three) SERPS are going to be more invested in SEO than competitors lower on the totem.
You will probably want to do this every time you target new keywords or once per quarter (or half) depending on your type of business. Once you’ve identified your competitors, you’re going to leverage web-based tools to use in order to do research and analysis. There are many tools out there, so it is to your advantage to do good research into the specifics.
Here are the types of tools that you’re going to want to use:
A tool for backlink mining
Crucial for identifying link targets. SEOMoz has a great tool called Open Site Explorer. This is limited for free users.
A tool for automating rank checking
These are not an exact science, but they will certainly save you time on checking for multiple keywords.
A tool for keyword research
Google’s tool or wordtracker both work well for naming conventions
A tool for analyzing on-page SEO
Most for a fee, but these tools will help you in crafting metadata
In order to get further insight into the data, you should export each of the tools results into an excel document. How you format the document is up to you, but it is effective to utilize the tab based layout in Excel for segmenting by keyphrase or by competitor. When sorting and analyzing link data, you will want to pay close attention to link anchor text. This will help gain insight into what keywords your competitors are optimizing for and targeting. You will also want to sort by authority and relevance, basically the pagerank and site age factors.
After sorting, you will want to then analyze the data to make some sense of it and get a better picture of your competitor’s link profiles. What types of sites are linking to your competitor? Are they all forums or directories, or are they receiving links from blogs and news sites? Are the sites of high authority and relevance? Maybe your competitor has a lot of links from its distributors, or is highly involved in forums or social media. Do they have a lot of no-follow links or are the links all passing link juice? Do they have a great company blog which they link to pages deep within their site? How about their metadata? Are the title tags and meta-descriptions well written and properly applied? These are some of the many questions that you want to ask yourself when looking over competitor data.
The final step is to act on the findings. Do you see your client obtaining links from writing great original content? If so, then take a similar strategy. You may want to consider starting a company blog. Is there a large community based around your products? You may want to consider starting a support forum where people can interact and you can establish your company as a thought leader and community supporter. Maybe it’s time to determine some new keywords that your competition is targeting. Or maybe it’s time to update all of your on-page SEO. If you see your competitor is doing well with social media, you may strongly want to consider this as a new area of focus to incorporate into your SEO (you’ll probably want to do this anyway).
Competitive research is part science and part art. There are many important steps that you simply cannot ignore, but creativity highly comes into play when interpreting raw data. It is always good to involve other members of your team where possible. Maybe your marketing or sales department has some information on competitors you may have missed in your research. Maybe they have relationships where you can obtain links that are highly valued that your competitor may not have. This is an ongoing process that should be evaluated and kept current. By integrating competitive intelligence into your SEO gameplan, preferably on a quarterly basis, your business will be stronger positioned within the highly competitive organic search market.
Supporting SEO content within a keyword theme
Within any marketing effort, a certain sub-set of pages will be identified as the “targets” for optimization. These pages are typically the ones with the most content when compared to the rest of the site, are highly focused and keyword rich, and have some sort of stable ranking.
These pages are almost like the “hub” on a bicycle wheel. They are the foundation page that is linked to from other content on a website.
When analyzing your site, it is important to distinguish these key “money” pages and link to them with related content.
Internal linking is extremely powerful and is an under-utilized tactic within interactive marketing and business. See this example in the business cards marketplace, notice the proper “hub and spoke” approach.
If you have a keyword theme that you want to gain more penetration within, you have two tasks. First, you need to write and then write some more. Quality content will help you more than anything else in receiving editorial votes/links.
Second, build links. Build from relevant sources and make sure you are adding value. Dont just buy any link that will point in your direction. Not only are you taking a risk, but you are not providing any contextual value to search crawlers to help their understanding.
XML Sitemaps in eCommerce SEO
One of the most neglected aspects of all on-page search engine optimization is the integration and usage of XML site maps.
An XML site map allows a website to be better represented in the eyes of a search engine, and provides an automated file that resides on a server.
This file tells a search engine which webpages have been updated and outlines the full scope pages that should be included in their index.
Search engines, by nature, are trying to get the most up-to-date view of the web when they crawl the Internet. However, certain pages are not reachable from what’s called the “public” linked web. Pages that are stored in databases or stored behind Web forms etc are sometimes called the invisible web.
The site maps protocol, which was a uniform agreed-upon specification from Google, Yahoo, and MSN, allows webmasters to follow a certain agreed-upon file type to publish their websites within search engines and eliminate the problems that sometimes exist within the “invisible” web.
Search crawlers face two prominent challenges, both of which site maps solve.
One is the ability to get an accurate representation of new webpages, this is sometimes called “freshness”. Because users use search engines to find current events and information that is happening immediately, it is imperative that search engines have an index that includes webpages that were recently updated.
How can a webmaster help search crawlers discover all new and modified URLs of a website in a timely and efficient manner? XML site maps are the way to solve this problem.
The XML file also provides information into when the webpages were last updated, how frequently the page changes, and the relative importance of the page as it relates to other pages in the site.
By using this sitemap protocol that’s agreed upon by the search engines it does not guarantee the inclusion of your pages in an index, but rather, provides them with clues and information to make sure web crawlers do a better job of assessing content on your website.
A great tool to help you in generating XML site maps is a website called XML-site maps.com. This site provides a very low-cost piece of software that allows you to crawl your own website and generate XML file, while providing instructions for you to place this file on your Web server.
Super Easy! To get this piece of software up and running on your site usually is a process that takes 10 minutes.
If you are looking to maximize SEO performance and do not have an XML sitemap, now is the time to create one. Look for a video soon from Trinity discussing this topic in much greater detail.
It can’t be stressed enough how important how important a site map is in the ability for product pages to get the right amount of penetration within organic search.
Audio Indexing and its affect on the SEO landscape
So if you haven’t heard the news, Google has presented within Google Labs the new technology of crawling and indexing audio. Referenced as “Indexing Audio” by Google, this is a major development in the maturation of search engine optimization and provides a great opportunity for companies to distribute video content for added inclusion of search results.
Similar to text indexing, I imagine Google has created an audio detector algorithm that decodes speech and ultimately will decipher the text of the audio, to isolate what it is being verbally conveyed.
Within YouTube currently, the site’s indexing technology relies on user-populated tags, titles, and description text to appropriately serve a video to match a search query. Audio Indexing is a major advancement because now long-tail mentions of phrases within the video will match Google.com searches – ultimately leading to even more of an impact within Universal Search results.
Interesting development. Reiterates the need to incorporate video production and syndication within your online marketing strategies.
Going back in time…with the Google Time Machine
So I just stumbled upon this in my online marketing reads for the day. Here’s an interesting tool that allows you to compare Google results of 2001 to results of today.
As it relates to SEO, not really much insight that is derived from the tool. Potentially, a user can identify sites that were #1 then and #1 now to really get a glimpse of true authority sites. But my thinking is that situations such as that are going to be few and far between.
Anyways, Google time machine is worth checking out….for fun at least.
SEO Network examples
So I have gotten some feedback from people asking for examples of SEO networks created in social “sharing” type sites. I have included some examples for you to observe, all targeting themes in the wedding related category.
Check out some of these site to see how you can leverage the “authority” of these social media sites to your domain for SEO purposes by creating great content and other forms of media.
Notice these pages target a seasonal theme (“fall weddings”) for maximum relevancy. Start creating these types of sites for your market niche. Use Squidoo, Google Knol, HubPages, Google Notebook, and Zimbio to get started!
Creating a “network” of content within your SEO campaign
Retailers frequently tell us that the most frustrating aspect of SEO is the lack of control on outcomes. A business can follow all of the golden rules that are set out by best practices and engines alike but still receive random fluctuations within high value keyword targets.
The reasoning of these fluctuations are algorithm “shifts” that correlate to your current inbound links. When changes are conducted within Google’s engineering team, and the ramifications of those changes gets absorbed across different Google datacenters, your rankings will seem completely unreliable as multiple times a day they may change. It is not uncommon to see as a domain fluctuate within 2-4 SERP’s (Search Engine Rank Position) in one given day.
To some extent, this is inevitable. To expect a ranking to stay in a specific spot, especially within a high competition category, is foolish, and complacency will usually result in a loss in rankings.
To reduce this risk, your online marketing unit must stay proactive in link building and continue to build links to your domain from relevant topical content.
This last sentence is the one you want to remember from this post. Links from relevant topical content is what Google likes and rewards webmasters on!
By having websites that are tightly knit on topical areas, it is easier for the search giant to provide a more relevant experience to what the visitor is looking for, as they can more easily present content within inter-related websites.
So you know you need topical links, but you also know that just buying them is not a good practice. Where do you begin?
A great place to start is within the social media marketplace and by constructing a network of independent “social sharing” sites that interlink to each other and your domain.
Lets take for example you are trying to rank numerous products within the Baby products category. Your goal is to rank on a plethora of terms that include the phrase “baby” as well as many standalone terms that are going to be very competitive such as “stroller”.
After conducting your keyword research, you should have a targeted list of about 30-45 primary phrases that are on the short list of SEO targets. At this point you start creating webpages within social sharing sites, on the topics for which you are targeting.
What is a social sharing site? It is a new type of web property that is driven from user generated content. Sites like Squidoo.com, Hub Pages, and others that allow users to visit and create media rich webpages embedded with html content, video, rss feeds, and other tools.
As long as these pages are of high quality, and can be utilized as a trusted source of information for Google, these pages will provide value in outbound links. Here is an example of a example page that is targeting the PediPaws product.
http://www.squidoo.com/pedi-paws-trims-pets-nails
Notice the video, content and integrated posts from external sources. Also notice the one or two outbound links with targeted anchor text? These links were strategically included and provide great value to the targeted domain.
These links will also increase outbound value (i.e. pagerank) over time, as age and future content updates will help dramatically.
By creating a network of these types of sites, within a certain keyword theme, and interlinking these sites together, a business will have a powerful asset for search engine optimization. These links will improve over time and leverage the authority of the core domain for which the page was published.
Of course this is going to take alot of fresh content, re-purposing content would be a waste of time. By executing this strategy, your online marketing metrics, in terms of incremental visits, will go up within the category.
Learn more about this tactic and Trinity’s SEO Services at our website.
SEO 2007 – How the landscape has changed…
Search engine optimization is hot among businesses within all sectors. No matter what industry you may be in, increasing your natural rankings within Google should be somewhat of a focus for your internal marketing manager. At Trinity, our job is to ensure the quality of our client’s search programs, primarily on the natural side of the house. The only way to keep your rankings however is to follow the algorithm and ultimately understand the factors that are paramount in SEO trends.
This year has been an interesting one to say the least with Google. The BIG change was dropped in May, when many sites were given a “N/A” for pagerank. Much different than the “google sandbox” (ie where your site sometimes sits when it is new to the index), the sites that were discounted included sites that allowed “manufactured” links within their webpages. Also discounted to a higher degree was that of reciprocal linking. Often a staple of online marketing and link building, the value that the reciprocal linking practice provides has been reduced greatly from the past.
So where does a SEO go to get results? Glad you asked…Here are what we see is teh emerging trends today in SEO – but by tommorow, they may have changed so research is key.
1. Daily content
It seems like a no-brainer but you would be shocked to know how many sites sit without being updated for months. At Trinity, we have seen first hand how powerful this is. In our SEO engagements, a large portion of our work is centered around content development. We syndicate the content on the web, bookmark it in social sites, and then re-formulate the content (so its unique!) for publishing purposes on our client sites. No matter what you sell or offer on your site – write about it daily! Include RSS feeds to help with content integration from the blogosphere. Create a blog and use the “tag and ping” tactic to inform technorati and other news sites of your content. Following these processes is a must for high rankings.
2. Widget development
Ok, you may have to outsource the development of this one, but by creating a widget and marketing it online, you can literally have thousands of links coming to your site. Think through what type of widget may make sense for your business from a marketing perspective. Get creative! Is it a functional tool? Daily content updated via xml? Joke of the day? It really doesent matter. All that matters is that it is unique, catchy, and marketable – both on your website and via viral marketing on the web.
3. Back to basics – Keyword selection and HTML
Lets not forget SEO 101. Make every page unique. Make every page’s meta data unique. Target terms that have less competition but a high volume. Use phrases within your title tags segmented by “|”. Looking for a great tool to help you in identifying the best terms to target? Download the SEO for firefox tool and see what wonders it does for your keyword research. Get it at http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html
There’s so much more, but this is enough to hopefully get you down the right path with SEO. Drop me a line if you would like to learn more or just talk shop..
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The sometimes fallacy of Google PageRank
“What can we do to get our PageRank higher”? These words are said to me at least once a week from clients, partners, and friends alike. Google, by applying a measurable ranking to a webpage and by making it visual to anyone with a Google toolbar, has created an environment in which search optimization projects are frequently judged by this performance indicator.
But the question lies…How really important is PageRank to a website?
Lets not forget, pagerank is only one singular factor in the Google algorithm. Primarily a measure of inbound links from on topic websites, pagerank does a good job of showing the level of percieved “authority” that is provided to a website. But in doing research lately, Im realizing that it seems to be devalued within the latest tweaks by Google.
Look at Red Envelope. When searching for “gifts” they show up on the first page. Looking at their page rank – they have a page rank of 1. Maybe this is an update or data center bug etc. – but this shows that pagerank is not the primary element to improving natural search.
The Trinity Insight website is another great example. We have a pagerank of 4, which for a two year old site is not terrible but also not amazing. However, we rank in the front page and even top three for our target keywords of ecommerce consulting, ecommerce strategy, etc…
The secret you ask? Content. Continuously updated, on target, and of good quality. Dont get me wrong, pagerank and links are vital to natural search – just dont get consumed by thinking of increasing pagerank by adding inbound links when you should be considering your user experience and what content you can provide to better serve your core demographic.
Migration of a blog in the name of SEO research
Migrating a blog from the new version of Blogger is not easy. In an effort to test out alternative tactics for link building/SEO tactics, Trinity has migrated to this new blog which is run on the word press platform.
Needless to say it wasnt easy. Hunting for WP plugins to handle the new Blogger version was pretty tough…
The tactic that we are integrating into our SEO methodology is called “Tag and Ping” – a process in which blogs serve as a mechanism to build authority status within defined categories. Its progressive and not utilized by most SEO’ers or businesses
Interested in learning more? Shoot me an email…
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Tag and Ping