Search Engine Optimization (SEO) clean code, unique content, the right links are key to seo success
Rank your website!
As we know a lot of your web site traffic will come through search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. You will have people visit your site through word of mouth, but an easy method to getting your name out is to be in the top 10 for specific search strings. People will click through from the search engine and then it's your chance to convert them into a qualified customer. Ideally, the top 3 positions are the holy grail for real traffic and clicks.
Contact UsGoogle Algorithm Updates
Hummingbird
Google's reasoning for the title of Hummingbird for this algorithm update is thats its fast and easy. With this update, they have changed the underlying engine that is driving google. Now they can change the results quicker than they could ever before. This also gave a better focus on how people search today. More and more users are using mobile devices to search and the way they search on a phone is different. It's more of a "conversational search".
What conversational search means, is that people don't just type two word searches like "car dealer". They will search "Where can I buy a car in Toronto Ontario". Google before interpreted that differently where they would look at the major words in that query. Now they are trying to understand more the context of the search and will show dealers specifically located within Toronto. While this is not completely new -- they did do this before, just now the engine has been fine tuned to give even better results.
Penguin
Launched back in April of 2012, the Penguin algorithm update was targetted for "over optimization" specifically in the area of backlinks. The biggest target? Too many links with the same keyword. Google before Penguin would give you credit for every time someone linked to you as say "Web Design". You would climb the ranks for the term web design. Everyone into SEO would then make thousands of low quality links to their site with that term, so they would shoot up in rankings. Obviously, this led to a spam situation where sites would blast their way to the top. So Google introduced this update to kill sites that had too many links with the exact same keyword. Thinking about natural sites, you will see links like Click Here, go to this page, etc or even just the URL like http://www.emenki.com/. Not just the keyword being targetted.
After this update it was crucial to diversify your backlinks so they have various anchor text to them as well as naked url links. The problem for many was diluting the existing exact keyword links with enough new backlinks that were non exact keywords. It can be done, but takes a lot of effort. This update also came about a new problem of Negative SEO where a competitor was blasting hundreds of thousands of links to competitor sites, to remove them from the search engines and drop rankings.
Panda
The update labelled "Panda" was specifically a target for on site factors including content and the way everything was structured. What was its main purpose? Kill off thin sites that used copied content, that was not unique. Many sites would use content that was duplicated from various sources, and the nubmer of words on the page were very low. They were made to bring in traffic to get visitors to click ads, buy things from amazon (for commission) and more.
Most of these sites content was not helpful to actual searchers, so Google brought this to take them out. This was not just one update, but is continuously ongoing and constantly trying to remove thin sites. A thin site is one that for example copies the Product Description from Amazon and hopes people will click their Buy Button and earn commission, or sites that are full of Adsense Ads. You've seen the ones with 3 ads right at the top hoping you will click.
Those into SEO also had ideas that Google was checking for valid HTML coding, page loading time and how long people stayed on your site. They wanted to show sites that users get to and actually stay and read -- sites that are helpful -- which was it's main target and continues to be its target with all updates to its search engine algorithm.
SEO Services
White Hat SEO is essentially getting natural links to your site -- whether this is through getting news coverage, press releases, or people liking something about your site that they actually choose to link back to your site for visitors to check out. Technically, in the case of Google doing any link building or attempts to build up your site by increasing its popularity is not "White Hat". The other end of the stream is blackhat techniques that automate link building (we've all seen contact forms, forums and comments getting spammed by random useless comments). In between is Grey Hat techniques, that can be bad or good -- depending on the current algorithm being employed by Google. For the most part, most traffic will come from Google so we specialize in discussing how to improve your ranking in Google.
At Emenki Web Solutions, we stay on top of the current SEO trends and have our own sites that help us determine what is working and what is not. Unique content is king, and you will need well written articles to help build your site authority and rankings.
Emenki Web Solutions performs search engine optimization (seo) techniques that will help you move your site towards the final goal - being in the top 10 for the biggest Search Engines people use, including:
- Yahoo
- Bing
Just remember no one can Guarantee rankings! We can do all the right things to help increase your rankings, but some terms are more competitive than others, and would require a lot of effort to get the number 1 position. Many people believe its just "get me to show up number 1 on Google", but it takes effort and months of steady effort to build your site popularity in googles eyes, in addition to site authority. Then you will have a better chance to rank number 1, but there still is no guarantee. If someone guarantees you number 1, then you should be weary -- if they can rank number 1 and guarantee it for any term, they would rank their own sites and make their own money, rather than do it for you.
Everyone wants to be at the top of Google yesterday! But in reality this is just not doable -- unless you want to pay for something like Google Adwords -- where you will show up in the top 3 of the results (if you pay enough per click!). That can get expensive quickly, but will get you instant traffic to build buzz. If you want to go the route of ranking in the organic search results, an assessment needs to be made to determine how competitive the market is for your search terms.
Ranking for some obscure term like "how to clean a purple stain from the garage roof" will probably be easy - there's likely no one writing about that! Ranking for something like "Web Design" will be infinitely harder! There's so many companies targetting this term, and its a constant fight and effort to be in the top 10. If you stop doing seo on your site, and building content you WILL drop off the rankings. For a new site, it can take a year to rank number 1 for a term like web design (and likely longer). Your site needs to build authority. For existing sites, you can push the envelope a little bit more and rank faster. At Emenki Web Solutions, we will evaluate your site and terms, and provide you with service options that can help you reach your goals in search engine ranking, with a realistic expectation of how long it may take to rank your site.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be done for any company requiring it, whether you are local or around the world. The same techniques apply, but if you want face to face commuinication about how SEO can help your site, we can help if you are located in:
- Toronto
- Oakville
- Mississauga
- Burlington
- Hamilton
If your city is not listed above, do not hesitate to contact us. We can still work with you and improving your site. Many options exist include email, skype or phone, where everything can be handled for your search engine optimization needs.