Patience is an SEO Virtue

The Internet moves fast.  You move fast.  You do things today because you want results tomorrow.  Sound familiar?  It probably does.  That’s the way of the online world.  Speed is a necessity.

Guess what?  It’s time to slam on the brakes.  Right now.

Because SEO doesnt’ move fast and if you don’t get out of that “hustle and bustle” mindset, you’re not going to get the best results.

You see, unlike some of the things you can do online to create an immediate impact, SEO takes time.  The actual process of optimizing on-page factors an accruing good backlinks might not be that time-consuming, but you do need to have patience with respect to results and assessing the value of various strategies for your particular circumstances.

Google and the other major search engines just don’t move as fast as you do.  Google’s spiders might find their way to that new link to your site today, but may not follow it right away.  Even if they do follow it instantly, they might not really log it or process its significance right away.  Those great links you secure today may not improve your traffic tomorrow.  Or the next day.  Or the day after that.

At least one source says that you should expect to wait as long as six months or more before you can really develop a clear picture of what your SEO efforts are producing.  In online terms, that’s one heckuva long wait.

Patience is a virtue, though.  If you have it and you can see efforts through to fruitiion and then wait to assess their value, you’re going to be able to produce some high-traffic sites.  If you’re not patient, you’re going to find it tough to see any strategy through to the end.  Six months later, you won’t have anything to show for your “fits and starts”.

Keep working on your SEO.  It does pay off.  It just doesn’t always produce the kind of fast changes we might like.

What Makes a WordPress Theme “SEO Friendly”?

You’ve undoubtedly seen WordPress themes that are touted as being “SEO friendly”.  

We all know that WordPress naturally tends to perform well in SEO terms and that there are a variety of plug-ins available to aid even more in terms of search engine performance.  Is there something special about some themes, though, that makes them even more attractive to Google, et al?

Yes.  

Some WordPress themes are a little better with respect to search engine optimization.  Here are few things to look for if you’re in the market for a truly SEO-friendly theme.

1.  Unique H1 tagging on a per page basis.  A truly SEO oriented theme will create a unique H1 for every page you publish.

2.  Good use of H2 tags.  If the theme uses H2 to mark titles, subtitles and subheadings, it’s probably on the right track.  Please note that there is value in using post titles as H1 material, depending on exactly what you’re doing with the blog.

3.  Content comes first.  The best themes with respect to SEO will take care of titles and will then showcase your content to the search engine before having it dig through the rest of the site code.  

4.  Clean code.  this should be part of every theme, but it’s definitely important when you’re trying to find something that will give you the best SEO results.

5.  Internal link encouragement.  The best-performing themes tend to be sufficiently contet-thick on the main page to encourage extensive internal linking.  This has its advantages when it coes to SEO.

If you’re examining a theme and it seems to have all five of these features going for it, you can probably expect good SEO performance from your blog.  Of course, getting the links and coming up with the content are still your responsibility!

Messing with a Good Thing - Good SEO Requires Constant Addition

Don’t mess with a good thing.

Out in the so-called “real world”, that’s usually pretty good advice.  When it comes to SEO, however, it’s an absolutely horrible outlook.  If you aren’t “messing” with that good thing by adding new content and making adjustments, you’re going to find it a lot harder to secure a top slot in the SERPs.

That can be hard to do.  If you’ve finally managed to get your “blue widgets” page to rank #1 for the term, the temptation is to keep your hands off.  Why try to fix something that isn’t broken right?  Wrong.

Here’s the deal.  Your competition isn’t quitting.  Whoever is in the #2 slot is ready, willing and able to do what you’ve done, plus one.  That little addition may very well be in the form of content, which means you better be adding to your site to stay ahead of the Joneses.

Additionally, the search engines have repeatedly demonstrated their undying and eteral love for new content.  If you thik the blogging exploded in popularity with previously non-journaliing webmasters because it was fun, you’ve got another thing coming.  People discovered that the reason blogs were consistently outranking static sites was because they featured new, updated content.  Keep adding content!

Finally, you don’t want to trust the search engines.  What works today may be out the window tomorrow.  That measn your primary focus must always be on doing the kind of things that should help a site to grow even in the face of most algorithmic tweaks.  What has the one constant of SEO been since the very beginning?  Content.  Adding new materials is a good way to strengthen your site for the long haul.

If you want to celebrate your SEO success by marveling at your newfound SERP position, that’s find.  After a few minutes of admiring your handiwork, however, you should be back at work.  Continue to add to your sites to protect and improve SEO performance.

SEO Advice Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

Wrestling with Google in an effort to secure a top spot in the rankings can get tedious sometimes.  Wouldn’t it be nice if the folks in Mountain View would just send you a handy PDF that told you exactly what you needed to do in order to succeed in Google?

Fat chance, right?  Those guys aren’t about to tell you how to crack the code.

Or are they?

Many people don’t realize it, but there actually is a handy-dandy guide to SEO basics that comes straight from Google.  That’s right, the Big G has actually assembled a little instruction manual that you can use as you build your site.

If you haven’t read it, you should grab a copy of Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide right away.  It makes sense to get direction straight from the horse’s mouth.  The latest version (as of this post) is dated November, 2008.

Now, don’t get too excited.  This is definitely a starter guide.  It’s basic and it isn’t going to give you a lot of insight about the details of truly effective SEO.  Obviously, it isn’t going to contain any tricks or algorithmic loopholes to exploit, either.  It’s the kind of thing that’s indispensable to a newbie and that can even help more advanced users with the basics of SEO, though.

It also sheds a lot of light on Google’s overall attitude toward SEO and where they draw the lines that separate “legitimate” activities from those upon which they frown.  Even more expert SEOs can benefit from the guide if they’re willing and able to “read between the lines”.

If you’ve been wondering how to stay on Google’s good side with your SEO efforts or you need a nice, solid basic guide to SEO, this is a great starting point.  It should certainly be on the reading list of any webmaster who isn’t an SEO expert and it should be on the skim list of those who are.

Too Much of a Good Thing? Overdoing SEO

Good SEO requires more than just a commitment and a work ethic. In fact, too much work in certain areas can actually do more harm than good. We tend to naturally embrace the notion that “more is better” but when it comes to optimizing your site for search engine performance there are times when it pays to back off a little bit.

The most obvious proof of that theory becomes obvious when you look at the old-school SEO technique of keyword stuffing. If you’ve been online for more than a few years, you can probably remember those sites with “hidden” keywords designed to attract search engine attention. That kind of stuff actually worked, too. Now, however, it’s a recipe guaranteed to put you on Google’s bad side. That’s why the keystuffing era is history.

There are some practices used today that will suffer from overkill. One of them involves the use of anchor text in inbound links to your site. People doling out the SEO advice will often tell you that the right anchor text is a great idea. What they fail to mention is the fact that too many backlinks featuring the exact same anchor text will raise a flag at Google. It looks automated and may make Google wonder if you really “deserve” all of those votes of confidence. That’s why too much of the same anchor text is a mistake. You need to mix it up.

Another example is the use of bold texting. This on-page SEO technique can work. The search engines do notice those <b> and </b> tags and they take notice of what rests between them. However, you dillute the value of bolding when you toss it around too much. You also give yourself away if you’re bolding every single instance of a keyword. This is another great place for SEO moderation.

You can do too much of a good thing. Bolding, anchor text and keyword stuffing all prove that the best SEO involves knowing when to put the pedal to the metal and when to slow down.

Meta Tags in 2009

Meta tags have been part of the SEO discussion for years and no matter what happens in other areas, the topic has a way of rearing its head again and again.

That wouldn’t be a bad thing if it wasn’t for the fact that so many commentaries on meta tags are relying upon old information that no longer reflects the SEO reality associated with their use.

So, in hopes of getting 2009 off to a great start, let’s separate truth from fiction with respect to meta tags and search engine optimization.

First, if you believe meta tags are a real difference maker in terms of your search engine rankings, think again. It simply isn’t the case. Once upon a time, when Google and the other search engines were less advanced, they tended to rely upon meta tags much more than they do today. Currently, the top SEO experts argue, meta tags have less influence on SEO today than they ever have.

Second, if you think you should disregard meta tags completely, you might want to reconsider your perspective. No, they aren’t the big deal they once were. However, SEO is often a game of small improvements and finding edges wherever they exist. That includes meta tags. They are still used by some of the minor search engines and the info in your meta tags often appears as part of search results. You don’t want to sweat blood over your meta tags, but there’s no reason to ignore them completely.

Third, don’t be sloppy when you do tinker with those meta tags. If the keywords embedded in the tags don’t match the actual material on your page, there’s a good chance that the search engines might give you a slap on the wrist in the form of worsened rankings. It would be a shame to hurt yourself with something that only offers a slight SEO advantage.

Why Looks Might Matter for SEO

We usually think of design and SEO as two very different aspects of the site management process. Design is usually discussed in terms of usability and aesthetics while SEO conversations center on backlink acquisition.

There is a place, however, where the two concepts overlap. That’s right, good design can be a good way to improve your SEO by encouraging others to backlink to you. Good looks might not be the most important aspect of making a site into a link magnet, but it can help.

Let’s outline a few of the ways that a good-looking site can improve your SEO.

First, if you can come up with a really attractive design you’re more likely to capture a visitor’s attention. In turn, that makes it more likely that they’ll discover the value in your content than if they encounter a plain or ugly site. That improves site performance on the visitor level, obviously, but it also increases the likelihood that the visitor may link back to you. In other words, getting attention is a good way of getting backlinks. We all know that viral content is a great way to get traffic and backlinks. It stands to reason that viral design—a design that really stands out and creates interest—could serve the very same function.

Second, there are some sites that are more likely to link to sites that demonstrate certain design components. Standards compliance is a great example. If your site is fully standard compliant, government sites and some directories will be more likely to link to you. Another great example of this involves communities that are interested in particular design techniques. If you build your site with a great CSS layout, for instance, you might get some link love from those involved in the CSS scene.

SEO isn’t a beauty contest, but good looks certainly can’t hurt as you try to climb the SERPs.