http://guruknowledge.org en-us http://guruknowledge.org N/A daleking@guruknowledge.org Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:25:16 -0400 20 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1885/1/Increase-Profits-With-Powerful-Landing-Page-Content/Increase-Profits-With-Powerful-Landing-Page-Content.html When undertaking any advertising campaign, from PPC to banner advertising, it is essential that you first optimize the appropriate landing page. The landing page should offer everything that your visitor wants to see but it should also be ready to convert the visitor to perform the desired action. Page relevancy, your Unique Selling Proposition, a clear Call To Action, and giveaways and discounts are some of the most effective methods to improve conversions and increase profits. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Matt Jackson) Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1884/1/Improve-Landing-Page-Performance-With-Page-Relevancy/Improve-Landing-Page-Performance-With-Page-Relevancy.html The landing page is one of, if not the most important aspects of an advertising campaign but it is one that is often overlooked. Upon embarking on an SEO, PPC, or any other type of campaign it is easy to get caught up in bid prices, link building, and optimizing the ad itself. However, if the landing page doesn't perform then all of that work is next to useless. A landing page must convert visitors into customers. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Matt Jackson) Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1879/1/Can-The-Search-Engines-Find-Your-Website/Can-The-Search-Engines-Find-Your-Website.html Do you know whether the search engines, whose crawlers and spiders scour the web for text to index, can find your site? Recently, I was consulting on the creation of a web site for a visual artist. The Web designer wanted the text to be rendered in a beautiful font but the only way to control that was by setting the text in a graphic, essentially turning it into a picture. That means all the text throughout the site would be perceived by the computer as an image, even if users see actual text. ilise@marketing-mentor.com (Ilise Benun) Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1870/1/What-To-Do-When-Your-Website-Does-Not-Rank-Well-In-Google/What-To-Do-When-Your-Website-Does-Not-Rank-Well-In-Google.html Online marketers frequently struggle with the question of how to compete when Google fails to look positively upon a particular website. In this article, I will focus on how to build rankings and drive traffic to your website, using Google and the other search engines. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Bill Platt) Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1869/1/Search-Engine-Optimization-Concepts/Search-Engine-Optimization-Concepts.html Sometimes another form of language and imagery is required in order to communicate vast ideas for common consumption. This is one of such instances where an array of algorithmic functions will be given a conceptual vehicle to map their role in the creation of a top 10 ranking. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jeffrey Smith) Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1868/1/SEO-Is-It-All-About-Links-Not-Anymore/SEO-Is-It-All-About-Links-Not-Anymore.html With so many new algorithms being adjusted, modified or replaced altogether, between the cached version of the SERPs (search engine result pages) and the actual index there are obvious discrepancies leaving their mark on the web. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jeffrey Smith) Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1861/1/A-Beginners-Guide-To-Link-Building/A-Beginners-Guide-To-Link-Building.html Link building is an essential ingredient in ranking your website highly on the major search engines.  There, now that we've got that brilliant grasp of the obvious out of the way let's move on to what you can do to actually create them.  Before we launch into the nitty-gritty of link building, no beginners guide would be complete without a brief explanation as to why links are important and the different elements of them.  Being a beginners guide this won't be an entirely complete list but it will be enough to get you going on the right path.  Understanding what you're trying to do will help you do it better and more importantly, understanding the “why” of the situation will help you stretch your tactics outside of this and other articles on link building. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dave Davies) Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1858/1/SEOs-Are-Not-Rock-Stars/SEOs-Are-Not-Rock-Stars.html For some time now I've bitten my tongue on an issue that's driven me nuts for some time - the ego involved in the SEO industry. I have WAY too often heard some of the more noted SEO's referred to as "rock stars". And who makes the reference? Other SEO's. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dave Davies) Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1837/1/Why-Page-Rank-is-Important-in-Building-Traffic/Why-Page-Rank-is-Important-in-Building-Traffic.html Google Page rank (correctly PageRank) is important in building traffic to your website for a number of reasons. Before we discuss why, here is quick heads up on how it works. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Peter Nisbet) Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1821/1/Top-Six-Internal-Linking-Tactics-To-Get-Top-Google-Rankings/Top-Six-Internal-Linking-Tactics-To-Get-Top-Google-Rankings.html If you own or run a website and are not following these six tactics for properly linking your website together then you're losing Google traffic as you read this. First some definitions. Internal linking is the links on your website that point to other pages within your same website. External linking is when you link to another website. Tactics are specific things to do to achieve desired results, or any mode of procedure for gaining advantage or success. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jason O'Connor) Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1813/1/SEO---The-Most-Effective-Form-of-Advertising/SEO---The-Most-Effective-Form-of-Advertising.html More and more website owners and web designers are beginning to understand the value of SEO. They know that SEO is one of the most, if not the most effective form of advertising on the internet. Surprisingly, I still come across web designers that still do not know what SEO is or who question the necessity of it. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Joe Balestrino) Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1812/1/Subdomains-What-are-the-SEO-benefits/Subdomains-What-are-the-SEO-benefits.html There has always been a long standing debate over whether or not to use a subdomain. Questions I commonly receive are... What is a subdomain? Is it hard for a sub-domain to rank well? When should a use a subdomain? What are the SEO benefits? What are the alternatives to a subdomain? These are all very good questions. Lucky for you, all the answers are right here. So let's get to it. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Joe Balestrino) Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1809/1/Search-Engine-Positioning-3-Key-Principles/Search-Engine-Positioning-3-Key-Principles.html It's not hard to find good information on search engine positioning... the hard part is telling the good information apart from the bad. Some of it is old, some of it is wrong, and a lot of it is just self-serving propaganda for someone's product or service. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dan Thies) Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1808/1/Keywords-Are-You-Barking-Up-The-Wrong-Tree/Keywords-Are-You-Barking-Up-The-Wrong-Tree.html When I created my "Website Promotion Central" site in 2000, I deliberately set out to see how high it could rank for the very competitive search term "website promotion." My motiviation was more to prove the "experts" weren't so expert, than to get a lot of traffic... and it's a good thing! daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dan Thies) Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1799/1/How-should-Search-Engines-treat-Paid-Links/How-should-Search-Engines-treat-Paid-Links.html Eric Enge did an excellent interview with Priyank Garge, the director of product management for Yahoo Search Technology (YST). The interview was almost exlcusively centered around to topic of "links", and Eric did a great job of asking the right questions, and Priyank gave some great honest insights into his/Yahoo’s view on links. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jim Boykin) Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1798/1/QualityGal-Your-mom-doesnt-know-SEO/QualityGal-Your-mom-doesnt-know-SEO.html Part of my job, as I understand it, is helping to keep Jim honest.  Not to imply that he would ever be intentionally dishonest – nor would most respectable SEO professionals – but I think that, sometimes, it’s easy for SEO folks to lose sight of the people who actually click on the pages they work so hard to get to the top of the rankings.  That little thing called user intent. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jim Boykin) Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1762/1/Blackhat-SEO-Protect-Yourself-by-Recognizing-The-Bad-Guys/Blackhat-SEO-Protect-Yourself-by-Recognizing-The-Bad-Guys.html Over the years, webmasters have been told that they should want to avoid Blackhat SEO techniques in connection with their own websites. In general, I agree with this statement. But, by obtaining a deeper understanding of Blackhat search engine optimization, one could actually learn a bit about how to better his or her own positioning in the search engine results.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Bill Platt) Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1729/1/How-To-Select-The-Best-Keywords-For-Your-Site/How-To-Select-The-Best-Keywords-For-Your-Site.html As more websites compete for valuable search engine "real estate," Search Engine Optimization is becoming much more complex.And *keyword selection* remains one of the most important (yet least understood) pieces of the puzzle. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jennifer Horowitz) Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1709/1/SEO-Ninja-Skills-Prevent-Armageddon/SEO-Ninja-Skills-Prevent-Armageddon.html Maybe you looked at it and thought to yourself: “Looks good, and my search traffic really needs a boost, but lemme think about it first.” Look, you know better search rankings means you bring in more money. The book will pay for itself and then some. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Michael Martine) Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1690/1/All-Optimized-and-Going-Nowhere/All-Optimized-and-Going-Nowhere.html It happens sometimes. Here are some of the common reasons you may not be indexed: daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jennifer Horowitz) Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1686/1/Theres-No-Shortcut-for-Link-Building-A-Case-for-Relationship-Building/Theres-No-Shortcut-for-Link-Building-A-Case-for-Relationship-Building.html When it comes to building links and generating coverage of your web site and products online, there's a skill that often gets overlooked. Relationship building gets a lot of lip service these days, but I sometimes wonder how many small businesses really, truly understand how much work goes into it. Relationships go beyond reading a single blog post or scanning a Facebook page...it means investing time in someone.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jennifer Laycock) Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1662/1/How-Long-Does-It-Take-to-Get-PageRank/How-Long-Does-It-Take-to-Get-PageRank.html One of the questions I'm asked almost daily by my readers is how long does it take for Google to assign PageRank. If you've ever wondered the same thing, here's the answer to that question:  daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1658/1/The-Three-Steps-of-Search-Engine-Optimization/The-Three-Steps-of-Search-Engine-Optimization.html Showing up at the top of the major search engines can be easy or difficult depending on the competitiveness of the search term. This said, there are some basic steps that you can follow to make sure your web site shows up well for semi-competitive search terms. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Ryan Allis) Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1619/1/SEO-Basics---Good-Link-Bad-Link/SEO-Basics---Good-Link-Bad-Link.html Your link profile is potentially the most powerful aspect of your SEO efforts, especially in the eyes of Google. Quality counts over quantity, but it is important to get a good list of well-balanced links pointing to your site. Diversification really is the key. Try not to concentrate all of your efforts on gaining links from one source, and similarly try not to gain them using a single method. A number of tactics should be avoided wherever possible because they either offer you no benefit whatsoever or your page may be penalized. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Matt Jackson) Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1563/1/Understanding-the-Search-Engines/Understanding-the-Search-Engines.html Google currently has about 200 factors in their algorithms that determine how your site will rank.The process they go through is the equivalent of the teacher looking at your site and then looking at their checklist and giving you a gold star for each of the things that you do right. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jennifer Horowitz) Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1552/1/Be-Careful-Who-You-Link-To/Be-Careful-Who-You-Link-To.html Many newbies when they come online attempt to get free traffic as quickly as possible. So they link to anyone who'll link to them - including link farms and traffic exchange programs. This is a mistake. These types of websites provide zero end-user benefit. They have little to no content - just a bunch of useless links. I call these types of sites "garbage websites," because the quality of traffic that they send you will be just that - garbage! daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1546/1/What-You-Dont-Know-About-Keywords-That-Your-Competitors-May-Know/What-You-Dont-Know-About-Keywords-That-Your-Competitors-May-Know.html Did you know that 25% of searches each month are brand new, never before seen search words and phrases? That is shocking. You would think with the number of search queries running through Google, they have seen it all. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jennifer Horowitz) Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1497/1/The-Truth-About-What-You-Need-To-Do-To-Get-Top-SEO-Rankings/The-Truth-About-What-You-Need-To-Do-To-Get-Top-SEO-Rankings.html What are you not asking that you should be? Find out the answer and you'll find your way to Top SEO Rankings. SEO continues to be the talk of the town. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jennifer Horowitz) Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1496/1/Analytics---The-Missing-Piece/Analytics---The-Missing-Piece.html The ultimate goal of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is to drive traffic to your site. Many people don't know why, but they aren't achieving this goal. The key is staying current and evolving with the times. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jennifer Horowitz) Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1494/1/How-to-Get-Top-Ten-Rankings-In-Google-In-37-MinutesReally/How-to-Get-Top-Ten-Rankings-In-Google-In-37-MinutesReally.html I'm not a big seo person.  But, I'm working on a new product, so I have to get my ducksin a row.  I have a shocking SEO secret to share here I betyou haven't heard before.I'm gonna break this down for you really easy. domains@amazingformula.com (Marlon Sanders) Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1483/1/How-To-Create-Dynamic-Headlines/How-To-Create-Dynamic-Headlines.html Relevancy is the key to the success of all advertising. If your ad conveys the right message at the right time, to the right people, then you stand a very good chance of increasing the response to your ad. If your Adwords ad contains the same search term that someone has just typed in; Google will reward you by highlighting the term in bold in your ad. This extra bold highlight has been proven to increase response and clickthrough rate to your ads. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jason Lewis) Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1464/1/Are-the-New-Alexa-Rankings-More-Accurate/Are-the-New-Alexa-Rankings-More-Accurate.html Alexa began displaying website popularity rankings in 1998,  with the goal of showing Alexa Toolbar users how popular any given site was within the Alexa community. Alexa's rankings were generated through an analysis of Internet usage by people who use the Alexa Toolbar. Over time, Alexa became the standard by which website popularity was measured.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1419/1/How-I-Regained-My-Lost-Google-Traffic/How-I-Regained-My-Lost-Google-Traffic.html A while back I discovered that the traffic I was used to getting to my main site absolutely free from Google had dried up - completely! I mean, there was not a sniff of Google traffic on my site. A bunch of top ten rankings simply disappeared overnight.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Jeff Baas) Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1391/1/7-Proven-Strategies-for-Improving-Your-Alexa-Ranking/7-Proven-Strategies-for-Improving-Your-Alexa-Ranking.html After spending two years building my own website, I was very disappointed that my Alexa ranking was still higher than one million. Alexa ranks each website based on the number of visitors it receives. The top ranked website, Yahoo! has an Alexa rating of 1 or 2. Less popular sites could be ranked up to 5,000,000.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Michael Fleischner) Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1378/1/Hidden-Ways-to-Get-into-Google/Hidden-Ways-to-Get-into-Google.html Everyone is concerned about their Google rankings. An algorithm change or an update can leave many a webmaster in tears. However, I often like to sneak in through the back door. So today I'm going to reveal to you some of my Google secrets. After you look closely, you will find that there is much more to Google than meets the eye and I want you to take advantage of every resource. So, let's look behind the scenes into Google's lab.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Kim Roach) Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1366/1/PageRank-a-True-Commodity/PageRank-a-True-Commodity.html What is PageRank Worth? Whatever people are willing to pay for it. Nothing more, nothing less...How does PageRank Relate to Relevancy or Rankings? Some people believe that PageRank directly relates to relevancy, but it doesn't. In the past the Google algorithm was more reliant upon PageRank than it is today, but currently PageRank is a small factor in the Google search algorithm. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Aaron Wall) Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1365/1/Delusional-Search-Engine-Optimization--SEO-Tips/Delusional-Search-Engine-Optimization--SEO-Tips.html Why do People Become Successful?Usually it is the result of having extreme natural gift or a passion for a topic. Sometimes success is a function of luck. On the web it is the syndication of thought that makes people extremely successful. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Aaron Wall) Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1348/1/Getting-Links-Without-Trying/Getting-Links-Without-Trying.html Linkbaiting is a hot topic right now. However, one of the funniest definitions of creating linkbait was to “forget linkbait, think about the user first, and develop content for them.” Sounds noble enough, yet I find it extremely humorous. Mainly because of the language involved. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Matt Bailey) Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1329/1/How-to-Build-and-Maintain-Traffic-Momentum-For-Your-Website/How-to-Build-and-Maintain-Traffic-Momentum-For-Your-Website.html Momentum is defined as "the perceived strength behind a forward shift or positive action or movement." The problem with momentum is that it can be both elusive and fleeting. So what does any of this have to do with traffic? Everything. Let me explain. If you know what you're doing, you can not only create traffic momentum for your website, you can maintain it as well. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1325/1/Keyword-Analysis--Ranking-The-Value-of-Brainstorming/Keyword-Analysis--Ranking-The-Value-of-Brainstorming.html Conducting a good keyword analysis is the first step in an effective search engine marketing campaign. If you don't chose good keywords, all efforts to boost your ranking will be wasted. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Christine Churchill) Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1324/1/Search-Engine-RankingGoogle-Gets-Tougher-on-Spam/Search-Engine-RankingGoogle-Gets-Tougher-on-Spam.html At KeyRelevance we've always taken a strong stance against search engine spammers - people who try to achieve a high search engine ranking through tricks that game Google's algorithms. Fly-by-night optimization like this could give the entire SEO industry a bad name. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Christine Churchill) Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1323/1/Search-Engine-ListingsCan-Spiders-Crawl-Your-Web-Site/Search-Engine-ListingsCan-Spiders-Crawl-Your-Web-Site.html A fundamental to ensuring your web site appears in the search engine listings is making sure that search engine spiders can successfully crawl your web site. After all, if the spider can't reach your pages, then the search engine can't include them in their search listings. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Christine Churchill) Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1317/1/Former-Google-quotHaterquot-Turns-Google-quotLoverquot-Literally-Overnight/Former-Google-quotHaterquot-Turns-Google-quotLoverquot-Literally-Overnight.html It's true. I've hated Google for years. I've always been a Yahoo guy. For some strange reason, I've always hated Google's search engine domination. Why? Well that's between me and my therapist. But that's not important. What is important is that I no longer hate Google. So why the sudden change of heart? I thought you'd never ask.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1263/1/Three-Tips-to-Boost-Your-SEO-Results/Three-Tips-to-Boost-Your-SEO-Results.html Persuasive SEO copywriting satisfies two masters—the search engines and prospects. Here are some ideas that work for both.1. It’s alright to revise your company’s Web pages gradually. To decide what pages to work with first, consider any upcoming sales or promotions you want to promote, product or service pages that aren’t currently positioning, and any pages that may be important to your brand. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Heather Lloyd-Martin) Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1249/1/How-To-Get-Free-Traffic-By-Writing-Articles/How-To-Get-Free-Traffic-By-Writing-Articles.html Did you know the reason most people go online is not to buy anything, but rather to get free information? It's true. So how can you use this information to your advantage?   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1236/1/The-Best-Keywords-Ever/The-Best-Keywords-Ever.html No, I’m not going to give you a list of most searched or most clicked keywords or whatever. Instead I’m going to talk about how to determine which keywords will be the best for you. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Stoney DeGeyter) Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1233/1/Want-Google-To-Love-You-Be-Relevant/Want-Google-To-Love-You-Be-Relevant.html According to information on Google's technology page, Google uses sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines dozens of aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1231/1/Why-quotPerfectquot-Optimizing-Doesnt-Always-Mean-More-Traffic/Why-quotPerfectquot-Optimizing-Doesnt-Always-Mean-More-Traffic.html You may already know how to do your keyword research and find the right phrases to target for your site, but did you know that too much of a good thing can actually do more harm than good? alice@internetbasedmoms.com (Alice Seba) Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1153/1/SEO-Rip-Off/SEO-Rip-Off.html I have decide to write this article as a result of numerous emails. It seems more and more people are falling victim to bad SEO. The main complaint is that they are paying entirely too much for little or no results. Additionally, many fall prey to bad SEO practices. If you plan to hire an SEO pro in the future, I suggest you use this article as a set of guidelines.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Joe Balestrino) Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1152/1/SEO-for-Beginners/SEO-for-Beginners.html If you are confused about terms like "search engine optimization" or having a "search engine friendly" site, then listen up! I am here to help. Depending on how long you have had, or considered having, a website online, you have heard terms thrown around like the above or even worse, acronyms! SEO comes to mind.   jack@jackhumphrey.com (Jack Humphrey) Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1108/1/Keyword-URLs-and-SEO/Keyword-URLs-and-SEO.html I just got off the phone with an SEO colleague of mine. He just related an amusing story to me, and I wanted to share it with you.   daull@nineyards.com (Diane Aull) Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1107/1/The-Google-PageRank-Myth/The-Google-PageRank-Myth.html I just read yet another Request For Proposal from a prospect who’s concerned because his Google PageRank (PR) seems to have gone down. I’m guessing he’d probably be shocked if I were to tell him I couldn’t care less what the PR number displayed on his Google Toolbar is.   daull@nineyards.com (Diane Aull) Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1106/1/Is-your-site-penalized-or-banned-by-the-search-engines/Is-your-site-penalized-or-banned-by-the-search-engines.html If you’re wondering whether your site might have been banned or penalized by the search engines, it can be difficult to tell. The SEs generally don’t display anything publicly to state a site has been banned or penalized. You can check this for yourself by looking at the SE results for competitive search terms. Honestly, I spend a lot of time searching for one thing or another, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen any sort of notification like that. Ever. daull@nineyards.com (Diane Aull) Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1105/1/Is-the-SEO-Industry-Dying/Is-the-SEO-Industry-Dying.html Recently, on the HighRankings Forum a member wondered if the SEO industry was about to collapse. He speculated that because there’s so much information freely available about search engine optimization, pretty soon everyone would have an optimized site and there would be no need for professional SEOs.   daull@nineyards.com (Diane Aull) Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1031/1/SEO-is-More-Important-Than-Ever/SEO-is-More-Important-Than-Ever.html I do my fair share of web marketing reading on a daily basis and lately I have noticed more and more writers stating that search engine optimization (SEO) is no longer as important for online success. This spin may make sense to those writers (and their financial goals) as they try to push industry cash flow away from SEO but I disagree wholeheartedly and throughout this posting I will explain why. And I assure you that despite my own inherent bias it will all be very logical and undeniable. ross@stepforth.com (Ross Dunn) Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/1030/1/How-to-Optimize-for-Yahoo/How-to-Optimize-for-Yahoo.html With a reported 22.1% of search traffic Yahoo is second only to Google’s 64.4% (src: Hitwise) for search user volume so it is extremely important not to forget that attaining a top ranking in Yahoo can be a big boon to the bottom line. As a result, I decided to write this update on how to attain superior rankings in Yahoo using today’s useful tools and tactics. ross@stepforth.com (Ross Dunn) Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/908/1/The-Truth-About-Flash-Websites/The-Truth-About-Flash-Websites.html Not too long ago Flash websites were all the rage. They looked really cool, and brought interactivity and animation to previously unseen heights. However, from an SEO standpoint, Flash websites are simply not a good idea. Why? Four reasons: daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/871/1/Secret-Internet-Marketing-Tactic-Lets-You-Dominate-the-Search-Engines/Secret-Internet-Marketing-Tactic-Lets-You-Dominate-the-Search-Engines.html If you want to get a LOT more Internet traffic than you are now, without having to do a lot of complicated key word and SEO tricks, then this article will show you how. Listen to this: The key to getting a lot of traffic to your website...is audio. Why? Because search engines are now starting to pick up what is called ID3 tags. What are ID3 tags? michael@michaelsenoff.com (Michael Senoff) Wed, 30 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/835/1/5-Steps-to-SEO-Success/5-Steps-to-SEO-Success.html Let me make one thing perfectly clear, right off the bat. I don't consider myself an SEO expert (search engine optimization), by any stretch of the imagination - not even close. However, I DO know what works and what DOESN'T, when it comes to search engine optimization. And if you "read and heed" the advice set forth in this article, so will you. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Wed, 09 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/718/1/How-to-Get-Inbound-Links-to-Your-Website/How-to-Get-Inbound-Links-to-Your-Website.html One of the oldest and best ways to increase your search engine rankings and get visitors to your website is from inbound links. The importance of inbound links to your website will most likely never diminish. It's no secret that search engines, especially Google, value quality inbound links to a website for higher rankings. However, these days the emphasis is not on the quantity of links, instead it is on quality. A couple dozen links to your site from related, high quality, authority sites are much more valuable to a search engine than hundreds of low quality links you obtained by exchanging with anyone that would say yes. webmaster1@gmail.com (Trent Brownrigg) Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/716/1/Why-I-Am-Sick-of-Reciprocal-Linking/Why-I-Am-Sick-of-Reciprocal-Linking.html copyright 2007 When the Internet was new to me, I was fascinated by following links and going to new sites. It was like an adventure. And when I had my own website the first thing that I wanted to do was to place my site’s links on other sites. I began reciprocal linking (trading links with other sites) way back then, but 11 years later things have changed and now I dread getting a “reciprocal link request” in my email inbox. I have a few pet peeves with reciprocal linking and here they are:1. Most of the requests are automatedIt used to be flattering to get a link request, knowing that someone had visited your site and wanted to exchange a link. These days most of the requests are done with software and it means that no one has really visited your site. Automation in itself is not bad but it leads to all kinds of abuses, and it prevents you from picking out the good links from the bad. Even if you have an automated directory to handle link requests, which is what I installed, you will still be swamped with tons of link requests. support@a1-optimization.com (Donald Nelson) Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/715/1/5-Tips-for-Improving-Your-Sites-Search-Engine-Positioning/5-Tips-for-Improving-Your-Sites-Search-Engine-Positioning.html copyright 2006 Almost all webmasters or website owners are looking for ways to get better results from their websites. They wish to improve their site’s standing and get better rankings in search engines. This quest for improved results, known as search engine positioning, can be satisfied by following a few basic procedures.Before you even begin, you have to realize that you are competing against hundreds, and in some categories, thousands of websites offering similar products and services. In the case of affiliate marketing, many of the competing websites may even be identical! If you want to get the edge over these competitors and improve your search engine positioning you have to fine-tune your website and actively work to make it better. support@a1-optimization.com (Donald Nelson) Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/714/1/Search-Engine-Submission-is-it-still-necessary/Search-Engine-Submission-is-it-still-necessary.html copyright 2006 When the Internet was young, not so long ago, there were lots of search engines and the conventional wisdom was that one of the first things that you needed to do was to submit your site to all of those search engines. But what about today when a handful of search engines dominate the scene; is search engine submission still important or even necessary at all?A short answer to both of these questions is a qualified “no.” The major search engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo and Ask.com (Ask Jeeves) all employ robotic programs “bots” which scour the Internet looking for data (sites) to add to the search engine indices. Whenever they visit a web page they look at the links on that page and follow them. If they follow a link to a new site, that site is then included in their data base. In addition, the bots periodically revisit all the sites that they know about. support@a1-optimization.com (Donald Nelson) Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/713/1/Reciprocal-Linking-Is-it-still-worth-the-effort/Reciprocal-Linking-Is-it-still-worth-the-effort.html copyright 2006 When the Internet was young, ten years ago, one of my most pleasurable online activities was to go to a site’s link page and follow the links to some cool sites. Equally fascinating was the prospect of having my site listed on some of those links pages, which prompted me to get into the activity now known as reciprocal linking, or trading links with other sites.My, how times have changed! Now whenever a reciprocal link request lands in my “in box” I delete it immediately just like other pieces of obvious spam. How did this come to pass? As soon as it became known that Google’s PageRank system rewarded sites for incoming links, the trading of links, and even the buying and selling of links, heated up and most webmasters got into the act support@a1-optimization.com (Donald Nelson) Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/712/1/Do-it-Yourself-SEO-Ten-Search-Engine-Optimization-Tips/Do-it-Yourself-SEO-Ten-Search-Engine-Optimization-Tips.html copyright 2006Using a professional search engine optimization service can sometimes be expensive. However, if your budget is tight and you have a basic understanding of web page construction it is possible to optimize your own website without hiring an SEO specialist. For those who would like to give it a try, here are ten "Do it yourself" search engine optimization tips: support@a1-optimization.com (Donald Nelson) Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/702/1/Static-Sites-And-SEO-Are-Dead-Please-Make-A-Note-Of-It/Static-Sites-And-SEO-Are-Dead-Please-Make-A-Note-Of-It.html The Dodo, T-Rex, and Aggressive Search Engine Optimization – Gone Forever. Here’s What You Can Do Now… You can really take a lot of flak from people who don’t read and listen carefully to what you say. Note to reader: Never declare the death of something even if it is a foregone conclusion and 100% true unless you are ready for some grief from the peanut gallery. Such was the case when we started telling people on webinars and teleconferences that SEO was dead. jack@jackhumphrey.com (Jack Humphrey) Tue, 16 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/700/1/Real-Link-Popularity-Has-Nothing-To-Do-With-Search-Engines/Real-Link-Popularity-Has-Nothing-To-Do-With-Search-Engines.html Copyright 2006 Tale Chaser Publishing, Inc. Although Google uses the phrase "link popularity" as a way to describe how they ranked sites in the early days, and still do in some fashion, link popularity means far more to website promoters than a measure of search engine worthiness. Link popularity as a marketing tool was around long before Google or any search engines existed. Links are the thread that weaves the web together. Search engines didn't invent this, they capitalized on it just like all sites on the web have since the beginning. Your link popularity in a real sense is not a contrived "weight and measure" of your site's worthiness to be ranked well in a search engine. jack@jackhumphrey.com (Jack Humphrey) Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/697/1/Does-Your-Site-Even-Deserve-Targeted-Traffic/Does-Your-Site-Even-Deserve-Targeted-Traffic.html Copyright 2006 Tale Chaser Publishing, Inc. Have you noticed how entitled some people seem to feel about getting targeted, interested visitors to their sites? And have you seen some of the sites they feel should be honored with the precious time, clicks, and purchases from visitors? John Reese said it all when he said most sites on the web are junk. (I paraphrase, but that was the gist.) It is so true there is not a single person on the web that would disagree. jack@jackhumphrey.com (Jack Humphrey) Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/690/1/Getting-Relevant-Effective-Links/Getting-Relevant-Effective-Links.html Once upon a time a website owner looked for and secured links from other sites simply to get traffic from that site and send some traffic back for the privilege. There was no Google, Yahoo, or MSN setting rules about reciprocal links which have now somehow become "the law." Links were for traffic...targeted traffic. Since, to this day, nothing does your site more good than a good, visible, relevant link from a site which caters to your perfect market base, I propose a test you can run in your marketing for a couple of months. Get links from sites based upon factors that matter most: jack@jackhumphrey.com (Jack Humphrey) Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/647/1/Your-Guide-to-Top-Search-Engine-Rankings/Your-Guide-to-Top-Search-Engine-Rankings.html Does it seem like no matter what you do your website just won't climb up in the search engine rankings? If so, your web site may not be optimized well enough for the search engines to increase your rankings. There are some very important factors that determine where web sites are ranked. These factors are referred to as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques and they can make all the difference in your sites rankings. Here are some of the most important factors that the search engines use in determining your rankings: 1. Web Site Content webmaster1@gmail.com (Trent Brownrigg) Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/630/1/What-Do-Your-Links-Tell-the-Search-Engines-How-to-Tell-Them-What-Counts/What-Do-Your-Links-Tell-the-Search-Engines-How-to-Tell-Them-What-Counts.html There is a lot of confusing information on the web - “secret techniques”, tag writing, and of course the complicated algorithms the search engine optimization specialists swear by. Just like content building, list building, and website development take a long time, so does complete website SEO. However, there are a few things you can do, today, to get the most out of the current links your website has. Here's a quick checklist to go over to tweak your links for better search engine results. Next time the spyders crawl by, you'll be able to see the difference in your link popularity and ranking. What do your outgoing links say? If you have a resources section in your website that lists your link partners, it's time to go over them. Search engines look at the words you use to describe links. This is great in one way - if your links are relevant to your website's content, then those keywords are applied, on a small scale, to your own website. mattwb@powerfulpromoter.com (Matt Bacak) Fri, 08 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/605/1/The-Truth-About-Title-And-Meta-Tags/The-Truth-About-Title-And-META-Tags.html Your Title-tag and META-tag are simply lines of text inserted into the HTML code of each of your web pages. The Title-tag is one of the most important pieces of information for a search engine. The Title-tag should describe exactly what the web page contains. It should contain keywords, but not repeats, of terms you hope to be found for. It should also be as readable as possible. The Title-tag will be the first thing someone sees in a search result. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Tue, 28 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/563/1/11-Must-Have-SEO-Tools-that-the-professionals-use/11-Must-Have-SEO-Tools-that-the-professionals-use.html SEO Tools have sprouted up from engineers, hackers, wanna-be SEO's and legimate Search Engine Optimization companies. Many are free, and very good. But, the fact is - you don't have to be an engineer to run them. Our compiled list below is used daily by professionals and newbies alike.Start putting these tools to use and see how they impact your own online business. Of course, you need to know what they are used for. (Ed note: Article coming soon!) #1 - Ranking Analysis This tool can unveil extremely valuable information on how you can break into the top 10 search engine positions. Check it out at this url http://www.webuildpages.com/cool-seo-tool/ jrognerud@microsaw.com (Jon Rognerud) Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/562/1/How-to-optimize-1000-pages-with-Javascript-or-Flash-that-will-get-indexed-quickly/How-to-optimize-1000-pages-with-Javascript-or-Flash-that-will-get-indexed-quickly.html As you know, many search engines ignore JavaScript, and therefore won't follow the links at your site. If you use flash or images for site maps and links you will have the same problem. The use of NOSCRIPT can be applied, but used with care. Sitemap Programs with Google Here's what to do: Create a text site map that lists all the web pages. Place a plain text link to the site map on the index page. Search engines check the beginning of a page for sitemaps. A site map won't be found if it's at the end of a long page.  Place the site map link at the top of the index page. Since you have more than the baseline 30+ pages, use Google's site maps tool.  This allows you to submit a list of all URLs to the Google search engine.   Create and account here https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login and get started. Google's webmaster tools provide you with a free and easy way to make your site more Google friendly. Scan your site with this free tool and build your sitemap.xml file: http://www.auditmypc.com/free-sitemap-generator.asp. Place that file in the root of your site. (ex: mysite.com/sitemap.xml) . jrognerud@microsaw.com (Jon Rognerud) Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/561/1/Fact-It-will-become-impossible-to-get-search-engine-site-placement-by-2008-PPC-may-be-your-only-option-What-about-SEO/impossible-to-get-search-engine-site-placement-by-2008-PPC-may-be-your-only-option-What-about-SEO.html Search engine optimization is a complex topic of discussion. Not only for you, the potential online marketer, but even Google themselves! It is a bit like the secret sauce of Coca-Cola; nobody really knows it - it's locked away in a safe somewhere. (Ed note: Eric Schmidt at Google does not know it, and allegedly only 2 people at Google know the secret algo). Since this is the case, what can you do about it - and more importantly, where do you start? Not only does online marketing need to be part of your web business strategy, but you need to start today and do not make any mistakes, or you risk de-listing, assuming for a moment that you got there ("your site in the top 10 results") that is. Read on, or you may miss out on the biggest opportunity to create a strong business presence in the entire time-span of the Internet age. jrognerud@microsaw.com (Jon Rognerud) Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/560/1/Hanging-Ten-on-the-Next-Big-Net-Wave/Hanging-Ten-on-the-Next-Big-Net-Wave.html Abstract: The latest frontier in search engine technology is social search. Born out of the social networking boom, social search will attempt to humanize search results thereby providing users with consumer driven answers to their queries. Considering that 50% of queries go unanswered, social search could be the biggest breakthrough since page ranking. As search giants, Google, Yahoo and MSN continue their fierce battle to become king of the search engines, internet marketers are faced with increasing challenges to dominate in the rankings. As algorithms and methodologies change, savvy entrepreneurs and Madison Avenue continue their heated battle for a coveted Top 10 spot in search engine rankings. jrognerud@microsaw.com (Jon Rognerud) Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/559/1/How-To-Use-Search-Engine-Optimization-to-Destroy-Your-Competition-in-3-Easy-Steps-Possible/How-To-Use-Search-Engine-Optimization-to-Destroy-Your-Competition-in-3-Easy-Steps-Possible.html Abstract: So you're tired of the poor rankings of your website - even after many months of 'proper' search engine optimization? You are even more frustrated to see your dollars disappear into the Internet money vacuum, and still stubborn enough to spend more? Not so fast. A varied array of options exist. Read below to find something that works for you. Additionally, the free 5-day email course on PPC may be just what you need for your search engine marketing (SEM) projects and we hope you are open to try our free SEO tools. jrognerud@microsaw.com (Jon Rognerud) Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/557/1/The-8-Things-You-Must-Do-To-Optimize-Your-Site-For-Search-Engines/The-8-Things-You-Must-Do-To-Optimize-Your-Site-For-Search-Engines.html Search engines are better at spidering than you. Of course, you need a professional looking site, easy to navigate, appropriate content and size. Many webmasters and sites are great at displaying graphics (flash) and visually appealing sections on their sites. However, the search engines really don't care much about that. If you can give the spiders what they want, they not only will eat it up fast, but you will provide content-rich, relevant data to their index (database). As time, content, size and relevancy increase, you will rise up in the search engine results pages. Properly applied search engine optimization techniques and online marketing principles will help you. (SEO/SEM) Google owns over 50% of the market today, and is growing fast every day. This includes their exposure via partners like Ask, Earthlink, DogPile. For you to get elevated and relevant rankings you must get into the search engine indexes, and we recommend you start with Google. You should get spidered by Google in less than 3 weeks if applied correctly, but a long term approach to SEO work is needed. You can expect to see your listing within 2-4 months for some rankings, and as much time as 2 years for certain keywords/phrases! I invite you to take a look at the starter list below. These are steps you can start today - and it is fairly easy and impactful jrognerud@microsaw.com (Jon Rognerud) Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/541/1/10-Things-Search-Engines-Like/10-Things-Search-Engine-Like.html 1. Static URL's. Don't use long query strings in your URL's that look like this: http://www.yourdomain.com/seoarticles.phpcategory=17&marketingarticleid=9&page=3 Instead use static URL's that look like this: http://www.yourdomain.com/marketingarticles/9/3/Marketing-Secrets. See the difference? Static URL's are easier for both people and search engines to read, and will increase your search engine rankings dramatically.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Sat, 04 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/507/1/The-Truth-About-Keyword-Density/The-Truth-About-Keyword-Density.html I admit it. I bought into that whole keyword density idea like everyone else. But guess what I just discovered? Keyword density is a myth! Don't believe me? Conduct your own experiment, like I did. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Fri, 13 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/505/1/Does-Googles-New-Quality-Score-Effect-You/Does-Googles-New-Quality-Score-Effect-You.html Years ago a very effective TV commercial said “When E.F. Hutton talks . . . people listen.” E.F. Hutton was a stock brokerage firm. Implicit in the message was that everyone wants to know what the brokerage firm was doing.Welcome to today E.F. Hutton – Google. For the past few weeks the buzz from internet marketers is all bemoaning the latest Google change!What change?Google changed their "Quality Score" standards. The change effects people who point their AdWords campaigns to simple sales pages and lead capture pages. These marketers have lost a lot of impressions and have seen escalating per click costs.Whether or not you’ve ever heard the term "Quality Score" pay attention. You are about to learn a very important business lesson. I just hope you haven’t learned this lesson the hard way. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Abbie Drew) Wed, 11 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/494/1/Top-10-SEO-Copywriting/Top-10-SEO-Copywriting.html What would happen if…? I'm a person to always ask that question. I love testing and tracking to see what factors can improve or worsen a situation. So, it was only natural for me to track the moves of a little experiment I did involving SEO copywriting recently. I'll gladly share my findings with you. Before I do, however, I want to make a couple of things very clear. The outcome of this experiment will not be the same for every keyphrase on every page of every site. There are too many unknown factors at play in the overall SEO equation. Not to mention, all keyphrases are not the same, and all sites are not the same. In addition, this experiment takes no account of link popularity, which is a huge factor in achieving high rankings. With that said, let me show you how I took the home page of one of my sites - that didn't even rank in the top 50 - and caused it to rank in the top 10. kt@copywritingcourse.com (Karon Thackston) Thu, 05 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/493/1/The-Purpose-and-Practice-of-Writing-Successful-SEO-Articles/The-Purpose-and-Practice-of-Writing-Successful-SEO-Articles.html I was so excited to read his post! Google-icon Matt Cutts was blogging on August 21st and hit the nail on the head (as he does quite frequently). The title of the post was, "SEO Advice: Writing useful articles that readers will love." That, in and of itself, says it all. Why is this such a thrilling post? Because it reinforces what I've been saying for years. Whether you're writing content for a website, an article or any type of SEO copy, you must think of the reader first. There is such a barrage of worthless articles floating around the 'Net these days. Keyword stuffed, useless ramble that was obviously written with the sole intent of attempting to rank high. Striving for top rankings is not a bad thing, but the purpose of writing SEO articles is threefold not onefold: provide information, rank high when used on your site and increase link popularity. That means the practice must follow the purpose. kt@copywritingcourse.com (Karon Thackston) Thu, 05 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/482/1/Dale-King-Interviews-Tinu-Abayomi-Paul/Dale-King-Interviews-Tinu-Abayomi-Paul.html Free Traffic Tips Guru And Internet Marketing Expert, Tinu Abayomi-Paul InterviewDale King: Today I'm interviewing Free Traffic Tips Guru and Internet Marketing expert, Tinu-Abayomi-Paul. Hello Tinu, how are you?Tinu Abayomi-Paul: I'm fine, thank you.Dale King: Tinu, tell our readers how and when you got started marketing on the Internet.   daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Tue, 03 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/431/1/Should-You-SEO/Should-You-SEO.html Should you optimize your website for search engines? SEO, or search engine optimization, has been a buzzword among marketers and web developers for several years now. SEO is the practice of using key words and other techniques to gain a prominent placement in search engine results. eileen@eileencoale.com (Eileen Coale) Wed, 30 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/427/1/The-ODP-Sucks/The-ODP-Sucks.html The ODP Sucks! I knew things were bad at DMOZ (AKA The Open Directory Project AKA ODP). But I guess I didn't realize how bad, until I started eavesdropping on a few forums, and reading the avalanche of e-mails I received on the subject.   expertdean@yahoo.com (Dean Phillips) Mon, 21 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/409/1/Did-Google-Slap-You/Did-Google-Slap-You.html According to the blogs, forums and a variety of other news sources affiliate advertisers are getting slapped around by Google big time!Google Adwords costs are skyrocketing, sponsored listing placements have hit rock bottom or are disappearing altogether.What about you? Has your site been affected? Do you want to know the real reason why this happened? Would you like to prevent this from happening to your affiliate site, or regain your Adwords placement?Then listen up. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Dale King) Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/402/1/Why-your-site-may-not-be-fully-indexed-by-Google/Why-your-site-may-not-be-fully-indexed-by-Google.html Google has certainly taken a bite out of how web site owners market their sites. Google recently stated how important it is that sites find others worth linking to. Traditional methods of link exchange and buying links is not the answer. The answer is knowing how to get people to link to you voluntarily. You need to view your site as another site owner would and ask yourself if you would want to link to your site? Is your site stuffed with poorly written content simply for the purpose of placing adsense ads on it? Before SEO became a must, people relied heavily on the originality and uniqueness of their sites to draw traffic. Today, that seems to be a lost artform for most. Google is starting to tell web site owners that they need to do more than exchange and buy links and that fancy methods of linking won't hold much weight. In actuality, continuing to adhere to outdated link methods may result in your site not being fully indexed. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Joe Balestrino) Tue, 08 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/401/1/Using-SEO-and-other-methods-to-help-Brand-and-Market-your-business-online/Using-SEO-and-other-methods-to-help-Brand-and-Market-your-business-online.html With so many new busineses hitting the Internet on a daily business, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate one's company from others. You need to constantly get your brand in front of people. The Internet has not only made it easier for people to start a business online, but that same simplicity has made the competition enormous. The potential to reach millions of people is as close as your own computer. However, many companies don't know the first thing about promotion and branding. Articles have always been a way to market a business on and off the net. A well written daleking@guruknowledge.org (Joe Balestrino) Tue, 08 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/400/1/Using-Content-That-Works-CTW-to-create-traffic/Using-Content-That-Works-CTW-to-create-traffic.html Content, content, content. That's all I hear...probably because that's what I am always saying. Content! I think people don't fully understand me when I tell them let their content do the work work for them. Usually, it's the other way around. People write content to post on their blog, for creating a page to put adsense on and to write articles. These are all very good ways for you to use your content. What you need to do is create not just content but Content That Works (CTW). This is something I created to help me keep my writing goals in mind. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Joe Balestrino) Tue, 08 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/399/1/Getting-listed-in-DMOZ-Not-as-easy-as-wed-like-it-to-be/Getting-listed-in-DMOZ-Not-as-easy-as-wed-like-it-to-be.html The open directory project, or dmoz as it is better known, is the directory many webmasters want to be in. There are many myths and so-called benefits to being in dmoz. Unfortunately, this article will not be about them. This article is to help people better understand how dmoz works and will hopefully give you a better idea of how to submit properly. None of this article is speculation. This has all come from my conversations with the editors themselves, either from their message board or via email. Here are the basics:Keep in mind it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to a year or more to get listed. In order daleking@guruknowledge.org (Joe Balestrino) Tue, 08 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/352/1/How-To-Protect-Your-Site-From-A-Google-PageRank-Drop/How-To-Protect-Your-Site-From-A-Google-PageRank-Drop.html For the uninitiated, Google ranks all pages on the web with a scale of PR0 to PR10 -- higher is better. High PR sites or pages receive most of the traffic for competitive keywords or phrases. Keywords are what surfers type into search engines to find what they're looking for on the web. Ranking high in Google for popular keywords can prove contact@bizwaremagic.com (Titus Hoskins) Sun, 23 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/286/1/What-Google-Says-About-Google-Bombing-Can-Teach-You-About-Link-Building/What-Google-Says-About-Google-Bombing-Can-Teach-You-About-Link-Building.html Are Some Links Better and, for that matter, should you focus on sheer quantity of links to your site, or the quality of those links? For our first piece of evidence, let's ask Google. In a post to their blog in September, we find tinu@leveragedpromotion.com (Tinu Abayomi-Paul) Thu, 06 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/280/1/6-Steps-Guide-to-Better-Google-Rankings/6-Steps-Guide-to-Better-Google-Rankings.html The Budget Webmaster’s 6 Step Guide to Improving Existing Rankings in Google You know the scenario. You get an occasional click from Google for a certain keyword. You go to find out why you aren’t getting more clicks, and you find out that you’re ranked in the 30's, 50's, or heaven forbid, the 300's. “Great”, you think, “I finally tinu@leveragedpromotion.com (Tinu Abayomi-Paul) Wed, 05 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/200/1/How-Many-Guaranteed-Top-Rankings-Are-You-REALLY-Getting/How-Many-Guaranteed-Top-Rankings-Are-You-REALLY-Getting.html In this article I show you why most guaranteed top ranking packages offered by search engine optimization companies aren't really what they're made out to be. There are literally hundreds of search engine optimization companies online. They're all trying to everyone else with special offers and guarantees. My favorite gimmick has to be the guaranteed top rankings offer. Have you seen search engine optimization companies guarantee top rankings in the following top search engines? All The Web/FAST, AOL, AltaVista, Direct Hit, Excite, Google, HotBot, LookSmart, Lycos, MSN, Netscape, Open Directory Project, and Yahoo! So, what's the catch? Aha! You know there must be one, right? Well, let me explain. Direct Hit is no longer a search engine on its own right. It's now michael@michaelwong.com (Michael Wong) Wed, 21 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/199/1/Revealed-Top-Two-Google-Ranking-Factors/Revealed-Top-Two-Google-Ranking-Factors.html In this article I reveal what I believe are the two most important ranking factors used by Google. My findings are as a result of my ongoing optimization experiments of my network of web sites on Google. The top two Google ranking factors are: PageRank Incoming Text Link Keywords I'll explain each in more detail and what you MUST do to maximize the effectiveness of each element. 1. PageRank PageRank is determined by the number and quality of links to a page. Both the quantity and quality of text links are important. Always try to get links from web pages with a PageRank rating of at least four. Concentrate on getting as many different quality sites as possible to michael@michaelwong.com (Michael Wong) Wed, 21 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/193/1/The-Web-Marketing-Checklist-32-Ways-to-Promote-Your-Website/The-Web-Marketing-Checklist-32-Ways-to-Promote-Your-Website.html Note: The following article includes dozens of links to resources and more information -- much of it carefully organized on my website (and in some books) for further study, much of it entirely free. Please excuse the many links to my site. This article originally appeared in Web Marketing Today, Issue 39, December 1, 1997. As one of our most popular articles, it was revised most recently on June 14, 2006. How can you get more visitors to your website? What can you do to stimulate traffic? Here's a checklist of 32 items you need to consider. Many of these you're probably doing already; others you meant to do and forgot about; still others you've never heard of. Of course, a great deal has been written about this. You'll find links to thousands of articles on site promotion in our Web Marketing Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/research). While we're not breaking any new ground here, we've tried to summarize some of the most important techniques. rfwilson@wilsonweb.com (Dr. Ralph Wilson) Tue, 20 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/173/1/A-Down-and-Dirty-Guide-to-Search-Engine-Positioning/A-Down-and-Dirty-Guide-to-Search-Engine-Positioning.html I've been asked here to sum up what everyone should know about search engine positioning. First, two caveats: 1) Search Engine Positioning is only a tiny part of the big Internet Marketing picture. It takes time and there are other things that will pay off far more in the long run. 2) This is a gross simplification of the whole process. With that said, let's dive in. daleking@guruknowledege.org (Mark Joyner) Mon, 19 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/91/1/Search-Engines-from-a-Webmaster-Perspective/Search-Engines-from-a-Webmaster-Perspective.html By now, virtually every webmaster has heard or read that the major search engines are responsible for 80% or more of the traffic received by most web sites and that most searchers never look beyond the first 20 - 50 search results. Not surprisingly, an entire industry devoted to search engine ranking and search engine optimization (SEO) has sprung up to capitalize on these well known facts.Tens of thousands of web sites compete to achieve top ranking for their chosen keywords and keyword phrases. We've published numerous articles by various SEO experts on linking strategies, optimizing meta tags and page content, and relevant page content. And, undoubtedly, we'll publish many more. Achieving a top ranking for a particular keyword or phrase is a major accomplishment, but the sad fact is that most web sites will never come close to reaching a top 10, a top 30, or even a top 100, listing in any major search engine.Is it possible to be listed in the top 10 - 30 search results of a major search engine? Yes, possible, just not very likely for the average web site. It's a lot like playing the lottery info@ezinehub.com (Mel Strocen) Thu, 08 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/90/1/The-Future-of-Website-Ranking/The-Future-of-WebSite-Ranking.html The recent shakeup in Google's search results, which set the SEO (search engine optimization) community buzzing and saw tens of thousands of webmasters watch their site ranking plummet, was in many ways inevitable. Almost all SEO companies and most savvy webmasters had a fairly good handle on what Google considered important. And since SEO, by definition, is the art of manipulating website ranking (not always with the best interests of searchers in mind), it was only a matter of time until info@ezinehub.com (Mel Strocen) Thu, 08 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/76/1/How-to-Leverage-Your-Articles-for-Better-Search-Engine-Positioning/How-to-Leverage-Your-Articles-for-Better-Search-Engine-Positioning.html As the creator of www.IdeaMarketers.com, Ive noticed that many writers neglect to take full advantage of two important pieces of information when entering their articles into IdeaMarketers.com: the summary and the keywords. Did you know that IdeaMarketers uses these two pieces of information in the meta tags for your article? Thats right! You have control over the meta tags on IdeaMarketers! Our programming takes your summary and uses it for the description tag and your keywords for the keywords tag. With this knowledge, you have power to influence your search engine positioning! Heres how: daleking@guruknowledge.org (Marnie Pehrson) Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/66/1/Clickthrough-Conundrums/Clickthrough-Conundrums.html This article was originally written when Google was a "research" search engine! Still relevant. Are all Clickthroughs created equal? Some thoughts for those interested in advertising on the 'Net This article will be of most interest to people running commercial sites, but people running personal homepages may find it amusing. As with all my opinion pages, your comments are appreciated. It seems that most webmasters are obsessed about three things; first, their rank in the search engines, the number of people who visit their site, and, well, the size of certain unmentionable parts of their... well, you get the idea. trebor@animeigo.com (Robert Woodhead) Mon, 05 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/65/1/Page-1-Paranoia/Page-1-Paranoia.html This article was originally written during the dark ages BG - Before Google! Nevertheless, it contains evergreen advice!. The Most Frequently Asked Question... ..I get in my email is "how come my listing hasn't appeared in Google?", or, if it has, "How come I'm not on page 1?" First of all, keep in mind that submitting to a search engine or index doesn't guarantee that they will actually list you! They probably will, but all I or anyone else can guarantee is that (1) we sent a request and (2) they told us they received the request, and it seemed to be OK. trebor@animeigo.com (Robert Woodhead) Mon, 05 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/64/1/Trends-In-Submission/Trends-In-Submission.html Search Engine Submission Trends This article was originally written in early 2001. It is a bit dated now, but still, I hope, has some interesting points; I've tweaked it a bit to make some of the references more current. In the olds days (1999!), submission was a numbers game. The more sites you could properly submit to, the more traffic you'd get. But as the internet matures, this is rapidly changing. The big difference is that these days, it often costs to get a listing in the major indexes (ie: Yahoo), and the search engines are also getting into the act -- Inktomi, Altavista and Mamma now have a paid-submission option, and the other major search engines are all considering following along. There has been a lot of blathering on various discussion forums lately about the "death of free submission," but quite frankly I think that it's a good thing. I know that sounds weird, but bear with me for a minute. trebor@animeigo.com (Robert Woodhead) Mon, 05 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/63/1/The-500-Sites-Fallacy/The-500-Sites-Fallacy.html This article was originally written during the dark ages BG - Before Google! Nevertheless, it has some useful insights and prescient advice!. The Hype: "Submit your site to the top 500 indexes on the net for only..." Sound good, right? Certainly, sounds impressive. But the fact of the matter is, it's probably not worth the money they charge for most sites to do such a promotion. That's not to say it isn't worth something (I certainly want you to support this site!), but in my opinion, charging $25, $50 or $100 or more to promote a single site a single time is way too much money. In fact, it was such a dumb spam that inspired me to put together this site. Too many people were getting ripped off! trebor@animeigo.com (Robert Woodhead) Mon, 05 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/49/1/Its-Goodbye-To-Google/Its-Goodbye-To-Google.html You read that right. I've told Google to push off. Stop spidering me. I no longer want my online business to depend on its everchanging whims as to what makes a good or bad ranking. daleking@guruknowledge.org (Harvey Segal) Sun, 04 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/13/1/5-Ways-Google-Will-Help-You-With-Your-Traffic/5-Ways-Google-Will-Help-You-With-Your-Traffic.html If you’ve ever had a severe drop in your Google rankings in search results, you may think of Google more of an enemy than an ally. But if you knew what I do, you’d realize that there are tools provided by the search engine that help you learn more about your traffic, and may even help drive visitors to your site. tinu@leveragedpromotion.com (Tinu Abayomi-Paul) Fri, 02 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 http://guruknowledge.org/articles/4/1/The-Dos-and-Donts-of-Search-Engine-Optimization/The-Dos-and-Donts-of-Search-Engine-Optimization.html If you want your online business to be successful, it's a good idea to optimize your site on a regular basis to make sure it's got a good position in the Web's top search engines. However, in order to maintain your ranking, you have to keep on top of what's happening in the rapidly changing search engine industry. The rules that affected your ranking yesterday may be meaningless tomorrow. Read on to learn more about the latest developments in the search engine industry and what key tactics you should—and shouldn't—use to optimize your site to make sure it gets a high ranking with all the major search engines. Plus we'll show you the tools and resources you can use to keep it there. corey@marketingtips.com (Corey Rudl) Fri, 02 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400