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Popularity counts in SEO, Part 2 of 2ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Published: March 1, 2011  Kay B. Day
When search engines pull up content in response to an inquiry, the top results are a product of many different factors. Chief among those factors are exposure and backlinks.
SEO expert Peter Roesler said, “Think of SEO from an exposure standpoint and it [the term SEO] makes more sense. The more articles you get out there and the more you expose them, the more they get featured, the more they get commented on—the higher you will rank.”
I believe the significance of backlinks is a product of the academic influence on the Web in its infancy. In academic circles, the more one’s work is cited by a publication respected in academic circles, the more authority the author builds. For professorial types, it’s all about the citations. For bloggers, the equivalent of that is the backlink.
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We bloggers want other people to talk about what we write and we want
those talkers to link to what we write. It doesn’t really matter if
what’s being said is good or bad, evoking the old chestnut, "There’s no
such thing as bad press."
Roesler also suggests
reviewing titles of past articles if you’re not getting desired
results. In Pt. 1 of our SEO article,
Roesler pointed out the importance of your title. “I would suggest
spending some time reworking the titles of your articles and pages to
make them more interesting,” he advised.
Bear
in mind exposure can be overdone. Some writers aim at the most
outrageous titles in hopes of gaining attention. That’s fine as long as
the title is accurate, but too often, the title will border on
falsehood. If a reader discerns you’ve hooked him with a title that
doesn’t deliver, that reader won’t come back to visit.
It’s
important to note that your published words speak directly to your
brand. Roesler sees that as an advantage for writers. Asked if there’s a
difference in branding a person or a product, Roesler said, “Yes, I
think so. Product optimization is more technical. Promoting and branding
yourself is more fun.” Writers can use videos, images, clubs,
memberships and other means to boost exposure. “It’s a lot of fun
talking with your colleagues and getting your message out there,” he
said. “Just remember, don’t try to sell yourself, just be honest and
helpful—that’s always the best policy when branding yourself.”
Roesler
said SEO is growing and will continue to do so. “Only 10 people can be
on the first page [of search results] and everyone wants to be there.
This year the SEO industry is starting to move more towards the video
optimization. Google will be making some big changes in the next few
months with video and optimization. Google can already search video
clips for keywords that you can embed, and videos are one of the highest
things searched on the Web. In the future we will mainly browse the
Internet while watching TV, so you can expect TV-channel SEO to be a big
part of the future.”
What’s the big negative
when it comes to SEO? Several times Roesler stressed writers should
avoid trying to trick search engines with what is often called "Black
Hat SEO." Invisible text on a page—white text against a white
background, for example—and fake portal pages visible only to search
engines are a couple examples of deceptive techniques.
Roesler
said, “Don’t waste your time trying to write SEO copy or keyword stuff
content and pages. This has nothing to do with rankings and will
actually hurt more than help.”
Roesler, who
would fall into the White Hat SEO camp, said, “Don’t try to trick
Google. Google is like the IRS—they are very slow, but they will
eventually get you. One day your site will just drop. Keyword stuffing
is actually one of the few ways to get banned from Google.”
Roesler
offers a wealth of SEO tips at his personal website, SEO Godfather. There’s also useful info at his Web Marketing Pros site. Roesler has also
invited Web Savvy readers to e-mail him if you would like questions
answered. He says he will answer them in his blog. “I love to do that,”
he said, “since it makes it easier to come up with ideas on what to
write about.”
E-mail Roesler at: peter@seogodfather.com. |
Florida journalist Kay B. Day has won awards for poetry, nonfiction and fiction. The author of two books, she has written for The Christian Science Monitor , United Press International, The Florida Times-Union and Sky News. To learn more about Kay Day, see www.kayday.com. To read Kay's other Web Savvy columns about writing for the Web, click here.
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