SEO Specialist Adam White's Blog
Adam White is the president of Website Breakthrough and has been working as an SEO specialist for over 5 years.
4/28/2008
Choosing Key Phrases
When choosing which key phrases you are going to optimize for, a common key phrase mistake is that people will try to rank for every term on their home page. Realistically you can optimize for 3 to 6 terms per page. Choose your top 3 to 5 main terms and optimize for those on your home page.
On your sub pages you should choose 3 to 6 keyphrases per page that are relavent to the topic of each specific page. For example, on my website I choose my top 3 terms, SEO consultant, SEO services and small business SEO and optimize those on my homepage.
Then for a sub page I would take the link building page and optimize for 3 to 6 link building terms.Then spread out the rest of the key phrases on the pages that make sense on the other pages in the site.
Don't try to optimize for everyterm on one page, there just isn't enough content to support that strategy.
3/10/2008
Yahoo's New Search Results
In case you haven't heard, Yahoo has announced that they will be changing the way they show search results. In an effort to more effectively compete with Google, they are allowing users the ability to go in and provide information about their own website which Yahoo will in turn use on their search results thus providing more information than just the usual title and description that they and the other major search engines have been providing. Read more about Yahoo's change here.
11/27/2007
Google Search Engine Update
As you may have noticed, Google recently has undergone another major update to their search algorithm. It seems that the main change that had occurred is the discounting the value of paid links. In other words, if you were using a link broker to buy link popularity you have lost the value of that link unless you get enough direct traffic from the ad to justify the expense. Otherwise you are probably wasting your money.
This has been an issue that Matt Cutts (Google's liason with the SEO world) has discussed in the past letting people in the SEO world that they were going to do this. It is simple common sense really, if you are doing something to manipulate the rankings the search engines are going to find a way to stop it.
09/4/2007
SEO In Terms of Your Competition I have heard alot of people say very dividing statements like, "Only links from websites in my same category will help my site." The basis behind this statement is true, however, in the SEO world not everything is so black and white.
For example let's say you have a website that sells donkey socks. You tell your neighbor and they decide to start a competing site that sells donkey socks. What your neighbor doesn't know is that you have a small amount of SEO know how and so you go out and get your dad who is a mortgage broker to link to your site from his.
Now this is not a relevant link by any stretch of the imagination. However, since your competing neighbor doesn't have any links, who is going to rank higher? That was a rhetorical question but here is the answer: You will. So does that link have value even though it is non relevant? Absolutely.
When it comes to SEO we have to think in terms of "how does this compare to what my competition is doing?" because if they are doing nothing, very little will be required of you to surpass them. If they are doing alot, much will be required to overtake them.
07/31/2007
Why your domain name still matters
I have written about this in the past but I have seen a resurgence of examples why your domain name does matter. In the early years of the internet people thought a catchy domain was important because people would remember it and then visit their site. That is probably the least important reason to have a good domain.
From an SEO standpoint, Google looks at the domain of a website as the name of the company represented on the site. So for example, if someone were to search for "website breakthrough" my website is going to come up first. This one is obvious since I am the only "website breakthrough". But what about someone who owns the domain swimmingpools.com? If you search for the term "swimming pools" you will see swimmingpools.com on the first page. If you search for the term "real estate" or "mortgage brokers" again you will find the respective domain on page one, and neither of these sites are optimized very well at all.
So if you own a domain that is a popular search term, you can rank on page 1 of Google just for having that name. This also seems to be immune to any type of aging delay or sandbox that Google puts new sites into.
05/25/2007
What is Google Universal?
There has been alot of buzz about the new "Google Universal" and how it will affect search engine optimization. So in order to clarify what Google Universal (GU) is all about I want to explain a little about what the service is.
With GU, Google has decided to start including results from some of their other sources in the natural search results when you search for certain things. For example, if you do a search for the "Boston Red Sox" on Google you will notice that the fourth listing is a Google News result that they have included.
You may start to see Google Video or Google Books results show up in the natural rankings as well. Here is the bottom line of this new service. It does have a small affect on SEO campaigns because in some cases there are only 9 natural results instead of 10.
I don't think there is anything to panic about. The SEO principles remain the same. If you are optimized to be the most relevant result for a search term, you are not going to get pushed off of the first page.
03/29/2007
This is the article printed in the Arizona Republic that I was interviewed for:
Experts can give Web site visibility
Claire Bush
Special for The Republic
Mar. 28, 2007 12:00 AM
Whoever said, "If you build it they will come," probably didn't have a Web site.
A well-crafted site can be a valuable marketing tool, but first, visitors have to know how to reach you.
Enter search engine optimization (SEO) specialists, Web gurus who specialize in techniques that boost a site's visibility on the "Big 3" search engines of Google, Yahoo and MSN. These technicians typically program specialized key words and links into a site to boost ratings. advertisement
It can be a challenge to know who to hire to perform the task, however, because the field of SEO technology is not regulated and no certification program exists to denote "professional" status.
An informal poll of several Valley SEO providers offers a "how-to" for those who want to build their first site or enhance one.
"Some clients come to us with a real pretty Web site, but it's been built with a code that isn't friendly," said Sabine Sharp, owner of the Web design and consulting firm Glendale Designs. "It's best to work right from the start with a company that can both design and optimize."
Existing sites also can benefit from SEO upgrades, according to Adam White, president of Mesa-based Website Breakthrough.
"A new site usually takes ... nine to 12 months to begin ranking in Google, while one already in existence can show substantial improvement in a just a month or two after optimization," he said. Yahoo and MSN typically pick up ranking more quickly, he added.
There are good guys and bad guys, even in cyberworld.
"Black hat" SEO providers use unethical methods to boost a site's presence, including "key-word stuffing," or targeting a certain word into every possible location into the Web site without regard for content. Stuffing also can be done by inserting key words in the same font color as the background of the page.
"The visitor can't see it, but the search engine picks it up," Sharp said.
Then there's "random link creation," where unrelated links are added to a site to boost presence.
"Link building is probably the most crucial part of the process, but it's easier said than done," White said. "You don't necessarily want to build reciprocal links but find sites with relevant content that will agree to link yours."
Once a visitor arrives at the site, make sure the content is worth the search.
"Search engines really want to see unique content that they haven't seen before. The key is to mix in the right phrases in a format that's acceptable to them and present it in a fresh new way," White said.
Most site owners write their content, but a good designer will ask questions about a business, its customers, products and services to do the correct key-word research.
Sharp's firm charges anywhere from $1,200 to $20,000 to build a site, depending on the complexity of the project.
White's clients typically enter a six-month agreement to build and monitor a site; prices start at $2,500.
Christopher Conlan, owner of the Blog Mill in Scottsdale, works on a month-to-month basis for existing sites; fees vary from $125 to $1,500.
"If they see results after a month or two, that's all they need," he said. "They can move on to spending their money on other marketing projects."
In the end, "everything gets back to a search," Conlan said. "Even when you give someone your business card, back at home they're looking you up on Google."
03/05/2007
Search Engine Submission Is A Scam I recently read a corporate page on another SEO company's website. By the time I was finished reading it I was shocked. I can not believe there are companies out there who claim to be legitimate SEO companies, yet they pitch search engine submission as a necessary service.
For anyone who doesn't already know this, search engine submission is a scam. Search engines don't need to be submitted to. They crawl the web, the follow links and they find new websites. That is their job. If you want the search engines to find your website, you need to get links pointing to your site. That is how it is done now.
Search engine submission will not help you get better rankings in the search engines either. If you want higher rankings, you need to optimize your website. That is the only way to do it.
If a search engine optimization company tries to tell you that your website needs to be submitted to the search engines, then they really don't understand the whole SEO process and I would be very leary about using their services.
02/01/2007
The Value Of Age
Trying to figure out the algorithms of the major search engines can drive a person insane. Especially
since they are ever changing. When website owners find out that doing something to a website makes it
rank higher, they jump all over it and try to do as much of the thing as they can. Unfortunately,
this leads to abuse of the SEO practice and thus limiting its value in the algorithms.
An example of this is reciprocal links. When people found out that building link popularity would
help increase your rankings they started getting as many reciprocal links as they could. Software
programs were created to automate this process and help people get thousands of reciprocal links. The
search engines quickly caught on that people were doing this so they started counting reciprocal
links differently than one way links.
Over time, people have figured out how to manipulate pretty much every true SEO principle. There is
one thing people can't manipulate, one thing people can't fake...it's time. You can't make a website
any older than it is. No matter what you do a website is as only as old as it is. That is why Google
made age a part of their algorithm, because you can't manufacture age.
Sites that have been around for awhile have an advantage over newer sites, all else being equal. When
I take on a new client that has a site that is 5 years or older, I start to salivate because I know
the potential of the website. I know that with the proper SEO practices in place, I can make that
site move up quickly in the rankings.
Don't get discouraged if your website is brand new, I do recommend however that you have patience because the one thing you can't hurry is time. 12/28/2006
Website Breakthrough In The News I was interviewed a couple of weeks ago for the business section of the Arizona Republic newspaper. See the article here.
12/27/2006
Search Engine Submission It amazes me that people still come to me and ask if I do search engine submission. It amazes me because there are still scam artists out there that tell people they need to submit their website to the search engines in order to get good rankings.
Allow me to make a definitive statement on this issue: Search engine submission is worthless. Anyone that tells you differently doesn’t understand SEO. Search engines find websites by crawling links from other websites. If you want search engines to spider your website, get links pointing to it from other sites. The more links you get, the more your website will be spidered by the search engines, it’s that simple.
If someone is trying to sell you a automated search engine submission process, turn and walk (or click) away immediately.
November 9, 2006
Using Directory Submissions To Build Link Popularity
As link popularity continues to be a hot topic in the SEO world, people are curious to know the true effectiveness of submitting your website to web directories to build link popularity.
The reason why this can be an effective way to increase your backlinks is because there are hundreds of directories that will give you a one way link just for submitting to their site. There is no easier way to get one way links. (Click here a list of free directories to submit to).
In my opinion these links do not hold as much weight as a link from a website that is naturally placed within the content of a page, but they still can be very helpful in increasing link popularity. This shouldn’t be the only thing you do to build your backlinks, but it definitely should be part of the mix.
I personally have seen over the last couple of years, that directory submissions can really support a good SEO job on a website. Because you are in control of the link titles and descriptions, you can use the key phrases that are consistent with the content on your website.
October 26, 2006
How Long Will It Take For Me To Rank In The Top 10?
Gauging the timetable for SEO can be a very difficult thing. Everyone that starts an SEO campaign wants to know when they can expect to see top ten rankings in Google and the other 2 big search engines.
There are several key factors that come in to play here. The first thing I look at is a website's internet presence. How long has the website been around? How many links are pointing to it? How many pages does the site have indexed? How competitive is the field they are in?
Then I compare those answers with the websites of their competitors that are ranking well for the search terms they want to target. I can then get a pretty good gauge of how far away a website is from truly competing with the current leaders.
So in answer to the question, “how long will it take for me to rank in the top ten?”, there is no set time. It takes as long as it takes to get a website optimized with the best SEO principles. I have had clients that made the jump within a couple of weeks of optimization, and some that have taken 9 to 12 months. It all depends on the state of your website when the SEO begins.
October 10, 2006
Understanding Link Building
You’ve probably heard before that link popularity is one of if not the most important factor in the most search engine algorithms. Why is that? What do links have to do with the subject of your site and how relevant it is to certain search terms?
It is important to always remember that search engines have one thing in mind, providing the most relevant search results to every user. They will give more clout (and usually higher rankings) to a website that they deem is “authoritative”. Well how do they determine if a site is authoritative? Links. They look at how many other websites link to that site. They look at who those other sites are that are linking to it, and they look to see what the link text says that links to the site. They also look at how long the link has been up and where on the other person’s website the link has been placed.
For example, let’s say I own an auto accessories website and I have 200 other websites that link to me. Let’s say 75 of those sites link to me using the term, “auto accessories”. To search engines, that is 75 votes for my website that the subject of the site is auto accessories. If I have more links pointing to me than other auto accessory sites do, and the links I have are or appear to be natural permanent links, I would become an authority site for that industry so my rankings in turn would probably be better.
Obviously there are many other factors to the search engine algorithms, and even to link building but it is important to understand what search engines are looking for when it comes to building your link popularity.
October 3, 2006
Google Page Rank Update – Why should I care?
A friend of mine emailed me today talking about the increase in his Google page rank from the latest PR update. He seemed very excited about the increase and we started talking about the ramifications of a page rank increase. He is new to the internet world and didn’t completely understand what a page rank actually was. Let me explain to you what I explained to him.
Your Google page rank has nothing to do with your actual rankings in the search engines. Page rank is a scale from 1-10 that Google made to show how authoritative a website is in its industry. Most of the rank comes from the amount of external links pointing to the site. Many webmasters believe that if they have a higher page rank, they will have better rankings in the search engines.
Let me give you an example of why this is false. One of my clients websites had a page rank of 5 before this last update. The rankings had gone down a little in Google. After the update, their page rank went down to a 4 and the rankings actually went up higher than where they were before when they had a PR 5.
Here is my advice to all webmasters: Don’t Waste Time Worrying About Page Rank! Just make sure your website is optimized to provide a great user experience and to be SEO friendly.
September 19, 2006
Understanding The Value Of Search Engine Optimization
Although we are in a digital age where terms like “iPod” and “Google” have become a part of everyday language, there are still a large number of small business that don’t understand the importance of good SEO for their website.
As an SEO consultant, I find it difficult to try to explain to a potential client how much of a difference having high natural rankings will add to the bottom line for a small business. When companies truly know the value of showing up at the top of Google, Yahoo and MSN, they are willing to pay top dollar for the service.
For me it is always much easier to “sell” my services to someone who already knows about SEO and what it can do for their business. In fact, very little selling goes on at all. I explain what I do and they sign up. These are the same people who ask me why my prices are so low.
If only all small business owners were equally educated in terms of SEO. My job would be a lot easier, or actually it would be harder because I would have much more SEO to do.
September 13, 2006
SEO for Geographic Regions
Many people miss the boat when it comes to proper search engine optimization for their site. One of the most common principles that business owners look over is the power of geographic SEO. What I mean by that is that many businesses serve a particular geographic region and because of this should focus their SEO efforts to target that region.
For example, I have done SEO for many real estate agents and let me tell you it is a very competitive industry. One thing all real estate agents have in common is that they serve a specific region, most times including a few cities.
It wouldn't make much sense for a realtor in Columbus, Ohio try to rank for the term "real estate agent". Ranking for a term like that would bring a majority of untargeted visitors to their site, not to mention how competitive the term would be to rank for. It would be a horrible waste of time.
Instead, they should try to rank for terms like "real estate agent Columbus" or "Columbus Ohio homes for sale". These terms specifically target the area the agent services, and the people doing the searching are many times more likely to be a potential client.
If you run a business that is dependent on customers from a certain geographical region, it would be in your best interest to optimize your site to target that region.
August 29, 2006
Why SEO and Combo Meals Don't Mix
We as US citizens have become accustomed to getting things in package deals. "I would like the SEO combo #5 and can you super size the link popularity please?" People always ask me why I don't have set packages for SEO that they can choose from.
The reason is that every website, and I mean every website in the world is unique from other websites. (Unless you have duplicate websites that started the same day and have the same content) There are so many factors that go into proper search engine optimization. I look at the age of the site, how many links a site has pointing to it, how many pages are in the site, how much unique content the site has, how competitive the site's industry is, and many other SEO factors.
Since no website has the same links pointing to it, with the same amount of pages and the same content on the site the work is going to be different for every site to increase the natural search engine rankings. It would be a lot easier for me if all sites took the same work to optimize them, because then I could get robots to do all of the work...of course then I would be out of a job.
Proper search engine optimization requires the human touch. Being able to look at each site on a case by case basis and see what the site's strengths and weaknesses are, and where the areas of focus should be. There are general principles that need to be followed for all websites, but the specifics of those principles will be different for every site, thus creating unique SEO packages.
August 7, 2006
Setting The Proper Expectation For SEO Clients
As an SEO Consultant, I deal with websites in many industries. Most of the sites are at different stages of life. Some are brand new, others are well established and most are somewhere in between.
It is important to know when starting an SEO campaign, that getting high rankings in the search engines takes time. Based on my experience, it can take up to 9-12 months to see improved rankings in Google. Yahoo seems to have extended the time it takes to rank well with them as well. The process can happen much faster, depending on a client’s internet presence.
If a website has been around for over a year, has hundreds of backlinks pointing to it but has never had any on page optimization done, they will probably move up in the rankings much faster than a newer site that has no backlinks or on page SEO.
Having said that, the majority of websites do not fall into that category and will have to endure the several months it will take to start to see improved rankings.
Some search engines want to see that a new website is here to stay, not a get rich quick site that the site does not care about. So they will let you hang out in internet limbo for a few months before they will show the site in the search results.
Another reason it takes so long for rankings to improve is because search engines work slowly. They rely on crawling the web through a network of links pointing from one site to another. If a website has little or no links from other sites pointing to it, it will take much longer for a search engine to get to the site to index the new optimized pages.
This is why building link popularity it such an important part of the SEO process. The more links pointing to your website, the more the search engines will be back to your site. All of those links act as a vote for your website thus improving your site’s credibility and your rankings will improve accordingly.
Even with the right link building strategy in place, it will still take months for rankings to improve. As long as the SEO is done properly (for the long term) you will see dramatic increase in rankings over the long haul.
July 10, 2006
Small Business Owners Beware
I have heard horror story after horror story of "SEO Companies" that have taken on a client and then used unethical SEO tactics to try to get the client to rank high in the search engines.
Some of the unethical (black hat) tactics that are being used are doorway pages, hidden text filled with keywords on pages, linking networks to artificially improve link popularity and duplicate websites.
These tactics were created to trick the search engines and sometimes they might work in the short-term but in the long run it will come back to haunt you. Search engines are smart, they know people are trying to trick them to get higher rankings. That is why they are constantly changing their algorithms.
If your website is doing something that is considered black hat or even in the gray area, do yourself a favor and fix it. If an SEO company you are considering is proposing to use one or more of these tactics, run don't walk away from them and find someone who can truly help your business in the long run.
I guarantee you can get great results using the tried and true white hat SEO techniques.
Click on the button to get a free professional SEO proposal from Adam White.
Contact Adam at 480-677-1270 or awhite(at)websitebreakthrough.com.
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