Sometime back we had conducted a SEO Training Programme at Ahmedabad Management Association which was attended by many professionals from the Internet Marketing Industry and also by Marketing Managers of some companies.

After all the SEO training sessions were over one of the marketing managers after a few days called up to discuss some points related to the SEO of their site.

The main points were as follows:

• We are ranking for many keywords but only the home page of our site is ranking as they did not have any idea about Google Analytics and Landing pages. ( After the SEO training programme they did an SEO audit on their site and found this.)
• The SEO has given us a list of some 1000+ links are these links valid and relevant.
• The On-Page of our site is practically zero but yet we have the page 1 rankings for so many keywords so is it correct to let the site be as it is.
• The most valid question and concern was , what should we do to future proof the SEO of our site though we have the rankings.

Firstly, I was very happy at the fact that the training programme conducted by us had made them think beyond rankings for an SEO campaign and they were open for an approach of an overall quality presence rather than just being satisfied with page 1 rankings.

After the initial analysis it was found that:

• The on-page factors were not as per the norms
• The inbound links were not from authority sites with anchor text which just mentioned the domain name and all the links were to the home page.
• The client was totally unaware about Google Analytics metrics and was not sure if the site was added to any webmaster tools account.
• The client only got the ranking report regularly without any further analysis of any other metrics.
• The client was not aware of the search and social media integration and did not have a blog or social media accounts.
• Other technical factors like canonicalization, customized 404 pages, XML Sitemaps, etc. were not in place either.

In short only submission to some directories and link building was done in the name of SEO but surprisingly the site was ranking well.

There have been many such cases in the past too when the rankings have been achieved only by link building and though the links were not quality links but due to the sheer high no. of links the site had got a temporary boost but the website owners have approached us when the site suddenly disappeared from the search engines.

Hence I thought of sharing this case study. It is very difficult to say how long the benefit of such rankings will accrue to the site but it is very important for every website owner to know that a complete SEO campaign caters to the following aspects of the site.

• On Page Factors as per the norms of the search engines and W3C
• Off Page Factors which help create an ambience of natural external links to the site
• The site should also have the potential to rank for local intent keywords and have a local search presence
• The technical factors also should have been attended to
• The client should also be given an overview of the analytics and
• Should be guided to start a blog and engage on social media to benefit from the integration of social media and search.

No doubt quality inbound links are important but just focusing on one aspect gives a lopsided growth which may be working like steroids and giving a temporary boost which is not the main goal of a genuine SEO campaign. Once these directories close down or if the external websites remove the links the rankings are bound to get affected and the site will be lost in the invisible web.

Author : Bharati Ahuja

We all know that the whole search process starts with a search query . All the SEO campaigns revolve around having a quality search presence and high rankings for relevant keywords.

There are many keyword Research tools available online but most of them focus on what the keyword search trend has been till date or what kind of search terms are breaking as new searches on the search scene.

No doubt these tools can give a good insight into the past and present search trend and also reflect search behavior to a certain extent. But, I think if one gets too obsessed with the terms and phrases suggested then we sort of limit the circumference of search within those few terms which we focus on.

I think if you focus on the niche head terms of the industry (for which we know the SEO Campaign will have a long gestation period to start giving results) and due importance is given to a larger set of long tail keywords then I think you try to target a larger set of permutations and combinations of the possible targeted searches made for which your site can be found for.

As in the long run the search behavior keeps on changing and also varies from country to country.
Keeping all options open for a global audience and targeting for the maximum possible keyword phrases should be the goal for the keyword research phase .

For example if it is an edible oil refinery manufacturers and exporters site based in India

Keywords like

• Edible oil refinery manufacturer India
• Edible oil refinery suppliers India
• Edible oil refinery exporters India
• cooking oil refinery manufacturers
• cooking oil refinery suppliers
• edible oil refining
• refining of cooking oil
• Edible oil refinery exporters
• Vegetable oil refinery manufacturers
• Vegetable oil refining
• Vegetable oil refinery Exporters
• Edible oil refining process
• Vegetable oil refining process
• Cooking oil refining process

If such a wide range of possibility is kept open for the site to rank then the potential of the site to cater to a wider audience is possible .

Hence instead on focusing on only the keywords suggested by keyword research tools and Adwords also focus on the possible psychologies of people from various geographic areas unless you are focusing only on a very specific region where only the lingo and jargon of that place matters for the search of that site.

People from different places , of different age groups and of different educational backgrounds think differently and use different terminology and jargon. Hence the content of the website should be written keeping this in mind. Instead of  focusing on only certain fixed key terms we should try to keep the possibilities of a wider set of permutations and combinations of keyphrases open for the site.

As the basic thing is that the user does not see your keyword tag and search for your site he keys in what comes to his mind and the search engine bot takes that string of query and tries to hunt for the relevant site from the search engine index. So, making your website being available for a wider combination of queries is more beneficial. Like in the above case we want the website to rank if the person writes cooking oil, edible oil or vegetable oil whatever is the lingo and jargon used by the user.

The analytics data in fact can give a good idea of what searches are actually taking place country wise. A detailed discussion with the website owner who has a vast experience regarding his industry also helps. Hence we usually ask for a list of possible terms he thinks his website should come forward when someone is searching on the web from the website owner, then we add our our research results and come up with the widest possible keyword list which can be targeted as per the content available on the site.

Author : Bharati Ahuja

Google recently announced their strategy to make search more secure . Google says as search becomes an increasingly customized experience, we recognize the growing importance of protecting the personalized search results we deliver. As a result, we’re enhancing our default search experience for signed-in users.
This means that in the Google Analytics Report we will no longer see the referrer keyword which initiated the click if the person searching is signed in to his Google Account and this will be applicable only to organic searches. The PPC clicks will continue to see the keyword data as Google has to account for every paid click to the Adwords Account Holder.

This has raised many mixed reactions from the SEO community. In fact a very big hue and cry from the SEO blogs all over the blogosphere that this kind of discrimination of data in Google Analytics is a big step by Google to promote paid search .

Google has further mentioned on the blog post that :

When you search from https://www.google.com, websites you visit from our organic search listings will still know that you came from Google, but won't receive information about each individual query. They can also receive an aggregated list of the top 1,000 search queries that drove traffic to their site for each of the past 30 days through Google Webmaster Tools. This information helps webmasters keep more accurate statistics about their user traffic.

Now it can be understood why before this announcement was made, Google had announced the integration of Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics and introduced the Search Engine Optimization option under the Traffic Sources in Google Analytics.

In order to monitor and analyze the keyword data in a holistic manner for an SEO campaign integrating the Google Analytics with Google Webmaster Tools will become necessary.

Though many in the SEO world have taken this development as an attack on the organic search scene, I think it is a qualitative step ahead for SEO for the following reasons:

•  The keyword data if it comes as a result of personalized search and reflects the organic click in Google Analytics does not reflect the genuine organic click as the SERPs of personalized search vary from the search results when the personalized search is off. The main reason being the fact that when the person is logged in the ranking for that particular query may be much higher due to his preferences and past history. But due to the social media integration in search results it is not only about the history but also about what you have shared on social media using that Google account, hence all the more reason for the person to be totally logged out from his Google Account if he wants to see true and accurate organic SERPs which are not influenced by any personal preference and are a result of the SEO effort put in for that.

•  The SEOs will have to educate their clients about this change which will make the users more smart about using search and will be able to appreciate genuine search results of SEO campaigns.

•  This will take SEO campaigns above the metrics of keywords and rankings and the focus will be on other quality metrics like CTR , conversions, bounce rate, etc. which will improve the quality of the web overall as the websites besides being rich in content will have to focus on good landing pages, a proper call to action, page load speed and good navigation which will ensure a better UX .

I Think if Google introduces the continuous scroll for search results along with this development of making search more secure then every SEO campaign will genuinely go beyond the metrics of keywords and rankings and only those SEOs focusing on the true meaning of SEO and working on technical and quality aspects like  getting the site getting indexed properly in the search engines, improving the internal architecture, educating the client about his overall web presence will be the ones who will survive.

It is very difficult to know the main objective of Google behind this development. Even if today it may be for promoting paid search as many believe, but in the long run it will surely make the organic search scene more qualitative and carve a genuine and true niche for SEO.

Matt Cutts had a live Q&A session in September 2011.

View the video below to find what Matt Cutts has say for the following questions.

1. Do +1′s have any affect on search rankings?
2. Will you ever count negative meta keywords?
3. Should I create a native application or a mobile web site to work with all of the mobile platforms?
4. Will Google Plus allow me to customize my profile?
5. When can we expect Google Flights to be activated outside of the USA?
6. How will the +1 on advertisements affect SEO?
7. Why has the quality of technical search results has gotten poorer since the Panda update?
8. What do you like better, Facebook or Google Plus?
9. Will the age of a domain make a difference in how well it shows up in search engine rankings?
10. When are the next round of Panda Updates expected?
11. When will Google Plus be available for Google Apps users?
12. Why was the Panda Update called Panda?
13. What should be the recommended priority value when you submit your XML sitemap to Google?
14. Why did Google rank my website without a snippet even though my Meta Description was high quality?
15. What is the impact of Googlebot finding an extremely high number of pages at once on a site?
16.  can you define that term “Hangouts” with an example?
17. How should e-commerce websites handle rel=author?
18. Will rel=author be compatible with business Google Plus?
19. Can you schedules these Q&A’s weekly like a Matt Cutts podcast?
20. How can I ensure a website stealing my content won’t get away with it?
21. Are double 301 redirects ok?
22. Where is the Orkut?
23. When is Google going to update PageRanks again?
24. When will there be a rel=author for the news industry? Why isn’t there one offered now?
25. How can I get an internship at Google?
26. Does “Unavailable after” robots tag remove a page completely from the index so you don’t have a problem with a 404 error?
27. Should I buy my company’s brand on a new top-level domain to secure it?
28. Does Google identify automatic page redirection with JavaScript?

Author : Bharati Ahuja

After the PageRank became an important aspect of the Google Algorithm having a direct correlation to the ranking factors, there were many people who resorted to only link building as their main activity giving rise to a link building industry itself.

Well, at the very outset I would say that yes inbound links are important and yes there should be a meticulous effort put in to get natural inbound links and not all people focusing on link building are spammers.

But building links is like building a reputation and gaining the recognition for it . For building a reputation and popularity one needs to put in a lot of effort and links are earned as a part of the web journey of the site and I believe the only links that have value are the links that you have earned . The way you build your reputation in real life similarly you build the quality footprints on the web to gain the recognition by way of relevant inbound links. No amount of link exchanges and adding your website to umpteen directories and portals is going to bring any nutritive link juice to your PageRank .

After the Panda update we see many people claiming themselves to be content writers and offering content writing services. I am saying this as the no. of emails that I used to receive for link requests which were nothing but requests for spammy link exchanges are now decreasing and the no. of emails from companies introducing themselves as content writers is on the rise.

Again I would like to specify like all link building is not spam,  all the content writers also do not fall in the spam category . There are some very good companies offering quality content writing as per each website’s niche content and focus . But, the real challenge again here is to separate the grain from the chaff.

There are a few questions to which we should gain meaningful answers before we start investing in content marketing or adding more and more content to our site.

Q1) Why do we need more quality content ?

Google mentioned on its blogpost when they first announced (Feb. 24 2011) the Panda Update 1.0 that

“This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

So, yes quality content is important , but if you read in between the lines , it is not the quantity but the quality of content that is important from the user perspective. So it is not necessary to convert your site into a plethora of articles which will just add words to your site but instead give valuable information about the products and services that you offer so that the user gets the relevant info to take a decision or gets the answer to the question that he is finding and the content on your site serves the purpose of his search which made him click on the landing page of your website.

Q2) What is quality content?

As stated on one of our previous blogposts : http://www.webpro.in/understanding-and-adapting-to-the-google-panda-update-a-simple-systematic-straight-forward-approach/

What Is Quality Content?

Point-wise And In A Precise Manner The Content Reflects High standards Of Quality If the content is :
1. Trust worthy

2. Written by an expert

3. Not duplicated with other variations on the same site

4. The site can be trusted for credit card payments

5. Does not have spelling and style errors

6. The topic is in sync with what the readers want to read about

7. Is original

8. Adds value to the topic

9. Checked for quality standards to provide good UX

10. Unbiased and give both sides of the story

11. Hosted on Domain Authority

12. Is not mass produced

13. Is edited well

14. Trust worthiness related to important matters like health

15. Reflects brand authority

16. Is complete and offers an overall view about the topic

17. Stating facts or discussing the topic with insights

18. Is it worth sharing

19. Having a lot of Ads. Loses the true essence of information and knowledge

20. Is the content worth being printed

21. Is it long enough to be informative

22. Is attention given to detail

23. Is published with good UX

There is more about quality content on the following 2 links:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html
http://www.webpro.in/the-quality-content-site-guidelines-and-parameters-by-google/

Q3) Can borrowed content or content written just for the sake of adding words to your site work in your favour?
If we read in between the lines of the above stated extract again then we can see Google clearly mentions that :

“…..At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

Hence Google wants to give preference and promote authority sites i.e sites which give overall information about the industry trends, offer analysis on the relevant subject of the site, etc.

All this content can only be written by a thought leader of that industry not by people who just spin out content for the sake of filling pages. Hence identifying the right person or the right company for content writing and then selecting and deciding what content and info should be published on your site is a specialized job in itself which I think should be handed over to a very responsible person of your company as this content reflects the opinion and views of your company related to that topic as this kind of correlation establishes you as a thought leader and will help the website positively.

But, what is important to note is that building links , having your site updated with quality content and establishing yourself as an individualistic thought leader are all inter-connected and correlated.

If you share your knowledge via blogposts on your site or write guest posts and share it on social media which has a potential of being shared further it helps you in gaining quality natural links and also in the bargain gives you an identity of being an authority on the topic if it is appreciated by your readers.

If we analyze this further if you have quality content then your site has the potential of getting natural inbound links and the social media platform is the dais on which this display of quality content is possible in the form of links to your site which has the potential of further increasing the inbound links and also establish your authority and reputation on the web.

Q4) How to come up with quality content regularly?
Now, adding quality content regularly can be a challenging task but if you have a strategy then it can be simplified to a certain extent.

· Share knowledge about the topics related to your products and services.

· Write about the industry trends.

· Offer your opinion and analysis about the latest industry trends.

· Display the information graphically if possible with relevant statistics.

· Explain the graphs and statistic reports via a video.

· Publish interviews with authority people of your industry.

· Write about the developments in your company which you would like to share.

· Invite guest posts for your site.

· Be ahead of the rest in sharing news about your industry

· Carry out surveys

· Research on some topic or trend in your industry and share the content

After a proper analysis of the above points one can easily plan a content strategy which will surely be a win-win-win from the user , the search engine and the social media perspective as they all are correlated to each other.

Author : Bharati Ahuja

Recently as per my observation and experience, I think more and more people are understanding the true meaning of optimizing a site for search engines and are preparing themselves to accept the fact that SEO is a long term proposition and an ongoing process .

The search engines will constantly upgrade and improve their algorithms and keep shifting the priorities of the ranking factors for maintaining the quality of search results. Hence keeping an eye on the shifting priorities and the algo updates is a constant R & D effort which has to be put in unconditionally by every SEO.

The correlation and the causation aspect is being discussed and talked about a lot in the SEO blogosphere and conferences but, before we start correlating these two terms with the SEO world let us understand a few definitions:

What is Correlation:

Correlation is a statistical measurement of the relationship between two variables. Possible correlations range from +1 to –1. A zero correlation indicates that there is no relationship between the variables. A correlation of –1 indicates a perfect negative correlation, meaning that as one variable goes up, the other goes down. A correlation of +1 indicates a perfect positive correlation, meaning that both variables move in the same direction together.

What is Coeffecient of Corelation and A Rank Corelation:

A coefficient is a multiplicative factor in some term of an expression (or of a series) it is a measure of the strength of the linear relationship between two variables that is defined in terms of the (sample) covariance of the variables divided by their (sample) standard deviations. An increasing rank correlation coefficient implies increasing agreement between rankings. The coefficient is inside the interval [−1, 1] and assumes the value:

• −1 if the disagreement between the two rankings is perfect; one ranking is the reverse of the other.
• 0 if the rankings are completely independent.
• 1 if the agreement between the two rankings is perfect; the two rankings are the same.

In statistics, a rank correlation is the relationship between different rankings of the same set of items. A rank correlation coefficient measures the degree of similarity between two rankings, and can be used to assess its significance. A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either 'ranked higher than', 'ranked lower than' or 'ranked equal to' the second

What is Causation:

It is the act or fact of causing; the production of an effect by a cause . Basically the relationship of cause and effect, the act or process of causing, the act or agency which produces an effect.

Let us come back to the SEO world and try to correlate the importance of the above mentioned definitions for SEO.

The actual task of SEO is very difficult to define.

It is a whole package of :

•  on-page optimization
•  off-page optimization
•  working on good quality inbound links
•  creating a potential for the site so that it starts getting natural links over a period of time
•  brand building
•  helping the site to become more social media friendly and Social Media ready so that the site gets the links and the social acceptance with a quality buzz around it and
•  last but not the least the regular monitoring and measuring of the analytics to ensure that everything is being geared in the right direction and there is constant improvement in the SEO metrics.

This regular monitoring is the stage where actually an SEO gets the idea about what is working for the site and what is going against it as every site is different and has different objectives to achieve. This monitoring also helps you analyze and study data from the R&D perspective as this regular monitoring of the relevant data gives you an idea about the correlations between what changes you made on the site and what results or effects were visible in the data set. Google analytics can give you a good idea about these correlations with the help of the custom reports feature.

Google says there is a combination of more than 200 ranking factors which determine the rankings of the search results and the priorities keep on changing hence if you make some changes on-page and off-page and you see a direct effect on the results you can know what factors are being given preference to by Google. In other words you can correlate the SEO changes and modifications made by you to the changes you see in the results as per the SEO metrics.

For example:

1) If you make the changes in the title tags of some of the pages and you see that page being ranked higher than before and the Google Analytics shows that page as the landing page for the keywords it was targeted and shows an increase in the no. of new visits and shows the source as search engines then you can be sure that there is a causation and this improvement can be correlated to the title tag changes made and one can conclude that this correlation is positive.

2) If you add a canonical tag and the those pages get deindexed and you lose the rankings then you know that this causation is due to the negative correlation between the two variables i.e the canonical tag and the loss of rankings .

The above two are very simple examples but if there are atleast 200 ranking factors then there are atleast 200 variables which can be assessed over a period of time for the various causations in the SEO metrics you want to measure.

When we say that the constant monitoring of the site is one of the major SEO deliverables, we mean that this correlation analysis of various factors on the causation of results is the main focus.

Data in itself does not have any value unless it is analyzed and understood so that corrective actions can be taken, otherwise it is like a car without a driver. You can use the car efficiently only if you have a good driver. Similarly you can make use of the Google Analytics data if you have a good analyst who can correlate between the metrics and understand the effect on the result oriented metrics.

Some points to ponder on this concept of correlation and causation are:

• Almost all SEO is correlative rather than causative.
• Moreover , a correlation need not be causative.
• You need a sizable chunk of data over a period of time (atleast 4-6 months) in order to establish any connect between the correlation and causation to come to any conclusion.
• This correlation analysis requires a lot of time, effort and an eye for detail by an expert
• Jumping to quick conclusions will just cause more confusion

Always keep a list of SEO changes made on the site date-wise and preferably also write down the anticipated changes on the concerned metrics as expected by you and then study the effects on the concerned metrics over a period of time (atleast for 4 months) before you come to a conclusion.

When we say SEO is an ongoing process this is one of the major SEO tasks which need to be undertaken regularly by every SEO for every site as every site is different and needs to be analyzed and studied as per what metrics matter the most for that site.

SEO is becoming more and more specialized and the whole SEO task needs to be conducted by various experts to get the most out of every SEO campaign. Ideally if a SEO company needs to take more no. of SEO projects and do justice to the SEO campaign then the SEO team should comprise of experts in the following fields:

• Keyword Research
• On-Page SEO
• Off-Page SEO
• Natural Link Building Engineers
• Social Media Strategists
• Analytics
• Research and Development Analysts whose job is to keep an eye on what changes are being reported by Google on their various blogs and other authority sites
• Coordinators who can convey the SEO process and progress to the clients keeping the training aspect in mind so that every meeting with the client enriches the client with the SEO relevant knowledge in a very simple way so that he is convinced to renew the contract year after year.

An SEO campaign conducted by such a team will surely ensure a quality SEO campaign but will surely cost more too. SEO is very simple and can be done using the DIY method but to ensure a long term success and for future proofing your site from the unexpected algoquakes by Google hiring experts is the best option as every job in itself is a specialized job which demands the relevant knowledge in that niche field.