Digital Marketing and Technological Insight

By now I am sure you have heard about Google’s new search infrastructure upgrade / update called “Caffeine”. Anytime Google makes a change to how their search functions it is big news…based on what people are saying this is one of their biggest updates since the “Big Daddy” update of 2005.

From the Google Webmaster Central Blog:

For the last several months, a large team of Googlers has been working on a secret project: a next-generation architecture for Google’s web search. It’s the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits “under the hood” of Google’s search engine, which means that most users won’t notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we’re opening up a web developer preview to collect feedback.

Since the changes are more on the back-end and are meant to improve the speed, size, accuracy and depth of Google search, I am viewing this update as having a bigger impact on how Google handles what people love to call  the “future of search” - semantic and real-time. I am not viewing this update as having a major impact on rankings…at least just yet.

The biggest question is of course how will this update impact SEO? Until it goes live and you can test in a real search environment you just cannot be sure.  In Google’s announcement they mention how most users won’t notice a difference in search results. However, they seem to contradict themselves by saying it will impact accuracy - which to me relates to search results.  My guess is that any changes in the SERP will be based on the inclusion of real-time results as opposed to changes in the foundation of how sites are ranked. Tests that I ran on the developers preview were inconclusive - some differences but nothing that would change my SEO strategies.

As with most changes Google makes to their search engine this is going to have to be a wait and see game. For more information on Google’s Caffeine update check out the links below:

• Google Webmaster Central Blog post that announced the update
• More info on the Caffeine update (via MattCutts.com)
• Matt Cutts Explains Caffeine Update (video)
• Run your own test of Caffeine: http://www2.sandbox.google.com/

I randomly searched for the term “Search Engine” in Google this morning and was very surprised at the results. The three big search engines ( Google, Yahoo and Bing) all ranked below the top 3 prime spots -  Google was 4th, Bing was 5th and Yahoo was 7th.  However, I was more shocked to see  that search engine powerhouse AltaVista came up #1 and my favorite search engine from 1998, Dogpile, came up #2. Of course if Google was in the top spot people would cry fowl, but still…#4? Google you can do better than that. Yahoo on the other hand should just be happy they are on the first page.

Recently Google launched a new “options” feature  on their search results page.  After clicking the “Show Options” link a new left navigation opens that allows  the searcher to “slice and dice”  search results into more relevant chunks. Searchers can now focus their results by videos, forums, reviews, time or even a more visual representation.

So what does this mean for search behavior? Not much. How many general web searchers do you think will actually take the time or care to refine their search results? I would guess a tiny fraction of the millions of people who come to Google.com to do a search. Google’s success is based on its simplicity - other search engines have been giving visitors options for years and none of them caught on. People want instant gratification and are used to trusting the results Google puts forth. Why do you think the vast majority of people barely scroll below the fold or click to another search page? Hint: it isn’t because they found the most relevant search result.

From an SEO perspective this doesn’t change anything either. A good SEO strategy should already include Videos, Forums and Product Reviews, so if anything this just reinforces the importance of how SEO goes beyond just on-page optimization and linking.

As anyone with even a vague familiarity of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)  knows, a key component of search engine ranking success is having a solid SEO Linking Strategy. Building inbound links is also one of the parts that takes the most effort - when it comes to SEO links it is always quality over quantity (even though some people well tell you otherwise).

There are many ways to gain great inbound SEO links, but I have found over the years that nothing is more important than building relationships with the top website / blog owners who are relevant to specific categories I am targeting. What does this mean exactly? Everyone in SEO talks about how to get links, who to go after and how to contact them (form email anyone?). But, most people leave out a component that can work in your favor for the long run - building direct relationships.

Why is building relationships so important? The answer is simple - it saves you time & effort while giving you the results you need. For example, lets say you are building an SEO strategy for an e-commerce company and you are looking for some quality inbound links for specific keywords. You reach out to top related blogs and get a few to write posts about your products - great. But, what if through building that direct relationship you can go back to that  blog every time you have a new product you want to feature or a new keyword you are going after? If you have an existing relationship you can reach out to them directly and start building those quality links right away.

So, the question becomes how do you build these SEO linking relationships? Below is the method I have used with great success.

• As with any SEO link building campaign - identify the top websites / blogs in the specific keyword category you are going after.
• Of the chosen websites, target the ones that not only drive traffic and have a good PageRank / SERP presence, but also have either a clear personal voice or have built existing relationships.
• Send a personalized email outlining not only what you are looking for but why you are reaching out to them specifically. Template based email requests might work some of the time but all of the top site owners I talk to usually ignore them.
• Offer something. The best blogs and websites focus on giving their readers something of value - you need to do the same.
• Once link is live  send a personalized thank you email.
• Follow-up with the site owner on a regular basis with updates on how things are going - meaning, referral traffic from their site, impact on rankings, etc.
• Wine and Dine them. Now you don’t have to go all out but offer to buy them dinner and / or drinks when they are in town.  Even if the site owner never takes you up on the offer the invitation was still given and it instantly creates a bond.
• Lastly, make them feel special. By this I mean send them “exclusive” information, products, coupons, feature them on your website - whatever you can do. It doesn’t matter what you offer them, people (bloggers especially) love to feel they have something no one else has. Give them this in any form and they will be your friends for life.

There you have my steps to building a SEO linking relationship - I guarantee that the time and effort you spend building relationships willpayy-off greatly in the long run.

A question I always hear revolves around what are the key elements a company just starting SEO work should focus on.  SEO isn’t about “quick hits” it is an ongoing process that requires a great deal of time and effort. However, there are base-line elements a company should / can focus on in order to get them on the right path - here are my Top 10 SEO Tips:

1. Keyword strategy
   It all starts with the keywords you choose. You can have the best SEO strategy in place for your website but if you don’t put enough time and effort into the keywords you target everything else is useless. You need to choose the keywords that your company and website truly focuses on so that a natural relevancy is created. You also need to make sure you understand the ranking opportunities for the keywords you choose - everyone wants to rank for high-volume / generic keywords but the odds of that happening are slim. Target keywords that not only drive traffic but are reachable.
2. On-site content development
   The old saying still remains true today - “content is king”. Combine  a solid keyword strategy with deep related content and you are on the path to SEO success. Just make sure you write content for the website visitor that incorporates, in a sensible way, related keywords. SEO is all about relevancy.
3. Inbound links
   We all know that a big piece of SEO is about getting external links coming to your website with related keywords used in the anchor text. However, when it comes to linking I go with the quality over quantity theory.  The old SEO way was to get as many inbound links as possible regardless of where they was coming from. Honestly, the old way is a waste of time - even though there are plenty of people that would disagree. The most successful link building campaigns I have ever run focuses on targeting the leaders in a given topic and building direct relationships with them. I would take 10 links from targeted, contextually relevant, solid traffic websites over 1,000 random sites any day.
4. Internal links
   Take your inbound linking strategy and focus it internally. Create a contextually relevant internal linking structure that focuses on content flow and the semantic relationship between pages.
5. Title Tags
   Title Tags are another key part of a SEO strategy many websites overlook. Writing Title Tags isn’t rocket science - keep it relevant to what the page is about, work off your keyword strategy and make sure every page is unique.
6. URL structure
   I am a big fan of using keywords within the domain whenever it makes sense from a branding perspective. However, since most companies have little primary domain flexibility a good area to focus on is the URL structure. First keep it simple & straight forward (use a URL re-write tool if needed) and name files / directories with related keywords.
7. Image / Video optimization
   With the growing focus of universal search there is a huge opportunity for companies, especially those selling products, to focus on Image and Video SEO. Image SEO is fairly simple - name image files with keywords, use ALT tags, etc. Video SEO can be a bit more complicated - check out my Video SEO Guide for more detailed information.
8. Optimize code elements
   By “code elements” I mean everything other than Title Tags, which include Header Tags (H1, H2, etc), Meta keywords & descriptions and ALT tags.
9. Avoid Technological limitations
   Use 301 redirects whenever possible, avoid dynamic URL structure, run a broken link analysis, Validate HTML & CSS, avoid Flash and JavaScript. Technology can either be SEO’s best friend of worst enemy.
10. Robots.txt / Site Map
    Site Map: As with Meta Data, there is a lot of discussions about the true SEO value of a Site Map. Like with Meta Data we might question the actual impact but considering it is a fairly easy task to build a SiteMap.xml file and it will help search engines crawl / index your website…why wouldn’t you build one? Robots.txt: There is a long list of ways you can use your Robots.txt file, however my #1 reason is for what you DO NOT want a search engine to find. By using a “disallow” command you can prevent files and folders from being crawled.

The above Top 10 SEO tips are fairly basic and are meant as a starting point for a broader SEO strategy - be sure to check out our  SEO checklist for more guidance and tips.