Off-Page SEO consists of everything you can do outside of your site to improve search engine results and largely revolves around link building.

The number, relevance and quality of inbound links to your site are primary factors in determining your site’s page rank in search engine results.  With that in mind, getting more links to your site is good; getting links from high quality sites (meaning relevant sites with high page rank) is great!

Given the nature of inbound links, there are some aspects you have limited control over.  However, today let’s focus on optimizing the opportunities where you do have control!

Link Anchor Text is the text that’s in the link back to your site.  It is an important factor in Off-Page SEO because the words in your links can help reinforce the keywords on your site and help you get ranked for those words.  Therefore, when you comment on a forum/blog/article and link back to your site, try using a keyword rich phrase rather than just your company name or the generic “click here!” links.

Directories can be a good source of inbound links, but it’s important to select high quality directories to list your articles.   Search engines will give more weight to quality directories (ones that rank well and are more selective with the articles they accept).

Lastly, reciprocal links can be beneficial in driving traffic to your site from your partner’s site, but for SEO purposes, the reciprocal links can end up canceling each other out.  Abusing reciprocal links- by doing too much exchanging, especially with unrelated sites-  can get you penalized with the search engines.

Posted January 27th 2011 to Internet Marketing,SEO • Comments (1)

The purpose of a meta description is to provide users with a brief description of each web page listed in search results.  After the title, the meta description is the next thing that users look at when they are browsing through search listings.  Below is IM Report Card’s search engine result for “internet marketing reviews”  with the meta description highlighted:

While the meta description is not used by the search engines for SEO purposes, it can be a valuable tool in increasing your click-through rates and bringing more traffic to your site.  Below are 3 ways to get the most from your meta description:

1)      Enter a meta description- If the meta description is missing, search engines will generate the mega description for you by taking part of the content from your page.  There are two problems with this.  First, a search engine cannot provide a thoughtful, compelling summary of your site the way you can.  They also cut off text longer than 150 characters, which can leave your meta description looking sloppy.

2)      Include keywords- When someone uses a search term that matches up with the keywords in your description and title tags, those terms will be bolded your result listing.  This is a great opportunity to draw users’ attention to your listing.

3)      Do not stuff keywords- Remember, meta descriptions do not affect SEO.  Meta descriptions that are comprised of long strings of keywords don’t give users a clear idea of the page’s content.  This is an opportunity to brand your site; listing off a bunch of keywords doesn’t do that.

Posted January 20th 2011 to Internet Marketing • Comments (2)

There is no one right way to do SEO, but there are many factors that can derail your efforts and prevent your site from ranking.  Below are 5 SEO mistakes to avoid:

1) Poor Keyword Research- If you’re trying to optimize your site around common keywords, you’re most likely not going to be able to rank for them.  The use of long-tail keywords can help avert this issue.  Also, programs like Market Samurai, which is highly rated amongst IMRC members, can help you find good keywords for search engine optimization.

2) One-time SEO- A common mistake amongst website owners is thinking that once they have optimized, they are done.  The truth is that there is no such thing as “being done” with SEO and it is an ongoing effort to maintain and build up your ranking.

3) Ugly URLs- Your URLs should be readable by humans (and therefore search engines).  Incorporating keywords into your URLs can send important signals to search engines to let them know what your site’s about.

4) Neglecting Site Structure- You may have wonderfully optimized pages on your site, but without the proper navigation paths, your site’s SEO success can be limited.  This means make sure the links on your pages follow a logical path and aren’t broken.  Try organizing your site into categories of related content.

5) Over-relying on your homepage- Sure, your home page is probably the most powerful page on your site, but there are only so many keywords that you can effectively target on just one page.  Use internal and external links to drive traffic and search engine spiders deeper into your site.