• Danny Sullivan
• Jerry West
• Rand Fishkin
• Jill Whalen
• PJ Fusco
• Shari Thurow

Just to name a few.  These are at least some of my very favorites and definitely those I model myself after.

So today’s post is to highlight Rand.  Why?  Well because he’s popular right now, he’s got great insight, and SEOmoz has taken off tremendously…so why not?  Right!  Besides that…you’ve got to love his personality.  So here are some highlights of what put Rand on the top of my favorites list today.  In an interview with Steve Chapman (aka SEO Whistleblower) from ZDnet.com Rand offers some answers that let you know the truth behind what an SEO specialist, consultant, etc. should be all about:

Steve:

What’s your opinion of SEO in 2011? Where are things heading? What should people focus on these days?

Rand:

We’re certainly on a path of greater integration and holistic thinking than ever before. It’s rare to find an SEO who doesn’t focus on social media marketing, viral content development, web analytics and even public relations or email marketing. With the practice of SEO becoming so closely tied to the success one can achieve in the website marketing field as a whole, this isn’t a surprising development, but it does make it hard to say “focus on just this,” vs. “become competent at all of these.”

Steve:

If you could pick 3 things you would want to be remembered for in the SEO industry, what would they be?

Rand:

Me personally? That’s a tough one, but I’ll say:

1 – Helping to make “SEO” a well-respected marketing channel.

2 – Supporting, empowering and introducing great people to the SEO field.

3 – Creating a company that has a powerful, positive impact on the day-to-day lives of marketers practicing SEO.

Steve:

When someone says, “we want to hire an SEO,” what should they mean? What I’m addressing here is the increased perception that an SEO should be a jack of all trades (Organic, PPC, Social, Web Dev, Usability Expert, et al).

Rand:

When I hear that phrase, it typically means the company/organization is specifically worried about organic search traffic and wants someone who can assist. However, as you note (and I mentioned above), it’s very hard to do SEO without also working on content and promotion (which often bleed into other areas). The exception is when the issues are primarily technical and on-site (dealing with accessibility and optimization best practices), in which case a very pure SEO focus can be fine.

The full conversation can be found here: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/seo/real-people-real-seo-an-interview-with-rand-fishkin-ceo-of-seomoz/1402

SEO (search engine optimization) is about ethical, white-hat implementations and strategies that benefit users and create an ideal experience.

After reading this article, Rand….I like your style.  I’ve always admired Rand’s willingness to share knowledge, but going a step beyond and opening eyes to what SEO should be, versus, what some inexperienced practitioners can make it out to be…that’s true leadership.

For the sake of privacy let’s just call him Bob. As I sat on the phone with Bob, I was shocked that he had actually called me to inquire about my services as an SEO Specialist, yet was compelled to ask me this question. I figured that it was a test, so I answered him.

Here is my answer, to Bob and anyone else who has had this question on their mind:

Yes…yes…yes, monthly SEO is definitely worth the cost. The real question you should ask is whether or not your SEO Specialist is able to prove it to you.

Search engine optimization is not just about structure and following the rules, otherwise any and everyone would be able to rank well in the search engines. Actually, SEO is an art form. Analysis, testing, keen thought, and inspiration can go a long way, but your SEO Specialist or in-house search marketing team can only do as much as they are allowed. Just like any other service you get what you pay for.

Take into account that search term popularity and frequency change daily. Why? Well because people want different results, so they use different terms. So over a months time, if your site is not properly monitored and does not have someone to review the analysis of how the keywords are performing, you could lose 100’s even 1,000’s of potential customers.

Why do you think large scale corporations with call centers always have someone ask you, “…and how did you find us?” or “How were you referred to us?” They want to know where the sale began so they can control the flow of future sales from that source.

A good SEO Specialist will set up your keywords, monitor your metrics, and review the search count of related keywords every 2-3 months. By doing so they can suggest additional keywords that could possibly convert for you and help grow your business.

SEO Specialists should be consultants, advisors, hands-on and pro-active.

If you’re serious about your online business then monthly SEO is definitely in the budget. For the fees you spend, if you select an experienced SEO Specialist, the work they perform pays for their services as well as increases the profits of the company.

Q L I N K P O P U L A R I T Y G W Y M M U O X T C R W H B S F B K V P W I P E W

J L N H W S D E Q G J G N X V H U G T H R B Z C V R Q C O W I K Q Q V O P U T D

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V A I N H P H A M L W D P T O O D X E R S R X O Q T Y T M C P G V R G F J G I T

R N V K S R R M Z F H T U L M D T K S I C C F F F I W E O U E Q K V S G B L L U

S C E E N J R E Q Q D C Y A S J J O B X W R K G H L H I H A F S S M K G X R P W

A H R X Q I W P L M G F I Q Y W L I W S K R Y F C K Q W D K N T A N D E F P D W

G O S K N I L K C A B N K B C U L I A I C T W U W B L U Z U G Q X Z F K Y W S Q

D R I S C I D L X Z A D J O K I B M Y O B D J M C W M G O K O E M Y F O O B C I

B T T I T L E T A G M J I C T K R J E W G D Z O I Q G Q S T E B X B Y Z U W K J

K E Y W O R D D E N S I T Y Q O B E A H N H M P U F Y R D P U P E F W Y A H V O

X X W Z T T M Z L L R C E Z Y M R U V K J K A P N B Z M C Y Q N B I H P Y J C T

A T Q E E C P W I D N E J J T L F A H Q Q J U Y O C J Z F A B W Z R M T H I C H

W G O N L Z K Z F G X Z T F T E C H M P F S B O L Z P D M V M K E L R U K B E P

D O S C T T O N N J A N R N T Q T G O X V M V L J L E Z O W H W P C U U R Q G S

E L I F X A K Q X K H B G K I I G G G N P S N D X S A L W L G T C I Y S J M X R

Y H C S L H W J S H T B X Z A P G E A Z K D G H Q I F A Y C Z Q N F L I M P P Y

T V C H J D C U U I H A T O J X F L K V I N X I G X R R O B F C I C L U I A H S

K L Z B J N E P S Y S Q Y O I S A S W H B L J V H K Y B E J J I B T F Q R T I L

C D F Z F X Y W T W F S L M T G O A T Q K Y X T Q P F H Z B O L G G D K M K I U

J R W L B Z Y J B F B A J O P Z A F B N U F L Q C P P L F W F P T L Z B J T R D

R H Z U L A C B C X Z W L A R B M M T P U Z G F V J S B T N P R I N R M C A A A

W Y C W J F X S J D T K P Q B S M V G Y P D I Z Y F I P S L C W D P O C A Q U R

Q X V L C N H E P B R I J I N C J P B R R A Y Q W E N A S A Z Y F Z A E Q M Q O

D I F R K W W B O Z A F K O F K Y Z E E Y E E O Z T O F R G T Y Z X Z O D O A W

K R L U I U O D H F Q D B W Y O W K P Z O Q G I B D E M Z F Q O U X K Y V N R Y

U F B K M X A Z U H H C T K V T F G X Z I O I E R Z B E H O D T I H Q N P A A V

P Q T C Q J E G K O J P P K U U X E Q A E Q R R X Q N A W A P E G T F L P H V W

N I R W F N R J L U F A W O Y T I P V K R S L Z Q X T S C Y O P M V A H N R Q Y

E B A S T D O Y O M T G J V F J R K O L M D Z N F I O K A S I P Z I D P G C F I

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G M P I Q D O Z L P U X Z K O F N W B D S K E U Z D R S F S L A Q Q D P F O Z P

V W U J H P K E B S E W M I V X L I O Q T L J W H G P K H Q T N O H P P J U P J

H R F X N T C J F U V Q F N M J D P C I I C M T O D K F P S U T E Z L V E M S D

E V R G B T L Q A Z U W S U V I T S H T L E R J O Z X D X I G H H T E A S X X Q

X Q W P W M M H B G M R F Y W G K W V K B A K W L U O N N T N K S W L A E Y C S

H C B O K V B L P A J C C K W V O F Y F Y B Y A H Y R Q A Y H O M M G Y K O W Z

B Q Q V K F F H N J M Q I Q V M O E T B W G T W L R F I O X Z W Q B V B J G E G

ACCESSIBILITY

ALL IN ANCHOR TEXT

ALT TEXT

BACK LINKS

DOMAIN AGE

INTERNAL LINKING

KEYWORD DENSITY

LINK DIVERSITY

LINK POPULARITY

TITLE TAG

Download Link: 2009-09-09_ssaw_seo_rank_factors

You can copy and paste the text above, or simply download the pdf and have some fun!

Many people overlook the most basic factors, when reviewing their sites.  Before you get a thorough SEO Audit on your site, make sure you know the factors that matter!  Every good SEO knows that maintaining a strong grasp of the fundamentals, keeps you grounded and keeps your work solid.

But everyone needs a little fun, right?  Enjoy.

Have a list you want to suggest?  Please utilize the contact form or send an e-mail to jori [at] chicagoseopro [dot] com.

For the sake of having it explained well, I’ve reposted a piece of the directions, including a link to Ann’s post:

Let’s say [diabetes] is our base word we want to research, so we search it on WikiWix to get the following:

1. The list of all Wikipedia articles associated with the word. Each listing contains a short abstract from the Wikipedia page, the date and time when the entry was last modified and the page external links (!).

Additionally: You can click “Associated categories” to see the list of related topics for each listing:

2.Related terms taken from Wiktionary:

3. Related entries from Wikisource;

Read more about Ann’s great insight to using this tool for keyword research.

I personally, have developed much of my internal linking theory for content based web sites, such as article directories, news portals, and information sites from portions of the internal linking with wikis.

1. Keep It Simple: Google Simple Sitemap Submission

The first step to ranking well, is solid SEO.  Most search marketers focus so heavily on link building the shrewd fundamentals of SEO are overlooked.  It doesn’t matter how many links you build, if the site is not a quality site, built with solid architecture and a good internal linking structure, the site will not perform to the best of its abilities.

After your site is live, step 1. to getting high rankings is indexation.  Getting Google to notice your website isn’t very difficult, however, getting it to notice your entire website, all the pages that could potentially add value and bring in long tail niche traffic…well, that’s a different matter.  Making Googlebot’s life easier and aiding it in getting all your important and valuable pages indexed is easier than waiting around for it to do all the work on its own.

Sitemaps are a great answer, as to how you can assist Googlebot in indexing more of your site in less time!

What is a sitemap?

A sitemap is a file that is uploaded to your server to catalog the pages available sitewide.  It is very much like the index of a book and can be displayed as different file types dependant upon its proposed use.

Different Sitemap Types:

• XML – the most commonly used to feed a list of urls to google and other search engines.

• RSS 2.0/Atom 1.0 – an automatically generated feed which is typically associated with blogging platforms, that lists pages/posts.

• HTML – a static file that is intended for users but also serves as a resource for search engines to catalog/reach all available pages on the site.

• Text File – a text file containing all the site urls.

Google allows you to submit these various types of sitemap files, alongside others, with ease.  My suggestion for those who are not very familiar with webmastering or accessing your site host, is to have a professional compile your sitemap file to ensure it is properly validated, then submit it using the two easiest, and most prominent methods.

1.  Sign up for Google webmasters tools.  Verify your site.  Then follow instructions for submitting your sitemap.  It’s simply entering the url location of your sitemap file on your server/host.

2.  Indicate your sitemap file via robots.txt.

Locate more information on Google sitemap submissions.

Taking these general steps allows for higher levels of indexation.  Next step, increasing visibility of your indexed pages.

“China’s online population grew by 23.4 percent last year to 137 million people, about 10 percent of its 1.3 billion population” — Associated Press

The web has always been world wide, however, now the ability to do business and reach a new, ever growing amount of consumers has finally been recognized.

Businesses that are looking to sustain in 2009 should definitely consider extending their global reach as it were.  A strong combination of effective search marketing will boost sales and visibility across global marketing channels if businesses develop a well crafted search marketing strategy.

B2B service sectors can really benefit from this new reach, as Chinese business extends its reach to the US global market, the need for local business relationships will develop.

Grow your business, locally, globally, and sustainably, with proven SEO strategies.

Today the following question was proposed by Chris Ellis, Business Development Manager at Greenlight, ”

What constitutes good link building and bad link building?”

(View Complete Question on LinkedIn)

Here is my answer:

“Good Link – a link from an industry related web site, indexed in Google, with minimal outbound links from the linking page. Acquisition time and cost aren’t as relevant as the relevancy of the website, and the all in anchor text coming from the linking web site.

Bad Link – a link from an irrelevant resource with unrelated contextual keyword targeting and more than 20 outbound on-page links.

Time is not relevant to popularity, count is, so quick or slow, it carries no weight.

Ease of acquisition has no bearing as the ease of truly high quality links is based entirely on the quality of your web site as well as the rapport you build with the webmaster of the linking site.

Ethical, well the obvious answer has to do with the quality and integrity of the link builder and how they value the stability and strength of the links they build.

The link building techniques that are utilized to acquire links, in my professional opinion, are acceptable if the best practices and guidelines of the major search engines are followed as well as the link does not risk the quality and integrity of the site in question as well as the site where the link resides.

Remember that search algorithms primary basis are to reflect the natural search habits and desired results of searchers. These are not made up figures, but data driven considerations to increase the quality of the results as they relate to end users.”

Link Scenario:

We have a web site about car audio. Our keyword focus is “car audio”. Let’s call it www.examplecaraudio.com

Good Link: Link from a car, audio, or car audio related web site, ex. Jim’s Car Audio Review; that includes relevant anchor text relating to your web site. Anchor text is the text used to link to your site from another site.

An example of good use of anchor text to our sample site would be:

“Jim’s Car Audio Review offers reviews of the latest car audio products and provides tons of other resources to find out more about car audio and related resources.“

If you are a webmaster, search specialist, site owner, or you are simply attempting to increase PR and popularity via a link building campaign, it is always in your best interest to know where your links are coming from and ensure it is a quality resource.

Think of links as referrals. Which situation would you prefer:

Would you prefer referrals from a qualified resource, like when your doctor (a trusted resoruce) refers you out to a specialist with excellent references?

Or, would you prefer to have your doctor stand in front of you, write down names of random “specialists” from the white pages, toss the names in a hat and pick one out for you?

The idea of link building, as ridiculous as the second situation may sound, can be that terrible of a shot in the dark. When you allow out side resources to develop unqualified links, that may stem from low quality resources, you’re allowing them to tarnish the quality and integrity of your site and ensuring lower rankings.