Content is King and Linking is Queen. Once you have created unique and original content, it is mandatory to create internal and external links to pages with targeted keywords. In this section we will discuss and present multiple linking strategies. Oftentimes link building is a very laborious project.
 
 
The External Link
 
External links are links that come from other URLs. External link should be built around targeted words. External linking is second only to content in importance.
 
A html code link example another site might use to link to your site:
 
YOUR CHOSEN KEYWORD
 
Search engines continually seek opportunities to ensure search results are accurate and specific. That’s just what searchers want. As an example, two competing sites may have the same link popularity and comparatively equal amounts of content. The only difference between the two sites is that one has relevant external links. The site with the relevant external links will get preferential treatment from the search engines.
 
The most powerful links your site can receive are high page rank sites in your industry. Sites external to the industry add some weight but not as much as those focused on the industry. When receiving links it is best to have the words others are linking to you on match with the words of the page. Frequently you will provide someone giving you a link with an
tag, like the example above.
 
When giving an external link make sure it is pertinent to the contents of the pages you link to. Giving away too many external links dilutes your link power so give them sparingly. Steer clear of linking to inconsequential, blacklisted, or banned URLs.
 
External linking example:
 

 
Notice the external link used in the red box in the left navigation area. The National Buyers Agency Association (NBAA – www.buyersagent.com) features The Real Buyers Agent in Charleston, South Carolina. If you go to the NBAA site and click on that link, you will be sent to the home page for The Real Buyer’s Agent (www.charlestonhome.com). Great example of someone giving an external link to another site.
 
 

Today’s training session focuses on header tags and how to make the most of them.

HTML header tags (<H1>, <H2>, <H3>, etc.) are more than a quick way to format text. Their most significant function should be to define your page’s organizational structure and simplify page navigation. Well-written header text enlightens visitors, helping them navigate through your site. 

Additionally, using targeted words in the header tags will increase your site ranking.  Relevant header tags will even increase your site ranking on some search engines.  Specifically, use the targeted keywords of the page as your header tag. 

On each product category main page set up H1 tags corresponding with the content of the page.  

Anchor Text Your Content 

By correctly anchor-texting your targeted big head words or categories you are giving weight to the words and giving the search engine a jump start in ranking these words in organic search.  This shows the relevancy of your pages to search engines & helps rank for desired keywords.  It anchors big head words and the primary value is navigation, but it also tips off and gives link weight to search engines.  Google considers this practice important and relevant to rankings.  You should anchor text words in your page content and via menus at the bottom of your pages. 

The main/index (home) page is the most influential real estate found on your site when it comes to anchor text.  Using your keyword-dense content on the index and category pages allows you to link to inner pages.  All words in your content that refer to other categories should be linked.  This is a great method for pushing spider traffic while associating the keyword (anchor text) with the specific, relevant page being linked to.   

Links on inner pages are not as vital to search engine rankings as is the main page, having said that, inner linking is still an important component of your link strategy.  Link inner pages between themselves and back to main category pages and the index page.   

That concludes our ‘Content is King’ training sessions.  Next week, we’ll move into a series of training sessions entitled, ‘Links are Queen’.  

Today’s SEO training session is a caution about using duplicate content.

 Structures set up using duplicate content will not have marked success with search engines. Be careful when using a sort function on the page or you may end up with duplicate content issues.  You must be very careful in both giving and receiving standard, ubiquitous XML feed product descriptions as your content.  Many eCommerce sites with the same distribution supply chain all get the same product descriptions.  The spiders will see this duplicate content.  It’s best to keep content fresh and relevant.

Avoid giving away your fresh content via XML feeds to anyone else.  Make sure the spider credits you as the author of your content.  Below are the steps you need to follow to ensure you get credit.

• • Distribute to you first and notify the spider to search your site

  • Delay send to others until after spider comes to your site

  • You can also self reference the info sent to other sites and get a link from them pointing back to the original site

There is great value in sending your content out via XML, just ensure the process is followed so other sites don’t get your credit.

•  
  • The more unique, fresh, relevant content written on the page and via blogs, forums, fan clubs and so forth about your site and the more deep links we get to it the more potential link power you have.

 So check your website and make sure you’re not using duplicate content – it isn’t doing any favors for you with the search engines. 

In today’s SEO training session #2, we talk about how to scrape a website for content and why it’s important to know what a spider sees when it crawls your page.

Knowing what the spider sees when it encounters your web pages is critical.  Following are simple steps for determining exactly what the spider sees upon encountering your pages.

1. Go to the page you want to scrape.

2. Select all by pressing Ctl A, copy the selection into a buffer with a Ctl C.

3. Open a text editor such as word pad – not a word processor.

4. Copy contents into the text editor by pressing Ctl V.

5. Review what you see.6. Will the content in the text editor convey to the spider what the page is all about?

Here is what the spider sees when it visits CastleWave.com.  Italics and highlighting added.  “CastleWave LLC

Home

About Us

Email Us

 * Link Building   

* Customer Acquisition         

o Search               

+ Pay Per Click               

+ Viral Search Traffic         

o Affiliate Marketing         

 o Online to Offline Marketing   

* Strategic Web Consulting   

* SEO   

* Software Engineer Outsource   

* Content Creation

Home

Link Building   

Link building can be a laborious task…but it is critical to the long term success of your web site. You need link juice! Why? Links are crucial when it comes to building page rank.    more…

Customer Acquisition   

Want more customers? Our viral marketing strategies can help. CastleWave uses automated tools to discover the relevant sites for link building which speeds up the process of sending link requests to the other websites.    more…

Strategic Web Consulting   

CastleWave is dedicated to helping you achieve your web presence goals. From your initial creative ideas to converting users into loyal customers, we can help.    more…

Search Engine Optimization and more – CastleWave…   

was created to satisfy the need of serious web site owners to drive traffic to their sites. We understand the power of relevant, fresh content on your site and how to get customers to it

Search Engine Optimization!

You want search engines to find and feast on your site. Content is king but you better understand the importance of link building, how to structure your pages to accommodate search engines, and key html elements. Just because you have your page up doesn’t mean search engines will find it and know what it’s all about. 

 Content Creation!

Because content is so important you need to know how and where to use it. We build landing page content, blog, articles, product AdCopy and more.

We write content that will optimize and ensure effective execution to convert traffic into customers who are looking for your products. We do this for, Pay Per Click advertisements, blogs and other word related services that allow you to get your message to customers.

Link Juice!

Links help drive traffic but not just any link will do. You need the right kind of links.

Our insightful team understands how to build your link power. CastleWave will only participate in “white hat” linking practices and we employ automated tools to determine relevant sites for link building.

Customer Acquisition!

Want more customers? Our viral marketing strategies can help.

Software Engineer Outsource!

Now that you have the idea in your head, how do you make it a reality on the web? How do you create the application that will show the world your idea? Let us show you how!

Endorsement of our software development outsource program is evident by the fact that several of our Software Engineers are contracted to high visibility customers helping them achieve strategic technology objectives. These engineers work on a contract basis assisting clients build simple to complex software applications and design compelling web sites…”

That’s ABOUT 500 words.  Does the above content give the spider the clues it needs to know what this site is all about?

One of the common mistakes site designer’s make is allowing menu structures to get in the way of content.  Keep in mind that spiders will only crawl through approximately the first 250-500 words on a page.  It is critical that your key message be clearly identifiable within this range.  Content is king, not menus, not flash, not images.

Now you can scrape your website to see how well it holds up to a spider’s examination.