SEO -- Ranking & Link Building

15/15

• "Generic Links" - are bland phrases that avoid using keywords that search engines use to determine the context of what you are trying link to. 
• Examples: "Visit Website," "read more," useful site," and "click here."
• Google's SEO Starter Guide discourages from using those generic links. 
• They encourage a more descriptive text and avoiding off topic or no relation to the content of the page linked to and also using the page's URL as the anchor text (in most cases).
• Bill Slawski, author of 10 Most Important SEO Patents, Part 5: says;  
• 1. relate text and co-ooccurrence links. 
• 2. Use Synonyms through Google's tilde (~) operator. It tells Google to "search for pages that are synonyms or similar to the term that follows.
• 3.Partial match - variation for the reader. A partial match anchor uses at least one of your main keywords, WITHOUT using the whole phrase entered.
• 4. Use company and branded names in links. 
• 5. Get personal with names. Use your CEO's name. And create an about and profile pages for your company. Dan says, "People like to link to people."
• 6. URL's are NOT ideal anchor texts unless describing a changing website address. 
• 7. Link for the most important person - THE READER. Dan says, "the #1 priority of good content is not trying to outsmart the search engines but creating usefulness and usability."

Google Analytics

15/15

According to Google Analytics - 

• Executives can learn: which marketing initiatives are most effective, accurate website traffic patterns/trends, which customer and customer segments are most valuable.
• Marketing Professionals can learn: where visitors come from and what do they do on the site, how can the website convert more visitors into customers, which keywords resonate with prospects and lead to conversions, which online ad or creative is the most effective.
• Content & Developers can learn: where people leave the site, which pages retain visitors the longest, what search terms people use to find the site. 

• Google has tried to make it as simple as possible by letting customers see their analytics data from their AdWords account. 

• You are able to track multiple websites and view individuals reports for specific domains. 
• It can track a business Facebook pages, MySpace, and WordPress. 
• You can run Google Analytics along with other internal solution. 
• Link for How to set up the web tracking code: https://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1008080&topic=1008079&parent=1726910&rd=1
• Support: http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1008015&topic=1727146&ctx=topic

I have had a hard time trying to decide what I need to do for my business since my business is not even close to opening. 

Basic SEO

15/15

• According to Wikipedia, SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engines "natural" or un-paid search results. 

• Some of the top ingredients to good SEO are; words (they check every word on the website), titles (page titles are really looked at (it may be the title within the code)), links (meaning links between websites - if a website links to another website they assume it is a recommendation telling readers this website has good information), words in links and reputation (sites will good/increasing viewers are valued and moved up on the search engine web page).
• Because people connect faulty links to their page, they give more creditability to good websites.
• Google says: Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:
• Review of your site content or structure
• Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
• Content development
• Management of online business development campaigns
• Keyword research
• SEO training
• Expertise in specific markets and geographies.
• There were many, many guidelines do design and content/technical; here are a few:
• Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
• Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map has an extremely large number of links, you may want to break the site map into multiple pages.
• Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
• Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.
• Make sure that your <title> elements and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate.
• If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few.
• Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would. If fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, or Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site.
• If your company buys a content management system, make sure that the system creates pages and links that search engines can crawl.
• Use robots.txt to prevent crawling of search results pages or other auto-generated pages that don't add much value for users coming from search engines.
• Test your site to make sure that it appears correctly in different browsers. 
• I love that the algorithm catches people/websites trying to sneak up to the top of search engine site. 
• I love that they give solid advice on what to focus on so that your website can be as high on the list as possible. 

Relevance and Quality Score

15/15

• Quality Score is an estimate of how relevant ads, keywords and website are to the person seeing the ad. 
• Having a high Quality Score means that Googles system thinks your ad, keywords and website are all relevant and useful to those people seeing the ad. 
• Quality Score plays a role in how high on the list your ad will be and on how much the business pays per click. 
• The higher the Quality Score the better your position on Google and the less you will be per click. 

• How Google calculates Quality Score

  Every time someone does a search that triggers your ad, Google calculates a Quality Score. 
• keyword's past clickthrough rate (CTR): How often that keyword led to clicks on your ad
• display URL's past CTR: How often you received clicks with your display URL
• account history: The overall CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account
• the quality of your landing page: How relevant, transparent, and easy-to-navigate your page is
• keyword/ad relevance: How relevant your keyword is to your ads
• keyword/search relevance: How relevant your keyword is to what a customer searches for
• geographic performance: How successful your account has been in the region you're targeting
• ad's performance on a site: How well your ad's been doing on this and similar sites (if you're targeting the Display Network)
• targeted devices: How well your ads have been performing on different types of devices, like desktops/laptops, mobile devices, and tablets – you get different Quality Scores for different types of devices
• I love that Google gives a deal(discount) when businesses work at improving their ads. 
• I love that Google provides a keyword tool to help insure better keywords. 
• I will use the keyword tool to increase my quality score. 

Ads and Ad Groups

15/15

• In an enhanced campaign, you can show different ads to your customers, depending on what device they're using or when they're searching for you. You just change the device preference to "mobile." Easy enough!
• Standard text ad promoting your your online shop
• Mobile-optimized text ad promoting your storefront
• Standard image ad showcasing your products
• It is a good idea to focus on the headline within your ad. That is most likely the line that will capture a customers attention.
• They also say it is a good idea to display your companies URL or the location they will be taken to if they click on your ad. 
• The final lines of the text within the ad are where you describe the product or service you're advertising. Space is limited, so it is important to carefully select the words you choose. Google will show up to 35 characters for each description line.
• Tips for creating a successful ad: highlight what makes your product or offer unique, make sure prices and promotions are included,tell your customers what they should do (call today!, order, browse, etc), make sure to include at least one of your keywords within the text of your ad, and make sure it is mobile working. 
• I love that you don't pay unless your ad is clicked on. 
• I love that you can put a limit (budget) on your account. 
• I love that the website is very organized and understandable. 
• I am going to try to get some ad money for free since my business isn't up and running completely. 

Keyword Basics

15/15

• Keywords are words or phrases you choose to match your ads with corresponding user search terms and relevant web content within Google. 
• It is important to select good and relevant keywords for your advertising so that it cane help reach out to the customers that are truly interested in what you have to offer. 
• It works by selected words that people searching may use. When they type in a word you have chosen, your ad will pop up. 
• The more relevant and user friendly the words are, the more likely your ad will be seen. 
• 3 tips for choosing the right words: use keywords that are 2-3 words long, add negative keywords, and use the keyword tool box. 
• When choosing keywords it is important to think like the customer searching, figure out whether it is right for your business to use more general or specific keywords, group similar ideas into themes, pick the right number of keywords for your business (5-20), use the keyword tool for find new keyword ideas, use negative keywords (meaning words your business does not pop up when typed in), and use the search term results so you better understand what customers are searching for. 
• In my efforts to not waste my Adwords budget money; words I will add to my negative list are: tutorials, free, wedding, birthday, web, for hire, blog, photo, photos, pictures, graphic, graphics, etsy, blogger, creative, etc.  

Google Adwords

15/15

• Google Adwords is Google's online advertising platform and drags customers to your website.
• You choose which search result you want your website/company to show up with and in which order you wish it to be on the page. 
• Adwords gives your business visibility at the top of the Google search so customers don't have to look very far.
• Google Adwords also lets you pick the time and days in which you want your ad to show up within a Google search.
• It also allows you to advertise on websites that are similar to what you might be selling. (Ex: selling workout equipment - your add would show up on fitness sites, healthy living sites, etc.)
• Mobile device option is available because more and more customers are using their smartphones to get in touch with a company. 
• It helps you manage the money spent on advertising. 
• I love that it allows you to put in the max amount of money willing to spend and you wont go over that. 
• I love that you only pay when potential customers click on your ad and go to your website.
• I love that it is a company everyone trusts. 
• I love that you can guarantee you will get traffic because Google is so widely used.
• I have set up my Google Adwords account. This will help get the word out about my business.