Yeah, this is all good and everything. But to get to the top in a competitive market, there is usually very little option but to buy high quality links.
That's a really bad long-term strategy.
Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
41–50 of 62 posts
Re: Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
#42I would love it if Google published an official answer to the perennial client question: "Why can't you get my site to the top of the SERPs for [insert competitive keywords here]?" My answer is usually along these lines: "Your site is competing for placement with many other professionally-built sites. If I'm doing my job properly, and so are the other web developers, none of us is or should be entitled to top placeme…
Thanks for the suggestion. Here's a related video we've done to educate people about why they shouldn't care as much about trying to rank #1 for trophy phrases that might not even convert that well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21BF_IVU10I
But your suggestion is slightly different and a good one.
Re: Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
#43I read this awhile back and it's great. Curious honest question to the SEOs out there - other than present me with a strategy, is there anything specifically an SEO can offer to my site? As far as I can tell, any gimmick or scheme an SEO could do previously is now effectively non-existent since the Penguin and Hummingbird updates to Google. Is there anything outside of the standard stuff that I have to do that can ma…
Google has been using regular people like you and me as scouts for years. We all have certain patterns and interests and the order of priorities - and Google know them all. They are the sysadmin of the Internet. If we save a link, share a link or return to a page more than X times in $period, G. knows we think it's valuable. Multiply by the number of Google users who share $this_interest. Conversely, any freshly crea…
So you're saying that the old PageRank and hubs/authorities algos are completely irrelevant these days? Its all simply based upon user behavior?
Re: Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Um, your question is unclear so I'm not sure exactly what answer you're looking for but, in short, yes, there's quite a lot you can do to improve your site from an SEO perspective.
Let me try to rephrase. If an SEO comes and regurgitates the same tools and strategies that are easily obtainable to me, what value is the SEO adding? Are there limitless things outside of a predetermined checklist of 50 or so items that fall outside my general responsibilities as a startup founder? Which would therefore require me to outsource it? If an SEO told me that you could go build link farms and that would b…
So you're basically saying your knowledge of SEO was limited to crude link building tactics that have since been rendered ineffective by algorithmic updates. You're not alone, as that certainly cuts out a large swathe of what SEO was.
That's not to say there's nothing left though. And although there's much debate on whether what is left is actually 'SEO', good old fashioned PR, or now falls under the related, but rather nondescript 'content marketing', the business case for conducting such activity is still very strong in many cases.
Re: Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
#45I read this awhile back and it's great. Curious honest question to the SEOs out there - other than present me with a strategy, is there anything specifically an SEO can offer to my site? As far as I can tell, any gimmick or scheme an SEO could do previously is now effectively non-existent since the Penguin and Hummingbird updates to Google. Is there anything outside of the standard stuff that I have to do that can ma…
Google has been using regular people like you and me as scouts for years. We all have certain patterns and interests and the order of priorities - and Google know them all. They are the sysadmin of the Internet. If we save a link, share a link or return to a page more than X times in $period, G. knows we think it's valuable. Multiply by the number of Google users who share $this_interest. Conversely, any freshly crea…
You managed to say a great deal without saying anything at all.
Classic old school SEO. Rock on.
Re: Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
#46Some worthwhile alternatives: http://moz.com/blog/perfecting-onpage-optimization-for-ecomm... http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo (PDF: http://static.seomoz.org/files/SEOmoz-The-Beginners-Guide-To... )
Why was this downvoted? Are these guides not good?
I'm biased but I always recommend that anyone interested in SEO start with the Beginner's Guide. It is a fantastic resource that is updated regularly frequently and I find it easier for folks to grasp than many of the alternatives.
It's not "straight from the horse's mouth" as is the case with the Google guide (which frankly what Google wants to drive rankings does not always tie up nicely with what actually seems to drive rankings in practice), but I always have users start there and then look further afield if they're still interested.
Re: Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
#47sadly I know people who respond to this with "Yeah but why would you trust what Google say, they don't want to tell you how to game the system".
Re: Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
#48This guide is 3 years old. I think lot many stuffs have changed today.
Re: Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
#49Yeah, this is all good and everything. But to get to the top in a competitive market, there is usually very little option but to buy high quality links.
That's a really bad long-term strategy.
TravelSupermarket have been doing this as a long-term strategy and get away with it.
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/webmasters/...
I'm hoping someone from Google can explain, or at least commit to investigate why the leading brand in our niche (travel) has escaped a Penguin 2.0 demotion. It may come across as sour grapes as yes, we were demoted following Penguin 2, due to links built by an SEO agency in 2008 that we have tried (pre-pengiun) to have removed for years, despite passing a manual link review and having a manual penalty removed, the algorithm clearly has no discretion and re-penalised us for the same issue, however the fact remains that the largest brand, a household name, in our niche is engaging in far worse and at a much greater scale and continues to do so that has left them top of the pile for a huge number of very lucrative search terms.
Here is just a small sample of paid links, paid blog posts and article submissions clearly designed to manipulate the SERP's that are no doubt paying huge dividends for them. Isn't it about time Google stepped in and stopped these brands being so well protected, whether it be from manual or algorithmic penalties. We've been watching their dominance in the travel market for 2-3 years now and assumed that one day Google would take a look but so far nothing and now we are in a position where we are laying off staff due to factors outside of our control (and accepted by the search quality team), whilst the largest and most active spammy link buyers in our niche go from strength to strength.
http://www.heatheronhertravels.com/ paid http://1000fights.com/how-to-kiss-correctly/ paid http://1familyvacation.blogspot.com/2009_04_26_archive.html paid post http://2backpackers.com/8940/usa/fleet-week-san-francisco-tr... paid post http://2nomads1narrative.com/2012/07/03/guest-post-signature... paid post http://acrossandabroad.com/2011/08/23/dubai-holidays-diving-... paid post http://activetap.com/554567-Flights-Viva-Prague.html paid post http://alcudiaholidays.org.uk/reasons-to-visitalcudia paid post http://allfiji.com.au/travel/fiji-beaches/ paid post http://allfrance.com.au/the-best-budget-hotels-in-paris/ paid post http://allthailand.com.au/touring-thailand-top-tours-in-thai... paid post http://allusa.com.au/americas-greatest-parks/ paid post http://archive.anfieldroad.com/news-archive/201009063972/fc-... paid post http://archive.anfieldroad.com/news-archive/201103084572/a-g... paid post http://aussietopia.org/2011/03/ paid post http://aussietopia.org/category/cities/melbourne/ paid
Re: Google SEO Starter Guide [pdf]
#50Yeah, this is all good and everything. But to get to the top in a competitive market, there is usually very little option but to buy high quality links.
That's a really bad long-term strategy.