Happy December! Ho, ho, ho… Happy Holidays and all that jazz. Each month we produce our list of the most popular SEO Tips based on inbound queries to the JM Internet Group Website. Here our list of the most popular SEO tips,
which really means the puzzles, questions, queries and sticking points
that are puzzling the small business marketing community about search engine optimization. My favorite new SEO Tip
concerns where the heck Google moved the ‘advanced search options.’
They used to be on the left column, but now they are on the top
horizontal – click on the buttons to find options like ‘related
searches,’
List of Top SEO Tips for November, 2012
- What does ‘not set’ mean in Google Analytics? – Where do we start? Google in its evil ways, gives away Google Analytics FOR FREE but in the last year or so, decided to STOP sharing keyword data. So if a user is NOT SIGNED in to their Google Account, then it DOES share the keyword data with you in Google Analytics. If they are SIGNED IN to Google AND your site is NOT SECURE (i.e., http and not https), then they DO NOT share that data.
- Where did Google move the advanced search options? Left column? – The left column has disappeared but the functions have not. RELATED searches and what not are now located at the TOP of the search screen and not the left, as they used to be. Click on SEARCH TOOLS and then you’ll see the new pull downs.
- Is there a limit to the meta keywords character count for SEO? – Those are the only three META tags that matter for SEO. The TITLE tag limit is 65-69 visible characters; less than 80 indexed. The META DECRIPTION tag is 155 characters. The META KEYWORDS tag is ignored, so in that sense has NO LIMIT.
- Do domain extensions like .com vs. .org vs. biz matter for SEO? – Yes, domains matter. .com, .org, and .net do seem to be preferred over .biz, .info, etc., so generally try to use the more common ones. Even more important, having a keyword in the domain is a big help to SEO performance (if you can get one!).
- What is your review of PRWeb vs. Pitchengine? – As for Pitchengine vs. Prweb.com. The latter is more expensive, and a better service. Pitchengine has both a free and a paid version. So for people on a low budget, I recommend Pitchengine.com. It is sufficient for many small companies.
- How long does it take Google to reindex your website? – It’s REPUTATIONAL. You have to CHANGE your reputation vis-a-vis Google. Google likes sites that update frequently. So once you ‘get that,’ you have to start blogging, generating news, building links, updating your home page frequently. But first you have to REGAIN Google’s trust and attention…
- Does the header tag family (h1, h2) matter for SEO, or not? – As for the second question, that is a common one. Many of the ‘guru’s’ insist that the H1 / H2 tag has no important. But, if you Google, ‘Google SEO Guide,’ you’ll find Google’s own SEO guide, which has an entire section on using the H1 / H2 tag. So who do you trust? The guru, or Google? The second point is that using the H1 / H2 tag clearly does NOT hurt your site… but may help it. So why not use it? What is so bizarre about this attitude… is how sure someone is that it….
- Do capital letters (capitalization) matter on a Google Search for SEO? – No, capital letters do not matter for SEO. What matters? First and foremost: SYNONYMS. Don’t miss LAWYER vs. ATTORNEY, INDUSTRIAL FANS vs. COMMERCIAL FANS. That is by and away the most important keyword issue. Second, word ORDER matters. Third, plural vs. singular matters (on the margin). But capitalization, no. It does not matter.
- How does the Facebook ‘like’ button work in terms of Facebook marketing? – This is where the confusion begins. If you are ON FACEBOOK, the LIKE FEATURE means that you LIKE their Facebook page and thereby give them authority to post to their WALL and thereby your NEWS FEED. If you are on the WEB and click on the LIKE BUTTON on their web page, you are liking JUST THAT URL, and that does post to your Facebook. You have NOT given them permission to post to their Wall and thereby your news feed. You have just liked their Web URL, a one-time event.
- What does ‘not provided’ mean for keywords in Google Analytics? – The ‘not provided’ in keywords in Google Analytics is one of the nastiest tricks that Google played on the SEO community in 2011. Basically Google spun a big yarn that this was necessary to protect privacy; if a user is SIGNED IN to Google and lands on a non-https (non-secure) site, then Google does NOT share the keyword data.
If you have other SEO questions – just send me an email. Happy to answer those sticky questions!
Source : http://www.jm-seo.org
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