How does Google see underscores vs. dashes? Matt explains. Many old school web designers have ignored the importance of dashes vs. underscores. It was nice to see Matt address it again. If Google mentions it you should assume it matters in some way or will.

From SES London 2011

Many businesses are starting to understand that their websites need to be optimized. They understand that things must be done to their actual website for them to be optimized. What they often don’t understand is that things need to be done off the website (off-site) to support the on-site optimization strategy(ies).

Link building is a crucial part of any SEO strategy. It takes research, competitive intelligence, planning, monitoring and skill. It is a necessary part of optimization and something your business should be thinking about investing in. You need to be careful who you hire because they need to know how to link build the right way.

Local Search

I consider other off-site techniques as off-site optimization and one of the most important is Local Search. Local Search has become such a crucial part of an effective web marketing campaign. More importantly, it has be come especially significant to Google. In November of 2010 they restructured their search results to display their local business results in a much more visible way.

If you look at the picture below you will see the results I received for a query. Google has displayed 2 sites that give local results (Yelp.com was actually #1) and these are essentially local directories.  Then they display Google Places (previously Google Local Business Center) information  and they include contact info, address and reviews. Google has taken local to an all new level by enhancing the amount of info you instantly receive about local businesses.. Making sure a business shows up (and looks good) in local search results is a crucial part of optimization and is obviously part of off-site optimization.

A few things…

I must say is that hiring inept people to do any form of off-site optimization can be disastrous for you. If they do not understand the consequences of certain actions you could be hurt in the search engines. Also, Google has strategies in place to prevent review spam and false reviews. They also have strategies in place to display real reviews; if your SEO company or consultant cannot explain the hows and whys of this you may want to find someone that can. Blindly paying someone to create reviews for your business could end up hurting you in a big way.

2011 Must Haves

1. 2011 Must Have #1 – An Attractive Website w/CMS
2. 2011 Must Have #2 – An Optimized Website
3. 2011 Must Have #5 – A social Media Plan

#1 – What is the biggest mistake you see businesses making when creating websites? Could it be not focusing on SEO before creation of the site?

Long before SEO, I was Director of web development at a major web firm in New York. So for almost 16 years I’ve seen a lot of crazy things with web launches. Making major launch announcement plans before the site is even half-way through development has got to be the most common mistake. Project Manager: “We expect to launch in 30 days”. Client: But we just made arrangements with several media outlets, the local TV station, and five radio stations. In 4 days, we’re announcing the new site at a big event. Thousands will be on hand…”

The 2nd biggest mistake, and the one with the most serious ramifications long term, is believing SEO can wait til after launch. Or that SEO is a “minor” factor in the planning process.

Then again – most site owners completely overlook or downplay the financial costs of marketing – the “build it and you’re done” mentality. #SpeedyDevelopmentByIntimidation

#2 – What are the top 5 common SEO problems you see when auditing a website?

Topical Cross Contamination
The single biggest problem is either a complete lack of topic focus, or a poorly executed topic separation. Many people hear “put keywords in your title and in your content”. That’s all they know. Or they think it’s okay to have five or eight phrases in the title, even if, upon proper analysis, half those phrases belong not just on another page, but in a completely different section of the site. Or they think they can get “the long tail” by filling the content with five, ten or twenty “related” phrases or words.

Text Anorexia.
Next would have to be site owners not wanting to “crowd” pages with text. “Do we really have to have text everywhere?” #SEOFAIL

Internal Link Poisoning
If web sites had a liver, many sites would die of internal link poisoning. So third on my list has got to be over-saturation of links. Mouse over the top nav and see 150 links. Scroll to the bottom of the page and see… 150 links… Click into a section of the site, and see a sidebar with… 150 links… So yeah – site developers, designers and, sadly, SEO “experts” who are addicted to links. The fact, from extensive testing on many sites, has proven itself to me that when you pollute every page on the site with so many links, not only do you cause Google to lose it’s ability to evaluate important content, or content organization, you make it even more difficult to communicate the topical focus of pages and entire sections of a site.

Laughable Link Building
How many people do you think there are that heard article marketing was a good idea, then proceeded to join craptastic article farms? It’s so hysterical how people believe EZineArticles is a good place to submit links, when in truth, all sites like that are good for is polluting your link profile with sites that either already have been, or eventually will be nailed by Matt. Or they’re worthless sites with no weight to begin with. And yea, it’s great for SEO – SEO for the EZine sites and their own rankings. And their profit line.

One of my clients had a guy saying how great article marketing was. He got them to write unique articles. With three paragraphs of “unique” content for each paragraph in the article. Yeah – you know where this is going… 1 Article becomes 3, 6, 9… all on the same topic… The majority of those links? yeah. From Russian spam sites, Chinese domains… Ideal inbound links for a U.S. based professional services company web site. #HAHAHAHAHA

Of course, many people in our industry will point out that some of those links are good because Google really can’t keep up with it. They’ll point out countless sites they say rank for such nonsense. Well guess what? If you really don’t care about quality, if you really don’t respect your clients or yourself, go for it. Have fun. Go to town. I’ll be over here being a professional, getting better results through other means.

An SEO Sucker is Born Every Minute
SEO Suckers are people who think “I’ll just study the competition, then do what they did.” The problem with that, if I really have to explain it, which I really SHOULDN’T have to do, is this… If all you do is what the competition does, how do you expect to get better results? By doing MORE of what they do? Yeah. That will usually only lead to them doing even MORE, then you having to do MORE… and, well, what a sad use of time and resources.

One of the reasons I am able to get the kind of results I do for clients willing to pull out at least most of the stops, is that the reason I look at competitors is mostly to see what they’re doing wrong. It’s usually a hit-and-run review. Or I may look at things they’re doing and see if they’re best practices, because sure, I want to recommend best practices as well. Yet my audit competitive analysis time is usually only a small fraction of my energy. Because most sites out there, to this day, are still managed by Topical Cross-Contaminators, Laughable Link Builders, Internal Link Addicts, and people with Text Anorexia.

#3 – Who needs website audits?

I can only speak about SEO or Conversion Optimization audits. It’s anyone who hopes to ever get their site the highest qualified leads that result in the highest possible conversion rate – all through organic search and related channels (off site factors) and who has the financial capacity and “stay in business long enough” time to apply enough pressure to the existing landscape. And only if their market really does use search to seek them out. And they need to be honest, open-minded and willing. Honest about their current business financial health, and about their real goals. Open-minded to potentially radical changes to their site, and their overall online marketing footprint. Willing to accept the responsibility for ensuring the action plan is carried out. Willing to accept it will probably not be overnight success. Willing to find other marketing methods when I recommend that SEO is the wrong solution for their unique situation.

#4 – What are businesses missing or forgetting on their websites?

You got a month? I got that many things to talk about on this one. I conducted an audit this week for a site that would seemingly be a cake-walk. Very small site. They have just ONE product. Very small actual competitive landscape. (Literally about 10 actual competitors). Very successfully being found for brand-related phrases. (just under 3 million visits to the site so far this year). By the time I was done, it was a:

• 24 page audit and action plan document.
• 14 Strategic Tasks
• 27 Tactical Tasks
• Still going to need a Link Building Audit
• Still going to need a Conversion Optimization Audit

So uh, that’s how it goes. The list of issues that businesses forget or are missing is too long for this article. The fact is that the vast majority of business web site owners are missing so much, yet they don’t even realize it. Or they have a feeling, but supress it. Because to acknowledge it means having to hire professionals – after doing deep due-diligence, people who are truly experts at evaluating, and experts at implementing. But most site owners really don’t have the budget for it. Even though the budget for it would lead to increased income. Because this society is filled with people who have a penny and a dream. And it’s very thin on people who have capital to drive the dream into reality.

So I guess that just means the thing most sites are missing, is a site owner with a proper plan and/or the capital to drive it.

#5 – What recommendations would you give to businesses on finding the right web developer?

The right web developer? Can’t help you there. The right developer is different for every site owner and every market imaginable. Unless, of course, you want to get into crystal balls, metaphysics, string theory and the subtleties of spiritual psychotherapy. If you do, let me know. We’ll talk.

You can find Alan at his site SearchMarketingWisdom.com or on Twitter @alanbleiweiss

SEO Site Audits, Search Industry Commentary, And Rants – a Lot of Rants…

You can see Alan at the Blue Glass Florida Conference – He will be a speaker.

This is Google’s Matt Cutts. Have you use the site: query? Go to Google or the Google toolbar and use site:yourdomain.com (mine would be site:seoaware.com) to see what Matt is talking about.

I am adding this video because we get so many people calling asking this question. If you need to rank for various keywords give us a call FYI- this is Google’s Matt Cutts.

Everyone needs an Internet marketing strategy and an SEO plan, but you cannot be effective with either of these without competitive intelligence.

Understanding Your Competition’s Online Visibility and Marketing Strategies

Competitive Intelligence

When you hire an SEO company or SEO consultant competitive intelligence should be a major priority for them and should be one of things they discuss with you on day one! Some of the factors we look at include:

• How are your competitors’ websites ranking and how are their individual pages ranking in comparison to yours?
• How are is your competition ranking for the keywords you are hoping to rank highly for? How are you ranking in comparison?
• If your competitors are ranking well how are they doing it? A good SEO should be able to tell you why and how!
• Backlink analysis is crucial in competitive intelligence – # of backlinks, quality of backlinks, anchor text and more help us determine your competitors’ luck and/or strategy(ies).
• The online visibility and reputation of each competitor needs to be evaluated and compared to yours.
• Site structures and usability, you vs. them!

The factors I just described and the data collected regarding them can help you take over your competitors online in great and effective ways. You do need a qualified SEO team to help you do that. Competitive Intelligence is not easy and it requires years of experience and knowledge. Someone looking at a computer screen and guessing has no clue – this is not competitive Intelligence.

Real SEO’s, Internet Marketers and/or Web Advertising Companies Do More & Strive for More Knowledge

To the outside world there is very little that differentiates real SEO companies from those that offer “SEO Services”. To those of us in the SEO, Internet marketing and Social Media industries it is very obvious when someone has no clue about the services they offer. It really makes me angry to see every advertising agency, every consultant etc. offering SEO, social media and web design services. I don’t say that I can handle TV commercials because I have no knowledge or experience. However, I could optimize for it and probably get a lot of traffic that would believe that I do know about it  - just because I said I did. If I did this I would not only be lying to people, I would be stealing their money.

At some point businesses need to take a hard look at the services they offer and ask themselves if all the services should be listed. If you are NOT an expert or you do not have a staff that includes experts for every service you offer PLEASE consider removing that service(s) and contacting a qualified company that can offer your clients the services you have no expertise in.

If You Are A Business Owner, You Need to Research and Really Think About Who You Hire

Anyone can promise to use “keywords”, but that is not SEO and if anyone presents SEO as “keywords” they don’t know what they are doing. Competitive Intelligence is ONE aspect of what an SEO does. It is very important and crucial to the overall strategy, but it is only one part of the equation. SEO is not simple, it is not easy and it cannot be learned by someone reading the net for an afternoon.

Melissa Fach – Owner of SEO Aware

When I first saw the Shake Weight on TV I thought it was just one more exercise thing being offered and ignored it. I kept seeing the commercials and one night my husband and I talked about it during the commercial. He said, “I see how it could work.” He use to be a weight lifter, so I believed him. I saw it at Bed Bath and Beyond and bought one (w/a coupon .

My First Experience Felt Awkward

I opened it, looked at it and didn’t really get it. It had some weight to it and I tried the “shaking”.  It felt awkward and weird and I just didn’t get it, but I keep trying. I shook one way and then another while watching House Hunters on HGTV. (great show!)

The Pay Off

Guess what? Once I got past the “awkwardness” or the feeling of not quite getting it I started to feel it! I didn’t just feel it in one area of my upper arms; I felt it all the way around my arms – like a big circle of muscles moving, especially the back of the arm. I also kind of felt in the shoulder and back area, but not as much there because I use to box and that area has remained strong. I kept “shaking” and I swear on the life of my laptop that in less than a week my arms had toned all the way around.

What On Earth Does This Have to Do With Internet Marketing?

#1 – People Hear About it and Are Told To Invest In it When They Know Nothing About It

People take a leap off faith and they invest in Internet Marketing or SEO. They don’t know what to look for and what to ask before hiring, but they take a leap of faith based on the constant chatter of the need to invest in advertising on the web.

#2 – People Feel Awkward Because They Know Very Little About What to Do

We often see this awkwardness in new clients. They feel slightly uncomfortable and perhaps even nervous, because they just don’t get it. We always try to ease this feeling by educating our clients on what we are doing and why. By explaining why we are doing it and the results they should see we ease their minds a little and we prepare them for the pay off.

#3 – They Get the Pay Off

Once clients understand what benefits they should be seeing in their Internet Marketing  / SEO efforts and they begin to see it, and feel it, they get the “Pay Off”. They heard they should invest, they took a leap of faith, the dealt with the awkwardness and they get to see the limitless pay offs of effective Internet Marketing.

What Businesses and Internet Marketers / SEO’s Can Take From This

It can be very scary to invest in a service that you really don’t understand, but that doesn’t mean the service isn’t worth investing in. I know there is a lot of “hype” about Internet Marketing and SEO, but take a leap of faith. Any size business can greatly benefit from Internet advertising.

Businesses need to make sure they do some research and go with their gut when hiring a company to perform these services. Don’t hire a consultant or a company because it is your barber’s brother’s side job. Make sure you research companies, the clients of the companies you are considering and questions you should be asking. By investing in the right company your Internet Marketing/SEO will be as strong as my arms now look

Internet marketers/SEO’s need to make sure that when meeting with new clients you give them the knowledge they need to make a solid and comfortable decision. Help remove the awkwardness and replace it with a feeling of comfort, safety and trust in your company.

Melissa Fach – SEO Aware

Well, after meeting with yet another new client I have to say that I am again irritated and ticked off over another nice business either being ripped off or sadly hiring an ignorant company.

I See It Online Everyday

Thanks to Google alerts I see local competitors that swear that they offer top-notch SEO, but when you review their site you see they haven’t even followed basic SEO 101 for themselves. If they don’t do it for their own site they either don’t get it or they just don’t get it!

SEO Plans for Websites – More Than One for Each Site!

SEO Aware has an overall plan for each of our client’s websites and then we have an optimization plan for each page of the website. There are site goals and page goals. There are blog goals too. There are conversion plans and goals for the site and pages.

SEO is all about goals and planning. I see the “SEO” other companies say they are actively working on and there is no SEO, no plans, no thought about conversion. It is a bloody mess!

If you are considering hiring and “SEO” consultant or company you need to be REALLY, REALLY careful before you spend your money. Please check out our What is/What are? posts. These are basics from 2007.

Falsifying Qualifications, Ignorance or Laziness? Probably A Combination of Each!

Any reputable person in this industry can tell you that part of the job is keeping up on the changes that are non-stop! I read every day and they read every day. To claim ignorance and not know about the basics of SEO (like that having the same title-tag on every page is not SEO) means that the person either is lying about their skills, knowledge, qualifications etc. OR they were so lazy that they didn’t bother to keep up on the constantly changing SEO industry (and anyone in it knows that it does!) so they became ignorant.

I don’t care how you cut it, if you don’t know what you are doing and you are offering SEO you are stealing from businesses. You are taking money they work darn hard for and you are stealing it.

Everyone has been ripped off by companies at some point – Example, people swearing they know how to fix A/C systems and then they break an hour later. Most people don’t like it happening to them, but many that claim to be SEO’s and Internet Marketers and Social Media experts have no clue what they are doing and it is the same thing! IT IS stealing, lying and ripping people off!

Businesses are trusting them and throwing away their advertising budgets. I have to say it really pisses me off!

Google’s Matt Cutts answers….