Advanced Search Operator Tactics -SEO

Cornerstone of Any Search Command SEO: Google Commands

Site:

Where Else You Can Use It: Google, Bing, Blekko [/site], Yandex, Baidu
*note:site:may behave slightly differently in those engines
Definition: Adding site: to your query will restrict the search results to the domain you've specified. [site:example.com]
How to Be Awesome With It: You can scan indexed URLs to get an idea of information architecture, potential duplicate content issues, and get an idea of overall number of pages indexed.
Pro Tip: Combine Site: with inurl: or allinurl: [may not work in all search engines] to analyze specific sections of a site. How big is the blog of a competitor site relative to the approximate total pages indexed? How many of those sort pages without are indexed? How many paginated pages are indexed? How many session ID pages are getting indexed? [site:example.com inurl:sort=price]. Are those pesky non-www. versions of pages getting indexed. Any time you want to analyze content within a site, the site: command is a very robust tool to have in your toolkit.

Related:

Where Else You Can Use It: Blekko [/similar]
Definition: When you use the related command, Google will return webpages that are similar to the webpage you've specified. [related:example.com]
How to Be Awesome With It: The related command has been used to find out the "neighborhood" of backlinks. However, keep in mind that there has been debate over the years on how accurate this command is for Google specifically.

Intitle: and Allintitle:

Where Else You Can Use Them: Bing, Yandex, Baidu, DuckDuckGo
Definition intitle: When you use the query in title:, Google restricts the documents it returns to those containing the term you included in the title. [intitle:keyword]
allintitle: When you use allintitle:, Google restricts results to those that contain the keyword that you specified in the title. So if you search [internet marketing] google will only fetch documents that contain the keywords ”internet” and “marketing” in the title. Notice the addition of the conjunction. [allintitle:keyword phrase]
How to Be Awesome With It: This command can be combined with a site: command to help identify templated, thin or duplicate pages by just identifying a part of the title that appears across the thin pages and searching for it. You will see about how many of those types of pages Google has indexed.

wildcard(*)

Definition: wildcard(*) to search for terms separated by 1-5 words
[internet * marketing] or [“internet * marketing”]
How to Be Awesome With It: The commands mentioned above are a great way to find articles about specific topics to build a potential list of prospects to market to. Keep in mind, though, that although these are powerful commands, they're only as good as the searcher who is performing them is clever.

Source: -http://searchenginewatch.com/

Top 10 Things for an effective SEO Strategy

Search engine optimization is a critical component of almost any online marketing endeavor. However, SEO is a complicated and time-consuming task. For this reason, it is usually cost-effective for companies to outsource their SEO needs to professionals. However, the methods that are used to ensure a site has high visibility in search engines are constantly changing, and therefore, it is important for individuals to gather a few important pieces of information before hiring a SEO company. More specifically, there are ten important factors to consider before deciding on an SEO company.

* Determine the level experience the firm possesses. Given the critical importance of search engine optimization, it is vital to make sure that the company hired to design and perform the SEO campaign is highly experienced in this field of work. For this reason, individuals should always ask questions about how long the company has provided services.

* A majority of the time used during a SEO campaign will used for link building. Link building is a critical element in a successful SEO campaign. Search engines consider the number of websites linking to a particular page as an important factor during the ranking process. As a result, it is important for a SEO provider to safely and effectively build back links to help increase a client's ranking in search results.

* Often, SEO companies outsource a fair amount of the manual work for campaigns. Therefore, it is important to determine how a potential company addresses outsourcing. While this is a common practice in the industry, it is also important to ensure that they are only contracting the work out to experienced SEO providers.

* Search engine optimization is a constantly changing and evolving industry. Search engines are constantly adjusting the algorithms used to rank sites. A perfect example of this is the notorious Panda updates that Google has implemented during the past year. These changes have caused a dramatic change in the rankings for many websites, and Google has made no public announcements concerning the metrics that were used in the algorithm changes. As a result, it is important to select an SEO firm that is able to conduct research and tests to determine which strategies are most effective in the current environment.

* While most webmasters are interested in off-site SEO, the optimization done to the site itself is still important. An effective SEO provider will conduct a full evaluation of the on-site optimization for a client's website. This analysis will allow the provider to determine if there are any errors with the website that may cause it to fail to achieve stable rankings in search engines.

* Search engine optimization is a lengthy process. Therefore, it is important to know the time-frame that the company is working under to finish or maintain the process. There are many providers who simply offer a service for a one time fee. However, there are many services that charge a monthly fee for ongoing SEO services. Before hiring a SEO professional, it is important to determine how long of a time-frame the company is working under, and the economic viability of the service offered.

* Determine how the agency will address social media promotion. Search engines are increasingly placing an emphasis on social media outlets. As a result, it is important to know how your chosen SEO professional will handle this aspect of the campaign. Poor utilization of social media can prolong the time it takes for a website to achieve a significant presence in search engines.

* Closely read any guarantees that the service provider makes. While it is not uncommon for a SEO professional to make guarantees about increasing a website's rankings, it is important for the client to fully understand the details of the guarantee. After all, unless the SEO agency works for a particular search engine, they do not have access to exact information about the ranking process.

* Analyze the cost of the SEO provider, and decide if the benefits will outweigh the costs. For most companies and websites, the costs associated with hiring an SEO services professional will be offset by the benefits of increased search engine exposure. However, it is still important to decide if the company's business model can economically handle the costs of optimization.

* Content is essential to achieving stable rankings in search engines. Most back links require large amounts of unique content. However, unique content is expensive when building back links. Therefore, it is important to determine how the service provider addresses this issue.

Source:

http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

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Twitter Makes HTTPS the Default Setting for Users

Twitter will use encryption by default when users sign into the micro-blogging website. 
“HTTPS is one of the best ways to keep your account safe,” Twitter wrote in a blog post explaining the move. “It’s especially helpful if you use Twitter over an unsecured Internet connection like a public Wi-Fi network.”
Although Twitter is making HTTPS the default setting for users, you can turn it off in your account settings.
Users who log on to Twitter over unsecured public Wi-Fi risked having hackers use tools such as Firesheep to gain unauthorised access to their accounts, said Graham Cluley, a security researcher for Sophos.
“If you log into Twitter over unencrypted Wi-Fi – for instance, at an airport lounge or at a conference – and you don't have HTTPS enabled, then a hacker could sniff your session cookie. And anyone who can sniff your session cookie can pretend to be you,” he wrote in a blog post.
The option to sign in via the HTTPS protocol, which ensures that log-on data is encrypted, was introduced last year. Twitter had originally stated its intention to use HTTPS by default last August.
Facebook users have the option to sign in via HTTPS but it has not yet made it the default method, while Google+ uses HTTPS as standard.

Five SEO trends to lookout for in 2012

Paid search, competitive SEO and social media affecting Google's algorithm are just some of the issues that tech boffins will need to address in 2012.

1. Social media will be an even bigger factor in Google's algorithm

Social media influence on ranking positions today reminds us of Google's efforts in dealing with link and content data 10 years ago. Today, Google is 100 times better at interpreting the link graph. By the end of this year, Google will be 20 times better at interpreting the social graph as well.

2. The search results page will continue to feature less organic rankings and more paid

Pressure on Google to keep growing its revenue and profits would mean even more cannibalisation of space on the search engine results page. More and more sections will be paid. We first saw this in Google ads, then Google shopping. We'll see product reviews, sign up forms and anything else Google can start charging for.

3. Paid search will become more important in supporting SEO efforts

Hiding keyword data in the name of privacy is only the first step. Google is encouraging SEOs who only focus on organic rankings to also get their PPC game on. Google's goal is to create a search environment that encourages continual spending on PPC to attain valuable data in order to do good SEO.

4. Spammy SEO practices will get targeted even harder

The number of major rollouts in the search algorithm (ie. Panda) targeting spammy practices in 2011 is astounding. Rest assured, this will continue to increase in frequency and severity in 2012 as Google gets smarter and accumulates more data than they've ever had before. Article spinning, artificial links and spammy tactics like creating “content” pages on the fly using onsite search data will see even more decline in value.

5. SEO will become even more competitive than ever

As more and more companies get online, spending on SEO marketing will increase. The barriers to entry will become even higher. Smart SEOs will find a way to scale their efforts efficiently and weak SEOs may not be able to deliver satisfying results with poor practices anymore.

Wai Hong Fong is co-founder and chieftain at OZHut, a multi-niche online retailer that is passionate about truly serving people in the online space. He was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2011 StartupSmart Awards.

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