Fixing Your Broken Links

The Guide to Fixing Broken Links

 

At one time or another we all find ourselves facing issues with broken links. The focus shouldn’t be on the fact that you have broken links but rather in that you know how to find and fix your broken links. Broken link building is sometimes called dead link building. This is a method where a link on another website is pointed out, that no longer works and also asks for a link your site. Many times the broken link will create a 404 page. The link will be found on a relevant page to your niche and it will appear to be an excellent fit for you to include on your site. You perform a service when you let a webmaster know about a broken link that you have found.

 

Why is Broken Link Building so Popular

 

  • SEO Gurus feel like they are doing their part to make the web a much better place. They are assisting webmasters with the link rot problem. SEO Guru’s are actually concerned with the quality of the web. The fewer broken links there are, the better.
  • It will provide the link builder a value add to their email. You are helping them prior to asking them to help you.
  • It can lead to quick links. When a broken link building email is a success, you will generally get your link within a couple of days after sending the email.
  • It’s a fairly fresh technique that has yielded excellent results for many link builders.

 

Broken Link Building Required Tools:

Additional Tools for Increase Efficiency:

 

  • Screaming Frog
  • Xenu Link Sleuth
  • W3C’s Link Checker
  • Rapporative  (Gmail plug in)
  • Boomerang (Gmail plug in)
  • Use Check My Links Extension on any page you visit and cross your fingers.
  • Check the top pages tab competitors or sites which are in your niche and watch for 404 pages with external links pointing at them in the Top Pages tab.

How to Find Broken Links

Use Google search operators to locate any sites that are relevant. You should find yourself with hundreds of sites in your results, with plenty of links which are tied directly to your industry. You can switch search settings so that they will display the top 100 results and then go ahead and export them to a CSV using the MozBar’s SERP Control Panel. Then go ahead and sort by Domain or Page Authority and you are ready! Use search operators or advanced search queries to build more powerful link building opportunities.

Visit the sites and run a link checker extension.

intitle:KEYWORD inurl:links -exchange

intitle:KEYWORD inurl:resources

inurl:links KEYWORD -

Add exported lists of links to Screaming Frog to look for and locate 404 pages and then you can easily run them through OSE.

To locate broken links run a site through W3C’s Link Checker.

Location Related Ranking Factors

Location Related Ranking Factors

 

Most of us are familiar with personalization SPYW and mixing local +organic + news + shopping etc. We refer to this as a universal search. But today we are going to discuss results that seem to be pure organic, ignoring Google Places results, news, image, video, shopping, social influence results, AdWords, etc.

 

Let’s have a look at these very plain organic results. You may think that if you have cookies blocked, you are signed out, pws=0, etc. You would get the exact same results for a “given” search that you would see if you used a number of tools for rank-checking.

 

If you thought this you would be wrong. Well, at least in some of the cases you would be wrong. When your location is set, whether manually by yourself or auto-detected by your IP address; sometimes Google is actually using your location as part of the ranking factor.

 

Mini Glossary

 

Let us cover some terminology to make sure we are talking the same language and that you have a full understanding of what is being said.

 

Pure organic - this is really just regular organic, non-Google-Places, or results that aren’t influenced by location.

Local-ish – this is regular organic, non-Google-Places results that are influence by location.

 

Let us look at what we found when we tested and explored results for different examples.

 

It was found that with some search phrases, we have come to think of these results as “pure organic” yet that is not the truth as they are heavily influenced by location, as well as by the Google Places results.

 

There are at minimum of 2 factors that Google uses to rank local-ish results. These are the name of the

  • the name of the searcher’s current location is found in traditional on-page areas (page title, body text, etc.), and
  • because the Google Places page indicates the location matches the searcher’s location.

It is very obvious that the mix of ranking factors for the local-ish organic and Google Places results is significantly different, as in general, we see the local-ish organic results that do NOT match the top local results that Google Places provides.

Some search terms will generate a significantly higher % of local-ish results than other search terms, just like certain search terms generate a significantly higher % of image, or video, or shopping, or news, results, HOWEVER the mix of non-local organic and local-ish organic results will vary not just by search term, but in addition by the location.

It would appear that it is more about the overall score of a page than in the bumping of the ranking algorithm by either being local (via Google Places) or by containing the searcher’s location name in the traditional on-page elements, instead of slots in the page one results being set aside for local-ish results for a given term.

 

There you have it – all the information you need to understand location related ranking factors and how they might affect the searches you undertake.

 

Take Action today and start SEO on your site today. Not online? Well get online with a web design package.

Google Plus 1 Affecting Search Engines

Since the days of Google Buzz, the +1 button has been a mystery to users and content producers alike. It’s different from Facebook’s“Like” button, in that it doesn’t directly share content to a user’s social stream. But the cultivation of a social graph has long been the goal of Google, and its connection to search was likely inevitable.

Google defines the +1 as a feature to help people discover and share relevant content from the people they already know and trust. Users can +1 different types of content, including Google search results, websites, and advertisements. Once users +1 a piece of content, it can be seen on the +1 tab in their Google+ profile, in Google search results, and on websites with a +1 button.

The plot thickened last month when Google launched Search plus Your World. Jack Menzel, director of product management for Google Search, explained that now Google+ users would be able to “search across information that is private and only shared to you, not just the public web.” According to Ian Lurie from the blog Conversation Marketing, in Search plus Your World, search results that received a lot of +1s tend to show up higher in results.

Google has come out and described the purpose of a +1, but hasn’t necessarily explained the direct effect a +1 has on search ranking. Here’s a breakdown of what we currently know.

The +1 has an indirect effect on your site’s search rank. This does not mean the more +1’s a link has, the higher rank it achieves in traditional search results. Take this scenario:

When a Google+ user +1’s a piece of content, he gives it his “stamp of approval.” Then, say one of his connections from Google+ searches for the same or related topic. Because of Search plus Your World, his friend is more likely to click on the same link the original user +1’d (when a signed-in user searches, his Google results may include snippets annotated with the names of connections who have +1′d the content). This is because content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers, according to Google.

This is also true for users who are not signed in to their Google account when they search. When a user searches for the same phrase, the results might display the total number of +1’s a link has received, which is another validation that it’s a relevant link.


How Does This Relate to SEO?


Since the +1′d link has a chance at a higher Click-Through-Rate (CTR), there is a greater potential the link will be shared, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or any social network. An experiment by Rand Fishkin, CEO and co-founder of SEOmoz, tested the relationship between Twitter and Facebook shares and search results in Google. He found a positive correlation between the number of retweets and shares a link received and its search ranking. This means, the more the link was passed around on Twitter and Facebook, the higher the search rank of the page. This in turn led to better SEO.


What’s the Take-Away?


A Google +1 can indirectly lead to a better page rank. A greater number of +1’s increases a link’s potential for a high CTR, which could lead to increased social sharing, and in turn can increase its Google search rank. What’s important to note here is the correlation, not causation, between +1′s, other social shares, and search rank.

The bottom line is, the SEO effects of a +1 are very indirect, which means traditional SEO practices should not be ignored. SEO methods such as link building, relevant keywords, and URL structure have a more significant impact on page ranking.

The Google +1 feature is still in its infancy of course, and more data needs to be gathered to draw a statistical correlation to search. As Google said, “For +1′s, as with any new ranking signal, we are starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality.”

SEO experts, such as Erin Everhart from 352 Media Group, have a positive outlook on the future of social search. She says, “I don’t think we live in a world, nor will we ever live in a world, where any social cue doesn’t have influence over SEO.”

Are you seeing the effects of Google +1 on your SEO? Will the +1 eventually have a direct effect on search rank? Share your experiences in the comments.

Making the Most Of Your Website Title Tags

Making the Most Of Your Website Title Tags

If your website was a store along a main freeway, the job of the title would be grab the attention of drivers and bring them in your door. This would take the right set of tools. Let’s look at how to make the most out of your site title tags.

 

  1. 1.       Curiosity

Your title should be clear and concise so that people have a pretty good idea what they will get when they click on the link, yet they are still left with an element of curiosity. Some methods you can use to create curiosity include:

  • Combination of 2 unexpected items
  • Question or incomplete thought
  • Present a conflict
  • State what something is not

 

  1. 2.       Show the Benefits

Potential readers will visit your page when they foresee a benefit for them. That benefit could be entertainment, useful content, helpful information, etc. Some examples of benefits include:

  • 5 Ways to
  • How to
  • Introducing a New
  • Learn how

 

  1. 3.       Elicit Emotion

People will act based on emotions such as hope, fear, or excitement. Your title needs to conjure up the correct emotion for the viewer you are targeting. Examples of words that elicit emotion include:

  • Amazing
  • Mistakes
  • Free
  • Fabulous
  • Surprising
  • Mind blowing
  • Seductively
  • Irresistible

 

  1. 4.       Make Sure it is Tangible

You want to make sure that the viewer is given something tangible. Make your idea(s) tangible or concrete.

 

  1. 5.       The Length and Appearance

You might be surprised to learn that the length and appearance of a title actually plays an important role in getting the most out of your title tags. When a title is catchy, attractive graphically and fits on a single line that’s considered excellent. Seven words is the recommended maximum length.

 

  1. 6.       Sound

Are you wondering how sound affects making the most out of your website title. Well you are not alone. When you create a title do you ever find yourself saying it and listening to the sound of it. While secondary in nature it is still very important. Let’s have a look at a few titles that have a nice ‘sound’ to them and thus are more appealing.

  • Titles that use alliteration such as ‘Lesson Learned’
  • Sounds that fit together such as ‘ess’ sound in lessons and search engines go nice together

 

  1. 7.       Expectations

Don’t set a person up for an expectation and then fail to deliver. For example, don’t advertise ‘the best steak in the city,’ and then have it be the poorest cut of meat. You need to have harmony between the title and the content you are going to deliver or you will find the visitor hits the back button quickly. Ask yourself:

  • Does your title match your content?
  • Does your title imply a specific content type?
  • How long will it take for the visitor to consume? For example, if you say 7 steps are there are actually 7 steps?

 

Finally, remember you do not have to have all of the ingredients at once but the more you do the more powerful your title is likely to be. Remember this is all part of on page SEO and can be done by the professionals at Business Web Designs along with your website design itself.

 

Keyword Analysis

 

You can determine which keywords to focus on, and discover new keyword opportunities when you analyze your keyword performance. When you have keyword metrics arriving from a number of places, such as AdWords, analytics, or webmaster tools, it can be a real challenge to analyze all that information without a significant amount of manual manipulation of the data. Let’s look at some tips on how to reduce the amount of time it takes for keyword analysis, using pivot tables in Excel.

 

Google Analytics API

You are going to need to pull in search volumes out of your keyword table. There are a few articles online that can help you install the AdWords API Plugin. If you have issues with the AdWords API then just use Google AdWords Keyword Tool, although we should warn you it will require more work.

 

In a new spreadsheet, you want to gather and analyze seasonal and average  monthly search volumes for the keyword table. You will use the AdWord’s API array formula “arrayGetAdWordsStats” to do that. Here’s a sample of what the formula might look like.

 

=arrayGetAdWordsStats(KeywordList,”EXACT”,”US”,”WEB”)

 

This will produce a full year of historical search volumes along with averages for the keywords. If your keyword list has more than 800 keywords you will need to break the list into smaller separate tables so you can perform API calls on all your keywords. Learn More about Search engine optimization at our main site.

 

What’s Your Impression?

 

There is no API necessary with Google’s Webmaster tools, which offer a fairly easy method to download your search query data. In the webmaster tools open up ‘search queries report’ and ‘select ‘download the table.’ Now download the table for the same data range you previously used. Then drop it into the new spreadsheet.

 

Remember if You Are Not First You Are Last

 

Now we need to get current rankings into the report. From your spreadsheet get your main keyword list and then run rankings them using whichever application you prefer. Race Tracker is one popular choice but there are plenty of others. Once you have those rankings place them in your new sheet.

 

The More You Know the Better

 

There are a limitless metrics that we can add to any report. However, at one point if you add too many you create more work than the benefits that can be provided. The one additional metrics we do suggest is the SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty.

 

More Money Equals More Metrics

 

Your revenue data may be located in a number of different places depending on how your company works. Therefore, there is generally no one stop answer. The majority of apps let you download the data as an Excel or CSV file. In your Google Analytics if you have e-commerce enabled you can actually use the API to pull your data.

 

Just One Report

 

You have all the data collected, finally. Now you just need to compile it all. Create a new spreadsheet and bring your master keyword list in using =NameOfTheTable. Next drag this until you grab the last keywords. Now select them and create yet another new table. In the next column to the keywords do a VLOOKUP of each metric you want to add to the report. It gets better. Pivot tables – two words you must remember. Create a pivot table from your main report and you will be able to segment the data in numerous ways.

 

Conclusion

 

To update the report is easy. Just rerun the API calls and enter the new date range. You can also rerun your rankings for any new keywords. Keyword analysis will ensure you are in the best position to make the right decisions.

Learn More about SEO and promoting your website.

Social Media Monitoring

Let’s talk about the use of social media monitoring as an inbound marking channel to attract customers and accelerate the efforts of your marketing campaign. Let’s look at an example so that we can be sure you are on the right page.

Let’s say the site is Hallmark.com and that you have branded cards such as Hallmark ornaments, Hallmark birthday cards, etc. These keywords are considered part of the branding. But there will also be many keywords that aren’t branded such as Christmas cards, birthday cards, wedding cards, etc. Now let’s put this into perspective as far as social media monitoring tactics go.

First, if you monitor unbranded terms, this is an excellent way to identify and then go on to connect with influencers. With the identifying you start to also understand them. You can learn a lot by stepping into the world of bloggers, journalists, and consumers and learn how to build those relationships up. A great way to accomplish this is to monitor these things, look for the re-tweets using tools like FollowerWonk. You can also use FindPeople (on Plus) where there is database where you can search for bios about who is writing about Christmas or Christmas cards, etc. Who’s writing about holiday gifts, etc?

 

Around these worlds are things that could be connections. This could be things like “I want to find who the writers are for holiday magazines. I want to find the media persona at the “Tonight Show.” I want to… and so on it goes. There is a process that’s extremely intense when it comes to research but you will be far more effective with this content that you can now produce.

 

You can also reach out directly, although you need to be careful. You’ve probably seen this on Twitter. The idea is that someone mentions the word Christmas cards and you see it. You then reach out to them through Twitter, and then send them an @ reply even though you are not following them and you have no previous relationship.

Then there is this one, which is a little less of a danger. You still must maintain the same attributes for the messaging you will do, which is to reach out privately. So you see a Twitter user or you see someone at Google+ and they say something specific, then I’ll look at their bio and see where they work at and then I decide hey I would like to have someone from that company look at some of the products we are adding to our inventory. I think maybe I can them into my office for a product review. So I tweet them. Then I see them at some event and actually get a business card so now I can email them. You can quickly see how social media connections can be made and what it takes to monitor those connections.

 

Finally, you can find referenced content. People might be tweeting about Christmas cards. You look to see if the competition is mentioned, are they discussing the correct stuff, is this somewhere where you might be able to connect and build a relationship.

 

By now I’m sure you get the picture when it comes to social media monitoring, contact business web designs and get in contact with the professionals. We also offer a wide range of local seo services and web design skill.

Fighting Panda for Larger Sites

For anyone that has done SEO work on larger sites, you know that checking content isn’t easy. Combine that with the iterations of the Panda algorithm it has made very tough. It’s time to share with you the solution to fighting Panda for larger sites.

  1. 1.       Start by Fixing Duplicate Content With Your Own Articles

Problem:

Of course, you don’t copy another’s content. But over time users can overload your own database with duplicate articles. You need something that’s smart and can analyze similarities.

Solution:

Levenshtein distance analysis is a sophisticated measure of two similar bodies of text. It will measure how many edits needed to transform one string to another. It can be translated as a percentage. You should delete any duplicate articles that have a 90% similarity.

  1. 2.       Spell Check the Database

Problem:

Wouldn’t it be nice if all your users had a reading level of Grade 3? However, that’s not the case. Before content goes live you can have an editor run through it. But for the content that’s already on your database it’s too late. Over time, your content has become a muddle of broken English. The only thing that will save it is an English teacher.

Solution:

Well there’s no English teach, so you’ll need some automation. The best solution is a spell checking tool that’s open source, and called Portable Spell Checker Interface Library, which utilizes the Aspell library.

 

  1. 3.       Implement rel=canonical in Bulk

Problem:

Link rel=canonical is an extremely useful tag that will eliminate confusion when there are two URLs that have the potential to return content that’s the same. SEOmoz automates the site analysis and it will scream at you on each page where there isn’t one.

Solution:

You can install ‘All in One SEO’ on your WordPress or another SEO plug-in that’s similar. You can also tailor something unique to your needs.

 

  1. 4.       Remove Microsoft Word ‘Smart Quote’ Characters

Problem:

Microsoft MS Word shipped with a feature that automatically will tilt double and single quotes toward a word. It’s called a smart quote. It comes turned on but you can turn it off. Most don’t. Unfortunately because they are not part of any ASCII set, it means that you can see junk where the smart quote would be.

Solution:

It’s an easy fix – just find and replace on the database table where your articles are stored.

 

  1. 5.       Fix Failed Contractions

Problem:

Contributors often make grammatical errors all over the place, and Google most certainly cares. Fixing common contractions and errors is a smart move.

Solution:

You can simply use find and replace. You do need to be a little more careful than with smart quotes. For example “wed” may need to be “we’d” but it may also need to be “wed” so you’ll have to look at each instance.

 

That should take care of it. You should be on the right track to fighting and winning against Panda on larger sites but taking care of a number of issues that can affect your SEO ranking with Google.

Tips On How To Get Free Links

Free Links

Links – you’ve likely heard a great deal about links and link building. Getting good quality free links isn’t as difficult as you might think. Let’s look at some tips on how to get free links.

 

#1 Your Writing

When you guest comment, when you guest post for someone, when you publish your written work, and/or when you allow others to publish your written work – these are all ways to earn you free links back. Do a search that includes guest author, blogger, contributor, and then if you add + with the word news, blog or your keywords, you will quickly find places to post. You can also use Google discussion and Google blog search – both can provide this kind of info.

#2 Your Product

No matter what you sell, or what you make; whomever you serve, whatever you do – when you give it away it almost always provides you with a free link. You need to be careful with direct giveaways. For example, if you said “Here’s the product now I want a link back,” you could find yourself in a heap of trouble. Instead, learn how to create events, become involved in sponsorship or charity, or just do the give away without any request but with the use of a natural or organic link, this can really work well.

#3 Your Videos

Use Wistia, YouTube, or Vimeo Pro. When you upload your video you’ll see the embed link for this video. People can share the video with the embedded code that’s provided. Each time your video is shared by embedding the video you get a link. You also get to control the anchor text and where the link points back to, learn more about search engine optimization here

 

#4 Your Time

Dedicate your time to helping people with what you do best. If you are a consultant then help with consulting work. If you are a marketer then you can help others market. If you are web builder then lend a hand building websites. When you help people in business can help you to build good will, and that in turn often leads to a free link to your site, as well as references. It’s a great way to give to others and receive back.

 

#5 Give Your Contact Details Away

If you are participating on the internet and you are hoping to earn some free links and references, make sure your contact information is public. Make sure that it is easy to find you and your information. Make sure it is clear that you are willing to contribute and help and by doing so you hope to spread your brand. Invite people to tweet you, email you, link to you, like you on Facebook, etc.

 

#6 Your Full RSS Feed

Your full feed, or your full RSS feed are powerful tools. It is important not to do a partial feed but rather to do a full feed when you are giving RSS. When it is a full feed there are many people who will republish that, reference it, subscribe, email it, etc. It’s a great marketing tool. You should always use absolute links so that when it gets referenced the link will point back to your site and you’ll get a free link.

Why Link Building Matters And How Search Engines Evaluate These Links

Why Link Building Matters And How Search Engines Evaluate These Links

When a person types a query into the search engine, it must determine how it will respond offering you the best results. One key thing the search engine does is determine the pages on the web that are related to the query. That is followed by evaluating which of the pages related to the query are the most important. How does the search engine determine this? One of the main factors is related to the link profile of the website of the page being evaluated.

 

In theory, each link to a website page is considered a vote for that page. If there are two web pages that have the same relevancy than the one with the most inbound links will rank higher than the other website page. However, you won’t be rewarded if you decide to just sit back and wait for those links to appear on their own. It’s important that the webmaster gets out there and begins to tell the internet world about their website and that he/she gets people to link to it. If you choose to ignore the task of link building you risk never building your sites to the point where they rank well enough to bring traffic in.

You should also evaluate whether any particular link will benefit your website and its rankings over the long term. There are actually some types of links that you can get to your site that are actually against the search engine’s terms of service. For example, Google has a terms of service relating to the buying of links for the sole purpose of influencing your ranking. So while this might work for the short term, as Google continuously evaluates links, it will determine you have paid links, and it’s highly unlikely they’ll work for the long term. In fact, you could jeopardize the indexing of your website. We do not recommend that you use the strategy of purchasing links, even for short term benefits, as the risks are far too high. Click Here for the Best SEO Service!

 

Evaluating Links

Google was the first search engine to decide that links would be used to measure the importance of a sight, with the implementing of the PageRank algorithm. While each link is a vote for web page, not every vote holds equal weight. While the algorithm has gotten far more complex than this, these three factors still remain important.

 

  1. Relevance – When the link comes from a site that has a topic that is the same or closely related the link is valued higher than if it comes from a site that is not related at all. For example, if you sell product XYZ and you have a link from another site selling XYZ that link is going to have more value than if the other site is selling ABC.
  2. Authority – In every market area there are websites the search engines consider as authoritative. This authority is partially determined with the use of the algorithm that focuses on evaluating links for authority and relevance. In fact, it’s a big part of what Google bots do every day, all day long.
  3. Trust – Google and other search engines work hard to measure how much they trust a website. When they see a sight as highly trusted the links (or votes) it receives will have a higher rating. A website that is seen as trusted will rank better in the search engines overall.

 

Content-Based Link Building Strategies

When it comes to content based link building strategies, sometimes the simpler the approach you undertake the better. When you come across another site that has content that compliments yours then you can simply drop the webmaster an email and request a link exchange. This is pretty straight forward and most of us are familiar with this form of requesting links.

 

When a publisher is putting together a contractual business relationship with another publisher, it’s pretty straightforward. All that needs to be done is to make the link to the site as a term of the agreement. For example, when granting a 3rd party the right to re-sell one or more of your products, part of the terms is that they provide a link back to your site.

 

However, if you are requesting a link from a site that you don’t know the game significantly changes. You will have to decide whether you want to contact a site or not based on the following criteria.

 

  • Lower Value Sites – Likely not worth your time to contact these sites, with no customized content and a heavy reliance on large volumes of links.
  • Medium Value Sites – Contact via email. No custom content, low – moderate effort level.
  • High Value Sites – Content developed to support site and campaigns. Contact by email. Good value here as site share common ground.
  • Very High Value Sites – Shared common ground with customized content. Email to contact. Occasionally phone and in-person visits occur. Excellent link value here.

Creating an Email Pitch

If you want to make a request there are just a few simple rules that should be part of your link pitch

  • Keep it short and simple – This is an unsolicited email and the recipient isn’t going to bother with anything that’s much more than a few lines.
  • Make a clear and concise request – Be articulate. A large percent of unsolicited email is deleted without ever being read, so make sure your request is clear.
  • Articulate why the link is deserved – This usually entails pointing out tools on the site, excellent content, major endorsements, etc.
  • Follow the CAN-SPAM Act guidelines – As long as you follow the CAN-SPAM act guidelines, sending unsolicited email is not illegal. However, violations can actually land you in jail. Keep that in mind!

Link Requests on Social Media Sites

Did you know that you can reach out to people on social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook? The process is similar to emailing but there are a few distinctions that need to be mentioned.

  • Publishers are able to send out communication to friends on the network. If you’ve taken friending serious, rather than friending everyone that comes along, you will be able to keep this communication informal.
  • Publishers are able to join groups on the social network that are relevant to their market space, and then post messages on the group. The group will allow them to reach out to new people that share similar interests.
  • Messages that are broadcast using a network can’t be personalized, so you need to make sure your message is fitting to a mass broadcast.
  • Be careful not to broadcast too many messages or do a poor job of targeting your messages.
  • You can send personalized messages on a 1 to 1 basis.

For More Information See the Following Links:

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