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miercuri, 29 iunie 2011

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

The Five Linking Mistakes You Didn't Know You Were Making

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 11:48 PM PDT

This post was originally in YOUmoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc.

External linking is an essential part of an effective SEO strategy. It is also, arguably, one of the most challenging aspects. Take a look at five common mistakes SEOs make when developing a linking strategy.

#1- Judging a Site's Authority by PageRank Alone:
Good link building strategies aim at getting a links from a diverse array of websites and as with most things in life, all websites are not created equal. How do you judge a good website?

The answer is authority. PageRank is a popular metric used to judge a sites authority. However, pagerank can be misleading. It is unclear exactly how a sites pagerank affects a sites position in the SERP. PageRank is also only updated about once a quarter, if that. Don't completely ignore pagerank but be aware of its limitations and use additional factors to measure a sites authority. SEOmoz has two helpful metrics, mozRank and mozTrust. Also look at how humans view a site, start by looking over the comments, user ratings or anything else that will tell you how internet users judge the site.

Here are some additional questions to ask yourself:

Does the site feel like a trusted site?
Does the site have readers who take the content seriously?
The site has authority, but is it a relevant site to my website/client/topic?

#2 Building Links with Only One Keyword or Keyword Phrase:
The goal of successful link building strategy is a natural link profile. If 1,000 people link to your site it's probably safe to assume that they won't all use the same keyword phrase.

While most SEOs may know this, if you aren't conscious of it with each link you will, like most SEOs, use your primary keyword as much as possible. Keep track of the anchor text that you are using, make sure that there is a mixture of anchor text containing: brand name, website address, secondary keyword phrases, click here etc. This also opens up the opportunity to link with secondary keywords to interior pages of your site.

#3 Aiming for a Billion Links!
How many links does a site need to be competitive? Your competitive research holds the key to determine this. If your top competitors average 1,000 links, aim for what you need to be competitive. Set your goal number of links 2-5 percent more than your competition.

This way you can maximize the efficiency of your SEO activities and properly scale your link building techniques. If you don't set a goal number based on competition you could be spending too much time on link building instead beefing up the on page optimization or focusing on social media.

#4 Only Link to Your Homepage:
Attract links to a variety of pages on your site. If you have a good internal linking structure linking to any page will increase the overall pagerank of the system; strengthening all the pages in your website. Additionally, it will help you rank for more keywords and drive more traffic to your site. It also forces you to think of the user; will linking to an internal page provide more value to the target audience for the content.

#5 Analyze Competitors Backlinks Who Don't Rank for your Target Keywords:
Often the top five competitors in an industry may not be the top five sites in the SERP. Conduct a search for your terms, analyze and review the linking activities of the sites that show up in the top five positions.

For the overall marketing direction it is good to review the on and offline marketing activities of the industry leaders. But only through focused, competitive research based on the most visible sites in the SERP, will you get a sense of what linking activities your site needs to be competitive.

External linking is constantly changing, but if you focus on building a balanced link profile that helps Internet users find the valuable content on your website then you will come out ahead in the long run. Kelvin Newman wrote a link building book called Clockwork Pirate that offers a complete list of linking techniques and the best way to approach them.

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Seth's Blog : Anything You Want

Anything You Want

Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby, has written a brilliant new book. It's a brand new way of thinking about entrepreneurship, as fresh as Rework, but very different.

I sent my friend Jerry a copy last week and he sent me a note that said, "I'd like to buy a 52 pack of the hardcover version to give away to my clients. (yeah, it's that good.)"

I love it when that happens. It's on the Kindle too.

Michael Ellsberg, writing in Forbes, "One of the best hours you'll ever spend will be reading Derek Sivers's new book..."

At the risk of going overboard for a book I'm proud to have published, Derek's reading of the audio is just killer, and he's offering $200 worth of music as a gift to anyone who buys a copy in any format.

This is a short book worth reading, sharing and remembering. It's a generous gift to anyone with a dream.

Well done, Derek.

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Building a Mobile Website Should be Your #1 IT Project Graywolf's SEO Blog

Building a Mobile Website Should be Your #1 IT Project

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 09:53 AM PDT

If I had the ability to reach through the screen, grab you by the shoulders, look you in the eye, and tell you that building a mobile version of your website should be your number one IT project this year, I would. While I may be on the bleeding edge of mobile consumption, the adoption of smart phones, tablets, and iPads into the main stream population can’t be denied. As Steve Wozniak said “The tablet is the PC for normal people.”

It’s easy for those of us who work in the tech sector to think that we are “different” or more “advanced” than the average person, but a recent survey of new moms showed that smart phone usage was exceptionally high.

Smart phone usage rose 64% for new mothers.
51% of Moms considered themselves addicted to smartphones.
The majority of Moms say their smartphone is the last thing they check before going to bed and first thing when waking up.
Moms are 40% more likely to use social networks on their smartphones.
Over 60% of Moms use their smartphones to research shopping or make purchases.

This isn’t just a case of technology growing and expanding, it’s that the technology we use is shifting from desktop to mobile devices like the iPad tablet. Business Insider recently reported that Windows PC sales declined for the first time in history, and this drop coincided directly with the launch of the iPad.

Windows PC Sales Decline in Favor of iPads

With the increased number of mobile clients, site speed and page speed have become more important than ever.

Why Site Speed is More Important

The above image from Strangeloop shows the effects of a one second increase in load time: it results in a 7% loss in conversion and 16% decrease in customer satisfaction. The study also showed that 50% of the people expect the website to perform just as well on a mobile device but 60% experienced problems, with slow loading times being the number one problem. Even more importantly, 50% will abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load and won’t return.

While Google likes to tout the growth of its Android phones over the iPhone, this is bit of statistical voodoo. Typically speaking, these reports combine the stats for all android phones and tablets as one combined number, while the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are considered separate operating systems. If you have the budget and resources to develop specific apps for specific operating systems, you should, but having one mobile version that works across all platforms is the ideal solution. When you design these systems, use one URL and serve content based on user-agent/operating system. A dedicated mobile site or different mobile URL is a can of worms for the users and search engines.

Currently, the iPad is the one device we have the most statistics about how it’s being used.

iPad's Time Usage

This has implications about how publishers should be developing content so it is optimized for the appropriate device.

Use of desktop computers is down for 35% of iPad owners since they bought the device.
Use of laptops is also down by 39% since they bought an iPad.
87% of owners are using the iPad every day of the week.
26% use the iPad for half an hour to an hour per day.
32% use the iPad for 1-2 hours per day.
24% use the iPad for more than 2 hours a day.

Where do they use it?

Its versatility makes it a flexible and ubiquitous device, with

69% of respondents using it in the bedroom,
42% in the kitchen, and
20% of men can't be parted from it, even in the bathroom.

The last statistic certainly shows that men's habits for reading in the small room have not changed, just the device!

What do they use the Apple iPad for?

Accessing the web – 75%
Emailing -63%
Entertainment – 53%
Playing games – 48%
Social networking – 41%
Researching products and services – 29%
Reading books – 25%
Listening to music – 21%
Shopping – 19%
Reading magazines – 13%
For work – 13%
Watching TV – 11%

Hopefully this post has convinced you of the need to make your website as mobile friendly as possible. If you are using a custom website or CMS, you’ll have to come up with your own solution, but I’m sure that most popular CMS’s already have built in modules or plugins available. If you are on WordPress, I suggest WPTouch Pro (see WPTouch Pro Review). For $39 and an hour’s work, you will be completely mobile compatible. As technology advances, the number of mobile devices is only going to increase, as is the demand for a mobile friendly experience. The question is: are you giving it to your customers–or is your competition?

WPTouch Pro is a premium plugin that I recommend using. I believe that serving mobile optimized content is becoming increasingly more important (see How Mobile Friendly is Your Website). To be clear, if you purchase this plugin using my link, I do make an affiliate commission. That said, I purchased this plugin with my own money for the review and was not given a free or comped version.WPTouch Pro is plugin I recommend .

photo credit: Pedro Eugenio Antunes

How Mobile Friendly is Your Website In late 2010, the New York Times published an article...
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A Look at Full and Partial Feeds in an Increasingly Mobile World I’ve long stated that I prefer full feeds over partial...
When Google Gets Mobile Detection Wrong I have mentioned the dangers of having multiple versions of...
SoloSEO Project Management Software Review I was asked to review SoloSEO project management software. I...

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This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Building a Mobile Website Should be Your #1 IT Project

Watch Live: President Obama Holds a News Conference at 11:30 a.m. EDT

Your Daily Snapshot for
Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Watch Live: President Obama Holds a News Conference at 11:30 a.m. EDT

Today, at 11:30 a.m. EDT President Obama will hold a news conference live from the East Room of the White House. You can watch it live here.

Photo of the Day

President Barack Obama talks with patrons during a stop for lunch at Ross' Restaurant in Bettendorf, Iowa, June 28, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

In Case You Missed It

Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog.

President Obama Tours Alcoa and Talks Manufacturing in Iowa
President Obama travels to Iowa, tours the Alcoa Davenport Works plant and delivers remarks on the critical role the manufacturing sector plays in the American economy.

Pioneering New Frontiers in Technology and Innovation
Carlos Monje, Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the White House Domestic Policy Council, welcomes the week's NASA Champions of Change, whose work is at the cutting edge of space exploration and technology.

LGBT Housing Discrimination in 2011: A Time for Pride and Action
LGBT families continue to face discrimination when it comes to finding housing, but HUD and the Obama Administration have taken groundbreaking steps to address this problem.

Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

9:30 AM: The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing

11:30 AM: The President holds a news conference

1:50 PM: The President welcomes the WNBA Champion Seattle Storm to the White House

3:00 PM: The President and the Vice President meet with Senate Democratic Leadership

4:30 PM: The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of the Treasury Geithner

5:45 PM: The President delivers remarks at an event observing LGBT Pride Month

7:09 PM: The President and The First Lady host a farewell dinner for Secretary of Defense Gates; The Vice President and Dr. Biden will also attend

Indicates events that will be live streamed on WhiteHouse.Gov/Live

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SEOptimise

The Pros and Cons of Personalised Search

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 03:00 AM PDT

In this week’s video blog, Marcus Taylor and Dan Bianchini of SEOptimise debate the pros and cons of personalised search. Who will win the debate? Watch the video to find out!