Sometime back we had conducted a SEO Training Programme at Ahmedabad Management Association which was attended by many professionals from the Internet Marketing Industry and also by Marketing Managers of some companies.

After all the SEO training sessions were over one of the marketing managers after a few days called up to discuss some points related to the SEO of their site.

The main points were as follows:

• We are ranking for many keywords but only the home page of our site is ranking as they did not have any idea about Google Analytics and Landing pages. ( After the SEO training programme they did an SEO audit on their site and found this.)
• The SEO has given us a list of some 1000+ links are these links valid and relevant.
• The On-Page of our site is practically zero but yet we have the page 1 rankings for so many keywords so is it correct to let the site be as it is.
• The most valid question and concern was , what should we do to future proof the SEO of our site though we have the rankings.

Firstly, I was very happy at the fact that the training programme conducted by us had made them think beyond rankings for an SEO campaign and they were open for an approach of an overall quality presence rather than just being satisfied with page 1 rankings.

After the initial analysis it was found that:

• The on-page factors were not as per the norms
• The inbound links were not from authority sites with anchor text which just mentioned the domain name and all the links were to the home page.
• The client was totally unaware about Google Analytics metrics and was not sure if the site was added to any webmaster tools account.
• The client only got the ranking report regularly without any further analysis of any other metrics.
• The client was not aware of the search and social media integration and did not have a blog or social media accounts.
• Other technical factors like canonicalization, customized 404 pages, XML Sitemaps, etc. were not in place either.

In short only submission to some directories and link building was done in the name of SEO but surprisingly the site was ranking well.

There have been many such cases in the past too when the rankings have been achieved only by link building and though the links were not quality links but due to the sheer high no. of links the site had got a temporary boost but the website owners have approached us when the site suddenly disappeared from the search engines.

Hence I thought of sharing this case study. It is very difficult to say how long the benefit of such rankings will accrue to the site but it is very important for every website owner to know that a complete SEO campaign caters to the following aspects of the site.

• On Page Factors as per the norms of the search engines and W3C
• Off Page Factors which help create an ambience of natural external links to the site
• The site should also have the potential to rank for local intent keywords and have a local search presence
• The technical factors also should have been attended to
• The client should also be given an overview of the analytics and
• Should be guided to start a blog and engage on social media to benefit from the integration of social media and search.

No doubt quality inbound links are important but just focusing on one aspect gives a lopsided growth which may be working like steroids and giving a temporary boost which is not the main goal of a genuine SEO campaign. Once these directories close down or if the external websites remove the links the rankings are bound to get affected and the site will be lost in the invisible web.

Author : Bharati Ahuja

We all know that the whole search process starts with a search query . All the SEO campaigns revolve around having a quality search presence and high rankings for relevant keywords.

There are many keyword Research tools available online but most of them focus on what the keyword search trend has been till date or what kind of search terms are breaking as new searches on the search scene.

No doubt these tools can give a good insight into the past and present search trend and also reflect search behavior to a certain extent. But, I think if one gets too obsessed with the terms and phrases suggested then we sort of limit the circumference of search within those few terms which we focus on.

I think if you focus on the niche head terms of the industry (for which we know the SEO Campaign will have a long gestation period to start giving results) and due importance is given to a larger set of long tail keywords then I think you try to target a larger set of permutations and combinations of the possible targeted searches made for which your site can be found for.

As in the long run the search behavior keeps on changing and also varies from country to country.
Keeping all options open for a global audience and targeting for the maximum possible keyword phrases should be the goal for the keyword research phase .

For example if it is an edible oil refinery manufacturers and exporters site based in India

Keywords like

• Edible oil refinery manufacturer India
• Edible oil refinery suppliers India
• Edible oil refinery exporters India
• cooking oil refinery manufacturers
• cooking oil refinery suppliers
• edible oil refining
• refining of cooking oil
• Edible oil refinery exporters
• Vegetable oil refinery manufacturers
• Vegetable oil refining
• Vegetable oil refinery Exporters
• Edible oil refining process
• Vegetable oil refining process
• Cooking oil refining process

If such a wide range of possibility is kept open for the site to rank then the potential of the site to cater to a wider audience is possible .

Hence instead on focusing on only the keywords suggested by keyword research tools and Adwords also focus on the possible psychologies of people from various geographic areas unless you are focusing only on a very specific region where only the lingo and jargon of that place matters for the search of that site.

People from different places , of different age groups and of different educational backgrounds think differently and use different terminology and jargon. Hence the content of the website should be written keeping this in mind. Instead of  focusing on only certain fixed key terms we should try to keep the possibilities of a wider set of permutations and combinations of keyphrases open for the site.

As the basic thing is that the user does not see your keyword tag and search for your site he keys in what comes to his mind and the search engine bot takes that string of query and tries to hunt for the relevant site from the search engine index. So, making your website being available for a wider combination of queries is more beneficial. Like in the above case we want the website to rank if the person writes cooking oil, edible oil or vegetable oil whatever is the lingo and jargon used by the user.

The analytics data in fact can give a good idea of what searches are actually taking place country wise. A detailed discussion with the website owner who has a vast experience regarding his industry also helps. Hence we usually ask for a list of possible terms he thinks his website should come forward when someone is searching on the web from the website owner, then we add our our research results and come up with the widest possible keyword list which can be targeted as per the content available on the site.

Author : Bharati Ahuja

Google recently announced their strategy to make search more secure . Google says as search becomes an increasingly customized experience, we recognize the growing importance of protecting the personalized search results we deliver. As a result, we’re enhancing our default search experience for signed-in users.
This means that in the Google Analytics Report we will no longer see the referrer keyword which initiated the click if the person searching is signed in to his Google Account and this will be applicable only to organic searches. The PPC clicks will continue to see the keyword data as Google has to account for every paid click to the Adwords Account Holder.

This has raised many mixed reactions from the SEO community. In fact a very big hue and cry from the SEO blogs all over the blogosphere that this kind of discrimination of data in Google Analytics is a big step by Google to promote paid search .

Google has further mentioned on the blog post that :

When you search from https://www.google.com, websites you visit from our organic search listings will still know that you came from Google, but won't receive information about each individual query. They can also receive an aggregated list of the top 1,000 search queries that drove traffic to their site for each of the past 30 days through Google Webmaster Tools. This information helps webmasters keep more accurate statistics about their user traffic.

Now it can be understood why before this announcement was made, Google had announced the integration of Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics and introduced the Search Engine Optimization option under the Traffic Sources in Google Analytics.

In order to monitor and analyze the keyword data in a holistic manner for an SEO campaign integrating the Google Analytics with Google Webmaster Tools will become necessary.

Though many in the SEO world have taken this development as an attack on the organic search scene, I think it is a qualitative step ahead for SEO for the following reasons:

•  The keyword data if it comes as a result of personalized search and reflects the organic click in Google Analytics does not reflect the genuine organic click as the SERPs of personalized search vary from the search results when the personalized search is off. The main reason being the fact that when the person is logged in the ranking for that particular query may be much higher due to his preferences and past history. But due to the social media integration in search results it is not only about the history but also about what you have shared on social media using that Google account, hence all the more reason for the person to be totally logged out from his Google Account if he wants to see true and accurate organic SERPs which are not influenced by any personal preference and are a result of the SEO effort put in for that.

•  The SEOs will have to educate their clients about this change which will make the users more smart about using search and will be able to appreciate genuine search results of SEO campaigns.

•  This will take SEO campaigns above the metrics of keywords and rankings and the focus will be on other quality metrics like CTR , conversions, bounce rate, etc. which will improve the quality of the web overall as the websites besides being rich in content will have to focus on good landing pages, a proper call to action, page load speed and good navigation which will ensure a better UX .

I Think if Google introduces the continuous scroll for search results along with this development of making search more secure then every SEO campaign will genuinely go beyond the metrics of keywords and rankings and only those SEOs focusing on the true meaning of SEO and working on technical and quality aspects like  getting the site getting indexed properly in the search engines, improving the internal architecture, educating the client about his overall web presence will be the ones who will survive.

It is very difficult to know the main objective of Google behind this development. Even if today it may be for promoting paid search as many believe, but in the long run it will surely make the organic search scene more qualitative and carve a genuine and true niche for SEO.

Matt Cutts had a live Q&A session in September 2011.

View the video below to find what Matt Cutts has say for the following questions.

1. Do +1′s have any affect on search rankings?
2. Will you ever count negative meta keywords?
3. Should I create a native application or a mobile web site to work with all of the mobile platforms?
4. Will Google Plus allow me to customize my profile?
5. When can we expect Google Flights to be activated outside of the USA?
6. How will the +1 on advertisements affect SEO?
7. Why has the quality of technical search results has gotten poorer since the Panda update?
8. What do you like better, Facebook or Google Plus?
9. Will the age of a domain make a difference in how well it shows up in search engine rankings?
10. When are the next round of Panda Updates expected?
11. When will Google Plus be available for Google Apps users?
12. Why was the Panda Update called Panda?
13. What should be the recommended priority value when you submit your XML sitemap to Google?
14. Why did Google rank my website without a snippet even though my Meta Description was high quality?
15. What is the impact of Googlebot finding an extremely high number of pages at once on a site?
16.  can you define that term “Hangouts” with an example?
17. How should e-commerce websites handle rel=author?
18. Will rel=author be compatible with business Google Plus?
19. Can you schedules these Q&A’s weekly like a Matt Cutts podcast?
20. How can I ensure a website stealing my content won’t get away with it?
21. Are double 301 redirects ok?
22. Where is the Orkut?
23. When is Google going to update PageRanks again?
24. When will there be a rel=author for the news industry? Why isn’t there one offered now?
25. How can I get an internship at Google?
26. Does “Unavailable after” robots tag remove a page completely from the index so you don’t have a problem with a 404 error?
27. Should I buy my company’s brand on a new top-level domain to secure it?
28. Does Google identify automatic page redirection with JavaScript?