News Feed http://www.310k.co.uk/news.html http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Thu, 7 May 2009 15:52:05 +0100 Thu, 7 May 2009 15:50:07 +0100 FeedForAll v2.0 (2.0.2.9) http://www.feedforall.com
The titles that you use for your web pages are very important. They are an important factor for the ranking algorithms of search engines and they are the first thing that web surfers see when they find your website in the search results.

Depending on which kind of traffic you want to attract, you should use different title formats on your web pages:

1.) News titles (not so good for SEO)
This kind of title is often used by bloggers and news websites. Here are some examples:

1) Beat the 'overqualified' tag
2) Parking fees spark meter madness
3) Nominate your hero
4) Karl Malden died

The problem with these titles is that they are not good for search engine optimization. These titles usually don't contain relevant keywords and they don't look very attractive in the search results.

There won't be many people who will type "Parking fees spark meter madness" in Google's search box so it's not likely that the page will get many visitors through search engines.

2.) Shopping titles (good for SEO)
Shopping titles usually contain a product name that is used by web surfers. If they also contain a call to action, you can get targeted visitors with these titles. Here are some examples:

1) ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Black Netbook - 9.5 Hour Battery Life
2) ASUS Eee PC 1000 - Buy it now for only $249.95
3) Buy an ASUS Eee PC 1000 with extended guarantee
4) Free shipping: ASUS Eee PC 1000 - $249.95

The first shopping title is rather descriptive because it only lists the features. The other titles contain a call to action (buy now), prices and additional benefits (free shipping).

People who want to buy an ASUS Eee PC probably will click on the title with the call to action while people who are looking for product information might choose the first title.

3.) Information seeker titles (good for SEO)
Information seeker titles won't attract buyers but people who are looking for information about a special topic. Here are some examples:

1) How to lose weight as fast as possible
2) How to repair a broken chair
3) 12 mistakes most parents make when choosing a school
4) How to find the perfect golf club
5) 5 ways to find the perfect partner

These web page titles are good because they will attract visitors over a long time period. People are always looking for "how to" articles and solutions to their problems and you will get long term, constant traffic with these pages.

Action plan: how to change your current web page titles
Good web page titles can make a huge difference in the number of visitors that your website gets. For that reason, you should check the titles of all web pages of your website now:

1) Make sure that the titles of your web pages are descriptive. It should be clear what to expect on the pages.
2) If possible, add a call to action and benefits in your web page title.
3) Put the most important information at the beginning of the title. Search engines might shorten the title in the search result pages and people might not see the complete text.
4) If you're not a major brand name, avoid your company name in your web page titles.
5) Do not use the same title for all of your web pages. This is a mistake that many beginners make.


People judge books by their covers and search results by web page titles. If you want to get as many website visitors as possible, you should develop engaging titles for all pages of your site. ]]> http://www.310k.co.uk/news.html#5 8F7931DD-2EE2-4993-9266-CDAC18CA95D6 Fri, 10 July 2009 16:20:04 +0100
What are indented Google listings? Indented listings on Google's search results pages can give your website additional exposure. Having an indented listing in Google's search results means that you'll have two listings for your website in the top 10 results in Google instead of one.

These indented listings are also called double listings. Google explains these listings like this:

"When Google finds multiple results from the same website, the most relevant result is listed first, with other relevant pages from that site indented below it."

It's obvious that your website will get more clicks and more visitors if it is listed twice in the top 10 results. Most webmaster don't know how to get these results. That's your chance to get a step ahead of your competition.

How to get indented listings for your keywords To get an indented listing for one of your keywords, do the following:

1.) You must have a web page that already has a top 10 ranking for that keyword.

2.) Create a second web page on the same domain that links to the first web page that has the top 10 ranking. Optimize the second page for the same keyword as page one but use different content.

3.) Link from the first page to the second page with your keyword phrase in the anchor text. If possible, use a contextual link within a body of text rather than a site-wide navigational link.

4.)Get inbound links for the second page. Depending on the competition for the keyword, a few high-quality links can be enough to get the indented result.

If your website has two links on Google's result page, then it will represent 20% of the organic results instead of the regular 10%. ]]> http://www.310k.co.uk/news.html#4 8F7931DD-2EE2-4993-9266-CDAC18CA95D6 Thu, 7 May 2009 15:50:07 +0100
What is the bounce rate? There are two definitions: the bounce rate of your website is the percentage of visitors who see just one page of your website or the percentage of visitors who stay on your site for a small amount of time (only a few seconds).

The bounce rate helps you to measure the quality of traffic that your website gets and it also helps you to find out where your web pages could be improved.

Google's definition of the bounce rate The Google Analytics documentation defines the bounce rate as follows:

"Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page). Bounce rate is a measure of visit quality and a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance (landing) pages aren't relevant to your visitors."

This Google definition already indicates that Google thinks that web pages with a high bounce rate aren't relevant to website visitors. If your web pages have a high bounce rate for a search term, Google might lower the rankings of your website for that search term.

Does Google use the bounce rate as a ranking factor? Google has the ability to collect the bounce rate with the Google toolbar and Google Analytics. In addition, Google can measure the time between visits to their search engine by the same user and they can use the Google Chrome browser to measure the complete surfing behavior of users.

Last month, a webmaster performed a test that showed a significant ranking change as a result of a significant bounce rate change. The test is not very conclusive but chances are that Google really uses the bounce rate as a ranking factor. The bounce rate alone might not be used by Google but combined with other factors, it could have an effect on the rankings. For example, Google could measure how many people start a new search for the same topic after visiting your web page. That would be an indicator that your website is not suitable for the chosen keyword.]]> http://www.310k.co.uk/news.html#3 EDB86923-0B76-4146-8FC8-F6FF5E01AE24 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:34:42 +0100
Google does not search the Internet when you search
Google uses a so-called robot to surf the Internet. This robot is a simple software program that parses all web pages that it finds on the Internet and then stores the information it finds in Google's database. When you search on Google, you're actually searching the database that has been collected by that robot.

If you want to get high rankings on Google, you must make sure that Google's robot finds the right information on your website and that the robot writes the right information about your website in Google's database.

Feed the robot: optimize more than one web page It's not enough to optimize your home page. You must optimize each page of your website individually. Optimize different pages of your website for different but related keywords so that Google's robot sees that your website is relevant to the topic. The more pages you optimize the better.

It takes some time to optimize your pages individually for Google but the results are worth the effort. There are no shortcuts to high rankings on Google. If someone promises you a quick solution, be very skeptical.

Indulge the robot: optimize the structure of your web page elements your browser. Google's robot sees the plain HTML code and it has to get all information from that code.

For that reason, you have to make sure that the HTML code of your pages contains everything in the right places so that Google's robot can write the right information to Google's database.

A single web page has many elements that can be read by Google's robot: The title tag, meta tags, headline tags, links, keywords in the body text, etc. These elements must come in the right order and they must contain your keyword in the right density if you want to get high rankings on Google for that keyword.

Guide the robot: optimize the structure of your whole website In addition to the structure of your web pages, the structure of your whole website influences the rankings of your web pages on Google as well.

A very important aspect is the structure of your website navigation and the internal links. Your website should have easy to follow text links to every page on your website that you want search engines to see.

If your website has a poor design or if it does not link to all pages of your site, then Google's robot will skip these pages. If you design your website in Flash or if you put most of your web page content in images then Google's robot won't be able to read most of your content.]]> http://www.310k.co.uk/news.html#2 A8225DB9-E093-4953-8F61-FCE9A0848DA2 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:04:18 +0100
Indeed, there are many parallels. The following points illustrate why link building is like losing weight and how this can help you to get better results.

Fact 1: Link building takes hard work and there are no shortcuts If you want to get high quality links, you have to invest time and effort. It's not possible to lose 25 pounds in one month and it's also not possible to be number 1 for a competitive search term in that time.

You have to work continually on your links and your web page content if you want to outperform your competitors on the search engines.

Fact 2: You have to be consistent It won't help your rankings much if you get many links at once and then stop building links. Search engines also consider how many websites link to your site over time.

Doing a 12 hour workout on a single day and then doing nothing won't help you to lose weight. It will probably be bad for your health. The same applies to links. If you get many links at once and then no links at all, search engines might think that you try to cheat them with a linking system.

If you want to lose weight, you have to be consistent. You might not see immediate results but there is a constant change and some day, you'll find that you're much thinner.

Link building works exactly like that. Do not try to game search engines by joining link systems or buying links. Get one link at a time, optimize your pages and the rankings of your website will improve steadily.

Fact 3: There are a lot of scammers The SEO industry is full of scammers that promise easy and quick solutions. You should be very careful. If something sounds too good to be true then it's probably not true. There are no easy and quick solutions and there are no secret tricks that nobody else knows about.

The same applies to weight loss. There are lots of diet pills and miracle machines that promise easy and quick results. These methods don't work.

Fact 4: It's possible to trick the system but you won't get lasting results There are a lot of diets and diet products that help you to quickly lose weight. Unfortunately, you only lose water weight with these diets and you'll get your old weight back soon.

Link building is similar. Every now and then, some webmasters find a loophole in Google's algorithm. These loopholes allow people to get on Google's first result page without doing the hard work.

This usually works for some weeks but then Google finds out and websites that exploited the loophole are penalized and removed from the index. It's very risky to use these methods to get high rankings because Google doesn't like spammers.

Fact 5: The result is worth it People who lose weight usually feel more healthy and happier. Being number one on Google's result page for the right keyword can mean many more sales for your business.

All webmasters know what it takes to get better search engine rankings. You have to optimize your web pages and you have to get good inbound links. For some reason, most webmasters don't do it. Instead, they're trying desperately to find shortcuts and loopholes to get all the benefits without doing the work.

You have the choice: Don't fall for rip-off products that promise easy and quick results without much work. These products won't work and they often put your website at risk because Google considers them spamming.]]> http://www.310k.co.uk/news.html#1 95578520-5156-4939-8B49-02A132B12672 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:05:31 +0100