In Title Tag Do’s & Don’ts Part 1 we discussed how to properly format your title tags for search engine success. Keeping in mind what you learned in that post, you want experiment a bit with your title tags. This is especially true where your keywords vary slightly in word order such as Dog Collars vs Collars for Your Dog.
According to Search Engine News “Your success with using repetition and variation will be somewhat dependent upon your specific target keywords as well as the degree of competition within your niche.”
Making sure to master these title tag elements correctly is critical to ranking successfully at the top of the SERP’s. Experience shows us that implementing these minor tweaks in the title tag can make the difference between a first and second page listing. So, you should experiment with your title tags (staying within these guidelines) to get the best possible results from this critically important on-page optimization strategy.
Stupid Title Tags Mistakes to Avoid
Ok, now that you know what a good title tag looks like, take a look at some examples of a poorly written title tag.
Bad title tag example
Doggy Word – Best Prices in Collars for Your Dog
The title tags above contains a number of mistakes. First, the company name is placed first, it does not use the exact keyword phrase (Collars for Your Dog is not the same as Dog Collars), it fails to repeat a variation of the keyword, and finally it places the keyword phrase at the end of the title tag. These are common title tag mistakes you should avoid at all times.
Let’s take a look at some other stupid title tag mistakes
Really bad title tag
Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars
STOP THAT! Repeating keywords over and over can get your web page penalized causing you to loose rankings. While it is acceptable to use slight variations of your targeted keyword phrase and/or even repeat it later in the title tag, never repeat it more than twice… and one repetition usually works just fine.
For more on proper title tag optimization stay tuned for Title Tag Do’s & Don’ts Part 3
Did you know Google likes faster-loading pages! Are your pages loading fast enough?
Well, it’s true, in web-based business, less is more. If you’re a business owner with a website, it’s likely you are unaware of the way Google ranks your site. Does your page take a long time to load? Have you been waiting desperately for a page to load only to find that suddenly you have grandchildren? Many business owners do not know that the longer it takes a page to load, the higher the user turnover, and thus the lower ranking.
We all know from experience that eternal-loads kill the initial desire of the customer. It has also been scientifically shown that slow loading webpage can hurt your visitor experience. Avoid having your pages loaded with Flash. Cut down on the bells and whistles. If your pages have lots of graphics, or your server is regularly down or slow, then you have a major customer attraction and ultimately retention problem.
No one benefits from visitors promptly leaving a site. You want to keep your pages lean and mean so as to cut down on load time and keep your business pages indexed. The longer the load time, the longer it can take the search engine spiders to index them or, of course, they may not index them at all. It’s up to you to keep your pages efficient.
Slow load times is one of the 200 signals that Google uses to algorithmically rank a specific page and site within in its index. When a page loads slowly it causes Google to penalize your website thus making you go down in the rankings.
The slower your webpage loads the higher your bounce rate is going to be. The ‘bounce rate’ is determined by how many visitors come to your site and leave right away. A high bounce rate is a sign of poor page quality; most likely load time. According to Search Engine News, this policy is already in effect in Google Adwords. They state, “…site and page load times have been a factor for determining quality page scores for Adwords advertisers since March, 2008.”
It make sense then, that if Google is doing this in Adwords, they are also judging organic listings. For example, let’s apply this to a situation where a consumer is looking for dog beds. After clicking on a listing for dog beds in the organic search results, he or she sees an ad ranking at the top of the SERP’s (search engine results pages) but that URL is loading so slow time seems to stop. It happens all the time. What do you think that web surfer is going to do? Think about what YOU would do. You’re either going to get a load of laundry done (if you are patient) or like most of us you will find a page that loads right away.
When it comes down to the bottom line, load times and consumer ease of use are what makes or breaks an online venture. Google has provided a distinct advantage by allowing businesses to update, customize, and tailor their pages to the consumers, the end result is a local search engine that is accurate, easy to use, and provides the fastest, most qualified results to its audience at all times. Should you capitalize on the tools available with Google, you will receive more phone traffic and online orders.
Mr Jones will end up finding Fido’s new dog bed somewhere. You want that somewhere to be your site. Unless your page is stream-lined and fast, it will eventually drop in rankings and your competitors will jump in to provide Mr Jones with that bed and maybe even a brand new doghouse too.
To keep the Mr Joneses of the world shopping at your site, try to keep your load time down to four seconds. Every item of importance you wish to display should be up and visible with in 4 to 6 seconds of the user clicking on your webpage. If you are unsure about your page load times you can check your load time using this free tool. If you are coming up slow, you’re going to want to either optimize your pages and graphics or get a better server.
Remember! Google has lots of tools to make the most of your business. Every little bit of time you spend spiffing up your online advertising, you are investing in the future of your company. Like most good things, it works if you work it. The more you are willing to do the more you will be rewarded. There is an old adage that states Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to.
What are you willing to do to succeed?
Google is making things easier for small businesses to get found once again.
Prior to the technological revolution in computing, a business relied primarily on sign-based advertising such as those ubiquitous billboards lining the drive down I-4 to Orlando or books such as the Yellow Pages. These old-fashioned volumes used to be the fastest way to get your business noticed. As customers began to embrace the ease of use of computer assisted searches, many businesses realized that listing on the Web was a wonderful way to not only bolster income but also to increase thier client base.
As more and more businesses began listing on the internet, the search engines that originally got their data from the yellow pages and other data collection companies realized that collecting business data for local search was a long and inefficient process which needed to be much more stream-lined. In response, the answer they came up with was brilliant. They created a local listing center where businesses could log in, customize their business listings, and keep their business information up to date.
This detailed business index is called Google Local Business Center. What makes Google Local Business Center so convenient is that you can type your search term followed by a location, for example: Hospitals Tampa. Google can then pull up a listing showing you a map of your local area and 10 small listings next to the map. This is what is called the Google 10 Box. It lists the local businesses in the area according to the keywords you previously entered into the search box, dramatically narrowing your search results, and saving you time.
Google 10 Box for local business listings
Google Local Business Center is free for both companies and for the people they serve, making it accessable and accurate. Because Google automatically adds your business to it’s page once they find you through national data centers that hold this information, your name and service are out there. Many people stop here. With Google, you can take it one step farther. While being listed online is important, to truly make the most of your listing, you must take advantage of the features Google has created to optimize and customize your company profile.
Create a Google account (also free) or sign into the one you already have (you can just sign into your G-mail) and claim your business listing now, or it’s likely someone else will. Your name is your signature.
Another good idea is to help your venture succeed with Google Local Business Center is that you need to add information that corresponds to the query entered by the potential client. You can correctly optimize your profile by using researched keywords. This gives your business a much higher chance of showing up in those top 10 coveted listings that show up next to the map.
That’s where web design and seo firm” href=”http://www.group5web.com” target=”_blank”>Group 5 Web comes in. By professionally analyzing your target market, local competition, and customer demographics, we can make sure your company is set up for optimal success. With Internet-based technologies and communications changing at an exponential pace, it is imperative to make sure your business not only is found by a potential customer, but that you have the advantage of leading the pack. With the personalizations in your ad allowed by Google, you can finally get that market share your business has been mising. Shipping to Taiwan or delivering in the neighborhood, the best way for your company to get it’s message out there easily and accurately to people across the street or across the country is Google Local Business Center.
We hope this information has helped you understand the importance of being everywhere you can on the internet. If you have questions we are always available to help.
Each week I will be here to blog on small business marketing ideas that can help you stretch your budget and improve you revenues both on and off the web. This first post is dedicated to blogging! – Blogging can be a great tool that helps you stay in touch with your clients, educated them about your services, and attract new business by offering solid advice and demonstrating your companies assets. While Group5 is know for creating custom software solutions, we love Word Press for blogging. The open source community has been contributing to this software for years and those 1,000s of contributions have created on of the best tools on the web.
Instead of offering custom blogging software, we have concentrated our efforts on creating a comprehensive guide to getting the most out of your blog. Our guide comes with a 2 hours one on one course on using your blog and we feel confident that if you spend the time to utilize this tool you will start to see results.
Contact Group5 before the end of June and we will give you this training free of charge with any blog setup.
http://group5web.com/get-a-blog.php
Appearance is everything when you are selling on the web. Party Yards offers all types of promotional items so you can make a lasting impression with your customers, employees and potential clients. Group 5 Web helped them to develop and online store that targeted their target audience. With search engine optimization in mine, they were able to achieve online success in a very short time.
