Internet Marketing Blog

Canonicalization sounds like a process for recognizing saints.  But it’s actually one of the most important aspects of organic SEO.  Consolidating your URLs (see below), or “good” canonicalization means search engines crawl more pages of your site.  It means that link authority and PageRank get consolidated, so you have a stronger link profile.  It means fewer broken links from other sites.  Bad canonicalization gets you all that stuff, but with the opposite effect.

DEFININTION

The simple definition of canonicalization is: “every resource on your web site has a single web address.”  This means every page, every image, every video, etc.. has only one Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for each page of content, image, video, etc..

A URLs look like this:

http://www.webtyde.com/

Or, http://www.webtyde.com/internet-marketing-blog/blog-entry.html.

Or, http:///www.webtyde.com/internet-marketing-blog/blog-entry.php?meh=123.

Note that I said ‘page of content’.  That means that a single page of content, article, product description or list of articles should appear at a single URL.  You should never have multiple URLs for one product description, or one article.

Some of the overly complex content management systems and e-commerce suites out there make canonicalization a challenge.  But it’s doable.

CONSEQUENCES

Here’s an example of “bad” canonicalization:

http://www.webtyde.com/

But it also lives at

http://webtyde.com/  ***NOTE: No www***

People will find the home page at all three versions.  They won’t know the difference, right?  Well, sure…but search engines will.  Googlebot sees the three above URLs as three different pages on the web.  That has two major consequences that hurt SEO.

1.)  You lose link authority.

If blogger “A” comes to ‘www.webtyde.com’ and links to that page, blogger “B” lands on ‘webtyde.com’ and links to that URL, and blogger “C” lands on ‘www.webtyde.com/index.html’ and links to that page, Googlebot sees three links to three different pages, and applies one”vote” to each one.  These three links could have sent three authoritative signals to Googlebot for my site’s home page.  Instead, they’re split into three weaker individual votes for three different pages.

2.)  Search engines won’t crawl your site as deeply as they might.

Search engines allocate resources for each crawl.  No one knows exactly how, but it’s safe to say Googlebot won’t just wander around your site until its found every page.  At some point, it gives up and leaves.  If multiple pages on my site have multiple URLs, then visiting search bots waste time tracking down all of those different versions.  That’s time they could spend crawling other unique pages, instead.  So fewer unique pages of our site end up in the search index, and we have fewer chances to rank.

So, if you’re not already a client, give us a call so we can start cleaning up your website. Canonicalization fixes are generally simple, have a broad impact and let you fix multiple SEO problems at once. You’ll get more link authority, deeper site crawls and better rankings. What are you waiting for?

I’d like to say bravo to Google for customizing the World Cup results to include icons, teams, and game times.  It’s going to be hard enough watching some games at 6am CT, much less making sure you’re watching on the correct day!  Thanks, Googs.

Google FIFA World Cup Results 06/08/2010

In the midst of taking over the world, Google made time to celebrate this important milestones in the history of the Geek, complete with fully interactive game in their logo.  Happy birthday, Pac-Man!

Google Pac-Man 30th Anniversary Image

In a recent article by Matt McGee, 102 retailers were surveyed about what percentage of their sales were attributed directly to their SEM (search engine marketing) campaigns.  According to the survey, 27% of people who responded to the survey said that search engine marketing (which includes SEO and PPC) accounted for more than 50% of online sales.

Please see entire article here – Search Marketing Remains Strong For Retailers: Survey.

Although this article focuses on SEM, which is a combination of SEO and PPC (paid results), it should really give you an idea of what your ROI can be compared to other traditional forms of media by investing your marketing budget into Internet marketing.

Somethings need to be maintained more than others, but almost everything needs consistent maintenance in order to uphold the original integrity of the thing or idea.  For instance, you should paint your house once every five to eight years on average depending on such factors as the quality of the paint, color of the paint, climate, surrounding environment, sunlight exposure, exterior siding material, etc…  You may need to maintain your relationships with people a little more often by taking a friend out to dinner a couple times a month depending on your relationship and how close you consider your friendship.  As for your Internet marketing campaign, Wired Magazine has told us that Google made 550 changes to their algorithms last year alone.  Looks like you’re going to need to think about taking your SEO expert out to dinner for this one.

First off, I want to make sure you understand the terminology.  An algorithm is a set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps, as for finding the greatest common divisor.  Google’s actual algorithm is, and always will be, a mystery and closely guarded secret in order to protect the integrity of their search results.  It’s about monitoring every change Google makes and following right behind.  No matter how ethical a campaign you run, there will still be changes you will need to make in order to keep up with your competition on Google.

It’s not just about what your competitors are doing and matching or outdoing them, you must also take advice from your SEO expert to help you update your website in order to keep up with Google’s most recent changes.  Being the diligent SEO expert that I am, I get the luxury of having an industry email sent to me every morning at around 4am CT, seven days a week, and I get to read through the 40 or so article and blog entries each morning that have been posted by the industry experts.  I’m very happy for the information and it keeps me very informed so I can keep my clients at the top.

Our SEO maintenance usually consist of a yearly contract designed to maintain and enhance your existing positions by adding a variety of strategic options, as well as a year of monitoring and making changes to your website as Google changes.  Many years ago, it was considered absolutely acceptable to solicit links and give reciprocal links back to those who gave your website a link.  Outbound links are now considered to be negative and we had to make immediate changes as soon as we discovered this major change in Google’s algorithm or all our clients would have started to perform poorly in the rankings.  All our clients who were in an SEO maintenance contract were adjusted and fixed for free and actually saw sharp rises in their rankings.  The people who were not under a maintenance contract were left to fend for themselves, or more likely, sink with many others who were not aware of the changes.

With the fight for Internet search supremacy fierce and the speed of changes white-lining between Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, SEO maintenance is a wise investment for your SEO campaign.  Whether you are in Google Local or in Google’s organic rankings, every campaign should be maintained in order to remain competitive and keep the high rankings.

Local SEO, or local search engine optimization, is the process of optimizing your business listing and/or website for keyword phrases you think your potential customers will be searching for within a local geographic area.  When people search in Google, they will not only be able to find your business by typing in the name, but they will be able to find your business when they search for terms that describe what your business offers.

1.) Affordable way to establish a Web presence

Ten years ago, businesses had to be in the Yellow Pages phone book to be seen when people were searching for a plumber or Chinese food restaurant for instance.  Now, you need to have your business registered with the major search engines.  With our Local Search Engine Registration service, you don’t even need to have a website yet to get an optimized listing in major search engines.

2.) Local results show on Mobile phones and devices

Even if you don’t have an iPhone, Blackberry, or Garmin navigation system, many of your customers probably do.  Local SEO is vital for businesses relying on tourists as a major source of income.

3.) Best ROI for your marketing money
Local Search Engine Registration service or website search engine optimization service with a local or geo-targeted keyword campaign is one of the most cost effective ways to advertise today.  Instead of throwing money on advertisements targeted towards a general audience, local SEO targets people who are in your city that are specifically searching for your goods or services.

Having an Internet presence is necessary to promote and offer services or products for any successful business in today’s world.  It’s a quick and easy way for people to find out more about your business, what services or products you offer, and why they should choose your business. We can optimize a website to attract targeted traffic on a global, national and even a local level.

Contact us today for more information.

One of our recent clients found our New Orleans based Internet marketing company in New York City on Google and decided that we could help make her NYC based fitness company become the best. After we completed her SEO campaign and launched the website in March 2010, her website is already ranking #1 in Google for several terms, both nation wide and in her local New York City market.

From San Francisco to New York City, Internet marketing is one of the best investments a company can make. The ROI on both national and local SEO campaigns is by far the highest of all marketing endeavors. Webtyde Internet Marketing offers campaigns to fit all budgets and offer flexible payment plans. We are one of the most successful and affordable Internet marketing companies in the country.

Call us today for a free website analysis to see how we can help make you #1.

An optimized website redesign can be either difficult or smooth. A recent optimization project consisted of a full redesign: an optimized website, optimized shopping cart, and adding a Blog. If a project is organized, your chances of a mostly smooth project are much higher. I’ve been a project manager for many years prior to running Webtyde Internet Marketing and I’ve learned that planning and organization are everything when creating something impressive. We pride ourselves with creating realistic schedules, deliverable timelines, and milestones with approvals.

We had the luxury of working with a very engaged client recently who had a strong passion to create a beautiful, informative, and wonderfully optimized shopping cart and website. We just completed the redesign and launch last week. I’m happy to say that she has seen all major search engines not only pick up the new pages, but rank them as well!

We are beginning the next phase of her aggressive SEO campaign and I’m very optimistic she will rank very high for her targeted keyword phrases. I’m looking forward to sharing her results with everyone within the next six months. It’s a great example of how our affordable search engine optimization and Internet marketing campaigns can really make a difference in your website traffic and, ultimately, your sales.

-Allyson M. Seitzler, Principal
Webtyde Internet Marketing, LLC

Today it was announced that Yahoo and Microsoft have received “unrestricted” clearance from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission to proceed with merging Yahoo and Bing, owned by Microsoft. We should be seeing integration within the next month.

According to Experian Hitwise, in December of 2009, Google had 72.25% of the search engine market share. Yahoo came up second with 14.83% and Bing had only 8.92%. Together, Yahoo and Bing will now have almost 24% of the market.

Webtyde Internet Marketing targets primarily Google, but we never neglect Yahoo and Bing. Remember, less than 10 years ago, Yahoo ruled the search engine market and nobody ever thought this little company with another weird little name would go anywhere.

The buzz is that Google is violating privacy rights with Google Buzz. Google’s reach stretches far and wide, but this time they crossed into even more questionable areas by violating the federal consumer protection law.

In the fight for social media supremacy, Google violated privacy laws by making all Gmail account holders automatically have a Google Buzz account. The default is set to opt-in, just as Google customized search is set, so users who don’t even know what Buzz is have an active account available for the world to see. If you have any personal data in any of your Google accounts using your personal Gmail address, this information can be ported over and displayed.

Another very questionable practice for which the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a complaint was regarding how Google created your circle of friends. Google used your most frequent Gmail contacts. Google has made changes over the weekend that will only “suggest” user’s most frequently utilized Gmail contacts become friends rather than making it automatic.

From a personal aspect, this is a little scary for those whose primary email is their Gmail account. If you have a Gmail account, you should probably make sure you do not have any sensitive information out on the Internet courtesy of Google.

From a business perspective, this is more beneficial. Google Buzz will eventually be a powerful social media tool which your Internet marketing campaign will benefit. To what extent, nobody knows yet. I’m sure we will see some changes in the next few weeks after the Federal Trade Commission reviews the EPIC’s complaints and determines what is best for the public’s privacy.