Check out how to use Twellow and get a great backlink, so easy…

And here is that code you need  <a href=”http://www.yoursitelink.com”>keyword</a>

And that is it…now get going.

Learn the wonders of the Google Wonder Wheel in less than 3 minutes.  This is a great tool for web developers to map out sites.

A quick and easy way to search for high volume search words.  Plus a really cool blogging tool that helps you blog more seo friendly.

Share/Bookmark]]> http://www.mariacalanchini.com/keyword-research/find-high-volume-search-terms-fast/feed/ 1 http://www.mariacalanchini.com/seo/how-to-check-your-rankings/ http://www.mariacalanchini.com/seo/how-to-check-your-rankings/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:08:46 +0000 Maria http://www.mariacalanchini.com/?p=67

How Does Your Website Rank?

I often hear people say they click through pages and pages of Google in order to find their website and see how it ranks.  Let me simplify this for you.  You can check your rankings with the click of a button.  Just watch here.  Be sure and leave a comment and let me know how you like the video and let me know what you want to learn about…I will make you a video.

This is a quick and easy video on how to use the Free Google Keyword Tool to research keywords for your title tag and your website.  You are going to get addicted to using this tool for just about everything.

As you may have noticed from the video I look for San Francisco keywords a lot.  Many of the small businesses that I work with are based in the Bay Area and it makes sense to geo modify them with the word San Francisco.  For example if I were to optimize them for particular surrounding cities like San Rafael or Mill Valley they would probably always come up first page but it wouldn’t matter.  Why not? You are probably asking.  Well to be first page on the search engines for a word that nobody is looking for doesn’t really matter.  Many people that do geo targeted searches will pick the closest large city in order to get more results.  Of course you don’t want to pick a city that is so far away from you that it doesn’t make sense but if you have a large city about 5-10 miles away it will definitely get a lot more searches than your smaller surrounding town.  That is why you must do your keyword research because sometimes there are exceptions and you can find golden nuggets.  I always start out with San Francisco for local clients and then I drill down from there.

Learn Title Tag basics in less than three minutes.  This is muy muy importante if  you want to rank well in the search engines.

That is right.  You read that right.  This is a non-techie message to both myself and everyone else.  Your site needs love! I have been overlooking mine for far too long, too busy tending to everyone else’s.  Enough is enough.

How Do You Get Great Rankings?

I could list off at least 10 strategies that would immediately boost your Google rankings but I am not going to in this post and it isn’t because I am keeping them secret.  I am often asked how to boost your search engine rankings and get on the first page of Google.  There is a very technical and methodical answer to this but now is not the time or place.  The answer I am giving right now is give your site some love.  What have you done for your site lately?  Does it need more blog posts? more graphics? more comments?  What about that article you are always thinking about rewriting and posting?  Where is it?

The more love you give your site, the more love Google will give it.  Yes, Google changes their ranking algorithims more often than we see Paris in a new outfit.  Most sites can’t keep up with those algorithims especially when they have more important things to tend to; like content.  So that is my suggestion to you; tend to what matters most and that is what your readers want to see it and if your readers want to see it Google will love you more.

I have been guilty of no site love so here I am with beautiful photos and a quick reminder.  Your site should be a reflection of you, your business or service or your passion.  Don’t get so caught up in the technicalities of it that you overlook its heart.  Next post I promise to give you an instant rankings booster that is technical.

Want Google to find your local business and get first page listing for local search?  Then check out the link below and more importantly put these tactics into action.

Top Ten Tips For a Great Google Listing

Now go get busy.  I do a lot of online marketing for clients in San Francisco and using these techniques I am able to get them page one rankings.  The San Francisco Bay area is a pretty competitive region to rank for local listings as are most big cities.  The point is that it can be done for local search and even for words that aren’t geo targeted.  It just takes some strategic work.

Get Higher Online Conversions

That’s right…sell that click.  Let’s say you do all this great SEO work and you get your site to come up on first page Google organic…wow, you are pretty good and learning fast.  But let’s also say that you get up on first page Google and your traffic isn’t really increasing.

Sell That Click For More Traffic

There could be several reasons but I want to discuss your “click sell power”.  When users do a search in Google there are usually about twelve organic places they can click.  As a user scans the Google page what do they look for?  For the most part the user looks for some interesting, catchy headline that is going to address the query he/she typed into Google in the first place.  This is where it becomes very important to optimize your title tags and meta description.

Let’s say you do a search for skateboards on Google and you see these two listings side by side;

1.     Baker skateboards

Nov 4, 2009 … so, we went out skating today at pauls street plaza (best spot ever!). it was just to meet up with a few people. listen to this list of …
www.bakerskateboards.com/ – Cached – Similar -

2.     Welcome to Skateboards.Net

The best source for skateboards, snowboards, wakeboards, and skateboarding accessories. the biggest selection and the best prices on the net.
www.skateboards.net/ – Cached – Similar -

Which one are you more likely to click on?  My guess is it is number 2.    Number 2 actually says they have the best skateboards and the biggest selection while number one talks about someone who went skating at Paul’s St. Plaza, (wherever that is).

I will keep this short and to the point but I think you get it.  Get this stuff right and sell that click.

Now that you know the difference between SEO and SEM it is time to SEO your web pages.  Invite the search engines to find you for what you want to be found for.   Here are 6 quick and easy steps that you can do or have your webmaster implement for on page seo.  I am assuming you have done your keyword research.  If you haven’t do that first and then implement the following…

Target Your On Site SEO

Target that SEO

1 – Title Tags

A title tag is the line or tag that shows up at the top of you browser when you are on any given website.  It is usually, or should be a line that describes what the site is about.  Make sure that the title tag has the keyword you are optimizing for.  In otherwords if your site is about dogwalking, make sure that dog walker is in your title tag.

2 – Header tags

H1, H2, and H3 tags are like mini headlines on your page.  They can be bolded and highlighted.  Make sure these tags have your keyword encoded in them.  It will make your page more relevant to the search engines.

3 – Include your main keyword phrase in your first 50 words.

Many search engines pay more attention to the first 50 words.

4 – Include your keyword at least once every 100 words on a page.

This will give you a “keyword density” of 1%.  Don’t go much over 2% or you will look like a spammer to the search engines.

5 – Include your keywords in Internal Links.

Search engines use the words in your link text (otherwise known as “anchor text”) to figure out the topic of the page you’re linking to.

This can be used to your advantage in your on-page SEO efforts, giving your pages a little boost for your keywords.

For example, how many sites have you visited where you get back to the home page of the site by clicking a big “home” link? . All these sites are missing out on some easy, free keyword optimization. They’re optimizing their home page for “home” when they should be optimizing it for their main keyword. You could change the “home” text to read “Piano lessons home”, “Cake recipes home”, thereby giving yourself a boost for “piano lessons” or “cake recipes”.   If your keyword for a page is “stop flea bites”, then link to it from your menu using the text “Stop flea bites”, or “How to fleas from biting your dog”.

The same goes for all pages on your site. Don’t ever link to a page on your site using “Click here” unless you want to rank well for “click here”!

Okay, go put these to work and make sure you do your keyword research before implementing.