Tag Archives: search
Negative SEO and How You Can Prevent It
Negative Search Engine Optimization On The Rise
When you look at the trends for search engine optimization, especially when searching for the keywords “SEO 2015” in one of the major search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo, you will see more and more articles related to negative SEO. What exactly is negative in terms of search engine optimization? Thats a good question, and the answer may shock you. The weird thing about this is that many organizations are starting to jump into this, because its effective, at least for a short time. The secret nature of search engines and their algorithms has led many people to start trying to “game” the system, and this latest form is proving to be not only controversial, but also effective. Here are a few things that you should know about this issue.
Flat Out Lies
First and foremost, the majority of the negative SEO options are usually lies, these are the easy ones to spot. Company A will use marketing collateral that call out their competition in a negative light. Or they may use disinformation to confuse customers and clients. For instance, lets say a skate shop wants to rank number one in their niche. They cant because another company has good marketing and has been around for some time. Instead of competing with them straight on, theyll go on a campaign of putting up negative keywords, anti-competition articles, reviews and more. By diminishing the credibility of the competitor, skate shop “A” will get to a higher authority module of search engine. These are usually lies. Its an attack on reputation, but it seems effective in many niches. These are just a few of the many examples of negative SEO that can harm or damage a company. Some are pretty blatant and some can be very difficult to find. That’s when you would need to seek the help of a professional, someone who is well-versed in google analytics.
The Long Term Failure
Even though negativity can get short term success, search engines are catching on. That means that if youre caught posting negative SEO elements, or if your company is tied to campaigns that are based on lies, SERP (search engine rankings page) listings will get dumped out. That means that if youre company “A” as mentioned above, youll be dead last in the rankings if listed at all. There have been some companies that went on negative reputation campaigns, only to get completely thrown out of search engine listings. That’s known as “banned for life” and it does happen.
A Better Option
Not every business today is meant to compete with the largest companies in the world. If youre starting a book store, for instance, youre not competing against Amazon.com straight up. You cant. To offset that, youll need to look into what is known as “White Hat” SEO. Focus on local community, and niche competitive phrases so that when people in your area look for “books”, they find you and patronize your business. Simply put, you dont want to go with any of the negative SEO options. Stick with what works, and dont try to “game” the system right now. The long term optimization cycle will give you a leg up in nearly any niche. Also, if you find there is a negative search engine optimization campaign being run against your company and you can definitively identify the culprit, report that company to Google or the other big name search engines. And just remember, the best defense is a good offense, so make sure to keep your positive search engine optimization campaigns strong.
The Top 10 Ways to Build Backlinks
Backlinks are incoming links to a website or a webpage. They are also commonly referred to as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks and inward links.
Why are backlinks so important?
Backlinks are the most important factor for determining a websites search engine ranking. The number of backlinks is an indication of popularity the links themselves are synonymous to votes. The website with the most votes is the most important, and these websites rank higher on organic search queries in Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines.
The backlinks themselves must meet several criteria. The links must be placed on relevant pages that hold a good search engine rank. Also, search engines do not just care about the number of backlinks, but how these links were achieved. If a website builds too many backlinks within a month, for example because they used a backlink purchasing service, then the search engine may discredit these links and the importance of the website because the backlinks were not created organically.
For these reasons, the quality of backlinks is more important than the quantity of links.
One of the best strategies to achieve more backlinks is a geometric link building strategy that requires a website to gradually build backlinks over time. Listed below are the top ten ways to attain more backlinks in order to improve the websites overall page rank and SEO.
1. Website Directories
Submit company information and website URL to online directories. These sites typically offer two options: users can submit basic information for free, or create an enhanced listing for a low monthly or annual cost.
2. RSS Directories
Submit feeds to company blogs and websites to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) directories for free or at a cost. Directory visitors can explore blogs and articles in specific industries and niches.
3. Press Release Distribution Sites
Submit news articles and press releases to free and/or paid news distribution websites. Depending on the website, services can include distributing articles to every major news site and search engine on the web, and giving detailed analytics of the press release.
4. Article Marketing /Article Directory Sites
Post articles and other content to these sites for more exposure, credibility and targeted traffic. A membership is typically required (for free or at a price).
5. Build Company Blog
Create a company blog (if it does not exist already) and create more content and posts. This will increase the probability of the articles being reiterated. Also, notable individuals could be interviewed in order to build readership.
6. Blog/Forum Commenting
Comment on blogs and forums that are relevant to a niche and have good page rank. Add a backlink in the signature line. Make sure that the website allows URL posting in the comments.
7. Guest Blogging
Offer to write free content for a website that is relevant to industry. In exchange, add a backlink in the byline of the article.
8. Social Bookmarking Sites
Utilize bookmarks that reference and share online resources on social media and other bookmarking sites. These communities allow people to discover and share content relevant to their interests.
9. Testimonials
Write testimonials for clients, suppliers and other collaborators and ask them to post it to their websites.
10. Joint Ventures/Partnerships
Ask friends, acquaintances, partners and the like to post the backlink URL to their webpage. Be sure to offer to reciprocate the favor.
Collectively, these ten recommendations will create an efficient and effective backlink building strategy. It is important to differentiate the links; use deep links that navigate to other pages on the website apart from the homepage. The most important takeaway concept is that quality beats quantity. Create backlinks that are relevant to an industry or niche. In the long-term this will boost search engine page rank.
The Top 10 Ways to Build Backlinks
Backlinks are incoming links to a website or a webpage. They are also commonly referred to as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks and inward links.
Why are backlinks so important?
Backlinks are the most important factor for determining a websites search engine ranking. The number of backlinks is an indication of popularity the links themselves are synonymous to votes. The website with the most votes is the most important, and these websites rank higher on organic search queries in Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines.
The backlinks themselves must meet several criteria. The links must be placed on relevant pages that hold a good search engine rank. Also, search engines do not just care about the number of backlinks, but how these links were achieved. If a website builds too many backlinks within a month, for example because they used a backlink purchasing service, then the search engine may discredit these links and the importance of the website because the backlinks were not created organically.
For these reasons, the quality of backlinks is more important than the quantity of links.
One of the best strategies to achieve more backlinks is a geometric link building strategy that requires a website to gradually build backlinks over time. Listed below are the top ten ways to attain more backlinks in order to improve the websites overall page rank and SEO.
1. Website Directories
Submit company information and website URL to online directories. These sites typically offer two options: users can submit basic information for free, or create an enhanced listing for a low monthly or annual cost.
2. RSS Directories
Submit feeds to company blogs and websites to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) directories for free or at a cost. Directory visitors can explore blogs and articles in specific industries and niches.
3. Press Release Distribution Sites
Submit news articles and press releases to free and/or paid news distribution websites. Depending on the website, services can include distributing articles to every major news site and search engine on the web, and giving detailed analytics of the press release.
4. Article Marketing /Article Directory Sites
Post articles and other content to these sites for more exposure, credibility and targeted traffic. A membership is typically required (for free or at a price).
5. Build Company Blog
Create a company blog (if it does not exist already) and create more content and posts. This will increase the probability of the articles being reiterated. Also, notable individuals could be interviewed in order to build readership.
6. Blog/Forum Commenting
Comment on blogs and forums that are relevant to a niche and have good page rank. Add a backlink in the signature line. Make sure that the website allows URL posting in the comments.
7. Guest Blogging
Offer to write free content for a website that is relevant to industry. In exchange, add a backlink in the byline of the article.
8. Social Bookmarking Sites
Utilize bookmarks that reference and share online resources on social media and other bookmarking sites. These communities allow people to discover and share content relevant to their interests.
9. Testimonials
Write testimonials for clients, suppliers and other collaborators and ask them to post it to their websites.
10. Joint Ventures/Partnerships
Ask friends, acquaintances, partners and the like to post the backlink URL to their webpage. Be sure to offer to reciprocate the favor.
Collectively, these ten recommendations will create an efficient and effective backlink building strategy. It is important to differentiate the links; use deep links that navigate to other pages on the website apart from the homepage. The most important takeaway concept is that quality beats quantity. Create backlinks that are relevant to an industry or niche. In the long-term this will boost search engine page rank.