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We say this is “guaranteed”. Okay, maybe we should have said “probable” or “likely”. After all, the only things in life that are guaranteed are death and taxes, right? But, this is, according to Google marketing experts or engineers like Matt Cutts and others, the right way to promote your new site and give it the best chance to get a good page ranking. (Matt didn’t specifically endorse my recommendations below, but these are the KINDS OF THINGS he has said in the past, less a detail here and there.)

So, you’ve just established a brand new shiny web-site. Chances are that after a month or two, it got a nice Pagerank from Google. Boy were you pleased, right?

Then something terrible happened… the page-rank it used to have suddenly disappeared or dropped down a notch or two. What happened?

Assuming that you’ve not done anything wrong or nasty, there is a good chance that what you’re seeing is all very natural.

Here’s what happened, and more important — what you can do to fix it!

Google often gives a new site a “first look rating” that’s pretty high… sometimes a PR-4 or 5, which seems outstanding. This is based on a couple things…

1. What the site’s first page has on it, the “contents” or “about-ness” of the page
2. What the overalll structure of the domain underneath the front page is like

These two factors only consider what the contents and structure of the ON PAGE elements are like. If everything is pretty good, your new site will get a “first look” rating that reflects Google’s estimate of what the site MIGHT deserve, based on some mathematical algorithm that we’re not party too, naturally, compared to other sites which were similarly-well (or not well, as the case may be) and those sites’ keyword relevancy outlines.

Ahem.

What that means is, a first look rating is basically worthless, or nearly so.

As you’ve read above, the REAL and more-or-less permanent (nothing is permanent these days) Page-rank will be based on a very complicated list of factors, probably only 40% of which have anything at all to do with what is actually ON YOUR PAGE. In fact, this figure may even be lower, considering the big changes in Google’s ranking system last October and again in December, March, etc.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR “ON SITE” CHANGES

Your site probably looks okay, from what I could see in the code on the pages… looking at the source itself. I do have a couple of recommendations that apply to most new sites:

1) Remove any links to off-site page in your footers, site-wide. Move them to a credits page or about us page. Do not show them on every page. You don’t need those silly W3C buttons, page counters and other credits and links that amateurs often put at the bottom of their pages. Even “credibility logos” are probably a bad idea. Move them to the About Us page — anywhere but at the bottom of every page on your site. They create duplicated content and make it look like you’re selling links — which is a no-no.

2) Religiously apply a rel=”external nofollow” label inside EVERY external link that points off your site. Do this on every page. This tells Google that you are not selling links, which they are very sensitive about these days. Your links will end up looking like this…

<a href=”http://www.somesite.com/” rel=”external nofollow”>Some Site or Keyword Here</a>

You can also put a target=”_blank” label inside the tags, which tells the user’s browser to open the linked site’s page in a new window. Optional.

IncredibleHelp, a moderator at WebProWorld.com suggests that I’ve gone too far with this instruction. After investigating around the web, I think his remark that I’ve gone too far is most likely correct. So, we might want to apply the NOFOLLOW tags merely to external sites that we don’t trust. — Thanks, Incredible!

QUICK STEPS TO ENSURE YOU GET RE-RANKED

You need to build quality back-links pointing to your new site. These can be accomplished quickly and will cost you absolutely nothing. Depending on how well and how quickly you can write some new articles, this should only take you a couple of hours, from start to finish.

What you’re going to do is create 3 high quality back-links from 3 new free blogs, plus you’re going to write 2 free press releases or articles on highly ranked free press release or article sites.

CREATING THE FREE BLOGS

These are the 3 most popular free blogging systems:

1. Blogger.com — Pagerank: 10? (Google owns it!)
2. WordPress.com — Pagerank: 9
3. LiveJournal.com — Pagerank: 8

On each one of those, you will create a new account/blog.

1) Name the blog something related to your site, one of your main keyword phrases.

2) On each of these blogs, write one nice long article or “post” about your main topic related to your NEW or TARGET site. Do NOT write about the target site itself, nor any product you may be selling. Write these posts about the details of (your new site main keywords or topic), details about how to do things, the history of the craft, where to find good (your topic here), how to use (your topic), etc. Write about some related to your new target site, but avoid repeating stuff that’s already on that site. Do NOT duplicate something from any other site on the web, especially your own site. Make it completely, 100% original content. Organize the structure of the post nicely with a headline, sub-headings and topical paragraphs that reflect the keyword phrases (3 or 4 of them) that are similar to those of your main site. Make these posts at least 500 words. Longer is better. Remember NOT to duplicated phrases, sentences, headlines or anything between any of these new blogs and your main target site.

3) Near the top of your new article-post on each of these blogs, insert a link around the number-1 most important keyword phrase that your main site is about. Make this link point directly at the front page of your site, and do NOT “nofollow” this link. Be sure this link is in the first paragraph at the top of the page or post. Put it INSIDE the paragraph, not above or below it. Make sure that this link is surrounded by related “good content”. Do not put any other links on this post that point to any other site. Only one link, and it points to your target main site. Near the top of the post. In a well constructed paragraph. Check this post/article over carefully to ensure that it is spelled properly and uses excellent grammar. That’s important to Google.

4) Save that post and “publish” it so that it is available to the world.

If you’ve done this well on the 3 free blog sites above, these 3 posts will earn you some nice rating value from Google. You don’t need to “publicize” these blogs. They do that automatically, all by themselves. Blog technology magically notifies the world about each post you make in seconds.

There is only one more thing to do…

WRITE TWO PRESS RELEASES ABOUT YOUR MAIN SITE

Now you can write about your main site itself. Here’s the way we’re going to make these press releases “news worthy”. We’re going to debunk an idea or thought that people may have about your industry.

What does “debunking” mean?

To debunk is to take something that is commonly thought about a topic, and to prove conclusively that this thinking is NOT TRUE.

By doing this, you will guarantee that your press releases get accepted by the free press release sites, and that they will ultimately be READ by readers over the months and years to come!

Another thing, debunking is a negative. Readers and editors alike will find it irresistible. They get sick and tired of all the “positive” junk that is all over the web — fake press releases that are filled with repetitive claims about how wonderful something is. Debunking works!

In your press release you are going to quote yourself as the owner of your targeted main site as an “expert” in the field. You will say whatever needs to be said to disprove the common misconception that you are debunking. At the top and bottom of your press release, you will refer people to your main site, where they can find more information.

You will write these two press releases in a way that the most important stuff is near the top, and less important stuff is nearer the bottom. Mention your target site 2 or 3 times without links. Put a link somewhere near the top (if they allow it). Otherwise, they will give you one single link at the bottom as the “contact” person for the press release.

Here is a pretty-good list of well-ranked “free press release” sites. Most will try to sell you a wider distribution for $30 or more. Don’t do it. Just use their free distribution. You will have to sign up and give them your email address and site name, etc. Do it. Then submit the press releases you’ve written.

Here is high-to-low-Pagerank sorted list of some great “free press release” web-sites to try… it’s fairly current (as of this writing), but some sites may have gone “pay only” instead of “free”, by the time you read this article. Check them out. I recommend as “first bets” these — PRWeb.com (PR-7), NewswireToday.com (PR-6), PR.com (PR-6), PRLeap.com (PR-6), PRLog.com (PR-6) and finally PressBox.co.uk (PR-6). There is no limit to how many you can submit to, but those are great places to start. We recommend writing an all-new press release for each site, since it’s not nice to create duplicated content on the Internet, right? Here is the full list:

Pageranks were accurate on June 30, 2008:

1. PRWeb.com - PR 7
2. NewswireToday.com - PR 6
3. PR.com - PR 6
4. PRLeap.com - PR 6
5. PRlog.com - PR 6
6. PressBox.co.uk - PR 6
7. 1888PressRelease.com - PR 5
8. ClickPress.com - PR 5
9. eCommWire.com - PR 5
10. Free-News-Release.com - PR 5
11. Free-Press-Release.com - PR 5
12. Free-Press-Release-Center.info - PR 5
13. IndiaPRWire.com - PR 5
14. PRFree.com - PR 5
15. PRzoom.com - PR 5
16. PressAbout.com - PR 5
17. PressReleasePoint.com - PR 5
18. TheOpenPress.com - PR 5
19. AddPR.com - PR 4
20. FreePressReleases.co.uk - PR 4
21. i-Newswire.com - PR 4
22. MediaSyndicate.com - PR 4
23. PR9.net - PR 4
24. PR-Inside.com - PR 4
25. PRCompass.com - PR 4
26. PRurgent.com - PR 4
27. PressMethod.com - PR 4
28. Yudkin.com - PR 4
29. 24-7 Press Release - PR 3
30. BizEurope.com - PR 3
31. FreePressIndex.com - PR 3
32. MyFreePR.com - PR 3
33. PressRelease.com - PR 1
34. Express-Press-Release.com - PR n/a
35. FreePressRelease.co.cc - PR n/a
36. PageRelease.com - PR n/a
37. PressFlow.co.uk - PR n/a
38. TechPRSpider.com - PR n/a

Just pick 2 or 3 of these outfits that appeal to you. Visit their own front or home pages to see which of them is the highest page-ranked by Google at the moment. Of course this changes from time to time. So be sure to check. Give your best written press release to the highest ranked site.

Wait a few days. They usually publish your press release 2-3 days after it is submitted.

A few hours spent now the way I’ve outlined here will pay off big dividends in the months and years to come.

And, you have violated no “Google Rules”. Everything is white hat. Just do the steps, and wait. It does take time. How long? Well, maybe only a few weeks, but usually several months.

Good luck and happy promoting!

A first-edition, somewhat less detailed version of this post was created as one of my comments on WebProWorld.com. That site is a great web marketing resource for newbies and experts alike.

Filed under: Backlinks by IdeaPro - 3 Comments →

USA Today June 22, 2008 — The current issue features an interview of Matt Cutts, the famous Google engineer who runs their anti-spam web page monitoring crew. This is the #1 guy in the world to go to when it comes to “what NOT to do” in marketing, designing or optimizing your web pages. Of course, after you subtract the “whatnots” you have a nice list of the “what todos” in designing the legal, Google approved way.

The interview was done in person at Google by Jefferson Graham, a well known USA Today tech-writer.

Here are the 6 most-important LEGAL web-site optimization tips that Jefferson Graham pulled out of Matt Cutts:

(1) Include the most popular phrases that people would probably type-in to the Google search bar somewhere on your page. Yes, people often forget this. Sad, but true.

Matt tells of attending a user conference recently where a web-site owner asked “How can I get people who search for ‘San Diego chiropractor’ to find my site?” And, incredibly, when Matt asked him if he had that phrase on his front page, he said that he didn’t.

Oooooooooh-boy. Well so we want to “spotlight the most probable search terms on our page” he says. Include them in the page in headlines, top paragraphs, etc. Make the page is “mainly about” exactly that phrase.

(2) Be sure to mention the main things people will search for to find you in your TITLE page header tag. “Think about what people are going to want to type to find your site,” said Cutts.

I.E. If your customers are most often looking for a San Diego Chiropractor, be sure that you start your title tag with exactly that phrase. This is the title that people will see when and if your page is listed in the search result page after they search:

<title> San Diego Chiropractor - The Relief HQ</title>

Note that the actual NAME of the business comes AFTER the keywords. This is important. No matter how proud you are of your name, it will always come after the words people are likely to be searching for.

You can do some research on related phrases to find out what is the most popular search term using online SEO tools (click to see my category called “SEO Tools”). Another good way to find out what others think is to ask your customers. “What would you type into Google to find people like me, or businesses like mine?” You may be surprised to hear what real people tell you. Don’t suggest anything to them. Just ask the question this way… “If you didn’t already know about me, exactly what would you type into Google to find a business like mine?” Then shut up. Listen. Write down exactly what they say.

Writing vs. Saying

A better way would be to have them write it down. So, hand your customer a pen and paper, then ask them the question. That way they may surprise you with different spellings and word choices. People often say one thing, but type another. You want to know what they would type, not say aloud. These will suggest new ways to subdivide your page.

Now back to Matt’s suggestions:

(3) Be sure you write a short but accurate DESCRIPTION tag in your page header that also includes the most likely search term that people might use to find use. For the example above, start with the same keyword phrase. Then make the phrase work in a short sentence that uses a couple of other related possible phrases. You can get those other related phrases from the customer list you developed above, or from using online SEO Tools (see my pages on those linked above).

An example DESCRIPTION TAG in your home page header might look like this:

<meta name=”description” content=”San Diego Chiropractor certified in acupuncture, nutritional counseling, pain management and sports injuries. Affordable fees, established in 1973.”/>

You should limit your character count to be below 160, since that is all that Google or most other search engines will display. Smaller descriptions tend to make the main or first few words more important, which may help move you up in the search result listings for that phrase.

The Google Search Results Display

This is the way your listing will show up on the Google search result pages, after someone does a search for something like “San Diego chiropractor”:

San Diego Chiropractor - The Relief HQ
San Diego Chiropractor certified in acupuncture, nutritional counseling, pain management and sports injuries. Affordable fees, established in 1973.
www.yourdomain.com/ - 46k - Cached - Similar Pages

So, what about the “keywords” tag?

Don’t worry that MUCH about the keywords tag,” says Matt. “But there are a lot of other tags that you can use…” he adds, but he only mentions the description tag.

Pretty important point. What other tags? Well, fix the description and you’ve done most of the work, after you’ve established a great title tag that was based on the #1 most likely to be typed search term.

Notice that he doesn’t say NOT to use the keyword tag. So,I’d say use it — but don’t spend “much time” on it. Add a few keyword phrases that come up 2nd, 3rd or 4th on the list you developed, then stop. Do NOT use this to add irrelevant terms, and do NOT add too many of the terms that you think might be a tiny bit useful.

If you over-do this list, Google may actually subtract importance to your main keywords. But that idea is for another SEO article. I think that Matt is hinting here… he’s saying not to spend much time on it, meaning that it should not bee too long, and should not delve down too deeply into the less important keywords on our page. Shorter is better. Keep it simple.

(4) Get other sites to link back to you. You probably think that this is the hardest thing to do, right?

Not according to Matt Cutts! He points out one easy, simple way to get backlinks that help you promote your main “San Diego chiropractor” site — start a blog and post often.

Where to start a FREE blog

He suggests starting a free blog at a free blogging site like Blogger.com (which is owned by Google, interestingly). Of course there are many other similar free blogging sites, like Wordpress.com or LiveJournal.com.

The Most Popular Free Blog Sites:

• http://www.blogger.com/
• http://www.wordpress.com/
• http://www.livejournal.com/

These sites give you a real working blog that you can post to quickly and often. Matt suggests building good content on these sites that is UNIQUE and fun to read that relates to the subject of your main site and link back to that site. He points out that you should write new articles on this free blog often, so that others will come and you’ll build a community. Then as both sites grow in popularity, the importance of your primary site will grow.

(5) Register for free tools. Matt says there are 2 main tools every webmaster needs: A sitemap and Google’s analytics tools. You can get them both free. These tools help Google find your content faster.

Getting a Google Sitemap

Cutts points out that whereas it may take several months for Google to discover and crawl your pages without a Google sitemap, it can happen in only a few days if you merely produce a properly formatted sitemap of all your pages. That way they know which page to look for and where it is located on your site. You can produce a free, correctly formatted sitemap file here:

http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

Registering with Google Webmaster Tools

You will submit your sitemap file to Google by using their free Google Webmaster Tools, which you can find here:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/

On that page are links to their FAQs pages, the Tools login where you can register for their tools, and links to submit your new contents to Google.

Once you register as a webmaster, you will submit your new sitemap and begin to monitor how Google crawls your pages, which terms people use to find your site, and so on.

(6) Don’t overdo it adds Matt. Cutts warns people to avoid so-called “keyword stuffing” techniques. These tricks try to use the same keyword phrases over and over again throughout the page. The phrases are jammed into ALT tags inside images, into hidden text areas that are colored like the background or made very small, and similar tricks. This can get your site actually banned — removed from the Google index. It may not even show up at all, once it has been banned. So “use the keywords two or three times” and let the copy flow naturally”. “Weave the two or three phrases you want to be known for naturally into the page,” he suggests.

That’s a word to the wise from the guy who leads the team that removes offending web-sites from the Google index. We should pay attention to him when he cautions us about something… he knows what he’s talking about. Google pays him — and you can be sure he’s paid well — to make sure that we don’t stuff our pages with keywords.

That’s the list! Six easy (sort of) ways to promote our sites. Directly from one of the world’s experts.

And, the nice thing is, this is all free to anyone who will take the time to do the work.

Good luck to you!

—–

This review, was entirely written by us with our own editorial comments, and quotations taken from the original USA story. Our review first appeared on Qassia.com. You may want to read the original story in USA Today, or watch the video of the Matt Cutts - Jefferson Graham Interview, or visit Matt Cutt’s Personal Blog

Filed under: SEO Search Engine Optimization by IdeaPro - 1 Comment →