Ok, I have the theme song to the Jeffersons' stuck in my head. BUT THAT'S OKAY! Why? Because GetMyHomesValue.com is movin' on up for the keyword real estate leads (shameless plug, sorry) and I am just too excited about it!
I've been working on our ranking in Google for "real estate leads" for about 2 weeks or so and finally we made some (big) headway! When I started with this, we showed up on page 2 - usually somewhere between #15-20. Where are we now? FIRST PAGE BABY! And averaging about #7 or so to boot! Of course this handy Google Watch tool lets me search Google's datacenters to see see where we're popping up all over. So far we're staying strong from #6-#8.
I'm just so darned proud. So how did I do it?
Good question. Unfortunately, I've done several things with that keyword, and with SEO, sometimes it can be hard to pinpoint the one thing you did to get you higher up in SERPs (and sometimes, it's not any ONE thing). In this case, I think it was the articles I wrote dealing with real estate leads. They have useful content for GetMyHomesValue.com website but more importantly, contain really great information for any real estate agent who wants to be successful. To get them noticed I sent them to quite a few article directories (linking back to GMHV's real estate leads page of course) and *poof*, lots of back links from relatively trusted sources.
I've also been spending time on real estate blogs and forums. And no, I'm not just posting to get my link in there - I only respond to posts with what I think is very useful information for the reader. What's my reward? Working in a link back to GMHV's real estate leads page of course!
I think mostly though, it's the article thing. Pumping out useful articles not only builds content on our site, but gives me the excuse to get my writing and our link out there to tons of directories.
Now I know some SEOs may not like those tactics, but shoot, they work for me. But I'm constantly searching for new angles to get GMHV links and work up up on SERPs, so feel free to leave any suggestions you may have.
**Quick side note - I did a Google search this morning and we came up #7, did it now, we're #9. Grrr. I'll have to see where we're at tonight from home**
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
How Do Paid Links Impact Google Search Results
Well, that seems to be the question over at Google. Matt Cutts has posted a couple blogs about paid links and how Google will be working on detecting them and figuring out what kind of impact they have on Google's search results. I'm not going to go into the details, just my take on things, so for more info, you probably want to shoot over to Matt's posts about reporting paid linking and hidden links.
I am in no way an expert on these things, but I like to think I'm getting more SEO savvy as I go, so this is my basic understanding of the situation:
First, the number of sites linking to yours have a large effect on you ranking in Google search results (but it's not the only factor by a long shot). So, if you can afford to buy a ton of links, congratulations, you'll rank #1 for your keyword(s). Now obviously, that sucks, b/c all it means is the sites with the most money will fill in the top ranks in Google. Google wants to make sure that doesn't happen (good for them) hence them requesting that webmasters NOT use paid links as backlinks, since technically, they're not "natural" links (no matter how relevant the site you're paying to link to you is to the subject of your own site). They would like paid links to be reported or for the linkers to put the nofollow attribute in the link coding so the spiders won't count it as a backlink. (You still with me here? I know the terminology gets old).
So if a webmaster does THAT, it means the paid link is strictly to get traffic to your site, not to help your ranking in Google search results. My honest opinion? That's bullshit (excuse my language). If I'm going to pay for a link, I want the best of both worlds. I want it to help my ranking AND get me more traffic and I don't care who knows it. There is nothing wrong with that tactic - when used in moderation.
It really always comes down to moderation. Should you purchase 1000 links to get ranking on Google? Probably not. Should you purchase several well researched, relevant links to both drive traffic and help out your rankings? Why not? You have every right to do it, and I don't see that as being "black hat" SEO tactics. Maybe a bit on the grayer side of white, but what of it?
Personally, I think Google is getting a little high handed - which doesn't surprise me, given the fact that the online community are the ones that gave them all the power. People - Google is not a monopoly - there are plenty of other search engines out there - not all are as good as Google, but they all have their features.
Don't get it twisted - I still love Google - it's the first SE I go to when I'm searching - I just don't want them to get too much of a God complex going on when it comes to the rules of determining what should and shouldn't be done when it comes to SEO and getting your website ranked on search engines.
Rather than try and do away with most paid links by getting them reported - why not figure out a way to separate those who use paid linking responsibly, from those who are just taking advantage. Granted, might be tougher than I make it sound, but Google's got a ton of great minds - I'm sure they can come up with something fair.
I am in no way an expert on these things, but I like to think I'm getting more SEO savvy as I go, so this is my basic understanding of the situation:
First, the number of sites linking to yours have a large effect on you ranking in Google search results (but it's not the only factor by a long shot). So, if you can afford to buy a ton of links, congratulations, you'll rank #1 for your keyword(s). Now obviously, that sucks, b/c all it means is the sites with the most money will fill in the top ranks in Google. Google wants to make sure that doesn't happen (good for them) hence them requesting that webmasters NOT use paid links as backlinks, since technically, they're not "natural" links (no matter how relevant the site you're paying to link to you is to the subject of your own site). They would like paid links to be reported or for the linkers to put the nofollow attribute in the link coding so the spiders won't count it as a backlink. (You still with me here? I know the terminology gets old).
So if a webmaster does THAT, it means the paid link is strictly to get traffic to your site, not to help your ranking in Google search results. My honest opinion? That's bullshit (excuse my language). If I'm going to pay for a link, I want the best of both worlds. I want it to help my ranking AND get me more traffic and I don't care who knows it. There is nothing wrong with that tactic - when used in moderation.
It really always comes down to moderation. Should you purchase 1000 links to get ranking on Google? Probably not. Should you purchase several well researched, relevant links to both drive traffic and help out your rankings? Why not? You have every right to do it, and I don't see that as being "black hat" SEO tactics. Maybe a bit on the grayer side of white, but what of it?
Personally, I think Google is getting a little high handed - which doesn't surprise me, given the fact that the online community are the ones that gave them all the power. People - Google is not a monopoly - there are plenty of other search engines out there - not all are as good as Google, but they all have their features.
Don't get it twisted - I still love Google - it's the first SE I go to when I'm searching - I just don't want them to get too much of a God complex going on when it comes to the rules of determining what should and shouldn't be done when it comes to SEO and getting your website ranked on search engines.
Rather than try and do away with most paid links by getting them reported - why not figure out a way to separate those who use paid linking responsibly, from those who are just taking advantage. Granted, might be tougher than I make it sound, but Google's got a ton of great minds - I'm sure they can come up with something fair.
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