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Write up a new blopg post?
Just kidding.
I totally feel you, SEO is so complicated and changes so fast that it take too much effort for most people to grok.
Show your boss the money, show him the increased traffic, the new clients...
Show him the results.
Panda has changed SEO.
http://www.seomoz.org/q/how-to-use-my-time-make-my-site-bigger-or-make-link-wheels
Link wheels in 2009 might have worked but no longer.
I would then come up with a small SEO plan that does one report & charge them for it...
Don't leave money on the table, charge them a flat rate per report & when they have a bigger budget they will hire you when you have kept in contact with them.
Don't send clients away, today's small client might become tomorrow's large one.
The same old crap spun articles that are posted on crap directories are of no value to your customers because they are not from YOU!!!
YOUR customers/friends/colleagues/mom/ WILL take the cool stuff you write & post to your site and they will pass it around, that is the true value. Not just to be posted on someone else's blog to have your client base engage with your site through your writings...
Other ideas are to become involved with chamber of commerce, local co-ops, parent organizations...
If you are a small local business become involved in small local business events, and venues.
Almost every metro area has several "buy local" charters go find them and join up, not only is it good SEO but it is great person to person networking too...If I meet YOU at my local business networking event & I like you, YOU are the plumber I'm going to call when I need one...
Another thing, I have notice the small businesses might not be as computer/SEO/net savvy as the larger ones, so by learning good SEO that you are doing now it automatically puts you in league with the big boys...How many other small plumbers have hCard microformat? It takes some study but it puts you ahead of the pack.
Are you set up with Google webmaster tools & analytics?
Tell us more about how you achieved these rankings, what is your current SEO plan?
Google no longer has a sandbox but it does have a penalty of you do any sort of black hat type of SEO
I'm a small local business ...
I have TRIED to hire SEO before, but every time I look into it I am not happy with what I run into.I would kill to have someone else take over the SEO for me & gain me clients so I could give them bigger jobs as well...Right now I am paying the 99 a month to do it myself as well as several hours per week.(Hours that I am NOT out gaining clients in person)
Now on to your issue of local vs not so local...
1. It depends on your local economy, here in Oakland it is a very mixed bag but I live quite close to larger markets such as San Francisco I even pull "local" clients from as far as Modesto & Carmel.
2. If your client can understand that people WILL travel to buy from the PERFECT vendor then he/she can pull clients from anywhere...I have had clients literally buy a plane ticket & fly to me to shoot as well as have me fly to them... Your job is to gain that small business a few killer out of state clients show them just how much ROI you can give them.
3. Many special niche markets have VERY loyal clients, who are willing to drive, fly, have products mailed to them...Make sure your clients understand that and once THEY start seeing the money flow more will flow to you...
4. If your clients are in a vacation destination then take advantage of local tourism industry...
Lots of search is not as important as targeted click through conversion search.
I honestly don't care a bit if I get 150 hits a day or 1500, I want clients...
I have in fact increased by web traffic by 100% since Jan and held it at this new level....Guess what...I might have 2x the number of visitors to my site but I don't yet have 2x the number of bookings or 2x the booking rates.
Most "natural" links are to a persons home page.
So to keep your linking strategy looking natural I would have most of the links go to your home page & a few go to internal pages with varied alt text. Many blogs are being deindexed and severely discounted.
I would concentrate less on blogging for back links and increase your own website text.
I just ran a test on this last night:
I used two ipads with safari both in the same room using the same wireless network.
1. Searched for Miami coffeehouses, Miami bookstores, Miami hotels & such, THEN I searched for "steakhouse"
2. Searched for Chicago coffeehouses, Chicago bookstores, Chicago hotels & such, THEN I searched for "steakhouse"
On the "Steakhouse" search the first matched with a local SF steakhouse, then the next TWO were for Chicago & Miami steakhouses, then the places was our local city of Oakland, & the last few results also matched for national steakhouse chains...
So yes, it looks like Google is in fact adapting the SERPS to your personal search strings....
Having varied ALT text in your links will totally expand the search terms that people will find your site with.
Varied ALT text in your images will also help quite a bit.
The optimal way to increase your sites targeted search terms is new pages with new content.
Or just adding new content to older pages as well.
As for brainstorming new search terms, I like to work with others, more brains can help with more unique ideas.
Photographers like image heavy home pages as well.
They are horrid for SEO.
You CAN rank with no text, but it is very difficult & might not be worth the extra effort...
General consensus is keep pages to 100 links per page.
This is not a hard and fast rule though.
Pages with nothing but links many times have a very high bounce rate & that drops you in SERPS.
Pages with good relevant content around the links keeps people on the pages & tells Google that this page has more value then a page with just huge list of links.
With more content you can have more links...
I would split up the link page into 2-3 pages of links & make sure that you ALSO have good content around those links.
http://www.seomoz.org/q/google-webmaster-tools-notice-of-detected-unnatural-links-2
There is a thread from a few days ago that goes over the same issues.
Their is no ONE problem....
ALL the issues brought up need to be addressed:
1. Get more varied anchor text links, get text links that reflect the other ingredients in your product as well as supplements, pills, and the like...
2. Get that load time down!!!!
3. Clean up the clutter, MAKE your client get it done.
ALL these things will help with bounce rate & customers buying.
Google has been doing this with adverts for a while, I have been in the same room with a person, on the same "page" & seen totally different ads for each of us... (I guess he never searched for high healed shoes)
Another thing I have noticed the MORE I search for a term the MORE it pops up in ads...
If I search once for red chair then no biggie, but when I spent an entire evening searching for a chaise lounge....I got ads for that damned chaise lounge for weeks....
SERPS have been different by location for years now.
I don't doubt at all that SERPS are going to be even more customized by what you "search for"
In relation to google messing with search queries it goes into androids maps as well.
I have searched google maps for addresses and locations printed out the page & taken a drive...
Luckily for me the printed google map had a wrong turn, getting me a bit lost.
I then used my android phone to try to get better directions, before I could even get the 2nd number in the address the entire address was loaded in for me...
(I'm pretty sure Google is keeping search strings we are using and applying them to alternate uses)
http://www.funkyfootstools.com/purchase-footstools.asp?cat=5&offset=12
Cute site, & I think the cute might be the problem.
As much as I love the image of the socks & feet...& the bright purple & green colors, they do not match your product descriptions of
The benchstool is individually hand built using the finest aniline leather by skilled craftsmen at our own workshop.
In the US I can go to any furniture outlet & buy the "same" product for much less still with leather mass produced in china. Yes, I know it is produced in China, but it will only cost me $99.00
Pottery Barn has the opposite idea, they look like a gallery & have very simple BG.
Think about two main ideas:
1. Your selling footstools, so make the FOOTSTOOL the main attraction in your site, not the feet with funky stripped socks & purple banners...
2. If you are selling based on UNIQUE ARTISAN QUALITY then spend a few pages showing us that artisan craft shop...The leather, the tools, the work bench.. convince us this is a hand made piece of art & not mass produced...
SEO has NEVER been certain, it has also never been static.
Google has made changes in the algo for years, they will continue to make changes.
As Google changes SEO changes right along with it.
5 years ago we used meta tags that we stuffed with keywords, now those tags have been devalued so much that they are no longer used.
4 years ago we used to make changes in our sites then sit on your hands and wait, now we make a title tag change and it is indexed by afternoon tea.
3 years ago we used to tweak our content, tags, titles, then we had to wait for the "Google Dance" that only happened once a quarter or so....THAT would shift all the SERPS up down and sideways...now, SERPS happen overnight...
Now we have image search, php sites are searchable, videos....
In the grand scheme of things SEO has always shifted, and thus what the ALGO values or devalues is also shifting. So yes links values have also shifted as they always have.
Understanding SEO is understanding an entire concept, not just bits and pieces....
The broad concept is that Google is fighting is SEO for SEO's sake & not for peoples sake. The people & SEO companies who understand that will always be ahead of the pack, those that don't will be left behind in the SERPS.
The internet is huge, gigantic, enormous...It can't be measured accurately.
Even the gods at Google Analyicitcs say themselves they can't measure the entire internet.
Link reports are more of a guideline then a rule. Yes it is very frustrating to learn that after reports and more reports from differing places you are trying to measure something that just can't be measured...Might as well measure how many flies are in your back yard right now....
With links the tracking tools give us an idea of where we are and a goal for where we want to be....
We "know" if we start with 21 domains and 82 links we can see those "measured" links.
That information tells us a little about where to go.
A blogger friend we forgot we can call up and do another round of posts for.
A new blog we did not know about that is now linking to us. (we call get more links through guest posts)
A clients blog that loved us so much we should call them up and get more orders.
An older forum we had forgotten about, time to get back to posting about our favorite subject.
Old out of date websites, time to call up your code monkey buddies & chat with them about updating their content...& thus your links...
So we do all these things and we run more reports, after a while the links add up, the information and industry contact ads up even faster....
Yes & no, Learning is great for those that have time for it, but if he has already hired a firm then his time would be better spent on earning income through his own sources...At some point SEO like all things that require much time to learn needs to be left to those who can do more with that one hour then he can do in 3 months.
http://azbestlistings.com/casa-grande-az-real-estate-homes-for-sale-in-casa-grande-az
Look at your page.
Look at where all your maps are, where your search is,
Look the copyrights info BOTH at the middle & the bottom...
_The ARMLS logo indicates a property listed by a real estate brokerage other than Sonoran Properties. _
_All information should be verified by the recipient and none is guaranteed as accurate by ARMLS. _
_Copyright 2012 Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. All rights reserved. _
Data last updated 4/5/12 10:09 AM PDT.__
2012 Diverse Solutions IDX
Do house buyers want to read all that rather then read about casa grande?