Your Host: Jill Whalen [jill@highrankings.com]
________________________________________________________
~~~IN TODAY'S ADVISOR~~~
*Introductory Comments:
----> Don't Miss the Website Marketing Workshops
*Search Engine Marketing:
----> Dynamically Generated Pages and Dynamic Titles
----> Duplicate Content Via Press Releases
----> Measuring SEO Services
----> Fixing Duplicate Content
----> Discontinued Products Showing in Google
*High Rankings Happenings:
----> Half-day Website Marketing Workshops – April 2–3
----> $100 Off Our Basic SEO Consultation Package
----> Full-day SEO Training Classes
*Advanced SEO Forum Thread of the Week:
----> Combining Subdomains
*Advisor Wrap-up:
----> Jill's Excellent February Adventure 2009
________________________________________________________
~~~Introductory Comments~~~
Hey everyone!
Just wanted to let you know that we still have openings for the April Website Marketing Workshops. While I know March has just begun, April will be upon us very quickly and they're filling up fast. Remember, these are different from our usual SEO Training Classes because these are half-day workshops, each focused on a particular aspect of marketing your website. If you've already got a good handle on SEO basics, these workshops are exactly what you need to take your website to the next level. And in this rough economic climate, can you really afford to keep your site at the same old level? Learn more here:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-0ZL3DPgx5EvPE%404036285-2v5WJbLbXkzOY
Well, I've got some interesting SEO Q&A for you today, so without further ado, let's get straight to it. – Jill
~~~Search Engine Marketing Issues~~~
++Dynamically Generated Pages and Dynamic Titles++
Hi Jill,
I run an apartment search website. The sites search results pages are dynamic and pulled from the database. If these dynamic pages also have dynamic page titles, will they be search engine relevant?
Thanks,
Robin
++Jill's Response++
Hi Robin,
As with most SEO questions, it depends. (See this article I wrote: http://m1e.net/c?86763832-DdHOHGnS72mD.%404036286-68HaeI9I6i4vY
Most websites are dynamically generated, with the info being pulled from a database. That, in and of itself, is not a problem for search engines. But it depends on how the user of the website finds the dynamic pages. If you're linking to the dynamic pages with hard-coded links in the website's navigation, then to the search engines, the resulting pages are not any different from a static HTML page. If, however, the only way to gain access to that page is through a site search, it's another story. The search engines traditionally can't find information on your site that is only accessible via a search box.
As far as your dynamic titles are concerned, again, it depends. If you're using a website template that has a generic Title tag for each resulting page, that would not be good. But if your dynamically generated Title tag is pulling relevant information from the resulting page itself, then it could be fine. It becomes a matter of what information you've instructed the Title tags to pull. For small sites, we usually recommend creating custom Title tags based on the 3 or 4 keyword phrases for which you've optimized the page content. However, for extremely large websites, dynamically generating the Title tags based on a specific set of rules is definitely the way to go.
The main takeaway here is that the Title tags must be unique to the page they're on, and must also focus on the main keyword phrases for that page.
Hope this helps!
Jill
Share your comments and thoughts here:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-wETUo5Knaae1o%404036287-JwuYVqXMmF0DA
_____________________High Rankings______________________
Website Marketing Workshops – April 2–3, 2009
______________________________________________________
4 Half-day Workshops to Choose From!
Already know the SEO basics?
In these half-day in-depth website marketing workshops you will learn:
* Keywords: How to research them and use them within your website
* Copywriting: For your target audience and the search engines
* Social media: How to get the word out and gain traffic and links for your website
* Web analytics: How to measure the success of your web marketing campaigns.
Register for just one workshop, an entire day, or all 4!
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-TI8M0jfFAu/Ko%404036285-iAkyS.th3oVAw
______________________________________________________
++Duplicate Content Via Press Releases++
Dear Jill,
I disseminate news releases for clients using online wire services. Additionally, the releases are posted on my clients' websites, usually as PDFs, and on my firm's website, the same PDF. My programmer just told me that unless I make these releases different I am causing search engine apoplexy. Please let me know the facts and, more important, what I should be doing. Would having one version as HTML, the second as a PDF and the third as an MS Word file solve the problem, if there is one?
Many thanks,
Bob
++Jill's Response++
Hi Bob,
Your programmer is mistaken. The press releases in all those areas are not a problem for search engines. They'll just filter some of them out in a search, so typically only one will show, just as it should be.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Jill
Share your comments and thoughts here:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-rzExC0n657miE%404036288-DnDQqsGkPCS.E
++Measuring SEO Services++
Hi Jill,
I do all of the SEM for my company, and am a great fan of your newsletter. My work is judged by the number of keywords that are in the top 5 listings in organic search. We work in a tiny niche, with only 327 other companies in our business in the USA.
My question is, how should SEO services be evaluated? In other words, what measurable objectives beyond landing above the fold are appropriate?
Thanks,
Beth
++Jill's Response++
Hi Beth,
I've written extensively on measuring the success of your SEO campaigns, so I won't go into too much detail here. Suffice it to say that rankings are definitely not the correct measurement anymore, and haven't been for quite awhile. For more on that, you can see my Search Engine Land article entitled: 5 Reasons Why Rankings Are a Poor Measure of Success:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-DPm6LZp2Mmh92%404036289-lGG2V//aef8AA
In addition, here's a slew of articles and info on this from our own High Rankings site:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-JnaLedNySybBU%404036290-lm8rtVOD1pT/Q
To answer your question directly, the success of your SEO campaign will depend upon the goals set forth at the outset. Typically, it would be increased targeted traffic, conversions and/or sales.
Hope this helps!
Jill
Share your comments and thoughts here:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-CRzESEXSXwmb.%404036291-JE7kuqwCBZdVI
___________Only for HRA Newsletter Subscribers!______________
$100 Off Our Basic SEO Consultation Package
_______________________________________________________
Q. Why isn't my website performing as it should?
A. If your website isn't bringing you targeted search engine traffic
that converts, then basically, it's broken.
SEO Consultant Jill Whalen has over 14 years of experience reviewing
websites and explaining exactly how to fix what's broken.
Learn more about our Basic SEO Consultation Package now:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-02iVdi7Fe2m7.%404036292-uMwiTyr/tXZj%2e
To save $100, please mention this offer on our request info form.
Offer good for contracts signed and paid for between now and
March 31, 2009.
_______________________________________________________
++Fixing Duplicate Content++
Dear Jill,
We have a travel website where people can enquire about beautiful small hotels we offer. Even though each hotel has a unique URL with unique content, the categories pages have a duplication problem.
We have, for example, categories such as "on the beach," "romantic," "villas," "luxury," etc. Many hotels belong in more than one category, so the category pages comprise hotel "short descriptions/modules" that are repeated across the various categories.
None of the pages is an exact duplicate, but they are not completely unique either, so link juice may be diluted.
We have thought hard about this, but have not found a solution.
Best wishes,
Roger
++Jill's Response++
Hi Roger,
This is very similar to a question I answered earlier this month regarding what's known as "canonical" issues:
Same Content, Different URLs:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-FRReTRbv3MyBM%404036293-QClkOeKGq2WGs
At the time, there was no easy solution other than fixing the CMS. Unfortunately, that's often a lot easier said than done. However, soon after the newsletter was published, Google's Matt Cutts announced at the SMX West conference a new HTML "tag" that they call the "Canonical Link Element."
Matt's got a great video tutorial explaining what canonical page issues are, as well as various ways to fix them, plus how to use this new element in your HTML code when your situation calls for it. You can watch the video and see his presentation here:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-PfB5qa0uqkMQs%404036294-xXaKRacZ3H6rc
The idea of this new element is to provide you with a way to tell the search engines which URL is the preferred one if and when they find similar content being shown at different URLs. From what Matt says in the video, it appears that any link popularity or PageRank that might otherwise be split by multiple URLs will be channeled to the preferred URL. Since that's the main reason why you don't typically want multiple URLs for the same content, this is indeed a much-needed fix.
This issue has plagued webmasters, developers, and SEOs for ages, so it's great that all of the major search engines have announced that they will support this element. Of course, it's still very new, so we've yet to see how well it works. Of course, as always when using any tag or element on your website that the search engines specifically made up, you are letting them know that you know a thing or two about SEO. But if you're not a tinfoil hat paranoid SEO, it shouldn't matter...right?
Best,
Jill
Share your comments and thoughts here:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-OSX/XWUQ.GHm6%404036295-fZXAxKJCJQAWM
______________High Rankings SEO Training___________________
2009 SEO Training Classes Open for Registration
_______________________________________________________
1-day SEO Training Class for beginners to intermediate learners.
You will learn what SEO is and isn't, as well as what you need to do
to bring in more search engine visitors who are seeking out exactly
what you offer.
Class is limited to 6 students and we will work on YOUR specific
website issues.
Only two seats left for the April class:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-QAQeJ7utc1E.g%404036296-a0IzuEIvQnnao
_______________________________________________________
++Discontinued Products Showing in Google++
Hello Jill,
Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I thoroughly enjoyed your newsletter No. 249
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-U3gfGLnyG0E7g%404036297-Ca0t0aRgvAUNs
because you answered questions directly.
I would like to ask a question too, please. Our website is geared to sell GPS equipment. Many of the products have a life of about 6 months to a year. Google indexes these very well, and we rank highly. However, some searches display discontinued products (I guess because they have been around the longest).
This could give the impression that we sell discontinued products (we do not), which makes the website look out of date. We still need to have these products on our website (we cannot remove them) because some customers still need accessories. Is it possible to coax Google to display current products on a model search? Would we lose ranking in the process?
Kind regards,
Basil
++Jill's Response++
Hi Basil,
Glad you like the newsletter!
For your little problem, would it be possible to add some very prominent links to the newer models on those older model pages? Or even some of the newer models listed right there on the same page?
Doing something like that would help solve the problem of people finding those pages from the search engines but wanting a newer model, while also allowing others to find the older-model accessories they may be seeking.
Best,
Jill
Share your comments and thoughts here:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-k1fMcezDkMznQ%404036298-YleKwaZDU5vlQ
(P.S. If anyone would like to republish the above Q&A articles, please email me your request and where it will reside, and I'll send you a short bio you can use with it for your site.)
~~~Advanced SEO Forum Thread of the Week~~~
++Combining Subdomains++
Forum member Convergent7 has a website that uses a subdomain along with the main domain. He/she wonders if it would be better to combine them into one.
Read what others have to say or leave your comments here:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-6cwvwv0udm4pQ%404036299-2CQfnhMlup7nk
~~~Advisor Wrap-up~~~
That's all for today!
I had a great time during my 2009 version of "Jill's Excellent February Adventure" in Santa Clara, CA, Las Vegas, and London. It was especially good to spend time with my daughter Jamie in Vegas, as I hadn't seen her in a whole year. We saw the Criss Angel show, which was great because she's a big fan of his. London was also fun since the rest of the family met me there. We did a lot of sightseeing in the few days we were there.
There's some pics here:
Vegas: http://m1e.net/c?86763832-0apZ9odpf9n0Y%404036300-lQ7NgijNlte6E
London: http://m1e.net/c?86763832-BSi8cR0yzTXh2%404036301-ZzPzehppP/Qc2
I didn't take any pics in Santa Clara, unfortunately.
I'm looking forward to our March SEO Class this week:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-58XxaUqytbUH6%404036296-oGcRyr9.D5qO%2e
We haven't had one since October (in case of bad weather). Will tell you all about it next time!
Catch you in 2 weeks! – Jill
Looking for SEO Services, Consulting or Training?
See what High Rankings has to offer:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-F6yvwrW8iIrUg%404036302-eKfaIExVrxzV2
Today's issue is also available online in the newsletter archives:
http://m1e.net/c?86763832-IjqtTazEWC5Ec%404036303-oRvRGdLWtQWA%2e
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