Advanced SEO

This article deals with the finer points of search engine optimization (SEO) and how you can use advanced techniques to improve your rank. If you are new to SEO, check out ourSEO Basics article first.

Rule 1: Improving your relevance = improving your rank.

There are many, many factors that make up a search engine's ranking algorithm and there is no one person that can give you an exact formula. In fact, the formula may change based on your industry or keywords. Most SEO experts will agree, however, there are some known factors that have influence beyond the basic level of search engine optimization.

If you are trying to achieve rank for a keyword that is low in competitiveness, you may not need to consider these advanced SEO factors. But, in some circumstances every little boost is important.

Site Structure:

Pages that are more than 2-3 levels deep within a website tend to achieve rank less often than pages at root level.
www.mysite.com/keyword.html versus www.mysite.com/content/pages/category/keyword.html

Site maps (linked from the home page) are used by search engine robots to easily find pages within your site.

Search engine robots follow text links much easier than image or script links so don't make it harder.

URL's that contain keywords are a ranking factor for some engines. Even if your domain name doesn't contain your keyword; you can still insert it by using a page naming methodology like this:
www.mysite.com/keyword.html instead of www.mysite.com/contentID4.html

SEO Mystery Solved: Why is Google Changing my Title Tags?

POSTED BY SEOLAIR ON FEBRUARY - 22 - 20114 COMMENTS

Welcome the first installment of the ew SEO Lair series, SEO mysteries solved.  We about to begin on an epic journey, uncovering the webs most unsolved SEO mysteries.  Some will be easy and almost obvious, like today’s topic – Why is Google changing my title tags?  Others will be much more complex.  Let’s solve an SEO mystery, shall we?

Google’s “Instant Preview” Changes Nothing

POSTED BY SEOLAIR ON NOVEMBER - 16 - 20101 COMMENT

You can’t pull up a search engine news feed and ignore the overwhelming amount of posts regarding Google Instant Preview (GIP).  Almost every post I’ve read on the issue praises Google and speaks to the benefits of Google Instant Preview (GIP).  Some go into more detail then others.  Here’s just a small sample of claims about GIP I’ve read over the past few days…”Google Instant Preview may just shake up web design forever”. GIP is a “weapon” that Google will use to fight Facebook for internet traffic. GIP can “improve your SEO rankings”. GIP could potentially be “more important than Google Instant itself”.