Saturday, July 23, 2011

Bounce Rate: Part II

The search methodology is in continuous state of evolution something more popularly referred as updates. These are algorithm changes that search companies regularly exercise. This is done in order to refine results on the SERP (Search Engine Result Page). Like a good library which keeps the best book in the front or visible range of the readers search engines too wish to show the best websites first.      

What is the best website is a matter or personal judgement hence those which are visited the most and read the most have a better chance of rankings. The search engines determine this using their programs and public/editorial  appraisal or vote (Back link). The SE cannot dig a site out of the blue hence both options are taken into consideration and the results are constantly being re-evaluated. 

The bounce rate is one of the indicator and a crucial one. All this is in response to the search query please remember. Hence there is a common sense approach to increase the visitors interest on your site. Something we do in our business restaurants, office, shops, malls etc.    

"In response to a search query" this is very important, it means your site should be extremely focused to your topic or sub topics. If you create a web site on Indian tea than your topics should be on tea, green tea, black tea, organic tea, Darjeeling tea, Assam tea, etc. Hence the content should elaborate tea and each type of tea which are sub topics. To decrease bounce rate a good website owner would desire unique contents on all pages, good graphics and links that point to related contents but not covered by your website. You can provide links to site with related content outside using "nofollow" or create pages placed lower down in the hierarchy but quite visible. The latter option is much better.    

The website promotion should concentrate on main and sub topics for inviting visitors that are seeking what you are offering. The temptation to increase traffic on search terms that are not well covered by your contents should be completely avoided. Ex. Do not optimize on Chinese tea if your website does not cover it. Chinese tea may be referred in your contents but elaborate description is not there. Hence visitors seeking Chinese Tea will not wait on your site and this will increase your bounce rate.

Not only contents all attributes of the website should be looked into. A bad architecture will surely turn the visitor away. Bad graphics , baudy color shceme, bad formatting are turn offs.     

By virtue of programs the site may come up on topics not completely covered by your website. But if you concentrate on focused the incidence would be less. Think how you can engage the visitor on site and also make him move to related pages - Contents, graphics, utility, further information, sound design, pleasing colors, friendly architecture etc.          

Friday, July 22, 2011

Bounce Rate Perspective

Bounce rate is an important element of on page seo now. I was going through my client's analytic and discovered a new perspective.  Good websites are made with with in depth focus on the topic. The promotion on SERPs is always keeping in mind the main offering. 

The content creation takes place in relation to the offerings. I will not go very deep here but remember while content is added many references creep in even though there is just a mention of that. And reference or slight mention of the person/place/technology/institutions are a must even though there is no elaborate content available on site. 

A well optimized sites brings traffic on focused terms. And if the contents are interesting or meaningful and the user is looking for them then he will stay on your site and pages and read. This will increase the chances of conversion and there be low bounce rate. 

A well optimized site also responds to phrases related to what has been referred on the site in main page, relational pages, site blogs etc. Since there is no appreciable content on referred attribute the bounce rate is going to be naturally high. This is definitely negative for you website ranking on result pages.  What can be done please read on my next blog.
   

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Understanding Canonicalization and its role in Seo

Though seo is content driven, it is useful to understand some technical tools and their uses in optimization especially in on page optimization.

Canonicalization deals with web content having multiple url issue. In search engine optimization an operator rel=”canonical”   is used to point out the real page and make other pages irrelevant. This normally happens with undefined www version and non www version of domain name causing lots of confusion.   

Example:

http://xyz.com
http://www.xyz.com
http://www.xyz.com/

The problem can also be caused if session ID is not blocked. This is called parameter handling. There is an option for this in webmaster tools use that. Best is to:

Set your preffered domain.

Specify canonical relationship :


This should be included in the section of the non camonical web page.

Preffered URLs can also be indicated to search engines using XML Site Map.

Specify Canonical in the http header.

Link: http://www.example.com/downloads/xyz.com; rel="canonical"

Adding 301 redirect is also a good idea to control the confusing factor and direct the search engine to the right page. Please do not remove the non www version using the removal tool  Check with your hosting service how this 301 can be set. In Apache .httaccess is used to execute this job for other servers check with the hosting service.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

World of Online Advertisement

With the increasing popularity of Internet the social media has become a major source of traffic generation. It is the Ad interface which has become a boon for businesses. Businesses big or small advertise using this media and get loads of publicity and trade.

The whole exercise of advertisement, traffic generation and creating a presence on major search engines is known as Internet Marketing. Many call it Online Marketing or eMarketing but the process remains the same.

Two most powerful platforms for Ads online are Google Ad words and Face Book.  Other forms are banners, affiliate marketing, you tube and podcasts, videos and other social media modes that emerge every now and then. 

Most productive platforms are till this date Ad words and Face Book.  These are easy to use and can be handled by customers themselves. The first step is to open an account and then design an ad on the interface itself. Registering with Google will enable you to list your company in Google Places and have access to webmaster tools for constant site analysis. You can also use the analytic for free which is highly effective. The text advertisement so created is circulated all over Google result pages or the Face Book site on targeted search terms. The text should be highly effective in inviting visitors and converting them into potential customers. Hence taking professional help from content writers and search engine optimizers is not a bad idea. 

These interfaces accord tremendous adaptability, niche and navigation. Hence the advertiser can control various aspects like deeply analyzed search terms, geo targeting and costs. The cost can be distributed on daily basis and a budget created as per the client’s desire.

Sometimes professional help is required in choosing keywords, geo targeting etc. Your seo service should be able to help you in choosing the right search terms. It is assumed that if you are publishing ads online you may also be into search engine optimization of your website.     

In the initial stage it is proper to organize small campaign. With greater experience you can go in for big campaigns if your budget allows. The return in many cases are very high but poorly organized campaigns will fail. 

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Title and Meta Tags - Onpage optimization

One of the major constitutents of on page optimization are the title and meta tags. There have been lot of assumptions as to the quantum of importance the search engines give to the above attributes. But this is uneccessary since these are vital elements and tell the search engines and users as to what the site is about.   

How much importance these elements deliver as far as ranking are concerned depend upon overall factors. By implementing proper title tag and meta tags you are helping the site attain good position on SERPs on targeted search terms. 

These tags do not deliver miraculous results, hence use them to inform the users and search engines about what content to should expect. The users read these tags and then decide to click on the site link hence write them very carefully. 

The overall rankings come from comprehensive exercise and not by these tags alone. Building a good site is a key to success and seo is a process used for indexing and positioning the site please remember.  

While implementing tags keep the character length of the title to a certain limit and do not stuff keywords. In later stages you can add the company name well. This will be a good brand building exercise. This applies to meta tags as well. Write decently keeping user in mind. Impress him for quick response and justify by what you deliver on the website.