Ok ok, so I’m really not sure how much boredom this will really save me from (as I am incredibly busy these days), but this is definitely one more thing to add to my list of projects; and make a priority!

A colleague of mine at Covario (formerly Netconcepts) once presented the greater group with a magical Google Spreadsheet that did all sorts of neat things like suggest websites to get links from and show top 10 competitors for a given search term.  This really opened my eyes to a new world of possibilities.

Being as busy as I’ve been, however, I haven’t really had a chance to look into these possibilities until just last week.  And I’m here to say that Google Spreadsheets can help SEOs a LOT.  Sounds kind of funny, I know, but its true.

Using them can help you with things like tracking indexation across the major engines along with keeping tabs on inbound links or even exploring new opportunities for inbound links… in a more automated fashion.

Pairing up the power of Google Spreadsheets with a good scripting language like Python or PHP, and leveraging both via the Google Spreadsheets API, could end up being a very valuable tool for SEOs.

So I am going to spend a lot of time this week digging my head into figuring out what resources I can leverage to make this happen.  Python is exciting and I would like to play with it some more, but right now I’m thinking PHP may be the best way to get it done.  There’s definitely a Spreadhseets API library for PHP, and it is my main focus as a language right now, so it will probably make most sense to just use PHP.

Stay tuned and follow along to find out what I can do to help SEOs by leveraging Google Spreadsheets and PHP.

Cheers!

These would be things like using the targeted keyword in the video name, Title tags, etc along with some other factors like reviews, ratings and comments. Typical on page factors, really.

Well conveniently enough, Search Engine Land just put out an interesting post on this subject yesterday: The Key To Top Video Rankings On YouTube & Google.

In that post, there is mention of a recurring and oh-so crucial theme when it comes to SEO; applied to video.  Can you guess what that might be?  That’s right, LINKS!

There is a video included as well.  One where Matt Cutts is asked why one video may rank so well vs. a different video.  And surprise, surprise, he comes back with something like: “Off the top of my head I would think that the video ranking well may just have a very powerful link pointing to it and maybe has more PageRank or link authority.”

Well thanks a lot, Matt.  That really helps.  No, really… I’m not just being facetious.

Bottom line once again: Links are probably the single most crucial factor when it comes to achieving and maintaining good search engine rankings (once any technical/content barriers have been hurdled).   Have valuable content, people will link to it.  Have a video that people like, and they will link to it.  Get many high quality inbound links and Google “rewards”.  Its almost that simple.   And it doesn’t necessarily just apply to web pages now, either.

Since the launch of blended search and roll out of the Caffeine update, it seems that Google is switching their focus from “pages” to “Documents”.  And clearly Videos are included.

Happy Friday!

When changing themes, make SURE your web analytics tracking code is carried over.

To give a wee-bit of insight, I learned this the hard way just recently.  As you may have noticed, I started blogging pretty much every day of the work week.  Missed Friday of last week since Thursday was my birthday (the big 24 – officially mid-twenties now. Scary.), but I felt I did pretty well.

Well I have been through almost 6 different themes in the 2-3 years I’ve had this site, and usually I am anal retentive when it comes to making sure that tracking code is carried over.  Well, I got a bit lazy in the past 6 months, I guess.

Changed my theme using WooThemes, which has an admin Theme option for inputting footer scripts like tracking code.  Well needless to say, I took that for granted and did not check the source of my pages to be sure.  And frankly, at the time, tracking code wasn’t important.  I just wanted to play with a new theme :)

Moral of the story: Check, check and check again to be sure that you have the correct tracking code placed wherever it needs to be on your pages.

I think I lost about 2 months worth of site data.  Really nothing to get upset about, since I think I’m averaging a piddly 3-4 visits/day, but that’s still valuable data that I cannot get back.

Good thing I got it back on in time for my bday tho!  I think I got a whopping 15 visits on the 4th and 5th! WooHoo! :-P

Stay classy.

“Well no shit, Shirlock,” some may say, but I’m serious.  SEO has been established as an extremely feasible and relatively cheap way of getting more and/or new business.  As a result, EVERYONE wants in.

So in the last couple years I have seen businesses of all sizes jump on the bandwagon.  I’ll share a little insight, too: they ALL want to be #1.

Obviously that’s just not possible, so in these past few years I have spent a lot of time getting clients’ sites to rank as high as they possibly can for as many of their key terms as possible.  And in doing so, I have worked with some sites that just have too many barriers to even have a chance in their current state.  I’m sure any  SEO that’s been around for a while has come across those.  But that isn’t what this post is about.

This post is really geared to speak towards those sites that may not have a ton of barriers, and may in fact have a vast majority of SEO best practices implemented, but just aren’t seeing the results they’ve been expecting.   This may actually be more common a case than most people think.  I have had many site owners come to me saying, “why, why, WHY aren’t we ranking well for [X] term??”

The truth is that the answer to their question may not be something they really want to hear.  The truth is that it comes down to a matter of perceived value.  Let me explain.

I’m sure most people reading this have come across at least a few videos of Matt Cutts answering questions from people in the web community.  I think some could/would also say that MOST videos of Matt Cutts answering the “how do I optimize my site for search?” question ends with the same tune.  Well I believe there is a reason for that.

That familiar tune to which I am referring is the age old “just focus on generating good content that people will want to link to” line.  I think you know what I’m talking about.  I, myself, found that to be a bit of a cop out at first.  But then I got to thinking…. Why does he just keep saying that?  Could it be a company line? Sure.  But I like to think that it has more meaning than that.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here are a couple of links:

• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5179191836301432169 (The whole thing is great, but skip to about 1:35 to just hear what I’m referring to)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRzMhlFZz9I (another great video, but again, what I’m referring to is about 1:00 into it.

In both videos, Matt states that generating good content (that people will want to link to, wink, wink) is one of the single most important parts of doing well in SEO.

So what? That doesn’t really answer the website owner’s question about why they’re not ranking well for a certain term.  Well, actually, it does.  So here is the candid secret to good search engine rankings:

HAVE A GOOD WEBSITE!

Sounds a little silly and even TOO remedial, doesn’t it?  I would agree.  But seriously, think about it.   Why would Matt Cutts keep saying to just focus on your users and having good content?  It comes back to what I said about perceived value and a scope even larger than just SEO.

Truly good websites will tend to do well in the search engines because some portion of the web community deems them as being valuable.

So regardless of your website’s purpose (ecommerce, lead-gen, publication, etc), you need to ask yourself one question: “How can I make my website content more valuable to my users?”  Answer that, and you will already be well on your way to great search engine rankings.

Cheers!

I would also assume that anyone who has done keyword research has also come across the age old question: “How much traffic will this term get us?”  That is almost the whole reason for doing keyword research to begin with, right?

Well as I’m sure you know, that question isn’t very hard to answer.  Just use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool!

But wait,  so we’re using the tool and seeing search volume data, but it appears that the volume is limited to last month? What’s up with that?  I don’t just want last month’s data…. My products are popular in 6 months!

Well its a good thing that the folks over at Covario (formerly Netconcepts) thought about that and came up with a helpful tool called the Google Keyword Tool Annualizer.

Basically, its an excel spreadsheet that will take an export from the Google Adwords Keyword Tool with search volume trends (make sure that is selected to show when you export) and spit out a number of total search volume over the course of 12 months.

Sounds pretty simple, right?  Well if its so damn simple, why doesn’t Google just tell us annual search volume data?!  No need to dwell, though.  This will take care of it for you.

So if you ever find yourself in a position where you need to find out how many potential visits you can get from a given search term (or set of search terms) over the course of an entire year, look no more!  The tool has arrived!

Enjoy.  

I took a Natural Search Marketing Analyst position at a top-tier natural search company called Netconcepts

They really have their act together in a lot of ways and I am so excited to grow and learn from this new opportunity. I have the chance to work with several industry leaders that speak at conferences and author many search related articles and blogs.

The company primarily deals with IR 500 (or better) companies and websites. So I will get the chance to work with some great/huge clients. I’m sure it will be challenging, but I feel like it will be a great fit for me. This is my first week (starting Monday, May 19 2008) and have spent most of my time training and reading various materials, but by next week I should be on my way and have some clients assigned to me.

Furthermore, I plan on being much more active with my blogs. Both danreno.com and movienik.com. They have been a little neglected for the last few months (for various reasons, but my previous job being the primary) and hope to change that ASAP. And since my new position is exclusive to natural search, I will probably be posting much much more in my SEO category. Obviously I won’t be letting any secrets go or anything like that, but anything I can share, I will.

So stay tuned for more news in Reno’s Realm. There is much more to come.

SEOdr

And my Resume in the SEOmoz Marketplace:

Check out the SEO Services Marketplace

If you haven’t seen that already, I really recommend that you check it out.

Search Engine Strategies: Chicago

PubCon 2007

I’ve expressed my interest in them to my company, but for some reason I just don’t think I’ll be making it to either of them. Well, actually, it would be impossible to make it to both and be worth while since they’re happening during the same week.

Last year, a colleague of mine and I were able to go to one day of the SES Chicago. We took so much great info from that day alone. Which is why I really want to go to one of these for the whole week.

Like I said before, I have been to SES so I know a little bit about what that one has to offer. But to be honest, I really think the PubCon conference will be a better conference for serious SEO’s. All of the top dogs will be there, its a lot cheaper and its in Vegas.

But that being said, I definitely think that SES would be more than worth it to attend if only for one day again. I mean, it is local so its kind of a no-brainer. Especially considering how much value I got from that one day last year.

Oh well… There will be others to go to. I just need to dig up all I can about any new info that might have been presented at the events. I think there are also internet radio stations that will have coverage of the events.