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SEO News Tip of the Day!Something big happened to Google's SERp's
Just as I was complaining that little has happened in the SEO forum world, a massive change has happened in the Google SERP’s.
A big debate is still continuing on the Webworkshop SEO Forum - Is the sandbox no more? What’s actually happened no one can really say for sure just yet but a few days ago a huge chunk of results have been updated with the end result of many webmasters sites seeing drastic changes in their rankings, some good and some bad. What at first sight seems to be a mass sandbox drop e.g. Google removed the sandbox filter from a huge quantity of websites all in one go. But is that really what happened, what are your thoughts? Some have said it may be the start of a semantic ranking algorithm, while others are saying it may be Google trying to play us with a bit of good old fashioned confusion. A few more people have even said that the only sites that have dropped into the rankings are all either SEO websites or related to SEO in some shape or form e.g. an SEO clients website. Personally I have seen a few sites that I have been working on affected, all dropping straight onto the first pages for the search phrases optimised. Quite a relief as some of them I have been working on for the last eight months (You can imagine how the clients felt after eight months of SEO with few results). I do not know what happened but I have a strong gut feeling that what we have just witnessed is something to do with the sandbox. If I’m right and it was Google experimenting with the sandbox it begs a few questions. Is this the end of the sandbox? Hopefully yes but it may be the start of an even greater type of sandbox. My own thoughts on the sandbox are quite well known and I fail to see how it benefits the webmaster and more importantly the end user. The internet is the fastest moving form of communication we have ever seen and search engines need to reflect that. What use is it if a new trend becomes popular and by the time a webmasters site has come out of the sandbox, the trend has ended. If Google continues using a sandbox type filter, the likes of MSN and Yahoo will defeat them by showing fresh content. The new MSN search already has a search builder that enables you display sites with recently updated content. Is this the start of something new, a new way the sandbox works? This could be the one and I just hope it isn’t. Google has made it clear that they do not want people to be able to interfere with their ranking algorithm. What we have seen may be a taste of things to come, a “mass sandbox” type effect where sites are held for a longer period of time and then all released in one go. This could enable Google to test the new SERP’s to spot trouble areas and address them before the new SERP is public. The above is pure speculation and the truth of what actually happened is probably something completely different. One thing for sure though is something has happened and it is likely to be something big! 
Increase Web Site Sales with a SEO Proposal - Part 2
Part I of this article discussed some of the points that should be included in a search engine optimization proposal. Visit the resources section at the bottom of the page if you wish to get a copy of the whole article. Part 2 will discuss the following topics: Creation of Meta Information Creation of Meta Information (title, description, keywords) Meta information is used to provide additional information about HTML documents so that the search engine crawlers are able to index the information more accurately. There are 3 important types of Meta tags as far as search engine optimization is concerned: Title tag: The Title tag is not a Meta tag. However title tags play a vital role in your site's rankings. It is these words or phrase that appear in the title of your page in the hyperlink listings on the search engine results. I include the most relevant and specific keywords or key phrases in the title tag that best describe the contents of the page. Meta description tag This gives a short and concise summary of the content of your web page. The description appears in the SEs just below the title tag. I ensure that the meta description tag is brief but includes some of your top keywords. The words used must inspire the visitor to check your site out further. Each page must be customized so all your web pages will not have the same meta tag descriptions. Meta keywords tag Although not as relevant as the other tags mentioned above, the Meta keywords tag is still recognized by some SEs. I include a number of meta keywords for you that are relevant to the content of your web pages. Site Map Creation The creation of a site map page enables SE spiders better crawling of your site. It also helps visitors to quickly scan your whole site for relevant information. A link and a short description of that link is created for each page of your site. The site map page is then added to your main navigation menu. Link Popularity Building Link Popularity refers to the number of links pointing to your site, from other sites on the web. There are other terms used for Link Popularity, such as Link building, In Bound Links, Back Links, etc The Search Engines consider your site important and rank it higher if other sites link to your site. There are two types of links you can establish on the web. One type is to trade links (Link Exchange), where you give a link from the links Page on your site to the partner sites. The second method is to establish only "incoming links" also called 'one-way links' or 'non-reciprocal links". With non-reciprocal links, you do not need to link back to them. There are several ways of developing Inbound links. Some of the techniques I follow in one way link building are: a) Submitting to Free Directories b) Writing articles and submitting to various sites for publishing to increase the link popularity of your site. c) Press releases d) Sending requests to established sites explaining the site quality and asking for links. In the link exchange process, you trade links with prospective partner sites by offering a link to their site from your own site. I provide reciprocal link building services to increase the link popularity of your site. Web Site Load time and HTML Validation Search Engines don't like sites which take a lot of time to load. They sometimes ignore these sites and place them lower in their index than fast loading sites. Some reasons for slow load times include html errors and bad image optimization. Sometimes sites are coded badly which can be a big block for visiting search engine crawlers. I will check your site's load times and make the necessary changes to the html where necessary. Downloading and Uploading of Web Pages To make the necessary changes to your site, web pages will need to be downloaded to my computer. After changes are completed the pages will then be uploaded to the server. Search Engine and Directory Submissions Your site is submitted by hand to all the major search engines, directories and some specialized directories. Not all SEs and Directories have the same rules for submission, therefore care will be taken to submit to the appropriate search engines by following their specific guidelines. Browser Compatibility and Resolution Checking People view sites in different browsers and at different resolutions. I make sure your site can be viewed in all the major browsers and in the most common resolutions. Adjustments will be made to the site's code where necessary. Resources Why You Need a SEO Maintenance Plan Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com To choose a Search Engine Optimization Plan or SEO Maintenance Plan that fits your web site, visit: http://www.isitebuild.com/sitepromotion
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