A lot of the mystery about SEO can be solved simply by getting the information straight from the horse’s mouth. Yes, that’s right! One of the best SEO resources comes direct from Google. Specifically Matt Cutts. For a few years he has been uploading very helpful videos on the GoogleWebmasterHelp channel on YouTube. There are over 300 in fact. If you haven’t subscribed to the channel, I recommend doing so. It’s personally one of my favorite resources and something I place the a lot value in.

The channel has a variety of different videos, but the ones that I like the most are the QNA videos done by Matt Cutts. In these videos Matt answers questions that people have sent in. Matt has an excellent way of explaining things. He often breaks things down in ways that everyone can understand. You can quickly tell that it’s important to him that his message is understood well. The videos are recorded in a very relaxed and casual setting which really allow you to concentrate and absorb the information being shared. Here are a few examples.

In the world of SEO, often you hear about link building. It’s an important aspect of SEO. It’s so important that there are a slew of products, services, and tactics that claim to help people with building backlinks. Some of these products may work, but it’s a safe guess that many do not. Most of the services are very expensive, and I suspect that most fail to deliver what is expected. Lastly, it seems that there are only a few tactics that are truly effective. That said, have you ever considered learning more about different ways to build links yourself? Matt Cutts has recorded an 8 minute video that talks about just that. Here is the video below:

What about keyword spam? Specifically using multiple versions of the same phrase and rewording it multiple times in your content? (i.e. SEO Hosting, Hosting SEO, Search Engine Optimized Hosting, Optimized Hosting For Search Engines, etc.) In other words, does Google consider it keyword spam when you target multiple variants of the same keyword phrase? The reason why people do this is because in most cases each variant can return different results in the SERPs. Let’s see what Matt has to say about that:

A couple of years ago there was a lot of interest with converting a standard WordPress blog into a DoFollow blog. Meaning, the nofollow tag is either manually removed from the code or a plugin is used to achieve the same result. The purpose is to reward people by passing PageRank in exchange for leaving a comment on your blog post. This is still done today. But what does Matt Cutts have to say about this? Let’s find out. Pay attention to the point made at 2:00 minutes into the video:

Have you ever wondered why it takes a long time for Googlebot to come back to your site to reindex it? I have personally played around with this a few years ago and jokingly have called this Training the Googlebot. In other words, after Googlebot crawls your site, a short period later it will return to check for new content or changes in existing content. Over time, if new content isn’t available, or if the existing content hasn’t changed, Googlebot will stop visiting as often as it did before.

Knowing this, I “trained Googlebot” to visit many of my sites quickly by controlling the flow of new content being published. Meaning, if I wanted Googlebot to index new content FAST, I would train it to believe that my site was busy simply by published new content very often. The result ended with new content getting indexed within minutes of being published. A great example of a site that has a fast recrawl rate is Digg.com. New content on Digg will get indexed almost instantly. A great of a site that doesn’t get recrawled very often would be an old GeoCites webpage –if they still existed of course. Here’s what Matt Cutt has to say about Googlebot recrawl rates:

These are just a few of 300+ videos that can help you with solving the mystery with SEO. Many of these videos have less than 10k views. I really find that strange because the information is extremely valuable. The great news about the low view counts is that you will be learning from a resource that many other people don’t know about. This gives you an advantage over your competition. As mentioned in the beginning of this post, I strongly recommend subscribing to the channel. It’s a very valuable resource to have if you’re interested in learning more about SEO.

Finding new opportunities for backlinks is one of the most challenging parts of running an SEO campaign. Sure, you can always use the old standbys like guest blogging, article marketing, and press release distribution, but these can be very taxing as they involve content creation. That’s why it’s also important to look for easy linking opportunities that others might be overlooking.

Here are 6 creative (and easy!) ways to get more backlinks.

1. Submit testimonials for products and services you love—On my website, I have a testimonials section where I allow some of my satisfied clients to submit a brief testimonial with a link back to their website. Obviously, I’m not the only one who does this. There are a lot of companies that will give you a link back to your website when you submit a testimonial to them. Just remember, you’re putting your name on the line, so only submit testimonials for those services and products you truly love.
2. Ask employees who have blogs and websites to link to you—With hundreds of millions of blogs and billions of websites online, there is a pretty good chance some of your employees have their own web presence. Ask them if they wouldn’t mind linking to your website, but never try to force them to do so.
3. See who’s linking to your competition—Backlink Watch is a neat little tool that makes it easy to see not only how many backlinks competitors have, but also where they’re getting them from and what the quality of the links is. By seeing where your competition is getting their links, you may be able to discover new backlink opportunities for your website.
4. Look for company mentions that don’t include a link—Not only should you set a Google alert for all future mentions of your company name, but you should also do some digging around for old brand mentions that don’t have a link to your website. When you find these, simply email the webmaster and ask them if they would turn them into a link for you.
5. Get interviewed on podcasts—You already know about guest blogging, but many people overlook the power of podcasting. Podcasts are still very popular, and if you can land an interview on a podcast, not only do you increase your visibility, but you’ll also likely get a link back to your website.
6. Become a speaker or sponsor at industry events–In almost every industry, there are big conferences and events all throughout the year. If you have the opportunity to speak at one of these events, you’ll be listed on the conference’s website with a link back to your website. But landing a speaking gig isn’t always possible. In that case, most events accept sponsors, and they give their sponsors listings and backlinks typically.

What are some other creative ways you get backlinks? Share your best tactic by leaving a comment.

Link building is one of the most important aspects of any SEO campaign. It’s time consuming, and it can be a total pain in the butt, especially if you’re making any of these 5 link building mistakes.

1. No keywords in your anchor text—There’s nothing worse than getting a high quality backlink that has completely useless anchor text like “click here” or just your actual web address. It’s crucial that you build keyword-rich back links. Why? Because the keywords in these links tell the search engines (and humans for that matter) what the target page is about. As a result, keyword-rich backlinks can improve your page’s search rank for the terms being linked.
2. Getting links from low-quality websites—Whenever you get links from websites that are viewed as spammy or that have bad reputations, you become associated with them. Some people call it hanging out in a bad neighborhood. If you’re connected with a bunch of low-grade websites, the search engines will start to see you in the same light as those websites. So, watch who you hang out with.
3. Focusing on quantity instead of quality—I’ve always said that I’d take 10 quality links over 100 bad ones every time. Sure, quantity does matter, but link building isn’t strictly a numbers game. If all your links are from low-grade websites, they won’t carry much weight, and much of your link building efforts will be wasted. Instead, focus on getting links from relevant, trusted websites.
4. Ignoring websites with a low PR—Too many link builders get too caught up with trying to get links only from websites with a high Page Rank. This is a bad idea for many reasons. See, PR isn’t everything. Just because a site has a low PR doesn’t mean it’s a bad website. Remember, a website that has a 0 PR today could have a 5 PR a year from now.
5. Not linking out—You have to give if you want to receive. You can’t expect everyone to link to you if you never link out to anybody. And whatever you do, don’t buy into the myth that you lose link juice whenever you link out. That’s BS. Linking out will attract links in return, and it helps you build your network with other bloggers.

What are some other costly link building mistakes? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

If you’ve been on Twitter for more than 5 minutes, you’ve undoubtedly seen people dropping links in their Tweets. Do you click on them? If not, why don’t you? Better yet, are people clicking on the links you Tweet out?

Here are some tips for getting those links a little more attention.

1. Don’t be a Spammer- Try your best to be altruistic with your links. In other words, make sure they add value to the user experience of those following you. This means every link you drop shouldn’t be back to your website. Sure, you can link to your own content, but do so sparingly lest everyone think you’re a spammer.
2. Don’t Link without a Title- This should be common sense, but based on what I’ve seen, it’s not. Don’t just Tweet out links without including a title or brief description of the link. There is absolutely zero chance of me clicking on a random link.
3. Start a Discussion- One of the best things about Twitter is the ability to engage in live discussions with your friends. So, instead of just dropping a link and running, try to start a conversation around it. Give your opinion on the content you’re linking to; ask your followers for their thoughts; or if it’s controversial, stir up a little excitement. Remember, interactivity is one of the keys to social media success.
4. Look at the Trends- Relevance is another key to being successful on Twitter. That’s why I recommend using Twist or any other tool that allows you to see the latest trends on Twitter. By being in tune with the latest buzz, you can leverage your links at just the right time. Stay with the times; or get left behind.
5. Tweet when People are There- On Twitter, timing is everything. Obviously, you don’t want to Tweet when your followers are sleeping. Of course, you also don’t want your Tweets to get lost in the peak hours shuffle. So, what should you do? The best thing you can do is keep an eye on your Twitter feed to see when there are gaps in the conversation for you to jump in. Obviously, business hours are best because that’s when most people are around. So, keep your eyes peeled for openings, and be ready to take advantage.
6. Help Others Out- It’s a tired but true adage; you have to give if you want to receive. Help others out by retweeting their posts and by linking out to their content. It sounds silly, but people really do take notice and remember when you help them out online. It strengthens your relationship, and it will pay off when they click and retweet your links.
7. Get More Followers- We end this list with the most obvious tip: if you want more clicks on your Tweets, get more followers! It only makes sense that you improve the chances of people clicking on your links with the more followers you have. Read these 8 tips for getting more followers on Twitter.

Now, start Tweeting!

This week produced quite a bit of excellent content around link building. In this week edition of SEO Friday, we’ll recap some of these excellent articles and references that were published during this week. As you may know, link building is a very important aspect of improving your visibility in the search engines.

Ann Smarty, author of the successful Search Engine Journal, wrote an article titled, How To Build Links and Awareness by Pitching Bloggers. In this article she addressed that bloggers can be an excellent resource towards building links for the fact that most bloggers are always on the hunt for new material to write about and they are connected with many friends which gives your links the opportunity to go viral. The article was submitted into Sphinn, so be sure to help Ann out by casting your vote.

The author of a blog titled, Link Building Best Practices, wrote a very thoughtful piece that distinguishes the difference between SEOs and Link Builders. It is stated that there is a clear difference between the two skilsets and it is noted that commonly most people are either one or the other but not both. Understanding the difference between the two very well might break the boundary and expand the skilset from both professions. You should take a moment to help out by casting a vote on Sphinn.

SMX in London is at full force this week and one of the more popular topics — you guessed it — link building. Wiep Knol, author of a very informative link building blog, provided some coverage for all the folks who could not attend SMX in London with an article titled, Blog Your Mind Link Building Techniques. Without a doubt, there are some excellent links and references found in this article including a wonderful overview of the line up of professional speakers who gave speeches. As with the other two articles, providing your vote on Sphinn will help out the author.

What an amazing week to learn more about link building. What other articles did you read this week that helped you? Drop a comment below and share your thoughts.

Make no mistake folks, link building is a very important aspect in getting traffic from Google. Many of you guys and gals read my personal blog and I spend quite a bit of time talking about building micro niche blogs and targeting keywords that don’t require backlinks. While that is true, in a way that also limits you from capitalizing on prime keywords. Ranking for prime keywords are definitely in your reach; however, this can not be archived without launching a well thought out and well researched link building campaign.

So how do you launch an effective link building campaign? Well, really for many of you reading this, the problem is finding sites that will willingly add your link to their pages. But if you think about this for a second, you very well may already have a huge source of sites to use at your disposal. How many web sites or blogs do you have? Is there any reason why you’re not using your own web sites or blogs to help build backlinks to another blog or web site of yours?

I do this all the time! Granted, I have friends who’ll add my link to certain blogs posts upon request, but a large percentage of my link building comes from my own internal fleet of blogs. There is nothing wrong with using your existing blogs or web sites to help build up the number of backlinks to another blog or web site that you own.

What about doing this on sites that all share the same IP address? Well, that’s a good question… I am glad I asked myself that. Here are my thoughts about that. If you are in the business of building sites with the aim of trying to get them to rank high in the SERPs then you really need to do things right and be organized with how you distribute your sites among different servers. Granted, I think a lot of the myth about having multiple sites on the same IP might be slightly over-rated.

But guess what? I can’t prove that! I don’t work at Google. I don’t have their magical formula. There is one thing that I do know, and that is the cost of web hosting. When I started building web sites, hosting was expensive! Today, you can order web hosting for as little as $4.95 / month! So, to answer your question about having multiple sites on the same IP address, I’ll say this. I can’t prove that this is good or bad, but seeing how cheap web hosting is today, why risk it? Be organized, and distribute your sites among different servers.

Having that said, let’s talk about how to build backlinks to your web sites and blogs by using your own sites. When you determine which keywords that you want to start using to plug links to a certain site or blog of yours, simply do a Google search for that keyword on your site to see how many instances are there.

Example: site:yourname.com “keyword phrase”

When you do that, Google will return a list of web pages or blog posts on your site or blog that where that keyword is used. If the page or post is older, you can almost guarantee that there will be a little bit of PageRank on that page as well. Go back and edit this page or post and plug your link to point to the blog or site that you are trying to build links to.

If you are like me and use WordPress blogs and want to do this automatically, then there is a very handy plugin that will soon become your best friend. The plugin is called aLinks and unfortunately the web site has been down for several months. The only place I have found where you can download this plugin is HERE. aLinks is a plugin that allows you to automatically link keywords on your blog and point them to any destination that you want. It’s one of my personal favorites.

Anyway, I hope that you found this article to be helpful. What are some other creative ways to build backlinks to your site? Drop a comment below and share your thoughts!

How Much Is Your Site Worth?

Have you ever wondered how much your web site is worth? Ann Smarty, author from Search Engine Journal and professional search engine optimization consultant, asked her readers just that, in an article titled, How Much Might Your Website Be Worth? The article provides some basic formulas and scenarios that can help you determine how much you should ask for your web site if one day you decide on selling it.

Regardless of the different formulas available, really the amount of money you can get for your web site is equal to the amount that someone is willing to pay. “The overall mathematician approach can be criticized as each website is unique and it can’t be evaluated by a simple formula.” Ann Smarty Said, and later continued, “My favorite method of determining how much a website it worth is the one by Yaro Starak.”

Yaro Starak is a young entrepreneur from Australia. Yaro has created, managed and sold several different Internet businesses since 1998. Yaro commonly says, “Your site is worth as much as someone is willing to give you for it.” which in my opinion makes sense. To me, it doesn’t matter how much a house appraises for, if the price isn’t right, or at an amount in which I feel it’s worth, I won’t buy it. The same would apply with a web site.

Twitter Attempts To Reduce Spam

In other news, it seems that Twitter is attempting to make an effort to better control spam by placing a limit on the number of people you can befriend. Brent Csutoras, author of a personal blog that provides information related to social media, Online marketing and search engine optimization, covered a story about the event. It seems that Twitter now limits following to 2000 people.

Brent Csutoras explains that he discovered this limit when doing some maintenance on his account, “I noticed this over the weekend when working on one of my accounts. I have had the account a long time and it has a high natural follower count, but found myself limited when I hit the 2,000 number of people I was following.” I think it is great that Twitter is making efforts towards preventing spam, but also too it would be great to see more efforts made towards the stability of their system. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen Twitter offline or have various program errors.

Effective Link Building Techniques

Tom Critchlow, Head of Search Marketing for Distilled, a London based company who provides SEO, PPC and Internet marketing services, published an article on SEOmoz titled, A Linkbuilding Method So Effective I Can’t Believe It’s Not Blackhat. In this article, he reveals some very interesting linkbuilding techniques. He claims that these techniques are totally whitehat and work. “a get-rich-quick linkbuilding tactic which actually works across virtually any niche.” said, Tom Critchlow. Majority of people in the search engine community are pleased with the article as it has received over 61 votes from the Sphinn.com community, one of which is from SEOHosting.com as well.