We came across a great article at MediaPost titled “SEO Investments Expected To Grow More Than 20%.” A report from eMarketer concluded that search engine optimization growth will jump from 17.7% in 2009 to 20.3% in 2013, as paid search growth will actually decline from 15.9% to 11.3%. Basically, with marketers beginning to see how SEO fits into campaigns, investments in SEO will grow at a higher rate every year.

David Hallerman, senior analyst for eMarketer, said that search is the best tool for customer acquisition. The article goes on to say that people “generally find organic listings more relevant than paid search ads,” which means they’re likely to click on search engine results more than they’d click on PPC ads. However, Hallerman noted that marketing campaigns should combine search engine optimization and PPC.

When this is done successfully, it could result in higher rankings. Both have benefits, says the article: While the effects of PPC campaigns are immediate, marketers must spend money consistently. On the other end, SEO takes time and requires maintenance to keep high rankings once they’re achieved. Hallerman explained that the amount of time it takes to deliver a ROI (return on investments) all depends on conversions.

So how do SEO and PPC fit into your marketing campaign? Contact us — we’ll be happy to discuss it with you.

Software engineer Matt Cutts, who is head of the webspam team at Google, recently posted a video response to the question “Will SEO still exist in five years?” The answer? Yes, says Matt. Take a look:

Global Internet information provider comScore released some fascinating data at the end of February regarding America’s search behavior and the financial crisis. The survey research showed an increase in people searching for terms related to the economic crisis over the past year.

The search term “unemployment” was up 206 percent to 8.2 million searches during the past year, along with “unemployment benefits,” up 247 percent to 748,000 searches. Other terms related to the economic crisis that were up:

• “Mortgage”: Up 72 percent; 7.8 million searches
• “Bankruptcy”: Up 156 percent; 2.6 million searches
• “Foreclosure”: Up 67 percent; 1.4 million searches
• “Coupons”: Up 161 percent; 19.9 million searches
• “Discount”: Up 26 percent; 7.9 million searches

Something else comScore’s research showed was that those who were searching for “unemployment” were generally younger, with the head of the household being 35 years old or younger and the household earning less than $50,000 per year. ComScore also found that these searchers were much more likely to use Ask.com, MSN and Yahoo! rather than Google or AOL Search.

ComScore’s research shows that, obviously, what people are searching for reflects Americans’ concerns and interests. Though the effects of the current financial crisis are apparent without looking at data like this, it’s interesting to see how clearly a nation’s worries are illustrated just by looking at general keywords in search trends.

What can we learn from looking at the search trends of large groups of people and taking into consideration their concerns and interests? If trends show that certain general keywords are being searched for a lot more now than they were just a year ago, that says a lot. Paying attention to trends like this can certainly be an essential part of successful search marketing as well as marketing in general.

When developing a new site, new page or editing an existing site or page, the following Search Engine Optimization considerations need to be taken into account. This is a summary of Google’s SEO Starter Guide, which you should also read.

Page Titles

• Every page should have unique, accurate page titles
• If page was pre-existing, the page title should stay exactly as it was before
• Title should reflect page’s targeted keyphrase

Description Meta Tags

• Ensure you prevent search engines from displaying Open Directory Project descriptions
• Descriptions should be accurate, unique, descriptive of page content and should reflect page’s targeted keyphrase
• Descriptions will be displayed in search results and should entice a searcher to click
• Use tags if applicable, such as Brand:, Size:, Price:, etc.

URL’s

• Always maintain exact existing URL structure when working on a site or page. If URL structure must change, a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new URL is absolutely necessary
• When creating new URL’s, use descriptive categories and filenames
• Use only words in URL’s, avoid parameters, search strings or session ID’s
• Never use generic page names such as page1.html
• Do not keyword stuff URL’s
• Create simple, but descriptive directory structure
• Provide only one version of a URL to reach a document
• Always use only www version of a URL to link, such as http://www.domain.com
• Never use capitalization in URL’s

Navigation (for search bots)

• Create logically organized “silo’s” of information
• Create an organized html sitemap
• Create an XML sitemap
• Use mostly text for navigation
• Use breadcrumb navigation
• If part of a URL is removed, the link should always work
• Have a useful 404 page

Content

• Write easy to read text
• Do not embed text in an image or flash
• Avoid grammatical and spelling errors
• Stay on topic
• Use relevant language and work keyword variations into a page
• Avoid keyword stuffing
• Create fresh, unique content

Anchor Text

• Chose short but descriptive anchor text, don’t link entire sentences
• Do not use generic anchor text like “click here”
• Do not link to a page with its URL as the anchor text
• Do not use CSS that makes links look like regular text
• Do not keyword stuff links
• Do not overlink

Heading Tags

• Use H tags to reflect the main topic and sub-topic(s), or keyphrases, of a page
• Use H tags to define the structure of a page
• Do not use H tags instead of <em> or <strong> tags.
• Use H tags sparingly

Images

• Use descriptive alt tags
• Use descriptive filenames
• Alt tags and filenames should complement one another
• Avoid long filenames
• Avoid generic filenames like “logo.jpg” or “header.jpg”
• Avoid keyword stuffing alt tags or filenames
• Store images in their own directory

Robots.txt

• Always ensure there is a robots.txt file at the root level of your site and one at each sub-domain of your site
• Use the robots.txt to point to your sitemap.xml
• Use robots.txt to block search results pages

Nofollow

• “Nofollowing” a link is adding rel=”nofollow” inside the links anchor tag and tells Google not to pass your reputation on to the page being linked to
• Nofollow is a controversial subject, but when used for search reasons, nofollow should be used anytime you are linking to an insignificant area of your site such as a contact form. It’s been suggested (not by Google) that nofollow should also be used when linking to documents such as .pdf files. Nofollow should also be used when linking to any outside website that you don’t benefit from passing reputation on to

Promotion (link building)

• Effectively promoting your site will either directly or indirectly build incoming links to your site. These incoming links will help your site be discovered more quickly by search engines, and depending on the search engine and whether or not there was a nofollow tag on the incoming link, will help increase your site’s page rank.
• Blog about new content or services
• Blog about anything, really…Just blog with targeted keyphrases as your topics
• Use social media to promote your site and your blog posts
• Add your site to Google Local Business Center
• Develop incoming links from related websites
• Do NOT EVER purchase links

Google Webmaster Tools

• Use Google Webmaster Tools effectively
• Upload your sitemap.xml
• Analyze or generate your robots.txt file
• Specify the preferred domain
• Identify issues with title or meta tags
• Receive notification of quality guideline violations
• File for a site reconsideration

Google Analytics

Use analytics to measure impact of search engine optimization

Use analytics to ensure your SEO is targeting keyphrases that CONVERT, not just ones that generate traffic

Google

Use the following Google resources

Google Webmaster Help Group

Google Webmaster Central Blog

Google Webmaster Help Center

Google Webmaster Tools

Google Webmaster Guidelines

Google Analytics

Google Website Optimizer

Tips on Hiring an SEO

I Was Trying to Change a WordPress Permalink…

Changing a WordPress Permalink should be easier after your post is already published.

The problem: in WordPress, the Permalink doesn’t change after the post has been cast out upon the wild and wooly waves of the WWW. On the post editing screen, you’ll see the WordPress permalink listed under the headline of your post, and to the right of that is a delightful hyperlink labeled “Edit.” Hit it, and you can type in a new WordPress Permalink to make your heart sing.

As any of you familiar with search engine optimization know, that WordPress Permalink isn’t just for looks. A well-designed WordPress Permalink helps draw search engine traffic to your site. And traffic means business.

Unfortunately, that new WordPress Permalink doesn’t work. It’s totally useless after the post has been published. There’s nothing to tell you that. Just the hard reality that you can sit there, refreshing your blog, and the damned post URL — aka WordPress Permalink — is obdurate and unchanging.

How to Change That Stubborn WordPress Permalink

The secret trick to fixing that ugly Permalink, my WordPress pals, is to edit the title of your post. This gets WordPress to throw out the old URL and use the new URL you entered into the WordPress Permalink “Edit” dialog. If you don’t want to change the WordPress post title, edit the title to something different, save, and then revert it to the original title you wanted.

When Not to Change That Stubborn WordPress Permalink

Of course, if you’ve already got a bunch of pingbacks and incoming links to your post, changing the WordPress Permalink is inadvisable. All that incoming traffic will go 404, costing you traffic. You might, however, want to change it anyhow as long as you 301 redirect the incoming hits to your shiny new and improved WordPress Permalink.

Market Research Study Shows Website Advertising Formats to Be Missing Their Targets

The website advertising formats you’re used to seeing may be gone in a few years because they’re not getting the job done. A 2008 study by iPerceptionsAdvertisers, surveying over 14,000 August visits at top media sites, discovered that rich media and video internet advertising scored very poorly compared to text advertising. Even banner ads trounced rich media and video website advertising.

Text advertising garnered clicks 25% of the time. Right-side banner website advertising scored clicks 20% of the time; top-of-page banners registered at 12%, and rich media and video website advertising trailed behind at 11% and 7% respectively.

How Website Advertising Fails

In the study, the researchers were also surprised to see that video website advertising was roundly shunned by well-heeled visitors. A whopping 87% of surfers who clicked on video website advertising earned less than $150,000 per year, and nearly half less than $50,000 per year. Many of these surfers were under age 25. Clearly, website advertising campaigns that spend heavily on video and rich media ads are missing their target market.

iPerceptions vice president of marketing Jonathan Levitt also points out the limitations of the “pay-per-click” advertising measurement, citing the data on the inverse relationship between a viewer’s income and willingness to click on video website advertising.

We agree: it’s always been our opinion that all clicks are not created equal. That’s why our website advertising and internet marketing model integrates search engine marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, link building and careful content aggregation.

Why Text Website Advertising Works

Levitt attributes the success of text website advertising to “Google conditioning,” saying, “Consumers respond best to this particular ad format because they’re used to seeing it when they search.”

I think he’s only arriving at half the truth here. When I’m on the web, I almost never intentionally click on an ad. I’m seeking content. If I want to buy something, I want content about the thing I plan to purchase. I know that website advertising leads to irrelevant sites 99.9% of the time. And video and rich media advertising is clearly advertising.

I think text website advertising is successful because people don’t want to see advertising. They click on text website advertising because it looks like it leads to legitimate content.

In other words, these website advertisements are successful mostly because they deceive people into clicking on them. If you ask me, that’s a pretty shaky business model.

Why Website Advertising Needs Search Marketing

At Get Page One, we’re firm believers in the power of organic search engine optimization. Certainly, website advertising plays a role in brand recognition and sales conversions, and it does attract good numbers of people who really want to view advertising. But we believe website advertising’s complimentary to a strategy that achieves strong rankings in popular search engines.

If your website ranks well in the search engines, your webpages don’t appear as website advertising. They don’t even appear to be like content, as text ads do. Instead, they are the content that the customer is seeking.

Barack’s Not a Muslim

You may have seen recent news about the Barack Muslim rumor. As a result of this and other smears, Obama has set up an “internet war room.” Rather than a place for Matthew Broderick and War Games, this internet war room is actually the site for a different kind of gamesmanship – the gamesmanship of reputation management.

You see, internet marketing isn’t just for blind-sided businesses and celebrities dogged by smarmy rumors. Even presidential candidates are susceptible to the powerful (and frankly, ridiculous) waves of hearsay that often stir the murky waters of the internet. In Obama’s case, he’s been plagued by false claims that he’s a terrorist, a Muslim, and simply unpatriotic. Apparently he isn’t fit for the Oval Office because he didn’t wear an American flag on his lapel for a few debates. That’s where American politics has sunk. If only the Founding Fathers could see us now. Poor Barack.

Muslim communities should be pitied as well. Despite what you may have heard, the Koran is not a manual of suicide bombing techniques, and there are many fine, peaceful Islamic communities around the world. Judging all Muslims based on Al Qaeda is like judging all Christians based on David Koresh and Jim Jones. The Barack Muslim rumor is not only false but racist.

In any case, Obama’s internet war room has been established to practice reputation management on the Barack Muslim rumor and other blather — a sub-field of the search engine optimization that we do every day.

A Free Offer to the Barack Muslim Rumor War Room – And to You

We’ve been pretty darned successful with reputation management and search engine optimization. You can see some of the numbers on our homepage. So we think we have a compelling offer for the Barack Muslim rumor folks:

Please contact us for a free SEO analysis and assessment of your reputation management needs.

But the raw truth is that this offer isn’t just for presidential candidates. If you’ve got questions about SEO and/or reputation management, you can contact us too. For free. Not a bad deal, huh?

Barack Blast-Off

Barack Muslim rumor news articles indicate that the presidential hopeful’s reputation management section will be staffed by a “crack team of cybernauts.” We at Get Page One find this description particularly amusing.

Time for me to put on my internet helmet and enter the cockpit of my netsurf ship. The tubes are calling.

Who’s Got the Title of “Most Digital”?

The most digital city in the country has been identified by thinktank Scarborough Research. Using a survey, the company picked out eighteen purchasing behaviors and traits that they isolated as indicative of “early adopters” and “techy.” Then it tracked those behaviors to different metro areas to determine the country’s most digital city.

“Most Digital City” Methodology

The behaviors and traits they selected were related to three digital domains:

• geeky toys owned by the subjects, like DVRs, Garmin GPS units and VoIP digital devices,
• uses of the internet, such as blogging, web searching and online banking,
• and style of cellphone usage, like messaging, websurfing and downloading.

Unsurprisingly, two of the top four “most digital cities” were found to be in California. Also in the top four were cities in Nevada and Texas. Got any guesses yet at the most digital city nearest you?

If you guessed San Francisco or San Jose, like we did, well, no digital brownie points for you. Neither of these tech powerhouses showed up anywhere in Scarborough’s results. Either Scarborough’s “most digital cities” data is flawed, or perhaps Northern Californians are thriftier than we thought.

Most Digital Cities

So, without further ado, the runner-up most digital cities (according to the study) are Las Vegas, Sacramento, San Diego.

At the top of the Most Digital City heap is our own Austin, Texas. The study says the concentration of digital-savvy consumers in Austin is at a lofty 12%. Washington, D.C., New York City and Los Angeles get digital honorable mentions, presumably delivered virtually via avatar in Second Life.

Most Digital Means Most Credit Card Debt?

The study also found an association between the “most digital city” behaviors and extravagant consumption. Apparently, 54% of the “most digital” consumers spent over $500 in online shopping in the past year, and each is 56% more likely to own or lease a luxury car and 49% more likely to own a second home. Austin residents can pull this off a little easier than San Diegans, so we can sorta see the connection.

If you’re a resident of the Most Digital City in America, like we are, we hope you’re watching your account balances. All that digital tomfoolery can burn a hole in your finances pretty swiftly.

Changing Identity in Adobe Acrobat Professional Isn’t Impossible!

Adobe Acrobat Professional is one of the important SEO tools we use in the office, but it can be frustrating as hell. I ran into one particular bugaboo today when preparing a web page review for a client.

The problem? You can’t change your identity in Acrobat Professional, so all of your comments appear under your Windows login name instead of a name that’s appropriate for your document. You can see at this Adobe Acrobat Professional forum that this problem has stumped the pros.

So if you whimsically login as “huggybear” on your computer, every comment you create in Adobe Acrobat Professional is going to show up as huggybear. Not so hot when you’re trying to impress those humorless clients from Chicago.

It’s Not Your Acrobat Identity – It’s Your Author Name

SEO wunderkind Brian heard about my problem and assured me it could be fixed. “Sure,” I told him. “I’m uninstalling Adobe Acrobat Professional right now, and I’m going to change my Windows login name before I reinstall it.”

So I went off and did my Adobe Acrobat Professional install/reinstall mambo. No joy. Apparently Acrobat was emotionally attached to my original Windows login name (no, it’s not huggybear), and it wasn’t letting go.

Since I work at a search engine marketing company, I resorted to “the Google” and turned up the aforementioned Adobe Acrobat forum, replete with frustrated Acrobat users. No joy.

How to Change the Name on Your Adobe Acrobat Professional Comments

So finally I had Brian come over to my workstation and whack on Adobe Acrobat for awhile. It was a pain to figure out which prefs needed to be edited but it is doable.

First, go to Edit > Preferences > Commenting and uncheck “Always use Log-in Name for Author name.” This means that Adobe Acrobat’s no longer going to use that original huggybear identity name anymore.

Great. Now where the heck is the Author name changed? Well, of course, Adobe managed to hide this deep in the bowels of Acrobat Professional.

First, create a new comment. Right-click on it to bring up the Sticky Note Properties and click on the General tab. There! The author name!

And yet we’re still not done. Before you close the dialog box, you MUST hit the “Make Properties Default” checkbox at the bottom. That will apply the Author Name to all of your Adobe Acrobat Professional comments, rather than just this single instance. Nice UI design, Adobe.

So there you go, people. You can’t change your identity in Adobe Acrobat Professional — but you can change the name that appears on all of your Acrobat Professional comments. Thanks, Brian!

When you blog about something for SEO purposes, link to it immediately, with relevant text, from social media websites that do not utilize nofollow links.

Don’t wait for someone else to do it. First indexed by Google is often first ON Google