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Today’s SEO Secrets in Plain English: What to Know, What to Do, How to Win!
This book is a revised and updated version of the acclaimed Outsmarting Google: SEO Secrets to Winning New Business by Evan Bailyn
How do people find you? They search. Simple, right? So, why does Search Engine Optimization seem so complicated? Search engines and consultants love it that way. If you don’t understand SEO, you’ll pay big bucks for a job you could easily do yourself…if you read SEO Made Easy!
Evan Bailyn has spent his days uncovering secret search engine rules and finding new ways to outsmart them. Now, he has distilled those secrets into real, gritty, proven, simple tactics for grabbing top spots at Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. From earning trust to improving conversion rates, all you need to build a thriving business with search is here!
• Build online trust, the #1 currency of search success
• Supercharge your results with all five key ingredients of Google optimization
• Reel in links with 17 up-to-the-minute, link-building strategies
• Use the Nuclear Football: today’s #1 technique for attracting targeted traffic
• Track traffic, engagement, conversions, and the effectiveness of each site element
• Escape dangerous new myths of Google optimization and avoid disastrous “black hat” SEO techniques
• Systematically convert strong SEO results into real paying customers
• Prepare for the revolution in social search that’s barreling toward you
• Use keyword tools to uncover underserved, high-profit business niches
• Leverage your content investments to forge powerful new relationships and partnerships
Introduction 1
What’s in This Book 10
Who Can Use This Book? 11
Chapter 1 Trust: The Currency of Google 7
PageRank 8
TrustRank 11
Google’s Circus 15
How to Mine TrustRank 16
A Final Word on TrustRank 21
Chapter 2 The Five Ingredients of Google Optimization 23
Ingredient One: Keyword Selection 24
Take an Informal Survey 25
Use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner 25
Capitalize on Competitors’ Work 25
Spend a Few Bucks on a Pay-per-Click Campaign 28
Ingredient Two: The Meta Page Title 29
Maximizing the Effectiveness of Your Meta Page Titles 31
Case Study One: The Baby Store 33
Case Study Two: Games 33
Ingredient Three: Links 34
The Psychology of Link Building 37
Ingredient Four: URL Structure 40
Ingredient Five: Time 43
Final Thoughts 45
Chapter 3 How to Reel In Links 47
Avoiding Bad Neighborhoods 48
Link Building 101 49
The Bible of Link Acquisition 57
Systematic Emailing 57
Link Bait 57
Chapter 4 Using Time to Gain Trust 79
The Sandbox 80
Prepublishing Period 80
0–1 Months: The Period of Nothingness 81
2–4 Months: Behold, a Brave New World 82
4–6 Months: The Winds of Trust 82
6–12 Months: Dropping Anchor 82
1–2 Years: Welcome to the Land of Trust 82
2–4 Years: A Seasoned Citizen 83
How to Estimate the Value of a Link Based on Aging Factors 83
Link Aging and Link Churning 87
Levels of Distrust 88
How to Find an Old Website Worth Buying 90
How the Buying Process Works 94
Common Pitfalls 96
Beware When Shopping the Online Marketplace 97
Sites That Have Nothing to Do with Your Business 97
Avoiding Expired Domains 97
Chapter 5 The Nuclear Football 99
The Nuclear Football Defined 100
How to Execute the Nuclear Football 100
The First Pillar of the Nuclear Football: Excellent, Targeted Content 103
Niche Subject Matter 103
An Emotional Connection 104
A Strong Editorial Voice 104
Openness and Vulnerability 105
Digestible Data 105
Large, Clear Images (Usually Involving People) 108
The Second Pillar of the Nuclear Football: Authentic, Personalized Outreach 114
The Third Pillar of the Nuclear Football: Conversion Optimization 116
Avoiding the Panda and Penguin Penalties 117
Chapter 6 Tracking Your Progress with Google Analytics and Other Helpful Tools 121
The Basics of Analytics 122
Pages Indexed 122
Links 123
Traffic 124
How to Use Google Analytics 126
Getting Familiar with Your Dashboard 127
Evaluating Your SEO Campaign 132
Real-Time 132
Audience 133
Traffic Sources 134
Content 137
Conversions 140
Chapter 7 Google Optimization Myths 143
Myth 1: Your Google Ranking Is Based on What’s Written on Your Website 145
Myth 2: Doing SEO Requires Technical Knowledge 148
Myth 3: Website Traffic Affects Google Rankings 149
Myth 4: Pay-per-Click Campaigns Affect Organic Rankings 149
Myth 5: Submitting a New Site to Google Is an Essential Way to Get It Recognized 150
Myth 6: PageRank Matters 150
Myth 7: Commenting on Blogs and Forums Is an Effective Link-Building Strategy 152
Myth 8: Google Changes Their Algorithm So Frequently That There Is No Way to Keep Up with It 153
Separating Truth from Myth 153
Chapter 8 White Hat Versus Black Hat SEO 157
Black Hat SEO 158
Link Farms 159
Doorway Pages 159
Cloaking 159
Hidden Content 160
Spam 161
Page Hijacks 163
Dark Gray Hat SEO 163
Comment Spam 164
Paid Links 164
Duplicate Content 165
Light Gray Hat SEO 166
High Keyword Density Content 166
Link Trading 166
Link Networks 167
White Hat SEO 168
Chapter 9 Optimizing for Yahoo! and Bing 169
Yahoo! Introduction 170
The Advent of Bing 171
How Optimizing for Bing Differs from Optimizing for Google 171
Keywords in Your Content 172
Meta Page Titles 173
Meta Description Tags 174
Headings 175
Alt Tags 176
Outbound Links 176
Site Structure 177
Links 177
Domain Age 178
A Word About Demographics 178
Pay per Click: Where Bing Shines 179
Bing’s Advantages 179
Search Operators 180
Bing Webmaster Tools 181
Bing’s Social Search 182
Chapter 10 Converting Your SEO Results into Paying Customers 183
Design 184
Aesthetic 185
Layout 187
Structure 188
Differentiation 188
Us Versus Them 188
Awards and Press 190
Client Testimonials 191
Social Media 192
Data 193
Price 194
Products 194
Process 195
Resources 195
People 196
Deals 196
Sales and Promotions 196
Point of Purchase 198
Chapter 11 Social Search: The Intersection of Social Media and SEO 201
Social Media Sites and the Flow of Information 203
Creating Great Content 207
Promoting Your Content Through Social Media 208
Facebook 209
YouTube 209
Social Bookmarking Sites 209
Twitter 210
A Final Word 210
Chapter 12 Using SEO to Build a Business 211
The Power of an Idea 212
Differentiating a Good Idea from a Bad Idea 212
Going from Idea to Business 214
Using SEO to Start a Business 216
Establishing Your Website 217
Choosing Keywords 219
Creating Content 222
Running a Business 224
Perfecting Your Product 224
Selling Like a Champion 226
Conquering Customer Service 229
Hiring Top Employees 231
Succeeding in the Shark Tank That Is Business 233
A Final Word 235
Index 237