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Smartpages - Legitimate SEO Or Spam?
Smartpages are highly optimized pages which draw stampeded of search engine traffic to your website....or so the sales blurb goes. The fantasy is that smartpages are the push-button answer to online success. The reality is quite far removed from that.
In the world of online marketing everybody is striving to gain any advantage over the competition. To that end some people are willing to go to any lengths to gain a foothold online. When smartpages first appeared they seemed the answer to every search engine optimizers dream. Feed in a list of keywords and out comes thousands of highly optimized pages for you to upload.
One small problem. Smartpages are nothing but redirects. The pages generated by these programs are filled with hyperlinks and Heading tags that "fool" the search engines into thinking these are actually relevant pages of content. Therein lies the problem. If you're out to fool any search engine then you're looking at short term benefit and long term problems for your business.
Let's make this clear. Smartpages offer no true value to the search engine or web surfer. They are designed for one purpose - to send traffic to sales pages. The unfortunate fact is that any dummy can assemble a list of keywords and upload their smartpages in just a few minutes. Yet again the search engine results are skewed because they constantly have to filter these junk pages from their indexes. I wonder did the creator of these products ever pause and take account of the damage they've caused to search engine results worldwide? Not one of them has ever stepped forward to speak up on this matter.
Of course the guys marketing these products are going to defend them. Who can blame them really except to say a good product doesn't need to be defended. If there's nothing wrong with the product or the process then why does it need to be defended?
Can smartpages get your domain banned? Absolutely and even the product creators advise to never host smartpages on your main domain. They advise you to upload the smartpages to another domain with a different webhost on a different IP address. If smartpages are so totally harmless and ethical then why do you need to hide them like this?
Are smartpages still effective? To a lesser extent yes they can still be used as part of a search engine optimization policy. A far better policy however is to simply put useful, keyword rich content on your site and enjoy lots of legitimate search engine traffic for years to come.
This article was provided courtesy of Search Engine Fuel where you'll find lots of useful information on effective search engine optimization.
Search Engine Optimization and Web Site Usability
Build a Web site and the people will come.
SEO - Google Sitemaps Explained
Once again I seem to be writing about Google. The reason Google keeps cropping up in these articles is that:
The Importance of Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization is a key to any successful internet marketing strategy. There are numerous definitions and interpretations as to exactly what Search Engine Optimization means. It is the process in which the careful and strategic placing, analysis, and wording of keywords of text on a particular website to enable optimum search engine rankings, this definition comes from www.pixelphoria.com/glossary.php. There are several ways in which this process can benefit internet marketing strategies.
Make The Search Engines Love Your Site
Most webmasters have no idea on how to make a search engine friendly web site. If you are one of them this will all change by following these steps below.
The Search Engine Of The Future: Mobility Has A Pricetag
We all know the ease of using a search engine to garner information from around the world in microseconds. We've gotten accustomed to accessing these for the price of our hookup to the internet, be it dial-up, cable or wireless. But as more of our world connects via wireless media, what is included in our 'free look' may be changing.
Why Search Engine Traffic Should be Your Top Priority
Most Internet marketing methods are risky and many will not have any affect on traffic to a web site. Some online marketers will sell you anything from banner impressions, to mass email campaigns (spam), to popup ads. All these marketing tools can work, but they are also extremely risky. Some people I know find pop-ups and spam so annoying that they will never purchase anything from a business that uses them. These plans are probably not the best customer acquisition strategies, and more likely they are a total waste of money. So why would anyone bother risking money on marketing strategies that probably will not increase traffic to your website? Why not concentrate on what does work? - The search engines.
Link Building Services
In today scenario when we talk about Search Engine Optimization, we also talk about one of the most important aspect of SEO, which is Link Building. But there are different types, aspects and limitations of Link Building, which would be discussed now under
Spamglish; A Search Engine Comedy With A Language All Its Own
When the movie Spanglish hit the screens in 2004, it was dubbed "A comedy with a language all it's own." I don't think the producers even knew they were slipping a lesson for website owners who want better search engine listings into the movie.
Getting To Know Google
Having greatly benefited from my relationship with Google in the past several years, I am dedicating this article to the search engine superstar.
See How The New Kicked Up Google Sitemap Can Get You Indexed Faster and Ranked Higher!
Does Creating a Google Site Map and Telling Google About it get your Work at Home Business Web Page Indexed Faster? Google Visited My Home Based Business Web Page the Same Day I Uploaded my Site Map. It stands to reason anything you can do make it easier for Google to Index your Work at Home Business Online Business get a Google Ranking. For sure if you don't get indexed you won't get ranked.
How to Google; or How to be Easily Distracted
I set out with the intention of writing a self improvement type article with an original temporary working title of 'How To Overcome Fear'.
Google Has No Content On Page
One of the post from My SEO world Meet Up Group?.!
Search Wars! - MSNs Opening Salvo
With all the recent publicity given to Google as the Internet's number one search service, it's hardly surprising that Microsoft has already started work on re-vamping their MSN search service. Okay, it's still powered by the Yahoo engine, but according to Microsoft it has been "cleaned up" and the new service mirrors much more the kind of "non-commercial" results which are currently displayed by Google.
8 ways to build a really bad web site for Search Engines
Some web sites receive hundreds or thousands of unique visitors a day, whilst others only get a handful or none. The reason is often because the web designers or Webmaster has built the site in one 'really bad way' or other. This can end up hindering the potential success of the web site. If you want to make sure your site is not a 'traffic flop' then here are some simple rules to follow.
What Is Search Engine Marketing?
It's in our genes, we're driven to seek. We 'hunt' for food, homes, partners, jobs and lately ? with the advent of the Internet ? information.
How To Stay One Step Ahead of the Google Dance
It's taken you 6-months of hard work, constant changes, reading every shred of information on search engine optimization strategy not to mention thousands of dollars trying out web optimization tools and services.
Search Engines 101 - Search Engines Explained
What Are Search Engines?
Have You Heard Of Website Optimization
Have you heard of website optimization ? If you are building a website or have a new one and you have never heard of it, then you had better take note, because if you want to climb the ladder on the search engines it is something you need to learn about. Website optimization means optimising your website so the search engine spiders will love it.
Search Engine Optimization SEO Made Easy
SEO is a never ending battle! So is SEO over-rated? I don't think it is. Some say that Google's automated PageRank? system and Alexa's Traffic Rank system are losing ground. This may be may be true to some point but the fact still remains that we want at the top of the search results. And to achieve this we need to educate ourselves and do the work or hire someone else to the work for us. Search Engine Optimization "SEO" is a term we see all over the net. For those of you that are unsure exactly what is meant by SEO, it's simply adjusting many characteristics of your website to conform with what the major search engines deem important. That's where the simple stops. It's complicated only because no one other than the developers themselves know all the rules and even then the rules are constantly changing. What I'll try to do here is cover the basics that have fairly consistent lately. Keep in mind however there will always be inconsistencies when it comes SEO. For example, I recently read an e-book that said to imbed a few of your primary keywords in the "alt" tag of your logo graphic. The same day, I was reading an online article of equal quality and this author cautioned against such a tactic due to possible penalties by the search engines. So which did I do? See for yourself by hovering your mouse over the logo. I don't mind a little risk as long as the risk is low and there may be nice benefits, but don't get carried away. We certainly don't want to get banned by any search engines. I get the heebie-jeebies just saying it. That would simply end many of us. Because Google's PageRank? and Alexa's Traffic Rank systems are really two different animals, I will focus primarily on Google's PageRank? system for now. So lets get started in no particular order. Link Popularity: I guess we can start with the hardest part of search engine optimization. Link popularity. The ultimate goal here is to gain the respect of the search engines. And how we do that is by who we know or at least associate with in the spiders eyes. We want as many quality incoming links as possible with as few low-ranked outbound links as possible. We need to consider several factors when we approach any site to request a link exchange. 1. First of all, we want to focus only on sites that compliment ours. By that I mean directly on indirectly are in the same category or field or relating field as our site without necessarily competing with our site. I say not-necessarily because personally I have no problem linking to competitors site as long as we both mutually agree benefits. Some fear they'll lose some of their site visitors but I feel the best way to keep visitors on your site and get them to return is by providing a high quality site with great original content. 2. Second we want to pay attention to their Google page rank. To do this if you haven't already done so, download Google free toolbar http://toolbar.google.com/ Once installed, you can see the PageRank? of any site you go to. You want as many sites as possible with high PR's. Set a goal of getting a few PR6 or PR7 sites. This will do wonders to your rank. In fact one PR7 might do more for you than hundreds on no or very low PR sites. 3. Third, the engines like to see incoming links from what they consider on authoritative site. So aggressively go after well established, high ranking sites that share the some focus as your site. 4. Fourth on our list are the sites to stay away from. Sites that generate artificially created links. Link farms and even huge link exchange sites can even get your site banned. I don't mean to make anyone nervous here. The fact is, if you are generally doing the right thing for the right reasons, you probably have nothing to worry about. If you find yourself trying to hide something or hoping an search engine doesn't catch something, then you may want to re-evaluate your strategies. Requesting a link. The first thing you should do when requesting a link exchange is little research. Glance over the site in question and consider where your site link might hold the most relevance one their site. This will benefit both parties. And then don't be afraid to offer the suggestions when you contact the site administrator. I have had sites accept my link on a suggested page even though they have a section designed just for outside links. I have even accepted links that I would have normally rejected because the fit would have seemed wrong if they hadn't shown a better fit. Always add their link to your site before you make the request and include the page url of the link when making contact. Keep track of the contacts you've made and if you haven't received a reply. Do a simple search on there site to see if they added your link and forgot to reply. At most, send one more request and be sure to include the words link exchange in the subject line so they don't delete your mail as spam. Then if you still don't get a reply within a week simply remove theirs from your site and move on. Don't send any more mail. Consider the lack of response as a rejection and accept it. Don't take things personal and send a negative e-mail. I have actually received a couple of these and there's really no point. If you do get a reply and a link send a short thank you note. Always include the exact text of the link you want on their site. Again, before you do this it helps if you look at other links on their site. If they have a 3 or 4 word description with each link, you don't want to send a whole paragraph in your links description. What you do want to do is include your best key words. In fact, a short description with the right key words can benefit you far better than a watered down version. Keep it short and sweet. Make things as easy as possible for the webmaster. Include the html code of your link so he/she can just copy and paste if they decide to.
SEO, the Simplified Version
Lets get things straight. SEO is a very competitive market. If you have the time to promote your site and have the energy to work hard to get a good PR then this is for you. I have read many books on SEO and tried to get the best tactics to use. If you have already built a website there are two things you need to do. First is ON PAGE optimizing and the second is OFF Page optimizing. On page is basically getting your meta tags and description tags similar to the pages that you have built. One key thing to remember is try to use tags with the keywords in your content. For example: if you have keywords like "SEO consultant" in you content you should bold it and put alt tags around it. Try to do this to each keyword per paragraph, don't over do it then google will think you're a spammer. Build pages according to you keywords and description tags.