Sharing My Keyword Rankings To Prove SEO Really Works

Yup! This SEO Stuff Really Works!

Alright, I’ve given you a glimpse into one of my top-ten rankings keyword phrases in my previous post. Because the explanation of how my Home page ranks #1 for this keyword phrase isn’t beginning basic cut-and-dry techniques, I thought I’d choose a keyword phrase that does clearly show the most basic level of optimization techniques.

This example couldn’t be any clearer, or easier to explain as to how I hold the #1 ands #2 spots as of today (and have been for quite awhile). The keyword phrase to notice in this screenshot is: hypertufa recipes.

Content … Let Me Talk About That First

Alright, one of the most basic things you need to do with the on-page (your content) optimization in order to try and achieve top-ten rankings is to use the keyword phrase sprinkled throughout the page. I have done that. I also used a variation of the term, “hypertufa recipe” (singular). If you review the actual content: Basic Hypertufa Recipes you’ll see what I mean.

Note: If you read through the page, you’ll see I haven’t over-used the keyword phrases … yes they may show up often on the page, but based on the quality level of information I am trying to provide for my all important visitor … the number of times I’ve used the keyword phrases is quite acceptable.

Next … the Title Tag and Description Meta Tag

Next is the issue of properly optimizing the Title tag and Description meta tag with the keyword phrase. Let me show you both of them as found in the #1 ranking position:

TITLE tag: Basic Hypertufa Recipes and Important Mixing Guidelines

DESCRIPTION meta tag: Start with the right hypertufa ingredients. These time-tested recipes will insure your garden art project’s success. Lots of ‘tufa tips & guidelines.

Can I let you in on something about the level of “expert” SEO of these two tags? It sort of stinks! (Did I just say that??) Yes … I wrote these tags when I first built the website many years ago and well … I wasn’t terribly proficient in SEO, but I was almost adhering to all the basic rules. What do I mean by “almost adhering”??

I mean that I should have used both words – “hypertufa recipes” – TOGETHER in the description tag. That’s what I teach all my clients to do. And for sure, today I would definitely write a better Title and Description but you know what? If it ain’t broke … don’t fix it!

I’m leaving well enough alone because I am holding the top two rankings! Why mess with something that is working??

Before I end this post, I’ll mention one more thing that is causing these two pages to rank as nicely as they do. It’s because my competition isn’t doing as good a job as I am in all the optimization factors nor are they experiencing some of the other important factors that help search engine rankings (in-pointing links, quantity of quality content, etc). I’ll teach you about these “advanced” SEO issues in future posts.

I hope you are starting to get an idea of how your keyword phrase has to be focused upon in a number of ways for each page of content on your site. See you later!

SEO Techniques & My Own Sites – An Ongoing Case Study

A New Series of Posts Where I’ll Share How to Use SEO for Better Results

There’s a new category of posts I decided to add to my blog today – about how I personally achieve top organic rankings on my own websites by using SEO techniques. I want these posts to be a on-going conversation, a journal of sorts, about how I am able to achieve high rankings and then maintain those rankings. I want to emphasize that the rankings I am sharing and discussing are ones that bring me many, many targeted visitors. These are not top-ten ranking keyword phrases that produce zero traffic!

Why Have I Decided to Bare it All With You? Because I’m a Teacher at Heart

I know what the stumbling blocks are to trying to learn how to optimize your website or blog in order that it can rank highly for the keywords that really do have great search volumes. At one point more than a few years ago, I wasn’t an expert in SEO! I had to start from zero knowledge and move up from there. I hope that what I share with you will really help you be more successful with your search engine rankings … and that means you’ll hopefully have more targeted visitor traffic.

Alright, let me explain more about the keyword I used and is shown in this screenshot (taken today March 25, 2008) – the very competitive and good traffic generating keyword: garden art project.

Please note: today I have a #1 position … #2 has disappeared. Oh well … that’s the joy of dealing with the search engines. I’ve done NOTHING at all to change the web page or the website. I know that this is just something that happens from time to time. Rankings can come, and rankings can go. But the important thing is that I am still #1

OK, let me give you some insight as to how I have gotten this #1 (and most times #2 also) ranking. “Garden art project” sure seems pretty general, doesn’t it? In certain ways it is, thusly it is harder to rank highly for, much harder than if I had targeted it to be a more specific keyword phrase, such as “floral garden art project”.

But, that keyword is one of the main keywords that describes the overall theme (niche) of the website www.The-Artistic-Garden.com. So, I chose to optimize for that term.

How did I achieve and then maintain a top ranking like this for a long time? The simple fact is because I have properly optimized the Title tag and Description meta tag and the content on that page with the term. I will admit there is a bit of “advanced” SEO happening with the optimization technique I have employed in this situation, but not that advanced that I can’t discuss it with someone who is learning about SEO.

I’ll be talking about all the ins and outs, variables and such that can affect your rankings in future posts in this series “My SEO Journal: How I Have Achieved & Maintained Top Rankings”. If you want to optimize your site by yourself, then I do believe you’ll find my true life examples in future posts to be full of great tips.

See you soon!

On-Page Optimization: Have You Taken A Good Hard Look At The Competitions’ SEO?

Those Top Ranking Competitors Are Paying Attention to SEO Requirements

If your site isn’t doing well in the search engine rankings, have you taken a long hard look and analyzed the top-ranking sites for your keyword phrases? Where do you see them utilizing those keyword phrases?

• Where have they placed the keyword in the Title tag? At the very beginning? Third or fourth word? At the end?
• How does the keyword (and modifiers if used) get woven into the Description meta tag? Is it utilized once? Does it appear at the beginning, towards the middle, or …?
• Is the keyword phrase used in the URL’s file name?

Analyze the Competition, Kiddo!

It’s not at all hard to get a quick overview of the top-ten sites for whatever keywords phrase you’re looking up. Using Google, MSN and Yahoo! as an examples, you’ll notice that whatever you entered for the search term, those words will become bolded in the Title and Descriptions. Voila … you will easily see how, where, and how many times and/or variables were used. Let me tell you, that is research gold right there!

I may spend umpteen hours pouring over and analyzing the SEO on the top ranking sites that my client will be competing with, especially so if they are in a very tough, competitive niche. But for many of my clients in narrower niches, it usually only takes me about 10 minutes to determine if I will have to be concerned about the quality level of search engine optimization on their competitors sites.

I must mention that the ranking criteria differs from search engine to search engine. Where a webpage might be #1 in Google, it might not even be in the top ten in MSN or Yahoo!. For most internet marketers, the best you can do is try to address the on-page factors as I am discussing here and do your best on each page you write. If you want to really dominate the top three search engines, then you very well might have to write three unique pages of optimized content for each keyword phrase you wish to rank highly for.

I’ve said it before here, and you’ll keep reading it throughout my blog… 90% of the sites out there are NOT optimized. So for those of us doing the best we can to apply solid SEO techniques to each and every page or blog post we have created, we will be miles ahead of our competition in almost all instances.

These Statistics Might Make Your Knees Weak

In a very interesting August 2006 article found on guardian.co.uk, it states “…the top result on any search engine gets 42.1% of the clickthroughs; the second, 11.2%. That’s more than half of all clickthroughs in just two results. It’s rapidly downhill from there, apart from the 10th result (before you click onto the next page)…” Please take a minute to read the article. Though there is much talk in this article about Wikipedia and I realize the results came from analyzing AOL users, the point I am making is that it DOES matter where you rank.

I don’t care if they tested senior citizens using MSN, or 22 years olds only using Yahoo! I’ll bet you the results would be very much the same. The gist of what I’m trying to get across to you is this: if you can’t be found in the top-10 results of any search engine for your targeted keyword phrases, but more so Google, it is time to go back to the SEO drawing board. It is time to start tweaking.

Take good long hard looks at the sites that hold the top-ten positions for whatever keyword phrase you’d like to rank highly for. What can you learn?

Take a FREE spin and research the search terms people are really typing into the search engines: Wordtracker Free Research Tool