For those of you looking to outsource your SEO, link building, or other online marketing strategies efforts, pay attention! Here is a quick list of times you should listen to or question your SEO consultant or online marketing agency.

A while back, I wrote about how to get the best high volume links. Fast forward eight months and Google has made two major changes to its algorithm - first to target spammy/scraper sites, followed by the larger Panda update that targeted "low qua.

There's always a huge debate going on about the value vs. authenticity of automation in Internet marketing, but some strategies are considered ok when others are considered an absolute evil. But are they really that different? A few weeks ago, I asked fans on my fanpage )mostly bloggers( about automated messages, particularly Twitter direct messages and thank you emails for comments, and now I want to see if I can get some more opinions about it from online marketers.

If you are shopping for domains, then you will want to do some research as a bad choice in domain names will lead to branding and search optimization issues down the road. Here are a few of the tools I use when I am setting out to find a great domain! 1. Google Adwords Keyword Tool Google's own keyword tool is always a great place to start when looking for keyword based domains.

There is a lot of debate about how creating content can help a website improve its search rankings. While some would like you to believe the "if you build it, they will come" theory, most realize that isn't going to be the case. I could write the greatest blog post EVER tomorrow and it never see one single visitor. So the question is, how does content equate to improved search rankings? The answer is through optimization and promotion of that content!

If you're trying to figure out what keywords to go for, chances are you are going to take a look at some of your competitors to see what keywords they are ranking for. But if you don't have access to professional and premium SEO tools, how do you find out this kind of information? Here are five free tools to get you started in finding a variety of keywords being used by your competitors.

There are lots of posts circulating about predictions for social media, Internet marketing, blogging, and more for 2011. So, without further ado, let's look at some predictions specifically for link building 1. Less use of keyword-based anchor text, more use of brand names. With the recent penalization of sites possibly due to over-optimized anchor text, and the Mayday changes that led to brand dominance in search results,

We all know about the value that you can find while performing keyword research using the Google Suggest feature for regular search as well as images, videos, and more. But let's look beyond Google for a moment - other sites are incorporating the suggestion feature in their search box as well. Here are just a few of them, as well as some examples of the variety in keyword ideas in comparison to the ones Google suggests as pictured above.

Recently, I have been hearing complaints about having websites drop out of rankings )or at least get bumped down a bit( for one particular keyword phrase, but not others. The assumption is likely that it is a penalty based on un-natural linking activity for that keyword phrase. If this is happening, how can you prevent your top keyword phrase from getting slapped by Google? Vary your anchor text of course. Natural Anchor Text Google likes natural , and, if you think about it,

Google Instant has not killed SEO by any means, despite the rumors. It has simply changed the approach that search engine marketers must take in order to get websites to appear higher in rankings and with their best foot forward. Here are some ways that you can ensure better rankings in the new Google Instant. 1. Include a Keyword in Your Brand Name If you're just starting out, you're in luck. Get your primary keyword in your brand name )preferably as the first word(,

Reputation management is a growing concern on the Internet, as it takes a lot more effort to get a negative item off of the top 10 search results for your name or company than it does for that negative item to get in those results. Bad Reps Through Link Building While quality link building can certainly help generate a positive online reputation, bad link building can do just the opposite. Here are three ways that your link building campaign could affect you or your clients.