If you're the type of SEO who builds and markets a variety of sites, there's something very satisfying about spotting an area that few people occupy, and making it your own! There are various software programs available that help you find niches, often based on finding keyword terms with high traffic and low, or no, PPC bids. These tools can be very useful for keyword list building, however finding great niches requires a little more analysis to establish viability.

Why do we try to rank sites high in the search results? Obviously, SEO is a traffic acquisition strategy. We seek to direct audiences who are interested in our products, services or ideas to our sites, rather than those of our competitors. We expend time and energy getting a site to rank a few places higher, or for a wider range of keywords, but it also pays to focus our attention on what happens after visitors arrive. If visitors arrive,

Do you know anyone who got their rankings back after Update Panda trashed their site? There may be some, and there may be some people who get their rankings back eventually, but the problem is a fundamental one: If the Google dragon flicks her tail in your direction, and all you rely on is rankings, you're screwed That's life in SEO. Google flicks her tail, and some webmasters may never be heard from again.

Google is favoring big brands . If Google's comments and actions of late, are anything to go by, the chance of the little guy, armed only with SEO chops, being able to compete with deep-pocketed corporates are less and less likely. Google algorithms tend to reward the big players - the people everyone talks about, and links to. How can we combat this situation? Back To Business Ever notice how a page on FaceBook, or some other behemoth site,

With Google making the life of the SEO harder and harder, it pays to add as many marketing strings to our bows as we can. In this article, we'll look at a way to brand and position using stories. Hopefully, if we have a good story, and tell it well, people are more likely to remember us, and more likely to pass the story on. Are We Special? Most people think their site is special. But, by definition, few sites in a given niche can be special. If we target a keyword term,

When your boss/client asks you why your web site can't be found in Google, what are you going to say? You should prepare, because, eventually, that question will be asked. Should you cross that bridge when you come to it? Employ an SEO specialist to "do some stuff", after launch, in order to get the site ranked? Isn't SEO just another marketing function, like buying advertising? In this article, I'll outline why it's a bad idea to treat SEO as an add-on.

SEO on your own site is straightforward, at least in terms of the politics. SEO'ing a site that a team works on is another matter. You will come up against barriers. These barriers are often put up by designers, developers, copywriters and management. Frustrating as it is for the SEO, this is the reality of working on a site alongside other people, all of whom have agendas and requirements that may differ markedly from your own. So how do you navigate this space?

I received this book in the mail. It's nice to be sent books. And it's by Seth ! The book is called Poke The Box . It's about making a start. Seth encourages us to just jump in and do things. It doesn't matter if they go wrong, the important thing is to make the start. To break out of conservative patterns. It's a scatter-shot rant about the death of the industrial revolution, with Godin inciting us, over and over again, to take action. Gotta say,

You can't learn great SEO from an e-book. Or buying software tools. Great SEO is built on an understanding. Reducing SEO To Prescription One of the problems with reductive, prescribed SEO approaches - i.e. step one: research keywords, step two: put keyword in title etc can be seen in the recent "Content Farm" update . When Google decide sites are affecting their search quality, they look for a definable, repeated footprint made by the sites they deem to be undesirable.

Google tries to wrestle back index update naming from the pundits, naming the update "Panda" . Named after one of their engineers, apparently. The official Google line - and I'm paraphrasing here - is this: Trust us. We're putting the bad guys on one side, and the good guys on the other I like how Wired didn't let them off the hook. Wired persisted: Wired.com: Some people say you should be transparent,

It feels like old times . Google makes a big algorithm change , and all hell breaks loose. Well, some hell, and some jumping for joy, depending on which direction a webmasters rankings went. As I wrote in Content Farms Vs... at the beginning of last month: Put it this way. Any algorithm that takes out Demand Media content is going to take out a lot of SEO content, too. SEO copy-writing? What is that? That's what Demand Media do. As I outlined in the first paragraph,

I'm going to borrow this quote from Seth Godin, who borrowed it from Kevin, who borrowed it from The Count Of Monte Cristo: "I have been told," said the count, "that you do not always yourselves understand the signals you repeat." "That is true, sir, and that is what I like best," said the man, smiling. "Why do you like that best?" "Because then I have no responsibility. I am a machine then, and nothing else, and so long as I work, nothing more is required of me." In SEO,

Somewhere at MountainView. Late afternoon. Google Guy: Sigh. Our algo really does suck, sometimes..... Other Google Guy: How so, dude? GoogleGuy: It keeps returning low-quality farmer garbage Other Google Guy: Mahalo! Google Guy: Huh? Other Google Guy: Sorry, just shouting out "Thanks!" to Marissa. She left me a cup cake this morning. You were saying? GoogleGuy: Our algo, it keeps returning low-quality farmer garbage Other Google Guy: Ah, right.

Interesting post from Matt Cutts, talking about how Google is so much better now than it was in 2000. But it's a misconception that there was no spam on Google back then. Google in 2000 looked great in comparison with other engines at the time, but Google 2011 is much better than Google 2000. I know because back in October 2000 I sent 40,000+ queries to google.com and saved the results as a sort of search time capsule 40,000+ queries!

Is the following an SEO strategy? Research keywords Select keywords that have existing traffic Write pages based on those keywords Publish pages Get those pages ranked against those keywords How is this different to what a Content Farm does? So, if Content Farm pages are undesirable, so too is SEO content? Low Quality Content? Perhaps people take issue with low-quality content. The problem with arguments about quality is that such arguments are subjective.

Times are tough. In times like these, clients tend to focus on the value proposition. "Throw it at the wall, see if it sticks" is not a phrase you hear a lot in recessions. Instead, your customers will tend to have their eyes transfixed on your value proposition. "How does this spend make me better off?" Whilst we may think search marketing services are essential, the spend on search services typically comes out of marketing budgets,

A new year brings new resolutions. Some readers might be considering taking that giant leap from their boring day job into the wonderfest that is full-time SEO. Huge money! Party central! Hangin' at conferences with Matt Cutts! What could possibly go wrong? Let's take a serious look at what your new life will look like. It's Going To Hurt SEO is a world of hurt. When you start, you'll have little money. Your bills don't stop coming in. Google, rather uncooperatively,

Here's an interesting study , conducted by Benjamin Edelman and Benjamin Lockwood, from the Harvard Business School. The study measures how much search engines, Google in particular, favor their own web services. We find that each search engine favors its own services in that each search engine links to its own services more often than other search engines do so. But some search engines promote their own services significantly more than others.

I'm doing keyword research. The opportunities I see before me still amaze me. Keyword lists, showing the frequency of searches, are market research nirvana. It's like being a god, delving deep into the minds of mortals. And most people outside SEO. Still. Don't. Get. It. Ever explained keywords to people, and received blank looks in return? We can trawl through a keyword research tool and list thousands of niche business opportunities. Demand is on display.

Here's a sure-fire way to get ranked high in Google. Piss people off. Reportedly , DecorMyEyes founder Vitaly Borker was arrested and charged with defrauding customers, and making repeated and violent threats to customers who attempted to return defective goods. Not a fan of "How To Win Friends And Influence People", then :( This bit will interest SEO fans: Hello, My name is Stanley with DecorMyEyes.com," the post began.