SEO question regarding keywords.

[Move In Media]

I'm working on updating our website and have been researching SEO and keywords... Does anyone think its a good idea to include all of our products as keywords on the main page, or just limit it to industry-related keywords?

Alex.

 

[J Hill Designs]

content content content...I think the spiders are looking less and less at actual keyword metadata these days

 

[jkdbjj]

Spiders no longer use the meta keyword function.

However, on your frontpage, yea it is advisable to use your best keywords.
In fact, bold a few of them, use some as headers, even make sure your image alt tags have key words in them.

You do need to use them in your page titles as well.

Overall, Google is getting smart enough to know the difference in a site full of keywords, but zero value to the visitor and a site with good keywords, but highly valuable to the visitor.

Hope that helps.

 

[Fanaticus]

legitimate back-links will help as well.

 

[jkdbjj]

Also the keywords that matter are the ones your customers are using to find you. So if it is your product name they are searching for, use it, if it is some industry keyword they use, use it.
See what your more successful local competitors are using, and adapt to some of those.
Also, kind of important, use keywords that you can actually deliver on as well. If you don't do wraps for example, don't try to bait people in. It can discourage busy customers and can hurt your ranking.

Disclaimer, I am a newbie, and just sharing what I have learned.

 

[CES020]

This will probably go over like breaking wind in church, but I think posting how you got your site up on the list isn't a great business strategy. You're essentially telling your competitors exactly how to get ahead of you, which seems kind of counterproductive. I would never publicly tell people what I'm doing to give me a competitive advantage over my local competition. Why would you do that?

Sure, it's all public information and you can read for weeks about SEO, but boasting how and what you did exactly and how to do it does nothing but tell your local competitors exactly how to smoke you on the same thing.

What's next? Telling everyone in your area exactly how you get customers? Sometimes I think some people don't take running their business as seriously as I do. I'd like to see my local competitors go out of business, not prosper, especially with me helping them prosper by telling them all my ideas.

I suspect that's just me.......

 

[jkdbjj]

This will probably go over like breaking wind in church, but I think posting how you got your site up on the list isn't a great business strategy. You're essentially telling your competitors exactly how to get ahead of you, which seems kind of counterproductive. I would never publicly tell people what I'm doing to give me a competitive advantage over my local competition. Why would you do that?

Sure, it's all public information and you can read for weeks about SEO, but boasting how and what you did exactly and how to do it does nothing but tell your local competitors exactly how to smoke you on the same thing.

What's next? Telling everyone in your area exactly how you get customers? Sometimes I think some people don't take running their business as seriously as I do. I'd like to see my local competitors go out of business, not prosper, especially with me helping them prosper by telling them all my ideas.

I suspect that's just me.......

First, I partly agree with you.

Let me say 3 points why I am not that worried about it though.

1)it is one thing to read and think you understand it. Implementing is hard and takes more time than the average guy/gal is going to do in the end. As you say the info is there, so why isn't everyone doing it?

2)it takes also a decently designed website to make it (seo) worthwhile, which many just don't take the time to do.

3) I don't wish bad for anyone, as we all share this planet and we all need to eat and survive, so for me, yes you are alone in that regard.

There is a saying my friend likes to quote, "nice guys finish last" and I'm Ok with that. I'm a hard worker and I'll always find a way to make it happen and I'll help others do the same.

I've met way to man pieces of crap in this industry already that I decided I never want to join those ranks. To each his own though, do what you feel you must.

 

[J Hill Designs]

and you can also google any of these points and get the information from hundreds of SEO blogs etc out there...

 

[anotherdog]

Google now use over 300 criteria to rate sites, including using Meta data, though the weighting is quite low these days. I still put in meta data, but only a few words.
There are some very good SEO resources out there (mainly put in to boost the rating of SEO companies).

The best thing though is to name your graphics, use tags that are descriptive, use as much copy as you can that is relevant to your business (especially on the landing page)...mention your location in the copy and modify a few of your pages every month or two to keep it fresh.

Oh and open a google adword account with at least a couple of bucks a month. It may help (it used to a few years ago).
Google (and the rest) are rather secretive about the criteria so it can seem a little like witchcraft sometimes.

 

[Move In Media]

I'd like to see my local competitors go out of business, not prosper, especially with me helping them prosper by telling them all my ideas.
.

I understand your point but...
IMHO, competition is a good thing and it pushes people to try to become more effective, hopefully resulting in a better product for the consumer... Without competition in a race, is there a reason to push yourself to the limits? And I think some people are more worried about outdoing their competitors rather than focus on supplying their clients the best product and service possible.

And there IS a lot of info on SEO out there, I've been pouring over it a lot, but there seem to be me many different opinions, and so far I havent found all the answers Im seeking, which is why I posted here, hopefully someone would be willing to share their experiences....

 

[Move In Media]

use as much copy as you can that is relevant to your business (especially on the landing page)...mention your location in the copy and modify a few of your pages every month or two to keep it fresh.

Now, I've come across the term "copy" several times, yet I still dont fully understand what they mean....Is it just the text that you put on your page?

 

[J Hill Designs]

yeah text.

 

[jkdbjj]

Also I can't stress SeoMoz.org enough, there are a ton of free resources there.

 

[jkdbjj]

Now, I've come across the term "copy" several times, yet I still dont fully understand what they mean....Is it just the text that you put on your page?

Just beware Google, distinguishes between text, headers, bold face, paragraphs, etc. These metrics help google decide if the site is formatted in a coherent way and worth showing to visitors.

 

[Move In Media]

Also I can't stress SeoMoz.org enough, there are a ton of free resources there.

Thanks, Ill check it out

 

[wildside]

I think some people are more worried about outdoing their competitors rather than focus on supplying their clients the best product and service possible.

"if your competitors are worried about what you're doing, you're doing it right" - me

"if you're worried about what your competitors are doing, you're forgetting what your business is about" - me

 

[signswi]

Copy is a design term which means text. SEOMoz is good but they also shill their own stuff a lot and are more sales people than educators. The best SEO training is SEO Book or Blue Hat SEO but they're probably overkill for you.

Have you read the starting point for anyone interested in SEO, Google's own very good guide? http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

They also have good advice on hiring consultants and such here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291

 

[Move In Media]

Copy is a design term which means text. SEOMoz is good but they also shill their own stuff a lot and are more sales people than educators. The best SEO training is SEO Book or Blue Hat SEO but they're probably overkill for you.

I'll take a look, although I'm not really planning on doing the SEO myself, I just want to know more about it, and why do people get paid big bucks to do it....

Have you read the starting point for anyone interested in SEO, Google's own very good guide?

yeah, I use that as my main reference, very useful, I especially dig all the free Webmaster tools and analytics Google offers, good stuff.

They also have good advice on hiring consultants and such here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291

I'll check it out, although the company who's going to be doing our new site will probably provide their own consultant, which is why I'm brushing up on this stuff myself so that I know the right questions to ask him/her.

 

[royster13]

...and why do people get paid big bucks to do it....

Because they are good sales people.....Same reason some folks get more $$$s for their signs than the "low baller" down the road....

 

[signswi]

Because they are good sales people.....Same reason some folks get more $$$s for their signs than the "low baller" down the road....

Wrong. Bad SEOs can fall into this category, same for any industry in that there are sales driven scammers, but quality SEOs and SEO firms get paid for the same reason anyone does: they provide a positive ROI to the client. And they can prove it tangibly.

As a note SEOMoz is a quality agency, they drive very good results, it's just that their educational resources are as much meant to land clients as they are to train external SEOs. Rand Fishkin is a very clever fellow and understands that putting information out there is a sales tool and helps build his brand. That's what I meant that they're more sales people than educators, not trying to imply they fall into the category of scam agencies--which they do not.