Q and A: What are IP Addresses?

Dear Kalena...

Hi, I want to know about the IP address. I read an seo articles where he say that you got quality backlinks from different IPs. What's is the meaning of different ips and how I can get links from different IPs?.

Regards
Rida

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Rida

IP address stands for Internet Protocol Address and is simply a unique set of numbers that indicate the location of a particular computer on a network. Some web sites have their own dedicated IP address, but most generally share an IP with other web sites on the same server.

I think there might have been some confusion with the article you read, because it is not usually relevant to know the IP address of a web site when building links. You want to aim to get backward links from high quality sites and sites with a theme or content that is related to your own site.

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Q and A: Where should I place outbound links in my blog?

Dear Kalena...

I would like to know what links and where on a page are the best kinds of links. I'm a new blogger and started up my 2nd blog this weekend: The Artist Food Network. An artist will email a recipe and a painting of a food from the recipe. We will link to her in our post and we will want a link exchange by having her put a permanent link to us somewhere on our side bar (in a sidebar with layout -- adding a new page element). Are these the same in value?

Everyone talks about the value of links but I never know where to put these links --In a comments on another's site, in the post, or permanently in the blog roll. Thanks for your help.

Nancy

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Nancy

What a delightful idea for a blog! Very unique. In terms of your questions, it can be confusing for bloggers to know who to link to, where to place the link and how many links to use on a page. First and foremost, design your blog pages with users in mind. Create your navigation and outbound links so they are the most logical for your visitors. Create a few different layouts for your blog and ask a sample of people to provide feedback and what they do and don't like.

Any usability expert will tell you that the most expected place for navigation links is at the left of top of a page and the most expected link format is blue underlined text. Now that might not work with your particular blog template, but you should still try to fulfill your visitors expectations as much as possible. Visual heat maps can show you what areas of a web page are most looked at and clicked on by visitors. Try to place your most important content and links in these areas.

In terms of how to link to your contributors, I see that you have created a Contributors column in your left-hand navigation and are linking to the profiles of each contributer. But most of your posts don't link out to other sites. I do see one post from a guest artist where you've linked to the artist's site within the post text. The way you've done that is just fine. In terms of search engines and linking, there are really only four things to remember:

1) A link from site A to site B is considered by search engines to be a "vote" by site A for site B. The quality of site A is what search engines pay close attention to. If site A is considered a high quality site, with high traffic and popular content, the vote for site B is obviously worth more. If site A's content is related to the theme of site B, the link value is even higher. If site A is considered to be fairly unimportant or of low quality, then the link value is reduced considerably. This is why mass link building campaigns are often unsuccessful, because webmasters go out and try to build links willy-nilly, without caring who links back to them or who they link to. It's quality that counts for search engines, not quantity. The same goes for the number of links from one site to yours. Having a link from somebody's blogroll to your blog might provide more traffic, because more pages are listing your link, but it won't necessarily help from a search engine perspective unless the pages that list your link are considered of high quality themselves. The point here is to link and become linked by all means, but make sure you only link out to sites you would recommend to your site visitors.

2) If possible, don't exceed 100 links on a single page, as recommended by Google in their Webmaster Guidelines. I know, I know, I break this rule! It's a usability thing.

3) Don't link to the same page more than once on a single page.

4) The anchor text you use in the link can influence how relevant search engines consider the linked-to page for matching search queries. So you should always try to use logical keywords within the link. For example, if you were linking to a site about watercolor artists, instead of having the link look like this: Visit this site, it's about watercolor artists. You should use keywords in the anchor text and change the link to: Visit a site about watercolor artists. Make sense? It's very important that you encourage your guest artists and any persons linking to you to use anchor text in their links also so your site can gain from the link juice.


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Q and A: Why does Google show my site having zero backlinks?

Dear Kalena...

When I search through third party websites for backlinks then it shows 13 backlinks but Google shows zero. Why and how does Google show my backlinks? Please tell me why Google is doing this?

Regards
Bilal

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Bilal

Unlike other search engines such as Yahoo!, Google never shows the true number of backward links they have on record pointing to your site. If links pointing to your site are on a page that has a low PageRank or a page that doesn't meet Google's quality guidelines, they may never show up in a backlink search.

Keep in mind that although you might not see all your backlinks listed (particularly if you use the Google Toolbar to check), Google does keep count of these towards your link popularity score and will show them when they eventually reach a certain number or quality, based on their PageRank algorithm and other factors.

To see a more accurate list of backlinks Google has on record for your site, you need to view your site within Google's Webmaster Tools.


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Q and A: Why isn't my blogging helping my SEO efforts?

Here's a recent exchange on LiveHelp with blog reader Jerry, who is concerned that his blog efforts aren't paying SEO dividends:

Jerry: Hi kalena, I'm writing like crazy but not bumping my seo juice. I was hoping for advice
kalena : how are you syndicating your articles?
Jerry : I'm not. I'm just blogging.
kalena : Ah. Have you registered your blog with as many blog directories as possible?
kalena : Do you make it super easy for readers to find your RSS feed?
Jerry : technorati and blogpulse
Jerry : yes, I use addthis
kalena : do you Digg etc your own posts?
Jerry : No, i haven't figured digg out yet. That's one I want to work on
Jerry : What about syndicating?
kalena : If you think your post is unique enough, you should Digg it yourself. Digg will tell you if there are posts on the same subject, but usually you can Digg your own
Jerry : Okay. That sounds like a good tip. I think it's very unique
kalena : yes, if you can encourage other sites and bloggers to syndicate your own blog feed, that's a good way to get traffic
kalena : It helps if you can get bloggers in the same industry to link to or comment on your posts
Jerry : How do I find them to ask them? My blog about memoirs is so unique I have not found too many like it
kalena : Do searches for popular sites and blogs on your subject matter and simply email them and ask for a link. Or send them a post that you think they'd like.
Jerry : Okay. But I get stuck in blogosphere when I search. I've been doing this for 4 months and still haven't got the hang of finding similar blogs
kalena : Try writing a few longer posts or mini articles on your blog. They are the ones that usually get traffic. Or create a useful tool for other memoir writers to use
Jerry : They are ALL articles
Jerry : I'm cranking out some of my best writing ever
kalena : Try creating a free account at helium.com. They are looking for new writers and you can link back to your blog.
Jerry : huh. That's new. Okay I'll try that
kalena : Hold on for a sec, I have a great list of article distribution sites...
Jerry : NEAT!
kalena : Ok, here is the URL: http://www.searchenginecollege.com/hub/weblinks.php?cat_id=52
kalena : Also, you can join Yahoo Groups and do a search for Article Announcement groups. These are places where you can submit your articles for free to thousands of sites who will re-publish them with your link
Jerry : That sounds perfect.
kalena : Glad to help.
Jerry : Thanks so much for your time!! This is awesome. I think I already have you on my blogroll
Jerry : If you have a moment I have a couple technical questions
kalena : Just a quickie as I am grading assignments
Jerry : Thanks! I started with the ugly default slug
Jerry : Should I go back and fix them with pretty permalinks?
Jerry : AND another question. Can I repost them, or does that get me in trouble with google for double posting.
Jerry : permalink
kalena : Re permalinks, if you have a look at the titles of my blog posts, they are permanent links.
Jerry : yes, they look great. All my first 4 months were ugly
kalena : You can add code to your Blogger template to ensure all your article/blog post headings are permanent links
kalena : Don't know about double posting, but why would you want to do that?
Jerry : Two reasons. I had SO LITTLE traffic my first few months, I don't want them to be lost
Jerry : And 2, the permalinks the first time were those ugly looking ?p=232" or whatever
kalena : I'll email you the code to create permalinks out of your blog post titles:
Jerry : Thanks Kalena. You've been awesome. Thanks for taking the time.
kalena : ok I'll shoot it through when I get time.
kalena : You're welcome. Good luck with the syndication
Jerry : Thanks
kalena : bye


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Q and A: Should I swap links with this site?

Dear Kalena...

I have received a link request from [site URL removed] to exchange links. Should I do it?

Susan

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Susan

If you look at the page where they are placing their "links", you will see that the links are actually embedded in Javascript code. This is a sneaky way to make it look like there is a link to your site from theirs (to the naked eye), but it is not a text link that search engines can read, so it might as well not exist.

The best links are when popular sites and directories link to you, but you don't necessarily link back to them. This is what this site was trying to do to you - having you link to them, but them having no real link to you. Search engines are clued in to sites exchanging links to try to boost each other's results, so they don't give as high "marks" when each site links back to the other as they do when there is only a one way link from one site to the other.

This site is betting that you will use a simple HTML link on your site so that they can get some value from you linking to them, but you will get nothing from them in return. Tell them to bugger off. Better still, ignore them.

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Q and A: Why doesn't Google show all our backward links?

Dear Kalena...

I came across your site as I was searching for "why doesn't google show my links?". Yahoo and MSN show over 200 links to our www.Rubber-Bracelets.com site, but Google shows 2! What's up with that? We have the keywords in our domain name and I can't find us in the first five pages for "rubber bracelets". What gives? Of course, people aren't searching for rubber bracelets like they once were, but it appears in Google Suggest that there are still a good number of searches. Can you help?

Thanks!
Tony

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Tony

First up, what makes you think that having keywords in your domain automatically makes your site more relevant for searches involving those keywords? What if I purchased a domain like www.safe-kids-toys.com and loaded it up with porn? Do you think Google's algorithm will automatically assume my content is about "safe kids toys" just because my domain suggests it is? Uh uh. It doesn't work like that. I answered a similar question about keyword domains just yesterday.

Secondly, Google never displays the true number of backlinks your site has, only a sampling of the ones they consider to be important. You can get a better indication of who is linking to you from Yahoo Site Explorer.

Lastly, if your site is under 9 months old or has recently undergone a major re-design, it could be suffering from Google's aging delay for new sites. If that's the case, it won't rank in Google for your target keywords until it is released from limbo. It's Google's little screening process to help them weed out the dodgy sites from the authentic ones.

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Q and A: Do we need to start over with our web site?

Dear Kalena...

Thank you very, very much for the thorough analysis of our site. That is just what we were looking for. We built the site with Microsoft Frontpage 2003 (and still use it) a few years ago. I thought 'tables' were the staple of all websites, what is CSS? So you are saying we need to start over right? What web building software should we use? Do you ever do this sort of work (correcting all the problems you described with our site)? The background and a few other small things we can fix now. Can we use a light grey background or does google like white better? Also what is "anchor text link" and "Your internal links could also use some work from an anchor text angle." How do I find these "Trusted Sites"?

Thank you very much Kalena!

Mike

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Mike

That's a lot of questions! Think I'll need some more caffeine :-)

Let's take them one by one:

1) What is CSS?

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and is a way to store the design and layout code for your site in a separate file so you don't have to include it in the HTML code of every page. Instead, each page simply refers to the CSS file. It's a much neater way of designing a web site than tables and search engines prefer it too because there is less code for them to index and less chance of your code tripping up a search engine bot while it's indexing your site.

2) So you are saying we need to start over right? What web building software should we use?

Yes, preferably. Tables are old technology and very difficult to design with. Also, the site could use an overhaul - no offence but it does look a little "home made". I have a confession to make - I am also a Front Page junkie! But I have learned over the years that Front Page adds a lot of unnecessary code to web pages and most sites built with FP aren't very search engine friendly so I try not to use it anymore. It's best if you build a site from scratch using HTML code and CSS or hire a designer who can build one for you in PHP or HTML. There are web site templates you can purchase online, but often these are built with tables. The alternative is to use an Open Source Content Management System (there are available free of charge) but it will require a steep learning curve. If you'd like some recommendations for reasonably priced web designers that understand how to build search engine friendly sites, please let me know.

3) Do you ever do this sort of work (correcting all the problems you described with our site)?

Yes, I offer search engine optimization services via my hourly consulting rates and my company Jordan Consulting Group can provide a quote for web design using a Content Management System. Use the Ask Kalena link again and ask for a quote on either service if you're interested. If you want to learn quickly how to optimize your own site from scratch, consider taking one of our online search engine optimization courses.

4) Can we use a light grey background or does google like white better?

Light grey should be fine, as long as it has a different HEX color to your table background in your HTML code.

5) What is "anchor text link" and "Your internal links could also use some work from an anchor text angle."

Anchor text, (sometimes known as the link label), is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. The keywords you use in a link to a site can have an impact on how well that site ranks for searches utilizing those keywords. In other words, if you want your site to rank well for "gold dipped roses", then you should incorporate links within your site that use "gold dipped roses" in the anchor text of the links. You can do this by linking from internal pages of your site to other internal pages of your site with such anchor text. But the keywords you use in your link text should always be relevant to the page content you are linking to. You should also try to encourage other sites to link to you using anchor text in their links.

6) How do I find these "Trusted Sites"?

Ah, that's a time-consuming task. You need to research and look for popular directories to submit your site to and approach sites that have a similar theme to your site to ask for a link. Try looking for niche directories, regional directories and industry portals relating to your business as a source of one-way incoming links Some sites will require a reciprocal link placed on your site to theirs before they will link to you, but reciprocal links don't have as much search engine value as one-way incoming links. If you don't have time, you can hire a company to run a link building campaign on your behalf.

Good luck!

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Q and A: Why has our Google PageRank dropped to zero?

Dear Kalena...

Can you please help us? I just came across your site and you seem very knowledgeable.

Our problem is Google! Our site has been active for a few years now at www.theforeverrose.com We were once #1 for the search "the forever rose" (and ranked well for a few others as well). But we have been gradually slipping, now we are in position 90 for "the forever rose" and off the charts for others?

Our PageRank was once a three and gradually dropped to now 0. We cannot figure out why and things keep getting worse. We strictly follow all of Google's rules and ethics, we rank fine in Yahoo and MSN. I am tired of hearing the obvious; more links, more pages, better content, SEO.... etc, we have been doing that. I feel like we are just missing something really simple, something right in front of our eyes, something that is penalizing us!

Can you please help? Any of your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,
Mike

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Mike

A quick check of your site with the Google Site Status tool shows that pages from your site are included in the index, but that Google may not know about all your site pages. The site was last indexed by Googlebot on 25 April and you have one backward link displayed by Google but 81 backlinks shown on Yahoo.

Your home page has a Google Toolbar PageRank of zero and some pages have greyed out PageRank and no cache, suggesting they haven't been indexed. Curiously, Google is showing 46 pages from your site in their index, while Yahoo is only showing 25 pages indexed. The fact that the site has already aged and used to have a much higher PageRank may suggest a penalty of some kind.

But there could be a few explanations for your poor PageRank and lack of rankings:

1) You are using a black page background but you then have a table on it with a white background and black text. Some search engines will see this as black text on a black background. It's possible that this may be tripping spam filters.

2) Your site is built using old technology and contains a lot of code bloat. Tables are clunky and difficult for search spiders to index and Googlebot may have tripped up on your code and not indexed all your pages.

3) Your home page contains keyword repetition for the words "rose" and "roses". I don't think the repetition is excessive, but it may have triggered some type of suppression filter in Google.

4) Your site has poor link popularity and the sites that link to you tend to have a very low quality score and no PageRank e.g. cufflinksdepot.com/dir-gifts.htm and escapesportif.com/resources/gifts.html. You don't have enough incoming links pointing to your site from what Google calls "trusted sites" - popular directories, portals and authoritative sites in your industry. Your internal links could also use some work from an anchor text angle.

5) Most of your site pages might be stuck in Google's supplemental index, colloquially (but unfairly) known as Google Hell. Google's Matt Cutts explains why some sites have the bulk of the pages moved to the supplemental results:

"If you used to have pages in our main web index and now they’re in the supplemental results, a good hypothesis is that we might not be counting links to your pages with the same weight as we have in the past. The approach I’d recommend in that case is to use solid white-hat SEO to get high-quality links (e.g. editorially given by other sites on the basis of merit)."

Here's what you should do to address the problems:

1) For better indexing, consider upgrading the site design away from tables to clean HTML and use CSS for formatting. Until you do that, change the background of all pages to white to avoid any potential hidden text penalties from your table layout.

2) Run your site through a text-editor such as Lynx to see what search engines see when they index your site. Verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools and check the diagnostics for potential indexing problems.

3) Optimize your site from scratch. You should make sure your site is search engine compatible and optimized for a wider range of target search keywords and phrases rather than the obvious ones.

4) Create and upload an XML sitemap to Google Sitemaps or use the new Sitemaps Protocol in your robots.txt file to tell search engines where to find your XML sitemap. I like to use the free XML Sitemaps Generator to create my sitemaps.

5) Commence a link building campaign pronto. This campaign should include submitting your site to all the major and minor directories and search engines where the site doesn't currently feature, as well as niche directories and portal sites in your specific industry. Where possible, anchor text incorporating your target keywords should be used within the links. My consulting company can take care of link building for you if you like.


Once changes to your site code have been made and you have achieved some good quality links, most of your problems should disappear. If the problems persist, file a re-inclusion request with Google, explaining what might have triggered penalties and what changes you've made to address the issues. Although technically your site hasn't been excluded from the Google index, this should prompt a review of your site by Google's anti-spam team and hopefully result in any suppression penalties being lifted.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

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Q and A: How can I increase my site traffic and my AdSense commission?

Dear Kalena...

My site is www.shopitonline.co.uk, and it's been up since November 2005. The traffic I am getting now is near enough to 3000 visitors per month.

I would really like to increase this traffice substantially, and also increase the Google Adsense commission. The Google Adsense has been on for just about a month, and the commission is next to nothing. How can I improve these 2 areas?

Thanks
Saleem

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Saleem

I no longer see Google AdSense ads on your site - perhaps you've removed these since you submitted your question? There are a lot of ways to increase your AdSense commissions. Most of them are listed in my article: Top 10 AdSense Tricks to Boost Your Commission. But be warned, Google has changed the rules for AdSense publishers since this article was written so you should check with their revised AdSense Policies before using any of the suggested tips.

Now, about bringing more traffic to your site, I would start with correctly optimizing it for target keywords. Here are just a few of the many problems with your site:

1) Your Title Attributes are too long, incorrectly formatted and stuffed with too many keywords. Your Title Tag should be a grammatically correct sentence of no more than 15 words, containing 2 or 3 target search keywords/phrases.

2) Your META Keywords Tag is too long and stuffed with too many keywords and contains keyword repetition which may trigger search engine spam filters.

3) Your META Description Tag isn't enticing enough and contains highly generic keywords which won't attract buyers for your individual products. Your Description Tag is often used by search engines and directories to list your site so you want to ensure it is written in a way that attracts clicks.

4) You use the same Title and META Tags on EVERY page of your site! You should create tailored Title and META tags for each and every page of your site, based on keyword relevant to the page content. That way you are creating multiple entrances into your site instead of relying on the front door.

5) Your site contains query strings and presents dynamic content for each page (e.g. http://www.shopitonline.co.uk/default.asp?cat=43), meaning some search engines will have difficulty finding all your content and treat your site as having a single page. If you don't want to redesign the site, you should consider using flat HTML pages for your most important category content or integrating a parameter workaround to switch the dynamic URLs into static ones.

6) I know your site is a directory, but you are trying to target too many generic products and categories with a single set of Title and META Tags. This is a complete waste of time. You should be dividing your content into various themes and optimizing each area for keywords relating to that theme.

In relation to gaining more traffic - I notice your link popularity scores are pretty low. You probably need to conduct a long term link building campaign and attract one-way incoming links from high quality sites and other directories. Try contacting sites that contain large lists of directories and search engines and asking them to link to you. You could also try a Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign on Google AdWords and/or Yahoo! Search Marketing to promote your free directory submission.

Good Luck!

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Q and A: What is a reasonable budget for web site marketing?

Dear Kalena...

Love your website. I have been searching for good web marketing companies online and found that most of them charge upwards of $300 a month to give provide you with high rankings. Being an expert, what would you recommend is a reasonable budget for web site marketing? I have just started a website and I am overwhelmed. I contacted similar websites but I have been turned down. What is the trick to getting links? Should I only link with like-minded websites?

Abdi

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Abdi

Asking what a reasonable budget is for web site marketing is a bit like asking "What is a reasonable price for a steak?". It depends. Do you want to do all the work and cook it yourself? Do you want to have it in a burger joint with fries? Or do you want it served rare with a red-wine glaze in a 5 star restaurant? There is no one-size-fits-all answer.

Marketing your web site can be a full-time job, whether you have a 5 page hobby site or a 50,000 page shopping site. You need to decide what you actually want your site to achieve before you decide how to market it. Ask yourself:

- Do I want to attract more traffic?
- Do I want to convert more sales?
- Do I want to attract more sign-ups?
- Do I want more leads?
- How much time can I contribute to marketing?

Then think about what type of budget you can afford monthly and allocate it to in-house or outsourced marketing staff according to your priorities. Search engine marketing is less focused on gaining high rankings these days and more focused on ensuring your site is search engine friendly and user-oriented so it converts to more sales/sign-ups for you. What's the point of achieving high search rankings if the new visitors to your site leave immediately?

Regarding links - there is no point in swapping links with sites that have zero to do with your own site. I've ranted about this before. Concentrate on attracting one-way links from niche search engines and high quality sites with a similar theme to your own. Search my previous posts about link building.

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Q and A: How can I stop link farms from linking to us?

Dear Kalena...

I'm using Yahoo Site Explorer to check inlinks to client sites. On one site, I'm noticing inlinks from PR0 sites that are just listings of URLs and fake 'directories' that are there to pick up adsense dollars. They were not submitted by us or our client. My questions: Is there any way to remove your site from these types of pages? Do the owners ever honor any requests? Is there any way to minimize the impact of inlinks from sites like these?

Keri

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Keri

Thanks for the caffeine injection! Re your questions:

1) You can try. If you can find a way to contact them, ask them to remove the link. A good trick I learned is to look up the domain ownership details via a WhoIs lookup and cc your email to the admin, tech and registrant emails. That shows them that you are serious about your request and have done your research about them. Most likely they will ignore your request, but you never know.

2) I wouldn't worry too much. Google and other engines are good at filtering out links from low quality sites and any impact they have on your site's overall link popularity is minimal. However, if you find sites are duplicating chunks of your client's content using site scraping, that's considered an infringement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and you can report this to Google via this link.

Overall, I wouldn't spend too much time concerned about either issue. As Google say on their own Webmaster Blog:

"Don't fret too much about sites that scrape (misappropriate and republish) your content. Though annoying, it's highly unlikely that such sites can negatively impact your site's presence in Google."

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Q and A: Is Web 2.0 an SEO Killer?

Dear Kalena...

I have been doing link building for a local SEO firm for a couple of years now. I want to learn more but the person I sub-contract for seems reluctant to teach more than bits and pieces. Never the whole picture. After reading your article 11 Reasons Why You Should Consider A Job In Search Engine Marketing, I mentioned wanting to learn more since it looks the future is good in this industry. Her response was: "Just because SEO is hot today doesn't mean with more Web 2.0 functionality coming down the road it couldn't change all that in a very short time".

Is this a belief held by the majority of the industry? I would like to know that I am putting my energy into something that will be around for a while.

Thanks
Sue

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Sue

It sounds like you should find a new employer! It's interesting that somebody working in SEO is so sceptical about its future. Regardless of her personal opinion, not embracing the opportunity to educate you about search engine compatible design (and that's what SEO is in a nutshell) seems very short-sighted. Perhaps she's concerned that you will indeed learn more than her and take her job?

I can assure you that the majority of us working in SEO have no immediate concern about its continuing viability. Traditional search engine optimization methods may change over time as we move towards a Web 2.0 approach to design and collaboration, but there will always be a market for consulting to make sites more search engine compatible, user friendly and accessible.

What you need to do is expand your skills to a range of areas aside from link building (think blogging, search-friendly design, web site copywriting, usability etc.) so that you will be ready to meet the market demand that continues to grow. Good luck!

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Q and A: Should links from pages with zero PageRank be avoided?

Dear Kalena...

I'm working with a customer to get some better rankings for their site for a particular keyword phrase. In my analysis I noticed that the number of available "high quality" link sources for their business is small, but there are a lot of low quality sources (sources with 0 page rank, et.)

My question is this: Should links from pages with no page rank be avoided, or does every link count to some extent and high quality links just count more?

Also, another issue we're having is that the businesses competitors are all in DMOZ, but, given that right now you cannot submit sites to DMOZ, we can't get in. Have you heard any news on when this feature might be restored? Any tips on working around not being in DMOZ?

Adam

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Adam

Re the first part of your question, it all depends on what you mean by low quality. Are you assuming the links are of low quality because they have a zero Google PageRank? Not all sites with a zero PageRank have that status because they are of low quality. They could be quite new sites with few links pointing at them yet.

If by low quality you mean the sites are barely disguised link farms covered in AdSense ads, then yes, I would avoid them like the plague or else be tainted by what Google calls a "bad neighbourhood". When link building for your clients, try looking for niche directories, regional directories and industry portals relating to your client's business as a source of one-way incoming links. Or seek out sites with a similar theme and offer to do a reciprocal link swap if the return link would benefit your client's visitors.

Re part two of your question, you'll be pleased to know that DMOZ resumed the editing and submission functions last month.

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Q and A: How can I attract more visitors to my site?

Dear Kalena...

I have a web site www.millerandzois.com that has been doing very well. The purpose of our site is to provide information both to injury victims and to other Maryland lawyers. We are first on key search terms such as "Maryland Personal Injury Lawyer" and other key phrases the injury victims and other personal injury lawyers might use. But in terms of overall number of visits, we have been flat lining in recent months. What can we do to make a good site like this even better?

Thanks.
Ron

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Ron

You have a niche target market, but that doesn't mean you have to limit your target keywords. It seems to me that you are casting your net too shallow. Have you performed more detailed keyword research into your market? There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of keyword search combinations that people would use to search for your services. You need to utilize a reliable keyword research tool or two (such as Keyword Discovery or WordTracker to discover the widest combination of search terms possible.

Once you have your search terms, you need to integrate them into your web site pages and/or develop new content around them. You should also commence a link building campaign to attract more traffic from related sites. If you can secure more incoming links to your site from highly trafficked sites, you can leverage that traffic to the advantage of your own site.

Another tactic to consider is the use of Pay Per Click campaigns such as Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing to bring in more traffic. Good luck!

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Q and A: Why isn't my site in the top 2000 results in Google?

Dear Kalena...

I just created a new site, its dead basic and mainly an affiliate site. I have linked to it from a couple of my other sites that have a Google PR of 4 & 5 but of course I need loads more links yet as it's in a very competitive sector (www.autoinsurancedeals.co.uk).

Its been indexed by Google this week but of course its not even in the top 2000. In your opinion Kalena, without a ton more links is that where it's likely to stay, outside the top 2000?. It seems to be a catch22 situation, if I don't have a decent PR, why would another site want to exchange links? I seem to find this concept of asking other sites to exchange links akin to begging :-)

Graham

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Graham

If your site is brand new, you won't be able to find it for your target keywords for up to 9 months. Why? Because nearly all new sites are subject to Google's aging delay. That explains why you can't see it in the top 2000 results right now.

As for exchanging links - reciprocal linking is soooo last year. Every link you place pointing away from your site is diluting the value of your incoming links somewhat. That doesn't mean you shouldn't link to other sites or swap links - as long as the outgoing links are useful to your own site visitors. But you shouldn't pursue reciprocal link exchanges solely for search engine value.

The most valuable links to build up your site's PageRank are non-reciprocal links from high-quality, high-traffic sites that have a similar theme to your own. How do you find these? Do a Google search for backlinks pointing to your competitor's sites by entering "link:http://site.com" in Google's search box. Take a look at the type of sites linking to your competitors and see if you can get those same sites to link to you.

Look for niche directories, portals and search engines in the insurance industry. Submit your site to those. Write some articles about auto insurance and submit them to ezines and article annoucement lists for re-publishing on other sites. Make it a condition of re-publishing that they include a link back to your site in the Author Resource box.

Hope this helps!

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Q and A: How do I get people to my site?

Dear Kalena...

I have 3 sites of which are fairly new. I just started this market and want to learn more. I am trying to optimize correctly and get noticed by the search engines but have not been successful. I have tried numerous things from a blog to a complete website. I will admit that I also tried a made for AdSense site that is currently online but does not generate traffic.

Although I have some backlinks, most have a low PR, but I have been reading a lot about backlinks being dead with Google, so I have not focused much on it.

Now I have a blog that is published on my own FTP host account. Here it is: http://weightloss-goal.com

As many people, my goal is to make a revenue from the site and have click through. But my biggest challenge is getting people to come to the site. What can you recommend I do? Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Jack

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Jack

I've taken a look at your blog and the first thing I notice is the large number of ads you have. The actual content of your site gets lost amongst all the ads and I'm guessing that visitors to your site leave pretty quickly after being bombarded by so many ads.

I would make your site more visually appealing and trustworthy for starters. Perhaps move your ad code further down the page, add a photo of yourself and make it clear where the site content is located. The "meat" of your site is the articles you are posting, but all I can see are the potatoes. The blog posts don't jump out at me - perhaps make the headings a brighter color or larger font? Right now, that site looks like just what it is: a collection of AdSense ads, thinly disguised as blog about weight loss. You need to flip that on it's head and make the site worth visiting!

As for attracting more visitors, you've chosen one of the most competitive industries on the net so it's going to be difficult. Have you tried pay per click advertising? That should build traffic in the short term while you work on the site quality.

Once you've tidied up the visual appeal and improved the quality of content, you should start a link building campaign. Where on earth did you hear that backlinks were dead? You should never ignore an opportunity to build links to your site, as long as they are from high quality, popular sites of a similar theme to your own and they bring you traffic. The best way to start building links is to submit the site to niche directories. This post should get your started.

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Q and A: Why can't I get listed in DMOZ?

Dear Kalena...

I have tried to get my firm listed in the DMOZ marketing and advertising firms with a cultural and ethnic focus for a few years to no avail. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

Lwald

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Lwald

The Open Directory (DMOZ) is run entirely by volunteers. As you can imagine, this leads to very haphazard editing quality and submission delays. Remember also that if your site is already listed in DMOZ in another category, any subsequent submissions are likely to be ignored or earn you the wrath of editors.

The exception to this is if your site truly suits both a regionally-specific category and a more generic category, you can submit to both. But that is no guarantee you will be accepted. For more tips on getting into DMOZ or following up a submission, read my article How to Submit Your Site to Directories.

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Q and A: How do I gain incoming links when I serve a small regional market?

Dear Kalena...

I've read a number of my fellow website owners problems in your newsletter with a now, seemingly, very familiar problem, namely not being ranked well in Google. I've managed my on-page optimization to the extent that I seem to rank pretty well, for most of my keyphrases in SERPs (first page first position some of them) with the likes of Yahho, MSN, ASK, Lycos and many others. But not Google (bless their socks and white coats!).

I'm not a Hub, with streams of inbound relevant links cascading into my site. I'm not an authoritive site with an equal amount of outbound links emanating out. This is what Google planned, after all, with their ranking system, if a site has all these links - ah ha this must be a popular site, we'll rank this one highly. Nice one! Then there's little old me stuck down in page 70 somewhere with relevant content but not many links. You can see this by the fact that all the the sites on the first pages on all my keyphrase queries are stuffed with directories and the like, replete with links flying everywhere.

Am I sandboxed, who knows? Is there an ageing algorithm with Google which is supposed to hold a site down for 6 to 9 months? Don't know, I've had a website for about 2 years now, in the beginning it was a CMS site then I changed my host in September last year and I was offline for about a month building my own site, but I've always kept the same domain name.

So if it's an ageing thing 9 months is up in another month - that is if something happened in September. I have some links coming in, but few in number but they are relevant. This, however, is my problem, how can I find sufficient number of relevant links? By all accounts I need 20 - 30 or more. Because of the industry I happen to be in it does not particularly lend itself to obtaining them.

So I'd appreciate you're comments. The website address if you care to look is http://www.jefffservice.co.uk. If the site appears OK to you, then I'll just have to build up some relevant links but it will take a long time, but my objection is its all a bit artificial just to conform to the rules of one search engine company who has 40% market position and can dictate the rules and we all have to follow. But I'm waffling now. Thanks for your time.

Jeff

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Jeff

I've had a look at the site and I can't see any major problems with the code. But dump that "revisit after" meta tag as it is worthless.

Google is caching your home page and has currently indexed 15 pages from your site. You've optimized your Title and META tags and your pages seem to be search friendly, so I can only guess it is the dreaded aging delay and poor link popularity that you are suffering in Google.

In terms of building up your in-bound links, consider getting your site listed in as many niche directories and regional sites as possible. A good starting point to find these sites is this post.

Good luck!
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Q and A: Why can't I get traffic from search engines?

Dear Kalena...

My site http://www.wanginternet.com has been in operation for almost 4 months and it has a page rank of 4/10. However, my site mainly consists of articles I got from ezinearticles which allows us to republish their articles as long as the content and links aren't changed.

Appreciate if you could help with several of my questions:

1. Why can't I get any traffic from the search engines? I know this fact from the SiteMeter I've implemented.
2. Is it because the articles are duplicates from ezinearticles?
3. If I add news feeds on the pages, would this make the search engines think that the content is fresh and new?
4. What can I do to get more traffic from search engines?

Thanks for your time Kalena.

stress X

Kalena's Answer:

Dear stress X

1) Not sure about the other search engines, but according to Google, your domain www.wanginternet.com doesn't exist. Google considers your site address to be http://earncash.50webs.com/ because you've obviously built the site on a free server and then set up your domain to point to the free site. I suggest you ditch the free site and pay for proper domain hosting if you want the domain-based site taken seriously. Until you fix it, all your hard-earned link popularity will be attributed to 50webs.com rather than your own domain.

2) Nope. See 1)

3) Probably not. See 1)

4) See 1)

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Q and A: Is it true that you should have no more than 40 links to a page?

Dear Kalena...

I'm sending you a copy below of an email I received. Can you verify or refute the "no more than 40 links to a page rule"? Fact or fiction?

Basically it was just a simple request for a reciprocal link on my hobby website http://www.hoosierkitties.com They did not want a listing on the page Bulletin Boards & Directories because they would have to "share" page ranking with too many other websites.

If it is a fact, I am going to be very, very busy. Some day when I have nothing better to do with my time, I am going to get this site on some portal software, but until then do I need to break down each page with over 40 links? I guess the only logical way is alphabetically?

Again, thanks for your wonderful insight.

regards,
Lisa

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Lisa

For the benefit of our readers, I'll first summarize the email you forwarded.

Basically, the directory editor has refused Lisa's link submission because, apparently, adding the link to the requested category would push the number of links on the page over the 40 mark. Here's an extrac