You are told you should have original content on your website blog. You look at your marketing resources and you know you can't fully commit a person for original content. You think should I hire a freelance copywriter to help with the work? If there is no one in the company that has the writing skills it might be a good idea. A professional coywriter will certainly have the ability to create content for a website or blog that can capture the attention to get your brand noticed or address your target market. The next question is, what should you pay to outsource this content. It does depend on when the content is needed by, how much research is needed and what is the length of the post. You are probably looking at $50 to $200 a post.
A few thoughts to remember before you outsource your content:
Never send you content overseas. It might cost you less but you more then likely won't get great content that provides value to your readers or your brand.
Don't rely on junior people to write the content. They won't have the in-depth knowledge about the business and industry to produce content. A professional will do the research.
ou get what you pay for! A $5 article is a $5 article. How much effort would you put into something if you were only getting $5 for it?
Tags: search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Search Engine Optimization Bay Area - 45% of Daily Tweets are from Mobile Devices - getFound SEM San Francisco
Yesterday, at the 2011 Mobilize conference, Twitter’s VP of engineering Michael Abbot spoke with Om Malik regarding Twitter’s overall growth and the role mobile devices play in that growth. Prior to joining Twitter 16 months ago, Abbot led the software and services team at Palm.
Since Abbot joined the company a little over one year ago, Twitter has seen exponential growth. Last summer, Twitter had just over 60 million total daily tweets and that number has increased to over 230 million daily tweets. Amazingly, approximately 45% of the 230 million daily tweets originate on mobile devices.
While discussing whether Twitter is concerned regarding the additional traffic the iOS integration will provide, Abbot indicated he is confident Twitter can handle the traffic volume:
“During the last nine months, there’s been more infrastructure changes at Twitter than there had been in the previous five years at the company.
One of the highlights of Abott’s interview was when he stated Facebook “sucks at everything” and indicated that Twitter is not focused on what its competition is doing. Abbot said Twitter is committed to keeping their service simple and providing users with an optimal experience. He believes that Twitter’s success is due to the simplified, easy to understand nature of the service.
[Sources Include: All Things D & GigaOM]
By David Angotti
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Video Search Engine Optimization - Social Bookmarking Strategy Tips? getFound Sem San Francisco
A recent study found that the social bookmarking site StumbleUpon accounts for 50% of all traffic derived from social media , surpassing even Facebook as the leading source of traffic. While we have to take these numbers with a grain of salt—StumbleUpon exists solely to share links, while Facebook is the central hub of most users’ online social lives—this data lends credibility to the value of social bookmarking sites as part of your social media marketing and content promotion campaigns.
A social bookmarking strategy, when handled correctly, provides a lot more value than just a few credible links. It can help drive traffic, increase brand awareness and build your online presence. Here are 3 tips for developing a social bookmarking strategy:
1. Promote everything, every time
The crux of a strong social bookmarking strategy is consistency. Every time a company blog post or article goes live, you’ve got to submit to all of your bookmarking sites that day. You want to give all of your content a fighting chance to be found by your target audience, so cherry picking which days and which content your submit undermines your own efforts.
2. Find niche social bookmarking sites
Just because they may be smaller, that doesn’t mean they can’t be valuable. Large social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit cover dozens of topics and cater to a vast audience. A niche social bookmarking site allows you to submit your content and know that it is being presented in front of the right audience. For instance, in the SEO world, two big niche social bookmarking sites are sphinn and SERPd. When submiting Brick Marketing blog posts to these two bookmarking sites, other SEO and Internet marketing professionals are going to be reading them.
3. Make your content shareable
You don’t have to be the only one that submits your content to social bookmarking sites. By incorporating social bookmarking buttons into your blog and website, you are encouraging your audience to share your content with their own social network. The search engines look at social signals like this (how many people are sharing your content) to determine how valuable a piece of content is and where it will rank in the search engines. Every share counts!
by Nick Stamoulis
Tags: search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
A social bookmarking strategy, when handled correctly, provides a lot more value than just a few credible links. It can help drive traffic, increase brand awareness and build your online presence. Here are 3 tips for developing a social bookmarking strategy:
1. Promote everything, every time
The crux of a strong social bookmarking strategy is consistency. Every time a company blog post or article goes live, you’ve got to submit to all of your bookmarking sites that day. You want to give all of your content a fighting chance to be found by your target audience, so cherry picking which days and which content your submit undermines your own efforts.
2. Find niche social bookmarking sites
Just because they may be smaller, that doesn’t mean they can’t be valuable. Large social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit cover dozens of topics and cater to a vast audience. A niche social bookmarking site allows you to submit your content and know that it is being presented in front of the right audience. For instance, in the SEO world, two big niche social bookmarking sites are sphinn and SERPd. When submiting Brick Marketing blog posts to these two bookmarking sites, other SEO and Internet marketing professionals are going to be reading them.
3. Make your content shareable
You don’t have to be the only one that submits your content to social bookmarking sites. By incorporating social bookmarking buttons into your blog and website, you are encouraging your audience to share your content with their own social network. The search engines look at social signals like this (how many people are sharing your content) to determine how valuable a piece of content is and where it will rank in the search engines. Every share counts!
by Nick Stamoulis
Tags: search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Video SEO - Does Twitter Help Your SEO - getFound SEM, San Francisco
Twitter is one of the Big 3 of social networking (alongside Facebook and LinkedIn) and a valuable component of any social media marketing strategy. There are probably hundreds of blog posts out there telling site owners to get a Twitter account because they are “supposed” to. But what are the real benefits of incorporating Twitter into the online marketing mix? Can Twitter actually help your SEO or is it just another place to make noise and hope someone notices?
Both Google and Bing have admitted that social media signals are being incorporated into the search algorithm as a ranking factor. While we can only speculate as to how important social signals are, it’s probably save to say very much so. Bing patterned with Facebook to create a more personalized, social SERP and Google launched its own social networking platform. I doubt the two search behemoths would do so if they weren’t assigning some value to social signals.
So how does Twitter play into this? Content shared on Twitter can be indexed by the search engines and actually rank in the search results. The more time a piece of content is Tweeted and reTweeted, the more important it becomes in the eyes of the search engines. Just like your site thrives off of quality links, so do social signals.
Author Authority
Author authority is why it is important to take the time to actually build a Twitter profile and connect with real, human users. The search engines know that when they announce a new ranking signal, the spammers come out of the woodwork and try to manipulate it. If Google says reTweets are important, you can bet that black hat companies are creating hundreds of dummy accounts that exist solely to reTweet their content. Author authority aims to put a stop to that.
The search engines don’t just look at how many times your content is being Tweeted, but who is doing the Tweeting! How long has that person been active on Twitter? Who are their followers? What kind of content do they usually share? They want to make sure that spam profiles don’t artificially inflate the popularity of a piece of content. Having a dozen real profiles Tweet your blog post or article is worth much more than having 100 bots do the same.
Brand Awareness
If you think the only goal of SEO is to rank number one, you’re missing the bigger picture. Of course you want to rank well, but SEO is also designed to increase your overall online presence and brand awareness so your target audience can more easily find you. Twitter is a great way to increase your brand awareness. It allows you to connect with your customers in a new and personalized way. When someone Tweets about your brand/products, they are broadcasting your message to their social network as well, increasing your reach.
by Nick Stamoulis
Tags: search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Here are 3 ways Twitter affects your SEO:
Social SignalsBoth Google and Bing have admitted that social media signals are being incorporated into the search algorithm as a ranking factor. While we can only speculate as to how important social signals are, it’s probably save to say very much so. Bing patterned with Facebook to create a more personalized, social SERP and Google launched its own social networking platform. I doubt the two search behemoths would do so if they weren’t assigning some value to social signals.
So how does Twitter play into this? Content shared on Twitter can be indexed by the search engines and actually rank in the search results. The more time a piece of content is Tweeted and reTweeted, the more important it becomes in the eyes of the search engines. Just like your site thrives off of quality links, so do social signals.
Author Authority
Author authority is why it is important to take the time to actually build a Twitter profile and connect with real, human users. The search engines know that when they announce a new ranking signal, the spammers come out of the woodwork and try to manipulate it. If Google says reTweets are important, you can bet that black hat companies are creating hundreds of dummy accounts that exist solely to reTweet their content. Author authority aims to put a stop to that.
The search engines don’t just look at how many times your content is being Tweeted, but who is doing the Tweeting! How long has that person been active on Twitter? Who are their followers? What kind of content do they usually share? They want to make sure that spam profiles don’t artificially inflate the popularity of a piece of content. Having a dozen real profiles Tweet your blog post or article is worth much more than having 100 bots do the same.
Brand Awareness
If you think the only goal of SEO is to rank number one, you’re missing the bigger picture. Of course you want to rank well, but SEO is also designed to increase your overall online presence and brand awareness so your target audience can more easily find you. Twitter is a great way to increase your brand awareness. It allows you to connect with your customers in a new and personalized way. When someone Tweets about your brand/products, they are broadcasting your message to their social network as well, increasing your reach.
by Nick Stamoulis
Tags: search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Friday, September 16, 2011
Video Search Engine Optimization - Facebook: Hot, Not, or Lukewarm? getFound Sem San Francisco
Facebook has three-quarters of a billion users and shows no sign of slowing down. Just this week it introduced a very Twitter-like and Google+-like function — “Subscribe” — and it is the social destination for millions of Americans, many of whom still do not tweet and never had a MySpace page.
Yet there are whispers that Facebook’s best days are behind it, and that it could be the “next MySpace” (or Yahoo). As far back as 2010, there was talk of Facebook fatigue. Some teens said they would quit, though they didn’t know where else to go. Now some suggest that those who forgo Facebook may head over to Google+, once it’s out of its closed beta.
In my household, Facebook is still the dominant social platform: three out of four household members use it exclusively. I use Twitter and cross-post to Facebook (which may annoy anyone who subscribes to me on Facebook and follows me on Twitter). Yet each one of my family members spends part of his or her Facebook time grousing about the service. The constant changes, the ever-more-convoluted privacy settings and the surprise interface updates lead to endless frustrations. My wife, in particular, just wants to “post and go,” but recent update changes make that virtually impossible.
The reality, though, is that we often complain about the things we love and use most. No one in my house has requested a Google+ invite. This is not surprising; virtually none of their friends or family — except me — are on Google+.
I spend a bit of time on Google+ each day, and it occurred to me that most of the early adopters on Google’s social platform are likely also Facebook users. So I asked them if Facebook is still hot or not, and why (note: I asked this question before Facebook’s “Subscribe” update).
The consensus: Facebook is running cool to lukewarm. Considering I asked the question in the echo-chamber that is Google+, this response is hardly surprising. But many of the comments hit upon what I see as Facebook’s key faults and hurdles it must jump over the next three to five years.
One commenter said Facebook, which has added a number of new features in recent weeks, is finally “stepping it up” in the face of growing competition from Google+.
Those who still think Facebook is hot did admit that the game may change when “Google+ opens up”. A few hedged their bets, saying that Facebook was lukewarm, but also “sitting at its peak of interest.” I guess they expect Facebook to topple from its perch at any moment.
There were, however, some who could see outside the Google+ bubble. Antonio Moro wrote: “[Facebook is ] still King of the hill, very hot, and since G+ started: hotter as it’s pushing new features faster than ever. I still prefer to use G+, but this doesn’t matter.”
There were other begrudging admissions of Facebook’s dominance. Allan Petersen wrote, “I wish I could say “Not” with a straight face. Unfortunately, it’s so much more intertwined with current online culture than MySpace was. And they’re continually pushing updates. I say ‘warm.’”
Many said that despite the encroachment of brands, fan pages and confusing updates, they will stick with Facebook because their friends show no interest in moving to another social platform. The decline of platforms like Friendster and MySpace suggest that what people say and what they actually do may not be totally aligned.
Some like Tom Dignazio said the MySpace analogy is off — or at least years away from being reality. “There is no real sign that FB is hurting any way,” said Dignazio. Others said it’s not a matter of Facebook being Hot or Not as it is “a signal of evolution. Facebook can’t be the bright shiny thing all the time.” opined Shane Rhyne.
Shane is right, of course: nothing remains in the spotlight forever. Facebook is simply not the hot, fresh new thing. But the lack of pure heat doesn’t mean Facebook is going away. Few of us get excited about Sears, but the retail store survives, even in the face of competition from online megastores like Amazon.com. A little less heat, and a lot more focus on what its users want, is probably what Facebook needs anyway.
by Lance Ulanoff
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Yet there are whispers that Facebook’s best days are behind it, and that it could be the “next MySpace” (or Yahoo). As far back as 2010, there was talk of Facebook fatigue. Some teens said they would quit, though they didn’t know where else to go. Now some suggest that those who forgo Facebook may head over to Google+, once it’s out of its closed beta.
In my household, Facebook is still the dominant social platform: three out of four household members use it exclusively. I use Twitter and cross-post to Facebook (which may annoy anyone who subscribes to me on Facebook and follows me on Twitter). Yet each one of my family members spends part of his or her Facebook time grousing about the service. The constant changes, the ever-more-convoluted privacy settings and the surprise interface updates lead to endless frustrations. My wife, in particular, just wants to “post and go,” but recent update changes make that virtually impossible.
The reality, though, is that we often complain about the things we love and use most. No one in my house has requested a Google+ invite. This is not surprising; virtually none of their friends or family — except me — are on Google+.
Asking Google+
I spend a bit of time on Google+ each day, and it occurred to me that most of the early adopters on Google’s social platform are likely also Facebook users. So I asked them if Facebook is still hot or not, and why (note: I asked this question before Facebook’s “Subscribe” update).
The consensus: Facebook is running cool to lukewarm. Considering I asked the question in the echo-chamber that is Google+, this response is hardly surprising. But many of the comments hit upon what I see as Facebook’s key faults and hurdles it must jump over the next three to five years.
One commenter said Facebook, which has added a number of new features in recent weeks, is finally “stepping it up” in the face of growing competition from Google+.
Those who still think Facebook is hot did admit that the game may change when “Google+ opens up”. A few hedged their bets, saying that Facebook was lukewarm, but also “sitting at its peak of interest.” I guess they expect Facebook to topple from its perch at any moment.
Reality Check
There were, however, some who could see outside the Google+ bubble. Antonio Moro wrote: “[Facebook is ] still King of the hill, very hot, and since G+ started: hotter as it’s pushing new features faster than ever. I still prefer to use G+, but this doesn’t matter.”
There were other begrudging admissions of Facebook’s dominance. Allan Petersen wrote, “I wish I could say “Not” with a straight face. Unfortunately, it’s so much more intertwined with current online culture than MySpace was. And they’re continually pushing updates. I say ‘warm.’”
Many said that despite the encroachment of brands, fan pages and confusing updates, they will stick with Facebook because their friends show no interest in moving to another social platform. The decline of platforms like Friendster and MySpace suggest that what people say and what they actually do may not be totally aligned.
Some like Tom Dignazio said the MySpace analogy is off — or at least years away from being reality. “There is no real sign that FB is hurting any way,” said Dignazio. Others said it’s not a matter of Facebook being Hot or Not as it is “a signal of evolution. Facebook can’t be the bright shiny thing all the time.” opined Shane Rhyne.
Shane is right, of course: nothing remains in the spotlight forever. Facebook is simply not the hot, fresh new thing. But the lack of pure heat doesn’t mean Facebook is going away. Few of us get excited about Sears, but the retail store survives, even in the face of competition from online megastores like Amazon.com. A little less heat, and a lot more focus on what its users want, is probably what Facebook needs anyway.
by Lance Ulanoff
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Monday, September 12, 2011
Search Engine Optimization Bay Area - YouTube Drives Traffic Longer Than Facebook & Twitter - getFound SEM
Viewers love different kinds of content, with video being one of the more popular varieties. But does it matter where you go to share that content? This week, Bit.ly decided to talk about link half-life–how long links shared through their service tend to last based on their origination point. In this context, a Bit.ly link’s half life is essentially equal to the time it takes that link to reach half the clicks it will accrue throughout its life. What did they find? YouTube links have a longer half-life than those for Twitter or Facebook.
The average half-life for links shared on YouTube is a whopping 7.4 hours. To put that into a bit of perspective, the average Bit.ly link (regardless of source) has a half-life of around 3 hours. That means that the public interest level in the links shared on YouTube tends to last twice as long as interest in links shared on Facebook or Twitter.
That’s just huge. But what does it mean in terms of actionable advice? Easy: share your links on YouTube, in the video description as well as in annotations on the video itself.
It’s not any kind of indictment of the practice of sharing links on Facebook and Twitter. Those links still get plenty of clicks–this data isn’t even about total clicks… but rather when in the link’s life-cycle the clicks reach their peak. You could even conclude that this information means you should share individual links more than once on social platforms outside of YouTube.
It makes perfect sense, really. On Twitter, you share a link, and it pretty quickly makes its way down the page, as other people the consumer is following also Tweet. Same with sharing on the Facebook wall. Whereas with YouTube, the video–and the links–are just right there… always. No new content appears on the page over time to push it down below the fold.
So maybe some of your readers don’t even see your links the first time you publish them on Twitter or Facebook? Maybe publishing the same link again at a future point in time might expose it to even more people? Of course, the loyal followers who do see and read what you post probably won’t want to deal with tons of duplicate posts, so you wouldn’t want to overdo it.
Again, this is general data. But clearly this analysis from Bit.ly just adds more evidence to the already-mountain-sized pile of evidence that all brands and small businesses should be exploring and experimenting with online video. You can’t post links on YouTube, where they hold more interest, if you don’t even have any videos or a YouTube channel.
by Jeremy Scott
tags; "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
The average half-life for links shared on YouTube is a whopping 7.4 hours. To put that into a bit of perspective, the average Bit.ly link (regardless of source) has a half-life of around 3 hours. That means that the public interest level in the links shared on YouTube tends to last twice as long as interest in links shared on Facebook or Twitter.
That’s just huge. But what does it mean in terms of actionable advice? Easy: share your links on YouTube, in the video description as well as in annotations on the video itself.
It’s not any kind of indictment of the practice of sharing links on Facebook and Twitter. Those links still get plenty of clicks–this data isn’t even about total clicks… but rather when in the link’s life-cycle the clicks reach their peak. You could even conclude that this information means you should share individual links more than once on social platforms outside of YouTube.
It makes perfect sense, really. On Twitter, you share a link, and it pretty quickly makes its way down the page, as other people the consumer is following also Tweet. Same with sharing on the Facebook wall. Whereas with YouTube, the video–and the links–are just right there… always. No new content appears on the page over time to push it down below the fold.
So maybe some of your readers don’t even see your links the first time you publish them on Twitter or Facebook? Maybe publishing the same link again at a future point in time might expose it to even more people? Of course, the loyal followers who do see and read what you post probably won’t want to deal with tons of duplicate posts, so you wouldn’t want to overdo it.
Again, this is general data. But clearly this analysis from Bit.ly just adds more evidence to the already-mountain-sized pile of evidence that all brands and small businesses should be exploring and experimenting with online video. You can’t post links on YouTube, where they hold more interest, if you don’t even have any videos or a YouTube channel.
by Jeremy Scott
tags; "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Friday, September 9, 2011
KeyWord Research - getFound SEM San Jose, CA
The most important thing to remember when it comes to conducting your keyword research is that you have to understand your user. If you don’t understand how people are searching for your product, you’ll never be able to target the right keywords. For instance, you might call your product a “workforce analytics and planning software” but your potential clients are searching for “business intelligence software.” While the two keyword phrases may mean the same thing (more or less), how is a search spider supposed to know that? That is why it is important to revisit your keyword research from time to time and make sure you are in-line with your target audience’s search behavior.
Site analytics are your best friend when it comes to making sure your targeted keywords are still on track. But don’t just look at the analytics of the ones you intentionally targeted. What other keywords are visitors using to find your site? Keep an eye out for up and coming keywords as this indicates a change in search behavior. People relearn how to search for things based on the kind of results they are getting. When they don’t find what they need with one search phrase, they will change the search query and look for more relevant results.
One reason it pays to change your keywords to better match new search behavior is that it positions your site as the frontrunner for “owning” those keywords. If you can start targeting keywords before they become industry standards, you’ll have built up the link portfolio and search presence that makes you the undisputed leader in that niche.
Understanding how people search for your products/services enables you to create better content to meet their needs. It’s not just about finding the right keywords! Knowing how people search lets you properly position your site without forcing it on your target audience. The right keywords will help your target audience come to you.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis
Keep in mind that you don’t want to dump all your old keywords because it looks like new ones might be on the way. If certain keywords have proven to be reliable sources of traffic time and time again, why ditch them? You can incorporate the new keywords into the mix and see how they perform over a few months. If it looks like there is value, then keep at it. If those new keywords were off the mark, it’s an easy fix to remove them. You have to be willing to be wrong with your keyword research. Not every keyword is going to be an exact match for your target audience. You have to learn to roll with it.
Site analytics are your best friend when it comes to making sure your targeted keywords are still on track. But don’t just look at the analytics of the ones you intentionally targeted. What other keywords are visitors using to find your site? Keep an eye out for up and coming keywords as this indicates a change in search behavior. People relearn how to search for things based on the kind of results they are getting. When they don’t find what they need with one search phrase, they will change the search query and look for more relevant results.
One reason it pays to change your keywords to better match new search behavior is that it positions your site as the frontrunner for “owning” those keywords. If you can start targeting keywords before they become industry standards, you’ll have built up the link portfolio and search presence that makes you the undisputed leader in that niche.
Understanding how people search for your products/services enables you to create better content to meet their needs. It’s not just about finding the right keywords! Knowing how people search lets you properly position your site without forcing it on your target audience. The right keywords will help your target audience come to you.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis
Keep in mind that you don’t want to dump all your old keywords because it looks like new ones might be on the way. If certain keywords have proven to be reliable sources of traffic time and time again, why ditch them? You can incorporate the new keywords into the mix and see how they perform over a few months. If it looks like there is value, then keep at it. If those new keywords were off the mark, it’s an easy fix to remove them. You have to be willing to be wrong with your keyword research. Not every keyword is going to be an exact match for your target audience. You have to learn to roll with it.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
How to rank highly in YouTube searches - getFound SEM
Just as you can use traditional Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques to make your web pages more visible in online searches, you can optimise your videos to make them more visible on YouTube.
This is certainly a desirable goal. Research has found that video is the universal search category that is most visible in Google searches, and YouTube content was found to be most prominent when video integrations do appear on Google.
And of course, as the most important video platform and video search engine in the world, YouTube has the potential to be a powerful marketing tool. So what factors do you need to consider?
As with traditional SEO, elements such as titles, descriptions and tags all play a role, as do the quality and volume of incoming links. YouTube also measures and evaluates user signals (such as click-through rates, bounce rates, feedback etc.) among its important ranking factors.
Titles
It goes without saying that you should try to include the important keywords related to your subject in the title of your video (try to arrange for the most important ones to appear first if possible).
Ideally you should also include your main keywords in the filename corresponding to the title, but remember that titles are generally cut off at around 60 characters in YouTube searches.
Descriptions
When drafting your video’s description, you should try to include the main keywords more than once and also bring in additional, semantically related words (while avoiding keyword stuffing, obviously).
While it’s true that only the first 55 to 70 characters of the description are actually displayed by YouTube, you should aim to write four to five sentences (there’s evidence to suggest that even the parts that aren’t visible to the user, are still evaluated).
Remember that external links (for example, affiliate links) can also be integrated into the description.
Tags
You should try to assign up to 10 tags, reflecting the most relevant keywords.
Links
External links are an important factor in YouTube video optimisation. And similar rules apply here as with traditional link building.
The construction of a good link profile with thematically relevant links is crucial, with most experts agreeing that links from social media are also assessed.
User Signals
In general, YouTube wants to make videos that are relevant and engaging more visible, and it evaluates signals from visitors/users to work out which these are.
So, for example, YouTube tracks how long users have stayed watching a video and at which point they left, which is why it has been able to make click-through rates (CTR) and bounce rates an important factor for determining video rankings.
If you’re sneaky and try to use misleading or irrelevant keywords and/or titles to attract visitors, then high bounce rates will tell YouTube to make your content less visible.
Here’s a list of some of the other important user signals that YouTube takes account of:
Using this, you can quickly understand which keywords are suitable for optimising your video.
Keywords that have a high search volume within YouTube are also often displayed right at the top of the Universal Search integrations within the normal Google search engine rankings pages (SERPs) and therefore have a higher CTR.
by Marcus Tober
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
This is certainly a desirable goal. Research has found that video is the universal search category that is most visible in Google searches, and YouTube content was found to be most prominent when video integrations do appear on Google.
And of course, as the most important video platform and video search engine in the world, YouTube has the potential to be a powerful marketing tool. So what factors do you need to consider?
As with traditional SEO, elements such as titles, descriptions and tags all play a role, as do the quality and volume of incoming links. YouTube also measures and evaluates user signals (such as click-through rates, bounce rates, feedback etc.) among its important ranking factors.
Titles, descriptions, tags and links
Here are my thoughts on some of the key YouTube optimisation issues when it comes to your titles, descriptions, tags and links.Titles
It goes without saying that you should try to include the important keywords related to your subject in the title of your video (try to arrange for the most important ones to appear first if possible).
Ideally you should also include your main keywords in the filename corresponding to the title, but remember that titles are generally cut off at around 60 characters in YouTube searches.
Descriptions
When drafting your video’s description, you should try to include the main keywords more than once and also bring in additional, semantically related words (while avoiding keyword stuffing, obviously).
While it’s true that only the first 55 to 70 characters of the description are actually displayed by YouTube, you should aim to write four to five sentences (there’s evidence to suggest that even the parts that aren’t visible to the user, are still evaluated).
Remember that external links (for example, affiliate links) can also be integrated into the description.
Tags
You should try to assign up to 10 tags, reflecting the most relevant keywords.
Links
External links are an important factor in YouTube video optimisation. And similar rules apply here as with traditional link building.
The construction of a good link profile with thematically relevant links is crucial, with most experts agreeing that links from social media are also assessed.
User Signals
In general, YouTube wants to make videos that are relevant and engaging more visible, and it evaluates signals from visitors/users to work out which these are.
So, for example, YouTube tracks how long users have stayed watching a video and at which point they left, which is why it has been able to make click-through rates (CTR) and bounce rates an important factor for determining video rankings.
If you’re sneaky and try to use misleading or irrelevant keywords and/or titles to attract visitors, then high bounce rates will tell YouTube to make your content less visible.
Here’s a list of some of the other important user signals that YouTube takes account of:
- The number of times the video has been viewed (within a set time frame). The more often it’s viewed, the more prominently it will be displayed. And in an ideal scenario it will land in the YouTube’s top lists.
- User feedback in the form of comments.
- The number of times the video appears in user playlists.
- The number of positive ratings the video has received.
- The number of blogs that have posted the video (which obviously also increases video impressions).
Research with the YouTube Keyword Tool and YouTube Suggest
In a similar way to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, the YouTube Keyword Tool provides the opportunity to examine search volumes for individual keywords.Using this, you can quickly understand which keywords are suitable for optimising your video.
Keywords that have a high search volume within YouTube are also often displayed right at the top of the Universal Search integrations within the normal Google search engine rankings pages (SERPs) and therefore have a higher CTR.
by Marcus Tober
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Facebook To Launch Music Platform With Spotify, MOG & Rdio - getFound SEM
Facebook intends to launch its long-rumored music service next month with Spotify, MOG and Rdio as three of the company’s launch partners, Mashable has learned.
The music and media platform will be announced at Facebook’s f8 developer conference on Sept. 22. It will allow users to listen to music from within Facebook.com. Evidence of Facebook’s music platform first surfaced in the code of Facebook’s video chat service.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, Facebook will not directly host or stream any music or media. Instead, it will rely on partners to provide the content. This is in contrast to Apple, Google and Amazon’s strategy of hosting music content on their servers. Facebook’s plan is to become a platform for media content in the same way it is a platform for applications and games.
One of our sources specifically mentioned three music services as launch partners: Spotify, Rdio and MOG. It’s unclear whether Facebook has lined up other launch partners for its music platform or whether Facebook will open up its platform to other developers. One of our sources noted, however, that Facebook doesn’t like playing favorites, so our bet is that Facebook will open up its music platform to other third-party developers.
We’ve also heard whispers that Facebook intends for this platform to go beyond music — for example, it’s possible that Netflix could stream movies through Facebook. However, we don’t know if Facebook will go beyond the music platform announcement at f8.
by Ben Parr
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Monday, August 29, 2011
Say goodbye to the Picasa and Blogger names - getFound SEM
Say goodbye to the Picasa and Blogger names: Google intends to retire several non-Google name brands and rename them as Google products, Mashable has learned.
The move is part of a larger effort to unify its brand for the public launch of Google+, the search giant’s social initiative.
Blogger and Picasa aren’t going away, of course — they’re two of Google’s most popular products. Instead, according to two sources familiar with the matter, Google intends to rename Picasa “Google Photos” and Blogger will become “Google Blogs.” Several other Google brands are likely to be affected, though our sources made it clear that YouTube would not be rebranded. The technology giant shut down Google Video, its failed web video service, in May.
The move isn’t without precedent; Google acquired JotSpot in 2006 and rebranded it as Google Sites in 2008. In 2007, Google acquired VOIP platform GrandCentral and relaunched it as Google Voice in 2009.
Picasa and Blogger were also Google acquisitions, although both companies have been part of the Google empire for far longer. Picasa was acquired in 2004 and Blogger (co-founded by Evan Williams of Twitter) was acquired in 2003 and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world. Although the rebranding could upset some existing customers, it also gives Google the ability to completely integrate both services into Google+.
Rebranding Coming in Next Six Weeks
The transition from Picasa and Blogger to Google Photos and Google Blogs will occur “in a month to a month and a half,” we’ve been told. The date aligns with the likely public launch of Google+. Mashable has been told to expect the public debut of Google+ on or before July 31. The date is important because it’s the day all private Google Profiles will be deleted.
We believe Google doesn’t want to have private profiles after the public Google+ launch. Instead, the company is likely to encourage users who want more privacy to use Circles to curate their friend groups.
The brand unification effort will be the largest in company history — it’s never renamed a property as large as Blogger. The popular blog creation service has been receiving a lot of extra love recently. In March, Google announced that Blogger would receive a major overhaul. We doubt many people expected that the overhaul would include a rebranding, though.
Google+ makes perfect sense for Blogger and Picasa — they are both social products that improve as more people use them. It’s important to note that Google+ already has a photos feature, a product that we believe utilizes Picasa technology. It’s also important to note that Google+’s photo feature has no Picasa branding of any kind.
by Ben Parr
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Thursday, August 25, 2011
How to Use Guest Blogging for Effective Link Building - getFound SEM
Guest blogging is all the buzz these days and there’s hardly a day you’ll logon to your Facebook account or Twitter stream without seeing a link to an article about guest blogging. There’s no doubt that guest blogging is an effective way to market a website, but out of the many reasons people write guest posts, the most effective reason to guest post is to build backlinks.
This is simply because a guest post on a big blog will bring about a traffic spike that will eventually die down, but with the right type and number of links you’ll ensure the consistency of traffic to your blog from search engines every single day.
For some time now, I’ve been using guest blogging for link building and as a result I have learned a lot of things. This article give you a few tips on how to use guest blogging for effective link building.
As someone who is guest blogging on a consistent basis, I know quite well it’s impossible to be writing for highly authoritative blogs only because there are only a few such blogs in every niche. However, how do ensure you’re able to get the best in terms of link quality from every single blog you write for? By using the following metrics you can easily find the right blogs to guest post for.
Using Alexa: The Alexa.com website is a great tool to help you analyze the success and authority of a website and the quality of the link you’ll get from it. In this situation I’m not trying to tell you to start guest blogging on a blog solely because it has an impressive Alexa rank. The Alexa rank is quite a dangerous metric to rely on when trying to build backlinks, but Alexa has another great feature you can use to find the right blogs to write for. That feature is the Alexa link count.
By visiting www.alexa.com/siteinfo/awebsiteurl.com you’ll be able to see a lot of details about the website you’re checking out, including its Alexa rank, the related sites to it and its number of Alexa link counts. If a website only has a few links according to Alexa, you might want to disregard it, but if a website has many high quality links (say 20 or above) then you might want to include it on your list of blogs to write for.
It’s very important for you to know that not all blogs are equal and if you’re looking for blogs with hundreds of Alexa link counts then it’ll take some time to find blogs of that nature. So, for me, 20 or more links is an agreeable number when considering writing for a particular blog.
Technorati: Technorati has a lot of great tools, ranging from its blog directory to its blog ranking feature. However, the major thing we’ll be focusing on here is its ranking tool. Every blog indexed by Technorati has a rank, and in most cases this rank is calculated based on several factors, but the most important factor used is the number and authority of links pointing to the blog. Any website with an overall Technorati rank of 300 or more is a great place to start.
Google Pagerank: I know there are quite a lot of people who think the Google pagerank system isn’t that effective or a good representation of what Google thinks about a website, but it’s obvious there are millions of websites without a pagerank. It’s true that many factors are considered before a blog or website is ranked, but it’s also very important to know that not just any website gets a pagerank. A website with a pagerank of 2 or above should be a great starting point for you.
A good tip however is to ensure you only guest post for blogs related to your niche and if you’ll be guest blogging for blogs unrelated to your niche you should look for a good way to tie your content to your niche.
For example, if you have a website about Apple products writing a guest post for a blog that talks about blogging may not bring about the desired results. However, you’ll easily increase your chances of getting more results by writing a blog post around the lines of “The Top 10 iPhone Apps for Bloggers” or “5 Great Apple Macintosh Functionalities Bloggers Need to be Using”. If you take a look at those two titles you will notice they both have a tie to what your website is all about and are at the same time useful for the audience you’re writing for.
What they don’t know is that they are unintentionally hurting themselves in the long run. Google and other big search engines are now using social metrics to determine which websites should rank over others more than ever. People who are sharing content that’s only beneficial to themselves and writing any old content won’t cut it on the long run. The more robust and sophisticated your guest post is, the more chances it has on be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other networks – and the more it’s shared the bigger the impact it will have on your links.
By
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
This is simply because a guest post on a big blog will bring about a traffic spike that will eventually die down, but with the right type and number of links you’ll ensure the consistency of traffic to your blog from search engines every single day.
For some time now, I’ve been using guest blogging for link building and as a result I have learned a lot of things. This article give you a few tips on how to use guest blogging for effective link building.
How to Find the Right Blogs to Submit Your Guest Posts To
When it comes to guest blogging for link building, it’s very important for you to realize that the same age-old but effective SEO principle still applies – the principle that all links are not made equal. A single backlink from a very big blog in your niche can have a significant impact on your rankings, while the same link from 3 smaller blogs might not have the same impact.As someone who is guest blogging on a consistent basis, I know quite well it’s impossible to be writing for highly authoritative blogs only because there are only a few such blogs in every niche. However, how do ensure you’re able to get the best in terms of link quality from every single blog you write for? By using the following metrics you can easily find the right blogs to guest post for.
Using Alexa: The Alexa.com website is a great tool to help you analyze the success and authority of a website and the quality of the link you’ll get from it. In this situation I’m not trying to tell you to start guest blogging on a blog solely because it has an impressive Alexa rank. The Alexa rank is quite a dangerous metric to rely on when trying to build backlinks, but Alexa has another great feature you can use to find the right blogs to write for. That feature is the Alexa link count.
By visiting www.alexa.com/siteinfo/awebsiteurl.com you’ll be able to see a lot of details about the website you’re checking out, including its Alexa rank, the related sites to it and its number of Alexa link counts. If a website only has a few links according to Alexa, you might want to disregard it, but if a website has many high quality links (say 20 or above) then you might want to include it on your list of blogs to write for.
It’s very important for you to know that not all blogs are equal and if you’re looking for blogs with hundreds of Alexa link counts then it’ll take some time to find blogs of that nature. So, for me, 20 or more links is an agreeable number when considering writing for a particular blog.
Technorati: Technorati has a lot of great tools, ranging from its blog directory to its blog ranking feature. However, the major thing we’ll be focusing on here is its ranking tool. Every blog indexed by Technorati has a rank, and in most cases this rank is calculated based on several factors, but the most important factor used is the number and authority of links pointing to the blog. Any website with an overall Technorati rank of 300 or more is a great place to start.
Google Pagerank: I know there are quite a lot of people who think the Google pagerank system isn’t that effective or a good representation of what Google thinks about a website, but it’s obvious there are millions of websites without a pagerank. It’s true that many factors are considered before a blog or website is ranked, but it’s also very important to know that not just any website gets a pagerank. A website with a pagerank of 2 or above should be a great starting point for you.
Writing Your Content
Finding the right blogs to write for is a minor part of the equation, something more important however is the content you write for those blogs. In my own experience I’ve noticed writing on blogs unrelated to mine and on content that’s a departure from my niche has little to no impact on the results I receive.A good tip however is to ensure you only guest post for blogs related to your niche and if you’ll be guest blogging for blogs unrelated to your niche you should look for a good way to tie your content to your niche.
For example, if you have a website about Apple products writing a guest post for a blog that talks about blogging may not bring about the desired results. However, you’ll easily increase your chances of getting more results by writing a blog post around the lines of “The Top 10 iPhone Apps for Bloggers” or “5 Great Apple Macintosh Functionalities Bloggers Need to be Using”. If you take a look at those two titles you will notice they both have a tie to what your website is all about and are at the same time useful for the audience you’re writing for.
Taking Social into Consideration
Recently, I’ve noticed a lot of people are using guest blogging for link building without caring about the quality of their guest posts as long as they’re able to gain a backlink or two.What they don’t know is that they are unintentionally hurting themselves in the long run. Google and other big search engines are now using social metrics to determine which websites should rank over others more than ever. People who are sharing content that’s only beneficial to themselves and writing any old content won’t cut it on the long run. The more robust and sophisticated your guest post is, the more chances it has on be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other networks – and the more it’s shared the bigger the impact it will have on your links.
Conclusion
Guest blogging is like a double-edged sword. Aside from the instant traffic and subscribers you can get by guest blogging, following the above tips will ensure you get more quality backlinks to your blog in the long run.By
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Top Ten Google SEO Ranking Factors - getFound SEM
People don’t really understand that there are many different factors that fall into place when determining where a website ranks in the Google search engine results. Some things to keep in mind when you are wondering why your site doesn’t rank well. It is not always just the obvious reasons that are holding it back.
Here is the list of the top 10 of important Google SEO ranking factors to consider:
1. Age of Domain: Age of URL is very important. If you just bought your domain a few weeks or even months ago you have a long road ahead of you. The reality is the age of your website helps build trust. If your website has been online for several years, chances are you have an established business.
2. Domain Hosting: Where is your site hosted? Find out through your hosting company what continent or country your site is hosted in. This can often times play a large role in search rankings. Always use a reputable hosting company. If your company is US based then use a hosting company in the United States. Also, I always recommend a dedicated IP when you can. There are virtual dedicated and cloud hosting solutions that are more affordable. Never use the cheapest hosting. The reality is, if you cannot afford hosting you should re-consider the business.
3. Your Neighbors: If you have a virtual server, which sites like Godaddy usually are have been known to house hundreds of websites on one server. Make sure that your neighbors on your server are not classified as spam.
4. URL Structure: Make sure your URL structures are very clean. There should not be any random strings of characters at the end of your URL’s. This is part of the onsite search engine optimization process as well.
5. Content: Content is very important. To start make sure you have text on all your important pages, then make sure it is good text consisting of your targeted keywords spread throughout naturally. Simply put, ALWAYS write your content for humans, your website visitors first and NEVER write content for the solo purpose to achieve Google search engine rankings. Chances are the content will not be user focused or provide value to your visitors.
6. Internal Link Structure: Make sure your inner pages are linked correctly. Visitors should have easy made pathways connecting to your other pages from every page of your website. Make sure the code of your website is verified and keep flash and JavaScript to a minimum, if you can. Essentially make sure the site is clean, easy to use and interlinked to help the user experience.
7. Trust: Do you at least have a mailing address listed on your website? You should if you don’t. Google likes to see trust factors on websites so anything you can add that could help build trust for your audience will benefit your rankings. I always recommend having a phone number on each page of your website. Make it easy for people to do business with you, it all starts with establishing trust and that starts with contact information on your website.
8. Keywords: Make sure your website is optimized using your keywords. This means any alt tags for images, meta page information and existing content at the very least of things. Remember to naturally optimize your website based on the content of each page of your website.
9. Bounce Rate: Although bounce rate might not seem important if Google sees that nobody hangs out on your website for more than a few seconds before they leave this could be a ranking problem over time. Make changes to get visitors engaged with your website. Simple things, like video, newsletter sign up, call to actions, etc will help improve your bounce rate over time. Make sure you have proper tracking on your website, such as Google analytics.
10. Outbound links: Make sure the websites that you link to are 100% relevant to your business and industry. If you sell animals toys but you are linking to a site that sells shoes that is not very relevant and over time could really impact your rankings. Bottom line is if it makes sense to link to another site, then do so, but remember you could be sending your visitors away from your site.
11. Inbound Links: I know this was a list of my top 10, but I felt I had to mention inbound links. The key here (speaking as a white hat SEO person), don’t buy or exchange links. Market and promote your business online to build visitors to your website over time. If you do, then the relevant links will follow!
**Note: As the Google (and yes there are 2 other major search engines!) algorithm changes there are always new ranking factors that come into play, such as the page load time and many others.
There are many extensive factors that Google uses when determining website rankings. Very important to get these factors correct otherwise you could find yourself just spinning your wheels. The bottom line is it is all about relevancy and earning your visitors (and yes Google’s) search engine trust over time.
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Here is the list of the top 10 of important Google SEO ranking factors to consider:
1. Age of Domain: Age of URL is very important. If you just bought your domain a few weeks or even months ago you have a long road ahead of you. The reality is the age of your website helps build trust. If your website has been online for several years, chances are you have an established business.
2. Domain Hosting: Where is your site hosted? Find out through your hosting company what continent or country your site is hosted in. This can often times play a large role in search rankings. Always use a reputable hosting company. If your company is US based then use a hosting company in the United States. Also, I always recommend a dedicated IP when you can. There are virtual dedicated and cloud hosting solutions that are more affordable. Never use the cheapest hosting. The reality is, if you cannot afford hosting you should re-consider the business.
3. Your Neighbors: If you have a virtual server, which sites like Godaddy usually are have been known to house hundreds of websites on one server. Make sure that your neighbors on your server are not classified as spam.
4. URL Structure: Make sure your URL structures are very clean. There should not be any random strings of characters at the end of your URL’s. This is part of the onsite search engine optimization process as well.
5. Content: Content is very important. To start make sure you have text on all your important pages, then make sure it is good text consisting of your targeted keywords spread throughout naturally. Simply put, ALWAYS write your content for humans, your website visitors first and NEVER write content for the solo purpose to achieve Google search engine rankings. Chances are the content will not be user focused or provide value to your visitors.
6. Internal Link Structure: Make sure your inner pages are linked correctly. Visitors should have easy made pathways connecting to your other pages from every page of your website. Make sure the code of your website is verified and keep flash and JavaScript to a minimum, if you can. Essentially make sure the site is clean, easy to use and interlinked to help the user experience.
7. Trust: Do you at least have a mailing address listed on your website? You should if you don’t. Google likes to see trust factors on websites so anything you can add that could help build trust for your audience will benefit your rankings. I always recommend having a phone number on each page of your website. Make it easy for people to do business with you, it all starts with establishing trust and that starts with contact information on your website.
8. Keywords: Make sure your website is optimized using your keywords. This means any alt tags for images, meta page information and existing content at the very least of things. Remember to naturally optimize your website based on the content of each page of your website.
9. Bounce Rate: Although bounce rate might not seem important if Google sees that nobody hangs out on your website for more than a few seconds before they leave this could be a ranking problem over time. Make changes to get visitors engaged with your website. Simple things, like video, newsletter sign up, call to actions, etc will help improve your bounce rate over time. Make sure you have proper tracking on your website, such as Google analytics.
10. Outbound links: Make sure the websites that you link to are 100% relevant to your business and industry. If you sell animals toys but you are linking to a site that sells shoes that is not very relevant and over time could really impact your rankings. Bottom line is if it makes sense to link to another site, then do so, but remember you could be sending your visitors away from your site.
11. Inbound Links: I know this was a list of my top 10, but I felt I had to mention inbound links. The key here (speaking as a white hat SEO person), don’t buy or exchange links. Market and promote your business online to build visitors to your website over time. If you do, then the relevant links will follow!
**Note: As the Google (and yes there are 2 other major search engines!) algorithm changes there are always new ranking factors that come into play, such as the page load time and many others.
There are many extensive factors that Google uses when determining website rankings. Very important to get these factors correct otherwise you could find yourself just spinning your wheels. The bottom line is it is all about relevancy and earning your visitors (and yes Google’s) search engine trust over time.
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Google Adds Friend Annotations to the +1 Button - getFound SEM
Google is making the +1 button more social with the addition of friend annotations.
“You may have already noticed faces and names when you hover over a +1 button,” Google Developer Advocate Timothy Jordan said in a post on the Google+ Platform preview. “This change rolled out late last week. Now, you can make these recommendations even more visible to your users. Simply update the +1 button code, and an inline annotation will show next to the button.”
The new annotations appear when a user hovers over the +1 button. Hovering over it will display a list of friends and contacts that have already clicked the +1 button for that page. Google has also unveiled new code for the +1 button that will display the faces and names of friends that have used the +1 button. This feature works much like how the Facebook Like button appears for Mashable stories, displaying how many people have +1′d the page and which friends have +1′d it.
The changes are small, but they will likely make the +1 button even more sticky. The search giant will need to do more though to compete with Facebook’s button, which has become standard on millions of websites across the world.
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
getFound SEM - What is happening in the world of video
What's going on in the world of online video?Video is huge! In fact, it's on track to break the Internet, writes ReelSEO half-jokingly (at least we hope so!) This prediction is based on the release of Cisco's annual Visual Networking Index, a look at web traffic and where it's heading. It's good news for companies that market themselves with video, though (as long as the bandwidth holds out). Everyone is watching video! Use it to get your brand out there. (Bonus statistic: YouTube boasts 3 billion views each day.)
Advertisers are catching on. In BrightRoll's annual survey of top ad agencies, 65% of respondents are planning to reallocate money from the TV budget to online video campaigns. Don't get left behind - online video is the next frontier.
Meanwhile, integrating photos and videos with social media is becoming easier than ever. Twitter, for example, is finally unrolling photo sharing, something formerly accomplished with third-party services like TwitPic.
Learn with us
In addition to keeping an eye on industry trends, getFound is pouring more time into video SEO for our customers and achieving excellent results.
We hope you'll join in the conversation with us by commenting on our blog posts or interacting with us on Facebook and Twitter! Be sure to let us know what questions you have about online video marketing; it'll help us decide what topics to cover in upcoming blog posts.
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Advertisers are catching on. In BrightRoll's annual survey of top ad agencies, 65% of respondents are planning to reallocate money from the TV budget to online video campaigns. Don't get left behind - online video is the next frontier.
Meanwhile, integrating photos and videos with social media is becoming easier than ever. Twitter, for example, is finally unrolling photo sharing, something formerly accomplished with third-party services like TwitPic.
Learn with us
In addition to keeping an eye on industry trends, getFound is pouring more time into video SEO for our customers and achieving excellent results.
We hope you'll join in the conversation with us by commenting on our blog posts or interacting with us on Facebook and Twitter! Be sure to let us know what questions you have about online video marketing; it'll help us decide what topics to cover in upcoming blog posts.
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
getFound SEM - Video SEO
The State of Web Video
When you produce a video now, there’s no dearth of places to publish it. Though YouTube remains the dominant player in the industry, Vimeo, Blip.tv, Viddler, Metacafe, and a host of other sites (most of them free) have fragmented the market. There’s no need to build or host your own video player, and you can leave the heavy bandwidth duties to them rather than your own server.
Just as there’s lots of competition in the platform arena, competition among videos themselves is growing wildly. YouTube spokesman Aaron Zamost said over 20 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute, and about 120 decades of video are uploaded each year.
Hundreds of little tweaks and tricks exist in optimizing a webpage for search, yet the entire realm of video SEO right now consists of only a few to-dos and a lot of finger-crossing. Zamost summed up the basics for ranking high in a YouTube search:
“Have a clear, descriptive title, and include as many accurate tags as you can. For example, if you’ve created a video that shows how to tie a bow tie, your title should be ‘How to tie a bow tie.’ That’s really important, because that’s [what] your target viewer probably wanted to learn. So think visually — ties, dress, how to dress nice, how to tie a tie, how to tie a bow tie, etc.Many publishers, however, are concerned with getting links and traffic to their site, not just their YouTube page. Rand Fishkin, CEO and co-founder of the multi-million dollar SEO agency SEOmoz, emphasizes the importance of placing videos on your own site and submitting a video sitemap to search engines.
It’s also important to note that many users who are searching for video just want to be entertained, and may not be looking for something that precise. So if you’ve created compelling content, think about how a user would likely find it. Tags like ‘funny video,’ while generic, can be very useful.”
“Video results are often far easier to ‘rank,’ than standard web results, but there are some hoops you’ll need to jump through,” Fishkin said in an e-mail.
However, users sharing videos by embedding or linking to them in their own sites often leads to traffic and link juice being sent to the third party site (like YouTube or Metacafe) that actually hosts the video, rather than a publisher’s own. A vital part of SEO strategy is getting other websites to link to your site. If people are linking to your content on YouTube, your site doesn’t build much (if any) link equity or page rank at all, which can be discouraging for web publishers.
Because search engine robots only understand actual text, they can’t determine the quality of a video by the content inside it — only by the links to it and the content around it, like the title or tags. People have muddled over this problem for a long time, and a couple of realistic solutions have recently emerged.
First, YouTube now has the ability to place captions on its videos. The transcript of a video can be attached to its timeline, allowing users seek to specific portions of YouTube videos by phrase. This transcript can be searched and indexed by the engines, meaning your video content itself can count toward ranking now. Whereas originally you had to provide your own captions to attach, YouTube can now do captions automatically. As with any robotic transcription however, human intervention may be required to fix computer-generated mistakes in the text.
Placing a video’s transcript in its description has been a somewhat common SEO practice in the past, but the marriage of the transcript to the video timeline itself is a definite advancement.
Another company to recently stumble on a similar solution for web video SEO is the New York-based SpeakerText. SpeakerText helps you perform the same transcript-to-video matrimony as YouTube captions, but further puts SEO power in publishers’ hands through a concept it calls “QuoteLinks.”
Basically, once your video has been “speakertexted,” you can embed it on your own website with the transcript attached. Visitors can select a chunk of the transcript, copy it, and paste it in their own blog or website as a link to the exact moment in the video where the quote appears. The link goes to the publisher’s site, not YouTube’s. Right now SpeakerText only works with YouTube, but the company says it plans to provide the service for other platforms in the future.
“Anytime somebody quotes, it will link back to the original source, which is good for the end user because they can actually see it in context,” said CEO Matt Mireles, “… and the publisher gets rewarded because it not only sends viral traffic directly, but then the link creates huge SEO.”
SpeakerText is free if you provide your own transcript, and you can order transcription through the site at what it claims is roughly half the cost of traditional transcription services. SpeakerText utilizes an army of “Turkees” at Mechanical Turk to do the transcribing.
Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"
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