Unexpected top SEO rankings from the "piggyback effect"

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SEO Insider is published and distributed the first Friday of every month.

THIS ISSUE:
"How to secure high rankings with
un-optimized keywords: the piggyback effect."

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Editor: mharty@SearchEnginePatrol.com

Editor's Note

I hope you had a wonderful holiday. And here's wishing you an especially prosperous 2003!

I spent the Christmas holiday in Chicago and after four different family gathering/eat-a-thons in one 48-hour span, I was ready to scream Uncle! (Except he was offering me even MORE food, lasagna, mind you…)

A true highlight was our annual holiday tradition: the family gingerbread man-decorating contest. 2002's winning entry came from my nephew Eric for his "Spidey cookie";. (Other non-winning, but ultra-creative entries included my "Winona Cookie" (in prison, complete with black vertical frosting stripes to represent jail bars) and finally a "Ben Affleck/J-Lo cookie couple" complete with a big dab of pink frosting (to represent her pink engagement diamond.)

Now, on to your issue of SEO insider. There's lot's of interesting developments (as always) so happy reading—and learning!

SEO Insider is a monthly digest of news, perspective and the most effective Search Engine Optimization strategies, tools and techniques—all presented in easily understood terms. Our mission: help your web site rank higher in the search engines so it generates more traffic and succeeds in today's competitive online marketplace.

We look forward to serving your needs. If you have any comments or suggestions, please send them to SEOInsiderinfo@SearchEnginePatrol.com

News

Pre-eminent SEO authority gives SearchEnginePatrol a big “thumbs-up”

Distinguished SEO expert and author Michael Wong reviewed SearchEnginePatrol.com recently in his web site: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com.

First, some background info on Michael. He's obtained over 4,500 top 30 rankings across all of the major search engines - 2,000 of those on one site alone. He's written and published three books on search engine marketing and had numerous articles published in various marketing web sites and newsletters, such as InternetDay, WebDeveloper.com, SitePoint, SmartAge, and WebMarketingEzine.

Here's an excerpt from Michael Wong's review:
"Choosing an search engine optimization company can often be a confusing process. Which is why I'm particularly impressed by SearchEnginePatrol's upfront, common-sense approach. With a no-nonsense approach, competitive prices and guaranteed results, I highly recommend giving Search Engine Patrol a try!"

--Michael Wong
Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com

You can see Michael Wong's review of SearchEnginePatrol here:
http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/seo-services.html

Editor's note: in an environment rife with hype and over-promise, we're gratified that our approach has resonated with clients and industry experts alike. If you'd like to review our services please send an email to SEOreview@SearchEnginePatrol.com

Insider tip: Whether you're a newbie or someone with more advanced skills, Michael Wong's "Search Engines for Dummies" ebook is one we highly recommend:
http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/
search-engine-optimization.html

Related news: now both SearchEnginePatrol's service and newsletter have earned rave reviews. An expert authority on e-zines, Alexandria Brown, the "E-zine Queen" has her positive take on SEO Insider in this issue.

Yahoo! acquires Inktomi and why it matters to YOU

We take a different path than many other SEO's. We subscribe to many SEO newsletters that detail (often in mind-numbing detail) the machinations of every search engine. While we in the industry find that stuff insightful, we don't think it's particularly relevant to you. (Unless Search Engine trivia is your passion.)

We'll make an exception with Yahoo! acquiring Inktomi because of its impact on your search engine rankings now—and in the future.

Inktomi is a paid inclusion service we use with our search engine clients. In a nutshell, we submit your site to the Inktomi network, which is circulated to a variety of search engines, most notably MSN, Overture and About.com.

Advantages for paid Inktomi inclusion:

Your site will be indexed within 72 hours. (It can often take 2-8 weeks for a search engine to index your site once it's been submitted to the major search engines.)
The subscription is for one year allowing multiple indexing and refreshing.
Inktomi feeds over a dozen search engines/OEM partners.
It's reasonably priced: $39 for the first submission, $25 thereafter.

Now, the plot thickens with the acquisition by Yahoo! Currently, Yahoo! uses Google's results in its rankings. (So, if you get a #8 ranking for your key phrase in Google, you'll get the same in Yahoo.)

Speculation has it that Yahoo! will blend Google/Inktomi results or eventually phase out Google entirely.

SEO Insider takeaway:
Inktomi made itself more relevant by being acquired by Yahoo!, the world's second most popular search engine next to Google. We recommend Inktomi submissions, now even more so because of the positive impact they'll have on your Yahoo! Rankings. You can have an SEO provider make the submission for you or you can go through an Inktomi reseller such as PositionTech.

Related articles:
http://www.executivesummary.com/blarchive/
2002_12_22_blog-archive.jsp

http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release1050.html

http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/1561791

Commentary

SEO industry standards: a 2003 wish list.

What does the SEO industry have in common with the WWF? Both are somewhat lacking when it comes to respected industry standards.

Seriously, when I engage prospects in discussing the merits of SEO, I often hear about all the other crazy offers and the wild prices ("$50 for hundreds of search engines, blah, blah, blah…")

Now while many people don't purchase these sp^m-happy offers, these often ridiculous offers do form a frame of reference or starting point for any SEO discussion.

Fortunately, the Legitimate SEO providers have taken considerable strides in forming industry standards. The focus has been primarily on what's ethical and what isn't in the many SEO techniques and tactics. We monitor the situation closely and regularly contribute ideas.

The problem is that there is not one major governing body calling the shots. There are a lot of smaller players, and various industry luminaries attempting to set the agenda.

SEO Insider takeaway:
We heartily welcome standards. In fact, we'd expand our standards wish list to include some critical information that helps potential buyers make more informed purchase decisions.

SEO Standards 2003 Wish List

Standards in pricing. (There is an emerging range of $2,000-$5,000 that legitimate SEO providers quote.)
Standards in services. (Helps you compare apples to apples.)
Standards in performance. (Top 10/20/30 rankings)
Standards in promoting services and results.
Standards in ethical practices. (Where most of the industry's efforts are currently.)

Next steps: full disclosure
Our philosophy: is that SEO providers should provide in-depth critical information BEFORE you buy. To that end, we at SearchEnginePatrol.com provide one of the most comprehensive listings of services and performance data on the web today.

Compare our services disclosure page to that of other SEO providers:
http://www.searchenginepatrol.com/seo-optimization.html

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"Featured Article: How to secure high rankings with un-optimized keywords: the piggyback effect."

Ever hear the old expression, "a rising tide lifts all boats?" Or how about the familiar Three Musketeers refrain, "One for all, and all for one." Well, the same principle applies with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of a web site.

The principle works like this: effective site optimization has a carryover or "piggyback effect" that delivers an unexpected bonus: keywords that weren’t even optimized can often secure top rankings.

An advantage over PPC
Top rankings are secured via SEO or from Pay-Per-Click (PPC). With PPC, you bid on certain keywords. The higher the bid, the higher the ranking. When one of your keywords is clicked on in a search engine search, you pay each time a user clicks through to your site. Note: only those keywords you bid on will show up in the rankings.

With SEO, when a site is designed, architected and optimized via certain techniques, keywords you didn't actually optimize will often earn good rankings.

Case study: CSI insurance
Here is a good example. CSI is an insurance broker providing specialized and high-risk insurance to the event, entertainment and hospitality industries.

Many different types of insurance key words were optimized such as nightclub insurance and weather insurance. However, rain insurance was not optimized yet it scored a #3 ranking in Google out of 672 returned listings.

Another un-optimized key phrase "snow insurance" secured a #1 ranking among 222 competitive listings.

What do we mean by "un-optimized" key words?
First, optimizing keywords can be pertained in many ways: prominently in the text, preferably as a heading or subhead, mentioned several times in the body text, also in the title, meta tags, graphics, alt tags, etc.

So when a keyword that is only mentioned, in passing, in the text appears in top rankings, that's an unexpected bonus and represents a considerable value (and improved ROI) on your SEO investment.

What’s the secret to the "piggyback effect?"
First, you should know that search engine rankings are fluid. Techniques that worked before don't work today. It's also true that trends emerge and the 'piggyback effect" is one trend we’ve seen on several occasions.

SEO Insider takeaway: the following SEO techniques can increase the likelihood of your web site experiencing the "piggyback effect."

Effective SEO techniques that enhance the
"Piggyback effect."

Build a site with a consistent and an easy-to-understand information architecture, including:
o Simplified information design/content/headers
o Simple, intuitive navigation (all text links if possible)
Provide text links to all major site sections
Develop a unique theme for each site page
Create a site map with links to all sections of your site and include descriptions of each section
Create 250–700 total words on each page
Include headers in non-image format that contain your keywords (H1, H2, H3)
Include keywords in your link text
Provide outbound links to similar sites with your theme
Create a links page with outbound/inbound links
Each page title should explain the page’s theme
Increase inbound links to each specific page
Name your pages with your keywords
Do not place your pages within several directories on your server (i.e. www.your-domain.com/folder/folder/
folder/folder/sitemap.html)

The point to remember is that when a site is optimized correctly following the methodology we recommend, the search engines will index the site and find relevant content, which often manifests itself in unexpected rankings for non-optimized key words and phrases.

© 2003, SearchEnginePatrol.com

Did you like this article?
If you did, you'll also appreciate our archived articles which you can resource here:
http://www.searchenginepatrol.com/articles.html

Insider tool: Google toolbar

Sure, you use Google for web searches. But have you investigated the site a little deeper and discovered the free, easy-to-download Google toolbar?

Once you install the Google toolbar, it automatically appears along with the Internet Explorer toolbar. This means you can quickly and easily use Google to search from any website location, without returning to the Google home page to begin another search.

The Google Toolbar is available free of charge and includes these great features:

Google Toolbar Features/Benefits

Google Search: Search the web via Google from any web page.
Search Site: Search only the pages of the sites you visit.
PageRank: See Google's ranking of the current page. (PageRank is a Google's way of determining a web site's importance. A major factor in site "importance" on the quality of inbound links, preferably from sites with similar subject matter.)
Page Info: Access more information about a page including similar pages, pages that link back to that page, as well as a cached snapshot.
Highlight: Highlight your search terms as they appear on the page; each word in its own color.
Word Find: Find your search terms wherever they appear on the page.

Helpful links/resources:
http://toolbar.google.com/

http://toolbar.google.com/help.html

http://www.google.com/technology/index.html (This link explains PageRank in more detail.)

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