Seybold Scientific provides search engine optimization services in the Boise, Idaho. Search Engine Optimization can be broken up into two distnct categories: Local search engine optimization and non-local search engine optimization. In the Boise market, or in any market for that matter, it is important to understand what your customers are search for, but more importantly is to narrow you search engine optimization focus down to the serviceable marketplace.

Daily we’ll see clients who will want to be search engine optimized for a term that is very broad, i.e. lighting fixtures. The reality is that we can search engine optimize a website for the term, but in most cases the term “lighting fixtures Boise” makes a lot more sense. In reality search engine optimization on the local scale is much more simple and cost-effective than trying to compete for a national audience.

The methods and techniques of search engine optimization are the same whether you are focusing on a local market, Boise, or looking to reach a global audience. That being said, the scope of the agreement with your search engine optimization firm should be minimized due to the smaller audience you are looking to attract and therefore the competitiveness of the key terms. By the way, if you don’t have a search engine optimization company we are here to help.

To be continued.

I get offers quite often from people and companies that want to exchange links from my site to theirs and visa versa. There are many facets to link exchange that are good and bad, but today I want to write one that you may not of thought of – the transfer of equity.

One of the key components to growing search engine position is link building. Link building can be done through a mutual exchange of links with a supplier or manufacturer, through the distribution of a digital press release and through search engine and directory submission. These are common practices today, as is the one I will highlight next.

I am approached almost daily by individuals who want me to link to their website. This link building technique is problematic for a couple of reasons. First, Google and the other engines consider a link valuable if it:

• has contextual relevance to the subject matter of the page and site
• if the PageRank of the site is equal to or greater than the linked to site

Let’s think about those points for a moment.

Relevance
Relevance does matter. If I am a body shop linked to a plumber does that add any value to my reader? In most cases the answer is no. In fact it could almost be seen as a spammy technique of linking. So avoid it unless your page is about the “quality businesses I endorse.”

PageRank
PageRank is a huge topic for another post, but let me summarize. PageRank is a 0 -10 value Google create to enumerate “how valuable your website is in context to others like it. But it goes deeper. In fact, each page on your site has its own PageRank because Google looks at each page as an entry point. Although you home page will often be higher ranked than others, it is not uncommon on university websites or large corporate websites to find a deep internal page with a very high PageRank due to the specific topic of focus. (Example)

So these foundational elements are good, but the main reason I am posting is that I want you to understand the ethical and dare I say “legal” implications of linking to sites that are untrusted.

My Take – and it’s just my opinion.
When you link your company’s website to another site of which you have no knowledge you open yourself up to liability. A link is somewhat of an endorsement of services – of equity. I, Joe business owner, find this website and therefore the company and its people to be of a caliber that I would endorse them.

To some of you this may seem like a stretch, but I know as I look at my best practices in my business that I cannot quantify the value of that link when weighed against the liability so I simply don’t do it. I will link to my clients, I will link to my trusted business relationships, and I link to foundations and non-profits for which I have high regard, but I very rarely will say yes to a link exchange unless the person or company can instill confidence in me.

Thanks for the visit. I hope this helps you make better business and link building decisions!

Some say ranking is dead. Google’s going though changes that may turn SEO on its ear. Google’s Matt Cutts talked about some of these changes with WebProNews not too long ago. “I’m not sure I would say ranking is dead but it’s not as important as it used to be,” he said.

Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are going to get a lot more personalized moving into the future. It’s already started, but will continue to become increasingly noticeable. This raises some questions not only about SEO and ranking, but how one manages their online reputation. The fact that different people will be seeing different results in a search for your name or your company’s name is going to throw a few forks in the spokes of the online reputation management process. Read the rest of this entry »

Does Google use the bounce rate of a web page to specify the position of that page in the search results? What does this mean for your website rankings and what can you do to get a better bounce rate?

What is the bounce rate?

There are two definitions: the bounce rate of your website is the percentage of visitors who see just one page of your website or the percentage of visitors who stay on your site for a small amount of time (only a few seconds).

The bounce rate helps you to measure the quality of traffic that your website gets and it also helps you to find out where your web pages could be improved.

Google’s definition of the bounce rate

The Google Analytics documentation defines the bounce rate as follows:

“Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page). Bounce rate is a measure of visit quality and a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance (landing) pages aren’t relevant to your visitors.”

This Google definition already indicates that Google thinks that web pages with a high bounce rate aren’t relevant to website visitors. If your web pages have a high bounce rate for a search term, Google might lower the rankings of your website for that search term.

Does Google use the bounce rate as a ranking factor?

Google has the ability to collect the bounce rate with the Google toolbar and Google Analytics. In addition, Google can measure the time between visits to their search engine by the same user and they can use the Google Chrome browser to measure the complete surfing behavior of users.

Last month, a webmaster performed a test that showed a significant ranking change as a result of a significant bounce rate change. The test is not very conclusive but chances are that Google really uses the bounce rate as a ranking factor.

The bounce rate alone might not be used by Google but combined with other factors, it could have an effect on the rankings. For example, Google could measure how many people start a new search for the same topic after visiting your web page. That would be an indicator that your website is not suitable for the chosen keyword.

What can you do to lower the bounce rate of your web pages?

A high bounce rate is usually a sign of a low quality web page. This means that your web page either doesn’t offer what the visitor is searching for or the usability of your web page isn’t good.

If you improved the contents and the usability of your web pages, you might lower your bounce rate from 75% to 65%. This would lead to a remarkable 40% increase in conversions (35 out of 100 visitors now stay on your website instead of 25 out of 100 visitors).

In addition to improving the usability of your web pages, you can lower your bounce rate by tailoring your landing pages to the keywords and ads that you run. If your landing pages offer the information that the searchers are looking for then you will get a lower bounce rate.

Lowering the bounce rate of your web pages has two major benefits: it’s likely that you will get more visitors from search engines and you will get a higher conversion rate. The only exceptions to the scenario above are one page websites and web pages that offer very compelling content on a single web page (for example Wikipedia pages).

Search engines use many more ranking factors than just the bounce rate. If you want to get high rankings on Google and other search engines, you should make sure that your web pages offer all elements that are necessary to get high rankings.

Ask a random person on the street in Boise what’s SEO stand for and chances are good Search Engine Optimization will not be at the top of the list.  In fact, if you ask people in Boise what Search Engine Optimization means to them, you’ll get a variety of responses.

Boise is a unique market in that businesses are not as technically savvy as say on the east coast or Silicon Valley. Due to Boise being primarily an agricultural state and the mass employers being government related Boise certainly does have some challenges when it comes to being a technology leader. However that isn’t to say that there aren’t some technologically savvy businesses within Boise as there are many. Although specific names will not be mentioned the participants at Tech Boise include many of these forward thinkers within the Boise region. The problem that we see is that companies coming from outside areas, namely Utah have many dominant Search Engine Optimization firms. Search Engine Optimization also referred to as SEO is a series of processes taken to build up positioning within a search engine.

The gap that we see with traditional businesses here in Boise is that the education within the tech space is limited and that the term SEO or Search Engine Optimization is nonexistent. In fact we have two interns that are at the top of their classes with Boise State University, and both business major who have prior to working for us never heard the term SEO. While Pay-per click advertising is known and taught, the idea that natural positioning within the search engines through Search Engine Optimization was a foreign concept. Our goal is to change that so when outside companies come into the Boise area to preach Search Engine Optimization services, Boise residents know that companies here in Boise exist that can perform their SEO services.

In helping to bridge this gap we are going to be partnering with several of our clients and other technologically proficient companies here in Boise to hold educational seminars. The basis of these seminars will be to bring business owners up-to speed on what resources are available to them. As we have built up our business here in Boise we have seen that despite having a tight knit community, we lack the education sharing that needs to take place. Search Engine Optimization is just one example of concepts not grasped by many; others include social media optimization (Web 2.0) outside of the top three including Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter and many others. Stay tuned as we post these seminars on our website and on the social networks to bring Boise an unparalleled educational series.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a system for delivering web content directly to internet users. The concept behind RSS is eliminating the necessity of having to constantly check various websites for updates. With an RSS, time is saved through the convenience of having content automatically compiled into a user’s RSS reader (such as Google Reader). Unfortunately, you must have an RSS feed on your website to have the capability to post updates.

Web pages with RSS capability are typically denoted by a button somewhere beside the content that says “subscribe to this page” or something similar. Also, users of the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer determine an RSS page by the appearance of the orange RSS icon in the navigation bar. Users can subscribe to their favorite RSS enabled website by simply clicking the orange RSS icon.

Now that we have considered the benefits and implications of RSS for the web user, we shall now look at it through the lens of the small business owner. RSS is a growing need within the web world where top news sources and top companies are posting blogs. For a business owner, having an RSS feed will contribute to a strong presence on the web. Additional benefits of an RSS feed include announcing upcoming events, listing new items for sale, listing clearance items, listing specials, and anything else beneficial to an individual or a business. An often overlooked benefit that an RSS feeds provides is that it helps with a website’s search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a series of practices that enable a website to become prominent in search engine results. An important component in SEO is link building, by having an RSS feed, you are able to capture many outside links to your website. Search engines look to outside links leading to your website as building credibility and thus, will place your website higher in the relevance of certain search terms. RSS can help you build links due to the fact that your feed has the ability to be easily implemented in third party websites who enjoy your content.

Another way of using RSS content to optimize your site is by placing widely searched keywords that relate to your core business into RSS feeds. Perform a Google search on your core business and take note of the common keywords you find in the results. These are the words that you need to include in your RSS content for successful SEO.

RSS is beneficial to both the web user and small business owner alike, because it essentially opens up another channel of communication between the two. Search Engine Optimization in conjunction with an RSS feed expands that channel and brings your website into the forefront of the internet. If you want more information or if your website does not currently have an RSS feed but you would like one, please contact us at Info@seyboldinc.com.

Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regularly deliver updates from web pages in order to give you the most recent information without having to search through different sites. RSS used in conjunction with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help maintain a high placement in search engine results. Two major benefits of RSS when used with SEO include: 1) Search engines pick up on the most up to date content. 2) RSS is easier for search engines to read as it is written in XML over HTML.

First, RSS feeds benefit SEO in that it allows search engines to pick up on the most up to date content from the web. Whether the updates are additional products and services or an additional blogs, the updated material can be found by search engines which can help result in higher page placement.

Real Simple Syndication uses an XML format which is much easier for search engines to read as opposed to HTML. XML allows search engines to crawl faster through content than it would if HTML was used. However, because XML is not readable for typical web users, the entire site cannot be formatted in XML.

Search engines will find any RSS content that is related to the search query before it finds any HTML content. If the engine is able to find RSS content that is similar to HTML, the engine will list the RSS results first. Online presence for any business must be accompanied by RSS in order to maximize any SEO value your website has.

In Boise you can find a number of website design companies. From simple website design with static HTML pages to full enterprise level and custom content management systems. In Boise you can find them all, but only a handful can provide truly valuable business insight as well as website design services.

In this blog post I want to take a moment to help my readers understand the difference between strategic website design and website design that simply is beautiful design.

Begin With a Goal

Whether you are a retailer or sell business-to-business in Boise, the best website begins with a solid foundation of what precisely you expect it to do for you. As a retailer it may mean an online transaction, but isn’t a visit to your physical store just as nice? As long as the cash register rings it’s all the same – right?

So let’s thin about that conversion path: Home Page > Category Page > Product Page > Shopping Cart .. ?? Store Directions.

This is a fine result provided you built it into your plan. All to often a visit to a Boise store cannot be attributed to a specific event. The merchant is completely unaware as to how their customer found them unless it is overtly stated that the sale began online. Since this is the case it is good to start with a goal and attempt to account for happy accidents in the process.

Next up: Search Engine Optimization

If you build it, they will come. This may be the case in baseball, but definitely is NOT the case on the Internet. Draft a marketing plan that includes your website and design it to allow search engines to crawl it with ease. There are many talented website design firms in Boise, but when selecting a website design company make sure you think about how you expect your website to “get found” before they begin coding.

On this site there are several articles on search engine optimization, so you should be able to get a pretty good idea of what a good website design company in Boise should do to make you successful. If you are still lost or confused, simply drop s a line for a no obligation consultation.

Lastly: Have Your Website Design Fit Your Audience.

A customer in Boise is different than a customer in Iceland. I think we can agree. So designing your website for a Boise, 35 – 50 year old mother can be challenge. Make sure you have the right people in the website design team. Do they think like your target audience? Can they write for the audience? Do they represent the demographic you are seeking to attract? These are important questions to think through – before you start!

Conclusion

Certainly we do website design; we hope to earn your business. But most of all we hope you will take our advice and think about how you approach your website design project before you select just any website design company in Boise or beyond. The engagement can be positive or a complete waste of money. We’d rather see you get what you pay for and have an excellent experience that turns searchers into visitors and visitors into buyers. This is what we do every day for our clients – we hope to do it for your company as well.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a series of practices that are used to get a website the highest possible placement within the search results. There are many way of performing SEO, however there are both ethical and non-ethical practices that are being used. Ethical SEO involves the use of ‘White hat methods’ as deemed by Google, which is considered by search engines to be the proper way of optimizing one’s website.

‘Black hat’ practices are considered a non-ethical way of optimizing a site and if detected by the search engines, will cause your website to be banned from the search results altogether.

Although, some SEO methods are claimed ‘Gray hat’ labeled as in between Black hat and White hat, Google does provide clear guidelines on what is and what is not acceptable. Thus, when choosing an SEO firm it is vital to understand which practices the firm undertakes. As a Google Certified company, Seybold Scientific understands the Google platform. Through this knowledge Seybold Scientific knows what it takes to optimize a site through White hat practices.

Webcrawlers, spiders, or a Googlebot, for example, is a search engine crawler. Googlebot periodically traverses the web in record time, indexing content, links – everything contained in page source code – and storing it in Google’s search index. Then, when a user visits Google and enters a search phrase, the index, filtered by the algorithm, is what the user gets. Please note: there is some delay in this process since the results you’re getting are from the index and not the live web.

When your web developer codes your site and pages you must be careful that he or she knows what “trips up” the spider. For example, the spider can not read Adobe Flash content typically. Now there are ways to enable a spider to “read” the content, but it has to be done through an XML file fed into the Flash. If it is not created in this way then the Googlebot does cannot read it.

At times we work with a technology called sIFR. sIFR lets you use your favorite font on your websites by cleverly working with Flash, JavaScript and CSS.On Weyerhaeuser’s iLevel website we used sIFR technology to employ a font used throughout the offline marketing materials – a font defined specifically in the brand guidelines. On the Performance Tested Lumber page the headline is an example. The font used is not typically found on computers and we wanted to maintain brand consistency so tFIR was the solution to the problem.

The point is that using rich media technologies, Flash, or writing the code in incorrectly will cause the Googlebot to abandon your page, which makes all of the search engine optimization effort for not.