For many bloggers, when they first get interested in SEO, they will go after the most competitive keywords first.  A web design blogger will optimize his site to target web design.  A gadget blogger will go after gadgets.  However, this is usually a bad strategy. Short keywords like web design, g...

Ian had a great question in a comment on my previous post. He asked: How do you judge the balance between lots of people will be looking for that [popular keyword] against there are lots of results for that [popular keyword]? Using your example, for “nba all star game 2009″ you’d be one of 500...

by Stoney deGeyter Many businesses owners focusing on SEO for the first time, especially those with limited budgets, can often find themselves caught like a deer in the headlights wondering just where and how to begin. SEO, even for smaller sites, can often be a big project, especially if you're try...

In any Paid Search Strategy, the obvious goal is to drive as much "qualified" traffic to your website as possible, while at the same time trying to keep the costs down. Many of us search marketers were trained to use keyword tools as the catalyst for identifying the most traf...

It's been a few weeks since I've had a Tuesday's Tips in Online Marketing Video, but I'm happy to say they are back!  Had a few issues with my laptop that screwed up the works for a while (it sat in Houston waiting to be repaired while that hurricane blew threw there), and then software issues, but...

Every time Google releases a new tool (Barry Schwartz broke the story of Google’s new search-based keyword research tool with a good write up at SEL), it makes it easier for people to think for themselves a little less and rely on Google to do their work for them even more. If you’re not...

by Jennifer Laycock Ben McConnell has a short little post over at Church of the Customer this week that serves as a perfect example of why keyword research is so essential. McConnell is talking about companies that rely too heavily on jargon in their marketing materials. In the world of search engin...

by Jennifer Laycock With all the talk about blogging and social media lately, you'd think there was nothing left to do in the world of search engine optimization. I'm guilty of tunnel vision myself. After all, social media is far more fun to talk about than title tags, keyword selection and canonica...

by Diane Aull Heather Lloyd-Martin opened with a Seth Godin quote: “the best SEO is good content.” Your content is not just for the search engines, this is how you're communicating with your customers. This may be the only way you can get your message across to some customers. They may n...

What is a keyword modifier? A modifier is a word that in combination with your core keyword creates your long tail strategy (definition by Dan Thies). Most often a thematic modifier can be: a word of a general meaning (e.g. "guide", "best", etc); a word related to your niche (e.g...