I have talked about the importance of SEO a lot over the years but no more. The simple fact is that SEO - or at least what the experts claim constitutes SEO is not the same as what I think it is. To me SEO means just one thing - keyword targeted backlinks. That`s it. You don't need to know another thing to rank well in the search engines. Ok - sure, tell Google what your site is about preferably using your primary keyword in your url, website title and write content related to your keyword. I won't even bother to say you even have to do that but it helps. Adobe has owned the "click here" keyword for years and they don't use that term at all. They rank for the term because they have the backlinks that use the term "click here" in the anchor text.
They just have the best assortment of keyword anchored backlinks using the term and maybe even the most. Period.
So why does a SEO industry even exist?
Quite frankly it's all smoke and mirrors and designed to take money off of people who don't know any better. Dave Starr from Living in the Philippines For Real sent me an email this morning pointing out that some fella known as Great Scott wrote a post called Whiteboard Friday - Getting Indented Listings and that it was posted on SEOmoz. Dave suggested that the fella must read my blog as his post is similar to the last one I wrote about Getting Double Indexing in the SERP's. The subject is the same but I don't know how similar it is - it's a video presentation and I haven't bothered to watch it.
What for? - I already know how to do that so a waste of my time but thanks Dave for letting me know. I've never read a thing on SEOmoz. I get lots of emails referring to the site for one reason or another and I know that the owner is some kind of big shot in the SEO world but as I said above - the SEO world is all nonsense to me. I have nothing against the owner as I don't know him - I only know this - I've never read anything about SEO from anyone and don't really understand why such sites exist. How do you build a site around "Get Keyword Targeted Backlinks"?
Once you have told people that what else is there to say?
So my view has always been that everything else is just fluff or the owners of SEO sites are trying to make money providing services to people who don't know any better. I've said this before - if I charge you $10,000 to get your site ranked well in the search engines I have to convince you that what I do is "complicated" and involves "lots of work" and there are many "metrics" involved. White hat or black hat the end result is always the same - if a site ranks well in the search engines then it is because of one thing and one thing only - backlinks. How these experts get those backlinks is, I suppose, what differentiates the well-respected ethical SEO experts like SEOmoz from the spam SEO experts.
Now I'm sure many ethical experts will try and convince me that there are all sorts of important aspects to ranking well but they will be wasting their time. The fact is I have been ranking sites on top of the serps for years without ever reading anything SEO related and don't have a clue about the "200" metrics that are involved in "good website development". The only reason I know of 200 metrics is because my readers keep asking me about them. I only recently learned about "good website development" because it showed up in an article one of my readers pointed me to. Apparently it means "good SEO" or in my parlance people who build backlinks ethically. They never mention "backlinks" though because well that would then be un-ethical. They don't build backlinks - they practice "good website development". Get it? Wink Wink.
(Btw - before someone wants to play the spam card on me - every site I have on top of the serp's has legit content that provides accurate and useful info for the people who visit my sites. Exactly the content they are looking for based on the keyword they enter into the search box)
As far as "ethics" is concerned - it's all bullshit to me. There is nothing ethical or unethical about ranking well in a search engine. It's just a search engine - not a God. There are no rules because there are no laws. When laws are passed stating that one may only achieve search engine dominance by doing A and B then doing C will become illegal and maybe unethical. Till then it's all just a competition and if people frown on your methods so what? If you win you win. If you lose you lose.
An aside - My friend Chewie, who runs a make money online blog called What A Wookie and I have been working on some sites lately and a few weeks ago we built a new site targeting a popular product. Yesterday it started showing up on page 1 of several data centers for its main keyword. It outranks the ever popular wikipedia entry and dozens of other aged and trusted sites. I don't recall optimizing it for 200 different things. Maybe I'm just a genius and create perfect sites just by luck or unconscious skill but I doubt it. I do know that I wrote three posts targeting three different long tail keywords that all contained the main keyword in them. I know that the blog title contains the main keyword and I know the post titles use variations of the primary keyword. And I know the content of the posts are relevant and accurate in regards to the product. I also know that I posted 3 relevant articles (real articles about the product - not spun or spam) on three different but related sites and linked them all to the new site using three variations of the keyword in the anchored links. I also know that the new site didn't get indexed until I posted the links on the other sites. I also know that the other sites have authority in the niche. So you tell me - how did the new site get to number 6 on G in two weeks for a term that wikipedia ranks number 9 for after several years in existence. In fact the only sites that outrank our site are the owners of the product and the site that they sell the product on. They have 3 listings each. The answer - just 3 measly backlinks on three relevant sites. I guess that is "good website development". And I didn't read a single SEO expert to do it.
So is that unethical? Why? Our site delivers exactly what a searcher is looking for if they type in the keyword. They will leave happy with the product. Is it unethical to rank higher than someone else just because the other site has been around longer or has more pages or more fans and readers? Bullshit. It's just business and competition is part of business. If we make money and they don't too bad - we did a better job.
That's how I feel about the SEO experts and why you don't need to waste your time with them and now let's look at the "Social Media" crowd.
I saw Justin from SEOZombie post a twit or tweet or what ever the hell you call it the other day about some other fella named Derek Powazek who was ranting about SEO and stated the following,
Search Engine Optimization is not a legitimate form of marketing. It should not be undertaken by people with brains or souls. If someone charges you for SEO, you have been conned.
This fella feels that he has the one true way for marketing online,
The One True Way
Which brings us, finally, to the One True Way to get a lot of traffic on the web. It’s pretty simple, and I’m going to give it to you here, for free:
Make something great. Tell people about it. Do it again.
He then proceeded to use facebook and twitter and an email to "tell People About it".
His premise is that all you need is social media in order to get traffic. No SEO at all. The end result of his efforts was that he promptly got his post ranked #9 in Google for the term SEO. His follow up post stated the following,
And after less than 24 hours, my post about SEO is the ninth Google result for “SEO”. (Logged out, so no personalization. I’m not counting the indented sub-results or the Google in-site promotions.)
His contention was that all it took was social media to do it. In reality all it took was a shit load of backlinks from the people who read his social media promoted post - not the social media itself. Ironic that he promotes social media as the panacea and yet uses it for SEO - or in my terms "to get keyword anchored backlinks". There is a certain irony in lionizing seo and then bragging about how he managed to rank well in the search engines.
Worse he offers the following advice that both tells you how to rank well in Google (he is wrong) and why you shouldn't use Google because all you need is social media.
CLIENTS: If someone approaches you about optimizing your search engine placement, they’re running a scam. Ignore them. If your site isn’t showing up in Google, fire whoever is making your web pages and hire someone better. Sign up for social media services (Twitter, Facebook, etc) and participate there. Pay for quality writers and designers – that’s what will actually raise your ranking in the long term.
WEB DESIGNERS: Learn to code your own pages. If you can’t, hire someone who can, and listen to them when they tell you why putting all that text in an image is a bad idea.
WEB DEVELOPERS: Educate your designers about proper web development. Educate your clients about how the web works. Follow Google’s advice. Read A List Apart. Writing good code won’t just help your Google rank, it’ll make certain your site is accessible to screen readers, mobile devices, and all the browsers out there.
SEO SPECIALISTS: If all you do is SEO, you need to expand. Hire a visual designer and some kickass coders and become a real web agency. Start making sites good from the get-go instead of cleaning up other people’s messes. Besides, if all you do is SEO, your days are numbered. Social media is rapidly becoming much more important than Google. (Number one referrer to my site this week? Twitter.)
Really? He tells us that Google is unimportant and validates his success by demonstrating how well he ranks in Google...
Btw - you can see his ranking for SEO here - #9 In Google for SEO
And BTW again - he no longer ranks for it - long gone and I would explain why but since G doesn't matter...
The thing is - is he right? All you need is social media to drive traffic? Well I suppose if all you want are readers he is right. If you want to make money (a subject he is noticeably quiet about) then social media won't deliver the right kind of traffic. I would be more impressed if he managed to get traffic for a niche that made money. If he had written a post about Credit Cards and his horde of readers came and signed up for a credit card I would have been impressed. If he had managed a page 1 ranking on G for that term I would have been impressed. (And remained there).
This is the same old same old - a blogger writing a post that interests other bloggers (the people who use social media) and they write about it and link to him supplying the "keyword anchored backlink" that "briefly" puts his post on page one of the serp's. Then the assumption is that it worked because he got a bunch of traffic to his blog - readers, not buyers - and then they leave and he has to start all over again with a new post in order to get more useless traffic to his site. Sound familiar?
Remember the fake Steve Jobs? What did he have - a million readers and quit because he never made a dime. Getting traffic for the sake of traffic is a time wasting and useless endeavor that the Social media sycophants just never clue into until one day they ask themselves... "Ya' know - this is all good fun but what is the point?"
Derek is dead wrong when he says,
Pay for quality writers and designers – that’s what will actually raise your ranking in the long term.
On one hand he says G is dead but he is telling people what he thinks will get them ranked well. If G is dying then why is he concerned about how to rank well? Ultimately his advice is as bad as all the SEO experts. Having good code, pretty sites and great content has nothing to do with ranking well in the search engines. His post didn't make first page for any of those reasons - it made first page because he got a shit load of backlinks using the term "SEO" in the anchor text of the link. That's the only reason. Sure he used social media to get the links but others can do the same thing buying links and never set a virtual foot on a social media site.
My point is this - if you have a niche that is something people naturally have a social interest in like Politics, Blogging, Internet Marketing, Technology etc then yes you can use social media to drive traffic. Just understand that that traffic is not the type that will make you money and if having readers is all you want then go for it. Of course ranking number 1 on G for all those niches will also bring in traffic - more in the long run as you won't have to work for it. You can leave a post up for six months and your traffic will still show up every day. If you use social media to drive traffic you will have to post a lot and then spam the social media sites. In other words work for it.
If you want to make money online then you will have to get traffic for a niche that can convert visitors into buyers. If Derek or anyone else can do this for a site that sells "Oil Filters" using social media then please show me. Until then you might want to rank number 1 for "oil filters" on Google and the only way you will do that is to get more keyword anchored backlinks than Fram. You won't do it with better code, or a pretty site, or better writers. You won't do it with Twitter or Facebook.
In short every time I here a Blogger rave about the wonders of social media and rant about Google's demise I have to ask - you do know that 99% of all the websites and blogs online are there to market a product in order to make money for the owner, don't you? Pretty hard to build a huge social following for Oil filters or window blinds.
For the SEO crowd - how are all your metrics going to outrank Fram? All that good code and "good website design" going to do it?
I'll stick to building "keyword anchored backlinks", make money and leave all the bullshit to the experts - social and SEO.
Cheers,
Griz
Btw - I finally have a new post up at the pretty WP Blog - check it out Webmaster Tools Drops Page Rank
Posts
113 comments:
JeepnDave here......
Good grief Grizz! two posts in one week on two different blogs? what are you building back links or something ;-) I sense a little frustration with all the nonsense emails and questions you must get from your readers that want to know how you do this "SEO" thing so well. So sad that as CRYTAL CLEAR as you were in this post that there will still be people that will read this and still won't believe the magic powers of the keyword backlink. Oh well that leaves more niches to go get for those of us that have seen the light. Thanks for the surprise weekend read here. I am sure there will be well over 100 comments here when I come back for more review on monday.... Enjoy the weekend!
Hot Dam. KEYWORDED BACKLINKS... That's how you rank. Buy em, steal em, or earn em... Just GET SOME!
Hi Grizz,
Thanks for all of the useful information you’ve provided and apologies in advance for this longwinded comment.
On the subject of how many posts an IM blog requires, I’ve come to the following conclusions based on everything that I’ve read on this site. Please correct any errors in logic.
There are 2 basic types of niches:
Type 1: Niches having ‘n’ number of good to high paying keywords that are each sufficiently unique in scope will require ‘n’ number of dedicated and extremely long posts. In IM, the sole purpose of a post is to target a specific lucrative keyword.
Type 2: Niches having a small number (say, less than 5) of good to high paying keywords that are really just different ways of saying the same thing require just one extremely long post. I’ve found a couple of such niches but have never seen anyone else mention them which is the reason for this comment.
For scenario 2 type niches, you would start by using the longest tailed keyword as the post title, write a 10 000 word monster that’s both Google and backlink friendly and then spend 90% of your time getting as many keyword targeted backlinks as necessary to secure a number one ranking on page one for that keyword. Then, you would continue acquiring backlinks until the post / site achieves enough authority that it starts to rank well (maybe bottom of page one?) for the next longest keyword.
At this point, to further optimise your chances of reaching the number one spot for the next keyword, you would simply change the title of the post to the new keyword that you’re targeting while you continue to obtain backlinks in an organic matter. You would also tweak the content of the post to better optimize it for the new keyword you’re targeting. You would do this until you achieved the number one spot for that keyword and then repeat the process for the next longest keyword.
Type 2 niches are generally smaller and thus ideal for noobs like most of us readers. Even with a relatively small niche however, achieving the number one ranking for each keyword will most likely be measured in months rather than weeks.
For both scenarios, I understand that by analyzing your site stats, other keywords that searchers are really using to find your site will most likely present themselves. These new keywords may require dedicated posts themselves, a tweaking of existing posts & or support with new keyword anchored backlinks.
I would greatly appreciate clarification on anything that I've misunderstood.
Thanks.
Noobster
Nice to see a nice long post here every once in a while ;) Btw. I have been experienceing with G-trends and I can say that it is a great way to get some ridiculous amounts of traffic from G. Thanks for the tip the other day. The problem is that you really have to think hard on how to monetize those keywords.. Great mall shooting is not something that attracts buyers if you know what I mean.
I love the fact that you tell stuff like they are, but at the same time I hate it because I know that there are thousands of people actually reading the content and finding out real information. That means more competition for me. But at the same time I know that a big number of them will never try them out. Now I am out - I sent you an e-mail eariler today and if you missed it then too bad. If not I would really appreciate a two letter answer about your opinion ;)
P
And btw. There is a great chance that Derek faked that screenshot because he is not showing the url... And even then it could have been faked. Who cares, I don't. I have to get back to work now. Stop writing interesting stuff already.
P
thought id try and get one of the first posts in so i know you would see it, cheers for yet another great post, and for the many before just reading learning and then having a go see where it will get me oh and of course getting anchored backlinks thanks again great site full of info and not BS
len
Thanks Dave - have a good weekend yourself. Hey - not bad, you got top spot on both sites this go round! Are you stalking me? Lol
Free Cards... are you suggesting that people should just get backlinks? Oh how un-ethical. You want "good website development"... wink
Noobster - that would work but in general I write new content for new keywords. Remember though, a monster post on a subject that only has a few paying keywords would probably cover all the long tails as well.
If you write original and natural content about something then you will have to introduce just about every keyword (main and long tails) in the process of writing the post. In that case just work on a wide variety of backlinks pointing at the post and eventually it will rank well for everything.
Hey Phil, If you get traffic that can't be monetized for the target keyword then try and funnel it elsewhere. If it is strictly social traffic this may be hard to do. In most cases search traffic can be enticed elsewhere if you know what they were generally looking for when they found your site in the first place. ie. If they found you for a keyword like "How to string a Guitar" then they aren't likely to buy anything from you as they just want to know how to string a guitar. However a few may need strings so keep a link handy directing them to a page or site that sells strings. Or Guitars, or Tuners etc. Bad example maybe but you get my drift.
This is usually the only way you can leach a few bucks out of "hot topics" that tend to be more social in nature. When Susan Boyle was hot she was hard to monetize but if you had an ebook explaining how to "get Famous Overnight on You Tube" available you would have made a few sales given the sheer number of visitors. Ultimately you have to get creative with hot topics.
As for your email - must be there somewhere but I was busy writing this post - haven't got to the emails yet.
Phil again - actually he didn't fake the screenshot - I checked the day after his post and he was there. Not on page 1 in my Data Center but in 14th spot - page 2 at that point. I ran a keyword check on the post and he did get a ton of anchored backlinks using SEO in the anchors to one degree or another. His ranking was legit.
You are welcome Len - now quit reading all this nonsense and go get some "good website development"!
Another nice post. I really enjoy reading these. I'm just glad I read YOUR blog and not a social media blog. :P
Ha you said "shit load" . So what your saying is anchored backlinks are more important than "tweets"?
backlinks are the key to making money? Who knew? Seriously I can't understand what makes these seo companies so popular with other companies. If I wanted to hire someone to make me money online, I'd hire the person I found first in Google, he obviously knows what he's talking about. Geez even a newbie like me understood that when I came across your blog and saw it was number 1.
What's your theory on why people listen to these people?
Mike, didn't you hear? I am a social media blogger.
Is Griz a social blogger?
and
Social Media
Brendan... Sacrilege! Nothing and I mean nothing could possibly be more important than Twits er Tweets! The sun rises and falls on Twits... really. Honest. :-)
I read the post by the Powezek guy and here is my take:
1) he is "bagging" on SEO firms that seek out large corporations for SEO work.
2) he has no clue about folks like us who do SEO for ourownselves to make money online
3) he has never worked for a big corp and has no clue what that is about
He is upset or whatever because there are "firms" who charge big corps big bucks to rank for their keywords. The issue is that most big corps don't understand the interent or SEO and will pay big bank to get their rankings for certain keywords. What's even funnier is that most of the SEO firms the big corps hire are just getting spam comment links and not "true" in post links like "we" get.
Long story short, the Powezek guy has NO CLUE about what we do, how we do it, or why. he is a typical "I am a white hatter" guy who likes to spout off and drop a few curse words for effect.
Funny stuff IMO.
The guy is obviously closed minded and shallow. If you look at his followup post: powazek.com/posts/2101 you will see that my comment is the last one! then he closes the comments out of frustration... wnna know why? cuz he knows his point is utter BS!!!
fun fun messing with the "elitests!"
...dammit.
@GRIZ
I was trying to act surprised by what you said...
I totally agree with you post though... Everyone wants to jack around and Talk about what it takes to rank but rarely ever do they talk about what it takes to "MAKE MONEY ONLINE" (See what I did there?).
Anyways everybody is in a constant circle jerk about what is right/wrong/ethical/unethical/BLAH BLAH BLAH... It reminds me of of the playground, "That's not FAIR!!!"
It's time people focus on increasing their bottom line. I'm not in the game to share my knowledge, get attention, or make friends (although I have); I'm here to make cash.
P.S. I see you mention SEOZombie alot... I missed Justin's presentation today at BarCampNashville but we share the same stomping ground.
Alexis - funny thing. The top listing for SEO is wikipedia. Pretty sad when the SEO crowd can't outrank wikipedia.
Do you know what G is saying when wikipedia is listed first? It means that there is nothing useful in any other site that hasn't been summed up in a single post on wikipedia (as far as G is concerned).
Companies hire SEO's because they don't know shit and the SEO's spend all their time trying to convince companies that they need SEO's. They would be out of work if the companies hired people that make money online to run their sites. :-)
Allyn - hey short guy (btw - I'm not tall either - a hair under 6 - just bustin' your you know)
Yeah I got that he was taking aim at the SEO firms and I agree with him on that. Where he went wrong was making dumb ass comments about the value of social media and the demise of G. Just another Blogger who thinks the internet revolves around blogging and getting readers. His methods wouldn't help a redwidget website make money any more than the seo scammers would.
I didn't realize you left a comment on his site - I couldn't bare to read them after the first couple of barf inducers. I'll have to go check it out now.
He closed his comments??? Noob! Never say no to free content! lol
Free Cards... I knew what you were doin' - I was just being my typical sarcastic smart ass comment answerer... hey good use of keyword and you are so right. All the whingers out there constantly yelling "Hey he cheated" like there are rules to this. Maybe if they knew how to cheat too?
Justin is a good guy and I can't help my friends if I don't mention them. :-) Oh wait - that's cheating isn't it? Damn...
Another great post Griz. I'm taking a punt on your keywords and will try to send a little juice.
Thanks Joomla - always appreciate the support. Don't do anything unethical though... :-)
Great post Griz,
Just wondering if you were getting the emails I'm sending? I'm trying to be a squeaky wheel :-)
KC
@ griz,
yeah, him closing comments was the stupidist move of all! He acted like he was taking the high road to get above all "the idiots" but really he was admitting that his argument held no water.
These guys are all alike and it really does illustrate to me why many (including you) keep themselves anonymous so they can make money quietly.
I honestly don't think this guy has a clue what we do or why or how.
AL
The reason why I'm leaning towards a monster post is that it would give me the room to provide information that people would normally pay for in a book or PDF. There's 2 reasons for doing this.
First, for the searchers who visit who don't click out immediately, the post will provide the solution to a problem that is different from but closely related to the ads that would be served. IOW, if they are searching for that keyword, they definitely have the associated problem. The reasoning is that providing a solution to the related problem will give them even more reason to click on the ads to solve their initial problem.
Now I know what you meant when you wrote that there's no rule that says your post title has to reflect your post content!
Second, my thinking is that providing information for free that usually costs money will make non competing but related blogs much more willing to provide backlinks. I think it was the Plenty Of Fish dude who said provide something for free that others charge for and monetize it with adsense.
Maybe I'm being paranoid but I just don't feel that it's wise to share my niches with other IM just for the purpose of getting backlinks so I had to figure out a way to get them from blogs that will be older than my niche blogs.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I assume that having backlinks mostly from blogs that are all the same age or younger than my Adsense blog - which will be the case with the supporting network that I'll be starting - might look suspicious to Google.
As for the post titles, I'm thinking it would be safer and easier to stay motivated if I start with the longest tail keyword just in case I've underestimated the difficulty of ranking for the main keyword.
BTW, I just spent 6 months proving to myself that social blogging for cash is a fool's game. Build it and they will come? Pfft. Maybe. I put my heart and soul into what I was doing and forget that social traffic doesn't convert, I could barely get any traffic to begin with! At the rate I was gaining traffic it would have taken 20 years to make money off of it.
The smart ones will learn the same lessons I did. The rest? It's just less competition for us.
"And BTW again - he no longer ranks for it - long gone and I would explain why but since G doesn't matter"
Would the reason why he's long gone from page one be that Google bitch slapped him because their algorithms detected something fishy in the non organic manner in which his backlinks suddenly poured in - or is it something else entirely?
Noobster
@GRIZ
I've got a service i'm rolling out that is right along these lines. I'm pitching along the lines that no one "DESERVES" to be in the search engines... and it will destroy the ones who think they do :) but more on that later.
It's great you help out your friends. It's funny how much you can learn about someone online from just following their work, but Justin is pretty smart and he sure knows how to pick those keywords and find a SWEET niche ;) http://seozombie.com/seo/can-i-do-seo/
Grizz,
My best site has been jumping around on page 1 for a number of terms, sometimes it slides to 2. I've also noticed that the double indexing is there, then it disappears. Sometimes it comes back, I'll have to keep watch on it. Will the double indexing eventually settle? Do you know what causes that?
So, let me get this straight... I need keyword anchored backlinks in order to rank well in the search engines? Shit I should of been listening to you all along! Maybe all those "seo gurus" and "blogging gurus" really have been giving me useless information all these years. Thanks for the useful information on how to actually rank well and make money online Griz, I appreciate it!
Once again a post of yours made of pure gold! You are the man!
Now, STOP giving away all these super tips. You're creating more competition from people who really know what they are doing. I'm too lazy to be working harder trying to beat these people in the SERPs.
Hey Griz - What's with the snow in MB this week!?! Can't wait to get back to Ont. where is is still fall. lol.
What cracks me up about the SEO 'experts' is that I keep getting form emails telling me that they can get my website to #1 position in Google for my keywords. But .... I'm already there and have been for a couple of years. lol. Did it myself with .... lets hear it! Anchored backlinks!
They're not a smart bunch, that's for sure.
Hey Griz,
Thanks for your straight shooting post - guess you have to be a straight shooter up your way when there are bears about.
What I don't get is this:
"... using three variations of the keyword in the anchored links..."
If you want to rank for a keyword phrase, why would you vary it in the anchor text? The SEO experts all say vary it, but someone doing well at ranking like Angela (Google Angela if you don't know about her) says it's BS and just uses the target term all the time - and it works for her.
Suppose if you want to rank for the several terms you use it makes sense, but the only other reason I can see to vary it has to do with the Google Bombing filters at Google, and surely you have to be operating on a grand scale (like trying to target the White House site as was done a few years back) before they would cut in?
Just varying them for the hell of it seems to be simply watering down your efforts, don't you think?
@noobster -- the guy ranked high for the "SEO" term for a short time because his site overall is an authority site in the eyes of G and he got a bonus for "fresh" content. In addition, he got a lot of links quickly to that fresh content (ala the social links like Digg).
However, his links were poopy weak links and the freshness wore off, therefore he ranks there no more for the term.
Griz teaches how to rank for terms and stay there and it has to do with targeted, specific, anchored links.
The irony is that the dude used his ranking for "SEO" in the engines as an example, while admitting that those rankings mean squat,
L.O.L
Wow, never knew that link would start a whle new post ... interesting, and as usual, I learn a ton from the comments as well as the main post.
There is a few minutes in the video where the SEOMoz guy essentilaly repeats your word for word instruction on how to get an indented (supplemental) listing.
Going back ages ago, these indendent listing s have been decalred 'bad' by any number of 'experts'. ... most people talk about them as if they were comperable to walking into a big buisness meeting with toilet paper trailing from your shoe. "Eeeeww, you have posts in Google's suplemental listing."
None of these so-called gurus could ever explain in a way I could see why it was a "bad thing to have two lisitngs instead of one out of the max 10 listings G will show on the front page. Now, suddenly, the PhD style SEO community seems to have suddenly realized what a backwoods high school dropout like me realized long ago ... if one listing on page one is good, then two lisitings is like twuce as good. D'oh.
BTW, regarding that max of 10 leistings on the front page? Ever notice how with Google Maps showing there are only 8 or so 'real' listings, due to the space the maps display takes up? Hmmm, now if ony there were a way to 'game' the Google Maps display ....
Nice article, now I have to go back and read all of the comments :)
I couldn't agree with you more. I was just analyzing two of my sites that are in fairly competitive niches. They are in the top 3 on G, and with significantly fewer backlinks than the other sites on page one. The reason...targeted keyword anchor text from sites with related content. Where do you think I picked up that nifty trick?
A Canadian bear showed me the way :)
Rock on Grizz and keep preachin it.
JeepnDave@Griz
hahahahaha......page one in G for make money, making money online and who knows how many other keywords with a butt ugly blogger blog heck yeah I am stalking you, LMAO! I may be slow but I am not foolish.
From what I learned from you and from my own experiments, it's true that Keyword Anchored Backlinks is the most important.
I don't even bother optimizing the Post title anymore. However, I just make sure that I mention the keyword / keyword phrase I am targeting atleast once.
I was going to say that Google might have programmed Acrobat Reader to appear for the keywords 'Click Here' by know. Since so many SEO Gurus have been using this as an example. But then I checked again and most of the top results were still downloadable software.
So I guess this rule is still true.
Yep Keyword Anchored Backlink is the most important. But my, getting those backlinks is so hard. Not that it's complicated. But just because the process is so boring and so mechanical. And you really have to be a prolific writer.
I guess instead of hiring SEO companies, we should all just hire link builders.
Of course, those we hire should know what they are doing or else all efforts will just go to waste.
Hey Griz:
Excellent refresher course! You consistently teach the fundamental success model of ranking well in the SERPS and I truly hope that people pay attention to what you say! I will refer to it as the Three Three's.
I can affirmatively state that this principle works, and my new sites (with no PR)eventually end up ranking above mature sites that have PR.
It doesn't have to make any sense in order for it to be true. It's just true no matter what anyone else believes, how much they know, etc., etc., etc...
Essentially the term SEO is ambiguous and can be interpreted in many ways by many different people. Does your methodology hinge on SEO? Absolutely! You teach FREE SEO without exploiting or manipulating people out of their money! Some people get it, and others just struggle with it. I only know that I apply what you teach and the results are genuine.
For the record. Applying what you teach, I registered a domain (very long tail)and I created numerous 3-400 word pages stuffed with the primary key words that I wanted to rank well in. I applied your Three Three's principle and let the site mature for about a month or so -- never editing or changing any of its substance. Then one day I did a search utilizing one of the primary keywords and up popped my site in first place with an extra bonus: "Trust Rank" :-) Now this site was simply a little experiment of a bigger scheme I had in mind. Then about a week ago I had an epiphany and registered another (WP) domain, created 2-3 pages and gave it some shorter posts capitalizing on some of my primary keywords and submitted it for indexing... I waited a couple of days and utilized my other site with the trust rank to provide a keyword anchored back link to this new site. The very next day my new (WP)site was indexed by G and ranked 6th in the SERPS for said keyword -- right out the gate! I've never gone to school or college for SEO. I've never paid for SEO! I apply what you teach because I see that what you do works.
Now not to brag, but I really don't do much keyword density configuring either. I simply analyze my content to be sure that my keywords have a density ratio between 2.0 and 4.0 For me that appears to be the magic number that gets results without the potential of being flagged as SPAM.
Like you I truly don't believe that social sites provide any legitimate value other than providing traffic (which is not artfully targeted)to get the word out. I mean, word of mouth can be helpful and you must start somewhere...
*NOTE: I would like to share something with you via email, but I know you get swamped, so fly me an email with an identifier I can use so you know to check it out -- you won't be disappointed :-)
@ RED
"My best site has been jumping around on page 1 for a number of terms, sometimes it slides to 2. I've also noticed that the double indexing is there, then it disappears."
-every now and then G does a little shuffle and updates. Eventually the dust will settle. Griz mentioned this very recently. You will know it is over when the total pages searched ex. results 1-10 of about XYZ in upper right goes back down.
Grizz, a couple quick question. You said that all of your sites have good, legit, info, that the searcher is looking for. Does that mean that I will never be able to rank for something like "cheap used oil filters" when all I am doing is writing about oil filters? Or, what about if I tried to target "cheap 3 billion dollar mansions"? I can not sell them a cheap mansion, so my information is useless right?
Also, do you have any tips about lead generation? How do you get people to click on those links?
Hey griz,
I notice you got an Affiliate Banner for Cashcrate at the top. How is that pulling for you ??
I have been there a while with Cashcrate and I like it.
But take this how you want it but FusionCash is a much better converting Program from my experience and it pays $1 for a sign up and $2 for the first Offer completed. I do both and like FC a lot better
And if you get approved by generating 100 leads a month for FusionCash they will Pay you $2 straight up for all sign ups.
And another great thing is the Marketing of it is easy because sign ups get $5 Bonus for just signing up with FC. And it says this on their Bannners so this entices Conversions.
Just thought I would pass this tidbit of info. to you.
you know I don't want to debate these guys - the fewer that know the better for us all (as in the Griz and crew gang)
I know Griz sells crap on his blog - he deserves to get paid so fair play. Also Rowse sells crap on his blog too - he also gets paid
(i also guessing that most of you guys reading this write about crap too and get paid)
There just seems to be many ways to do the IM game - the Griz way is the best way i think (i make money with it) but guys, don't go arguing with these guys.
I don't want the competition ;)
Griz...
That is exactly what I have been doing, without too great results so far. I have been targeting very social keywords just for the lack of competition and to do a little experimenting - I will move on to more product related stuff that will be easier to market.
Your other blog sure is pretty *stare*
OMG, you mean those SEO guys are lying? This stuff isn't hard? Anyone can do it? Shit.
Haha, so glad TKA introduced me to you Griz. I love your writing, and the info you provide is pretty cool too.
Just as an aside, I actually just posted up a rant on one of my blogs about spamming and SEO and other crappy stuff, then came here and saw this, so just had to go edit and put in a link back to you.
Way too funny petal. Keep it up. :)
Hey Grizz - Another great post! Thanks for the reminder that SEO is primarily about backlinks and a bit of onpage optimization and nothing else.
BY the way, I see a nice looking site ranking #1 for "oil filters". I guess that's not yours hehe..
TDJQ
Thank you for an extremely informative and well written article on the SEO syndrome. This article is all you need when starting out online, and some basic knowledge on keywords and how to use them.
You don´t have to spend $1000 / month on some SEO coaching. You can buy iceream for the money instead :-)
I guess Stompernet can close down now...
GRIZ:
UPDATE! :-)
The new (WP) site that I just registered and built 11 days ago... Has now been branded with "Trust Rank"
Is this a common experience that you have as well Griz?
Moreover, this site with "0" PR is in first place above a PR 2 site... (uncontrollably grinning from ear-to-ear)
@Grizzly, how is efective of getting backlinks only from blogs comments?
wow, I did not know that (internet marketers) is skipping link building for ethics, some people are retards. I need your advice, I´m going to make a hundred CB niche sites and i want to get them up fast.
Is it okay to leave a blog with only a 200 word post or would you recommend writing more posts to avoid the spam flag? How many posts are too few for a niche blog? Im trying to "make money online" without losing my sites.
Hi KC - yup, I have your emails. They are sitting with several hundred other emails from this week that I may never get to. I try and answer a few every day but can never catch up. Unfortunately most require post length answers and take a great deal of time - needless to say it would take a full time staff to keep up. Sorry I wish I could say I'll get right on them but... I'll try.
Allyn - I read some of the comments and had to laugh. The SEO crowd are so full of shit - if they had any knowledge at all they wouldn't be working for "clients". They would be creating their own sites and dominating the money niches themselves. Gee let's see - I'll charge Joe Blo 10 grand to get him on top of the serp's for Credit cards or... screw Joe Blo, I'll just put my own site on top of that niche and make millions.
Really - think about it - if any of these clowns was any good at what they claim they wouldn't be working for anyone else. One day the people that hire them might figure that out.
Noobster.
You asked "Correct me if I'm wrong but I assume that having backlinks mostly from blogs that are all the same age or younger than my Adsense blog - which will be the case with the supporting network that I'll be starting - might look suspicious to Google."
Not necessarily - most of the links I get to this blog or for that matter Problogger gets to his blog are from sites like you describe. What you are really asking is how to create a link network and I will only tell you this - if it doesn't look natural to you then it won't look natural to any one else.
Use common sense.
As to your other question - no G didn't slap him. His links were legit. It has more to do with what anonymous wrote a few comments after you. His post was fresh, he got a ton of unrelated links quickly from unrelated sites who have no authority for the term and he had his 15 minutes of fame. If his site had some authority for the term in the first place and he had received some authority links then it would have stuck around longer.
Just a guess as I haven't and won't be delving in to it to see if there is more to it.
Red,
In competitive niches other sites are continuously getting links that will overtake yours (inc the dbl indexed) The answer as always - get more links to your listings - both of them for the relevant keywords.
Trent,
Lol. You and I both know that most people will never actually do the work - if someone posted a formula to turn lead into gold online only 1 in a thousand would even bother to try it and 99 out of a hundred that do will quit because it was too hard or complicated.
Strathy,
Snow in Manitoba? Lol. It's what we do man. You had better get back to Ontario - the Leafs need to lose games in front of people - no fun if everyone is away. :-)
I had an email from an SEO firm explaining to me how they could help this site rank in the serp's for make money online. I couldn't resist writing them back and asking how they would get me a better position than number 1 (which is where this ranked at the time)
I got a "Ooops sorry about that" reply from them and then a few days later they sent another email asking if I would be willing to work for them. Lol I replied with a 7 figure estimate on what it would cost them - haven't heard back...
Stag,
You asked,
"If you want to rank for a keyword phrase, why would you vary it in the anchor text? The SEO experts all say vary it, but someone doing well at ranking like Angela (Google Angela if you don't know about her) says it's BS and just uses the target term all the time - and it works for her."
I don't know Angela but the simple answer is that I don't "just" want to rank for the "target term". I am successful because I get traffic for hundreds or thousands of related terms. This site drew traffic for 6500 different keywords last month. Why would I only target the main keyword?
Did you know that "make money online" is not the highest traffic keyword or the best converting keyword in this niche? If I only had backlinks for that term I wouldn't know that either as that is all I would rank for. If your friend Angela is promoting that then she still has a lot to learn.
Dave,
"word for word" huh... and didn't credit a guy on a butt ugly freehosted site.
Ya know what - I'm beginning to think the A list doesn't want anyone to notice that a person can be successful online doing everything they say you shouldn't do. I wonder if it might make them all look like they are full of poop?
Naaaaw.
Tucson,
The big advantage I have over the experts is that everything I say can be tested. Oh and it is free. Funny - I have never had someone tell me it doesn't work. At the same time I have never heard someone say they are making money doing what Darren Rowse tells them to do. Or John Chow or...
jeepnDave... 6548 page 1 keywords according to analytics. (Since you wondered)
Anthony,
Funny you mentioned "link builders".
This post was originally going to tear a strip off of them but I got sidetracked. Wait till next post - I plan to disembowel one in particular. Should be fun.
Scott,
Ok I am curious - send me an email when you read this - put "Scott wont disappoint you" in the subject and I will look out for it.
Don't disappoint me now... :-)
Dino,
Your questions really concern content - or how to write content that isn't spam. Over the years I have come to find that if I am going to put something on a site then I make it real, original, useful as far as relevance goes and usually loooooong. In other words I write so that nobody can question the material.
You can get ranked for anything if you have backlinks targeting those terms. My question is why do you want to? "Cheap used oil filters" would not make sense - nobody searches for that much less buys a "used" oil filter. I know that was just an example you used but it really doesn't convey to me what you are really asking.
If you are just writing crap in order to rank keywords then don't - write real content for everything. Yes it is work but it pays off in the long run.
Lead generation is easy to do once you find the paying keywords and rank well for them.
If you are collecting leads for "Bali Vacations" then you need to target the keywords that will incite action on the part of visitors. Targeting "Bali Vacations" is ok but most of those searchers are just window shopping - looking for general info etc. "Who sells discount Bali Vacations" on the other hand is a much better keyword as the people using that term are past window shopping and ready to buy. Don't go starting a Bali site - that's just for illustrative purposes - I have no idea if people really use that term. Just understand that you will do much better with leads if you understand the type of keywords that buyers use as opposed to tire kickers.
Lonnie - Thanks for the tip. I'm always looking for stuff that the "I don't want to read anything or work to make money online" crowd will click on. I'll give it a try. As for Cash Crate - 40% conversion - 1100 takers in a few weeks. Not bad for passive income but sucks compared to PP.
Chair - don't forget to mention that I sell crap and tell everyone who bothers to read not to buy any of the crap. I haven't seen Darren do that yet. :-)
BooBoo - all part of the master plan - remember the one where I fleece the whole lot of you... I'm picking out color schemes for my Aircraft Carrier as we speak. Can't decide on what developing nation to buy yet... suggestions?
Susan - thanks for the nod.
Good SEO has Nothing to do with Spamming
Good advice Susan - a problem we all have and wouldn't it be nice if we could just push a button and zap the spammers on the other end?
TDJQ - I'm not telling... Lol
Congrats Scott - just remember new sites can drop back after a good start. Keep working it and don't get frustrated if things take a step backward for a bit.
Mike - mooladays seems to do alright from blog comments. I'm the worst person to ask - I hardly ever comment on blogs other than friends of mine and even then I just use my name in the URL. I guess I am not a fan of blog commenting for backlinks - I only comment because I have a comment. Call me crazy.
Daniel,
There is no such thing as how long or how many posts a blog or website needs. You need whatever it takes to produce legit original content related to your topic. If you are only introducing a few keywords then not much. If you want to rank for thousands of keywords and become a true authority in your niche then lots of content will help. In the end it doesn't really matter much - your backlinks will determine what you rank for and how well. You might want to have enough content to justify the backlinks though - just in case someone checks.
Hey Griz,
I love this post man.
I've been going after the SEO niche from the only angle that actually pays... . I don't get massive traffic, but I will as naturally as I can without driving the "SEO Experts" into a frenzy. From what I've seen, they can be a very vindictive bunch.
Let me tell you this though - the sites I have running convert like crazy, it's the only money I make, but it is real money.
And take a wild guess why I'm even doing it?
A while ago you had mentioned the same tidbit you just did about the search term that brings in the most traffic to this niche.
Well because I'm a curious son-of-a-bitch I just had to find out and I did. It really opened my eyes. How did I figure it out?
I figured it out by doing the following:
- reading every word you write on posts, other blogs, and comments and replies to comments,
- checking backlinks,
- building "keyword anchored backlinks"
- joining TKA
- checking backlinks
- building "keyword anchored backlinks"
- joining UAW
- checking backlinks
- building "keyword anchored backlinks"
- joining BLS
- building "keyword anchored backlinks"
- checking backlinks
- building "keyword anchored backlinks"
- X - finding a niche that can get me a thousand search visitors every day in a niche that has Monetary Value.
- Y - checking backlinks
- Z - building "keyword anchored backlinks"
- repeat X,Y, and Z.
Maybe others can see a theme here! You already know it and preach it.
I just wonder if anyone reading your stuff is actually learning from it. Only each individual person can answer that, but believe me, there is a huge difference between getting the correct information and putting that information into action.
I think you've really outlined a roadmap in this post for anyone to eventually rake in as much cash as they want. Three words really.
Keyword anchored links!
Find em - analyze em - decide if they are worth the effort - Build em and they will come.
All I say at this point to you is - Thank You Very Very Much!
Jim
Hehehe....yeah you're right Griz you do......and good point, Darran never tells people not to buy the crap he sells!!!!! lol
Thanks for responding Griz.
Angela has much in common with you, except she's prettier:
www.goarticles.com/top-authors.html
I'll settle for learning from both of you!
Hell Stag... everyone is prettier than me - I'm all fuzzy and covered with hair! Lol
Great Post! I am going to see if it will help me with my site any. Thanks and keep em coming.
Yeah that makes sense, thanks a lot for clearing things up. By the way, I have a non English make money online blog, it´s just a pr1 but it has tons of make money content and there isn´t a single outbound link. Tell me a keyword and page that you want links to and i´ll send you one in my next post (To support your movement.)
Thank you for the fast response.
Wow, Griz, you are way too kind. Came back to check if my comment was posted and couldn't find it. :(
But lo and behold, you go and sweet talk me with a link anyway and with my title not my name. :).
We share the same stupidity it seems in actually putting our names in the comments. But hell, the point of commenting is to 'comment'. Or is that just my age talking?
I cant wait till you rank for SEO, seeing that Rand post about "advanced" techniques for getting a double index for a keyword just days after your post about it made me laugh. I am pretty sure that he probably visits/reads your blog. I love the fact that you distill SEO for what it is backlinks. Anything else is just branding or bull crap which is probably the "magic" sauce these haters are bitching about those that call themselves SEO's that do other shit than just building backlinks. Thank you for your voice of reason telling it like it is, while adding a bit of your humor to the mix. I referenced you in a phone interview I had with Gary Vaynerchuk "mr. social media" on my blog and just had to laugh.
@Lonnie- I looked at fusioncash and signed up and verified my account and everything, but then I read that $15 of every checkout must be your own money, no sign-ups. That sort of sucks. But, I have seen their affiliate program. Maybe that will work better.
Angela doesn't know squat other than the fact that backlinks work. And she doesn't even know anything in-depth about that.
All she does is find 30 high PR sites, from anywhere she can find them, that allow people to place their link on the site in one way or another. Then she puts them in a pdf file with instructions on how to get the link from each site and sells them each month.
I've been getting her link packs for the past 14 months straight so I know exactly what she does and what she knows.
Don't get me wrong, she is a SUPER nice lady and always quick to respond if you ask her a question. She also at least gets that backlinks are very important which is more than I can say for most people. But let's not go comparing her to Griz because she is still back in the stone ages when it comes to trying to be on his level.
Grizzliest...
When you say you "Posted 3 relevant articles on three different but related sites" Are you saying the 3 owners of the sites let you write three different articles on the sites. Or did you create the sites just to have a niche network of related sites?
Thanks alot (thnx for the great Year of reading) x
JUMANJI...
My site has some trust rank with the big G, I assume. I'm nowhere on the map for rankings though - it doesn't make sense to me at all lol. Can you get trust rank before ranking 0_0 My posts get indexed extremely fast - I feel like I've got one foot in the sandbox still - so all I need now is a few practices of web development right?
Maybe my analysis of the topic was wrong lol, good thing it's is an authority site.
-anonymouse
Hey Grizz,
Been a long time since I commented, but I've been following along with your blog. I agree with your earlier comment about SEO firms being hacks because if they knew what they were doing, they'd be doing it for themselves. For the most part, anyway.
Other than doing my own thing, I've been working with local businesses to get them the sort of real results this crowd can appreciate. I've done and still do lead generation and just sell the result, but I also started working directly on the businesses' sites where a lead generation arrangement wasn't ideal (because of low transaction value. I charge what I feel I'm worth, but I don't blow smoke up their ass.
The companies I do work for are aware of how easy it is (for me) to do this. They pay me so they don't have to learn to do it themselves.
I don't know how long I'll do this. I just got tired of watching a horde of shysters scam local businesses I enjoyed patroning.
Vinny Lingo
Hey Griz,
It always amazes me how you can write thousands of interesting words to say one thing. Get targeted back links.
It seems like you could just repeat that line a thousand times but then of course you would miss out on the long tail
Thank you for another post hammering home the truth.
Anonymouse here on my other comment about achieving trust rank without ranking for anything
Just read the comments from the other blog, and I see you've also experienced the same problem. What you said about google being whacked is on spot. I just posted 5ish minutes ago - of course I got indexed supremely fast. But I wanted to know how long it takes to get indexed - guess what?
The big G says 52 minutes ago LOL
From the comments on that article...
Josh says:
"I couldn’t agree more. I once hired an SEO to do my site. He like totally screwed it up. First, I wasn’t ranking anywhere. Then he made my site rank really well for a ton of terms. Then I redesigned my site in Flash. My site fell off the Google completely. Obviously, he was using shady tactics that failed to work in the long run."
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! At first I thought he may have been being facetious, but after checking out the website he linked to it's pretty obvious that he was dead serious.
Yep - Clearly SEO is the problem.
God I hate journalists...
- Adam
@Anon
Trust in google is ranking as far as I am concerned. I am not sure what you mean when you say that you have trust or authority in google, but yet you do not rank. good ranking=authority, at least that is how I take it.
@Dino
my posts get indexed very quickly, so I guess something is going right.
My thought was that if you rank well or google trusts you, the search bots would come running whenever you breathed.
I've made and remade posts within minutes and they're all indexed - I hope I don't get killed by the big G for that one :P
Griz, let me clarify something. You are on the money when you are talking about social media and SERP's. I say this as a guy who has almost 100,000 Twitter followers.
However, social media isn't useless. I've managed to get $1,000's of products and comps because of my social media profile in the last few months. It has also done a ton in negoiating private ad deals, which is money which shouldn't be sneezed at.
That being said, most people can't do this. You need to be in the top 0.1%, you have to be publically identified with a niche, and you have to be in the right niche. No one in oil filters gives a crap about your Twitter followers.
If you pursue social media, you have to do it in addition to building links. I also say this from experience because I did not put much emphasis on this and am now having to go back and do this.
note: hope my targeted backlink does raise a flag at Google... if it does, of course, just delete it.
I wondered if one link here will push my very funny article "31 Drug Dealing Techniques That Work in the Dating World" to the top of that search... because I thought it would be funny.
Also I want to use it as an example it future posts in my blogs. thanks, by the way.
note 2: Gave you link love from a mmo site for mmo because you deserve it. You now have 3 tar bl's from money/cash/etc sites of mine. Thank you for being you.
Dan - if my site is banished by morning I am coming after you!!! :-)
Hi Griz -
Can't believe you just harpooned the sacred cow of SEO! Just because you have 4,636 incoming links for this site? (Yahoo link search).
Please is there some way I can get notified of your latest posts BEFORE 80 or so other lovely people have chewed on it? By the time the e-mail notification hits my in-box it is like a day and a half after the actual post.. (I used the RSS feed thingy in the Address box to get on your feed list.)
Thanks - Rhys
Griz,
I'm a bit off topic here, but I just found you a nice Halloween costume idea to cover all that hair of yours: www.costumzee.com/how-to-costumes/view/5366/
I hope it'll fit you without an additional shaving. lol
@Grizzly, do you what happen with connectcontent.net, why it is closed?
Hey Jim (SEO What)
You just described my modus operandi perfectly. I knew nothing whatever when I stumbled across Griz and thought "that sounds interesting, let's give it a go".
I picked some dull topics that attracted sites selling reasonably expensive products but almost no-one writing information and went after some easy long-tails.
Waited a bit to see how the actual keywords used to find my posts matched my initial guess, created more backlinks accordingly and repeated. After the initial analysis (guess) as to what keywords might prove lucrative it seems to be a matter of mostly acting on the clues that G then provides.
Rocket science? No, but a natural ability to write shitloads of decent information sure helps. Still, watching the money mount up month after month is some kind of compensation for the tired eyes and RSI from typing I guess :-)
Oh and thanks Griz for the relentless reminders to avoid trying to find complications where none exist - the plethora of "advice" available makes it real easy to lose sight of Rule #1: Just Do It.
Kat
Hi Griz,
I can understand where you're coming from with your rant about metrics and SEO experts making things 200% more complex than they really are. The fact is your right, anchored backlinks are the most powerful ranking factor by a long way, however if you have 2 sites that are optimised on page (keyword in titles, headings, alt's and all that) and they're both anchoring links for the same keyword who would win?
I am admittidly an SEO geek, and research the SERPS out of fund rather than necessity. I have found if you have a group of sites that are aggressivly targeting a keyword with their links, there are other factors that are taken into account, like the content on the domain and how well the domain is linked to as a whole and not just the target page.
As for paying someone to carry out SEO I am also one of those people :) but I do not go into complex concepts with clients, I simply make sure their site is accessable, make sure keywords are used correctly, make sure they are using the right keywords, make sure they have a way of generating more content and then go out and generate the backlinks they need.
The difference between me and them comes down to the fact I know what to do and where to go, I know what works, what doesn't work and what has stopped working a ling time ago.
Most business owners are not so stupid they can't learn how to rank their sites they simply they don't have time to perform what needs doing. I know how to cut the lawn but have a gardner, am I been ripped off?
I think as long as you are transaprent and the client knows the exact procedure then you are simply being paid 90% for your time and 10% expertise or experience.
Just my thoughts :)
@Mike ConnectContent.net has been taken over by Court & Mark at The Keyword Academy and has been made available to the members there. It' not closed if you're a member.
Griz ! I admire how you say the same thing over and over again but with fresh tone and enthusiasm. !! :)
keep rocking!
Another great post Grizz. Love your knock on the SEO industry as a whole. Frankly, guys like SEOMoz and Aaron Wall make mountains out of molehills when it comes to SEO.
I guess they need to make it look complicated to keep the money rolling in. SEO ain't rocket science -- keywords in domain, keywords in your post, and varied keyword anchor text backlinks from different relevant sources pointing to your index and your pages. SEO for dummies.
Good to you exposing the rubbish circulating the SEO industry. One of us should take a serious crack at "SEO" just to get some "real" info out there on the first page.
Ben K
Hey Griz,
I could go on about what a great post this it but I guess I would be in the minority considering the fact that you have 100+ comments about it ;).
And as usual, I do have a few comments about it..(or more content for you as you would put it). I agree that advanced SEO is complete nonsense but on page optimization is so important to ranking, especially coming out of the gate. My next post is actually going to be on building authority sites and if you study what other authority sites do in practically any niche when it comes to content, it is more involved than simply inundating the web with crap, unusuable content to the visitor. I am talking about competitive terms here...not the long tails you can achieve with an EZA or hubpage where you throw up a crap article that doesn't answer a thing.
Also, while it may be true that links are the answer for now, telling this to a beginner can really screw them up and opens up a pandora's box of questions....
"how many links can I build a day?"
"what percentage of my anchors should be diversified?"
ect....ect...
I am sure you have heard them all.
Now, I am not sure of all of your authority sites...other than this one, I only know of one more that you have. But I will tell you this. From reading the content on both of your sites (this one and the other one), you come across as an expert. Your lingo is in line with the niche and you aren't doing the typical newbie mistake of stuffing your main keyword that you are hoping to rank for. In fact, it appears that you really focus on the theme with thematic keywords littered throughout the articles. People who read this blog, should really take notice as while you say that you can write crap and get ranked for authority keywords, you know that your competitors will more than likely bust you out to Google if it is subpar for a manual review (which absolutely sucks when google agrees that the site isn't "authoritative".
So, while I agree that building links will ultimately move you in the rankings, the thought that you can enter a competitive market and simply throw up shit for content won't get you authority status...and if it does, a manual review could be right around the corner.
Now, I am like you....I don't necessarily think that SEO is ethical or not ethical. Ranking websites for those of us who take it seriously is strictly business. All that said, I do think that you know exactly what you are doing as far as onpage SEO is concerned and if you don't, you are getting pretty damn lucky.
Once again, good post.
Not anywhere in SEAsia, unless you want to fry eggs on the sidewalk.
Grizz!!
Great post there!
My comment has vanished for the second time :( Is it your delete dance at work again? :D Or is it the blogger engine?? (I live in another time zone, so if you approve this message and reply, I'll get back to you with the question tom again.)
Have a nice day!
- Mufasa
Griz! I made it to page on for my keywords make money online free.. without quotes too! :) Gimme a cookie dammit lol. :P
Just wanted to say I support this post because I'm actually now trying to comprehend the whole SEO thing, and I'm still very new to it, and just the fact that me, little old me, made it to page 1 for such a competitive term, I believe that anyone can do it and it's really about keyword targeted backlinks since that's exactly what I focus on.
Thanks for all the help you've offered in this blog through your ramblings lol.. they've been helpful! To me at least. :)
TriNi
I can see that the bear is rolling with a bear in hand in the other new post. :) So here's my question:
If I've got 2 niches, one with keywords having highest CPC of 1 buck and another with around 4 bucks and I use the same adsense account for both, would G reduce the CPC of both to the lesser of the two? (I am asking this because you've said that if one blog in your network doesn't perform well, then it affects the earnings from all others as well).
Happy Monster clubbing! :)
-Mufasa
Damn, this is just the boost i need to continue my pursuit of ranking 1st with a particular keyword. Thanks Dave and Grizz, you guys rock!
Hai Grizz,
it is wonderful to know about this new kind of SEO.So to get traffic to a blog you just need enough time and energy and need not spend a single penny.
Any way how is the Golf Practice Going on ?
Shit Griz, I was working on metric #195 and you screwed everything up for me. Thanks alot. I think I'll twat this or is it twang this. You know, being a "Trust Agent" and ranking #21 for the term, I found this post highly useful. Hint, hint...
So if targeted anchored backlinks is all that is needed to rank at the top of the SERPs why is that a site that I started 2 months ago with about 30+ links now ( 2-PR4, 1-PR2, and bunch of other PR0 target anchored links) will not move up past #5 spot? The top 4 guys are nextag page (1 backlink) + indented listing, target page (0 backlink), and another internal page (3 backlinks)?
So I guess there has to be other factors at play here to take the #1 spot? This is in a very micro niche site so competition is weak.
Any feedback?
Yo Griz, I agree with you 100% about the social media thing, and when I first heard of Twitter about a year ago there were all these scams out there of how to get 10,000 followers. My first question even back then was; to what end? Why would I want 10k followers if they weren't all relevant to my niche?
I do thank you for this last post about backlinks and will be investigating link building methods for the forseeable future. Btw, another term for good website development is "best practices" I was fortunate to have a webmaster who would not hesitate to slap me up beside the head if I strayed from them. So ultimately I became a blogger but am still a poor one, even after having invested heavily in building a network of some 70 sites.
Reading this post gave me some insight as to one of the major reasons why my sites still rank 0 even after 2 years of dedicated content updates. When I first started building blogs there were no free platforms, I had my own template developed and used it for all my blogs on Wordpress. My webmaster had advised me from the start to look at the top blogs in my niches using G and learn from them, see what they were doing and what I liked about them so that I would have a better idea of how to write for my blogs. Unfortunately my niches were golf, travel, RV's, pets and while I was looking at the top searches for these keywords and other related keywords what I SHOULD have been looking at were the make money online blogs because those are the blogs that tell you things like you just did about keyword anchored backlinks!
Of course the top searches for make money online 3 years ago were mostly spammers and scammers so I take comfort that this info was not always available to me and I am NOT an idiot!
After having read many of your past posts, liking your style and finding value in your content I added you to my reader recently (yesterday) and I think already that my Greader will be less crowded from now on in the make money online blog department.
@pizerule, thanks, probably it is time to check TKA as it was mention here not one time.
I can't agree more about how important it is to make backlinks in order to increase rankings. For so long I just focused on onpage seo hoping that I'd get better ranks.
The most important thing (after having a site and monetizing it) is to get backlinks to it so Google can rank it where people will see it.
Thanks for this post... :)
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