Despite being a seemingly simple topic, this one seems to stymie even experienced SEOs. There's a natural conflict that creates the issue - the more keywords you target on a single page, the less you need to link build and optimize (for both search engines and user experience/conversion rate) on many pages.

To answer this question in a logical and truly optimal fashion, you need to start with the answer to two other important questions:

1. How many of these keywords carry the same visitor intent?
2. How competitive are the targeted terms/phrases?

When you answer the first question, you'll be able to break up lists of keyword terms into buckets of "intent." Searches are almost always intended to discover information or take action. If there are too many pieces of information/actions you need to provide on a single page, your conversion will drop. Remember that a 10% conversion rate for position #10 is better than a 0.5% conversion rate for position #1 (assuming the avgs. from the leaked AOL data cited below).

NOTE: This data is from averages via AOL's data release in 2007. New numbers have not been forthcoming from any of the engines or third-party studies.

For the second question, you need to know something about the competition levels. In a scenario where every shred of keyword usage matters a great deal, from the anchor text focus to the keyword being employed at the very start of the title tag, breaking up keyword targeting to multiple pages can make a great deal of sense. If you're deep into research on this topic, you can do something like the image below, where I've taken stats and metrics for all of the top 25 ranking pages for the query "broadway tickets" on Google.com and run analysis:

NOTE: data in this graph via Open Site Explorer's Backlink Analysis

If a keyword is highly competitive, I suggest single page targeting. This is not only because you can maximize on-page optimization, but also because it means that internal and external links that point to the page can focus more directly on the target term/phrase. It's also likely that you'll be competing against pages that are more highly targeted on that keyword phrase and could lose out if you don't have that singular, pinpoint focus.

I wrote another post on a similar topic highlighting how to format titles, meta descriptions and keyword usage on pages that aim for multi-keyword targeting that may also be of help.

Look forward to your thoughts on the topic.

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Search Engine Optimization covers a huge range of tactics - all of which can bring direct benefit to a website. In this post, I've shared examples of different tactics used at different websites, and the effects that have been seen. If you're considering an SEO campaign for your site, or are trying to persuade someone else to invest in internet marketing, I hope this post will help demonstrate the potential of internet marketing.

The post includes real screen shots from Google Analytics (click any of them to enlarge) but the sites and data have been anonymized.

Target Your Target Terms

Remember that post about building a page with perfect keyword targeting? SEOmoz wasn't kidding around.

A website that sells homewares had issues with site structure and on-page targeting. Their category level pages were at subdomains such as

• http://kitchenequipment.sitename.com

• http://livingrooms.sitename.com

• www.sitename.com/find_product2.asp?url1=living+room&url2=rugs+and+carpets

Getting appropriate H1 tags onto each page was a quick job, improving title tag structure took a bit longer, clean & friendly URLs and internal links with appropriate anchor text were also added.

The site saw ranking improvements across the board, which brought new traffic through head, mid and long tail terms. Can you guess when the changes were made? ;-)

Getting sorted in Google Local

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of ranking factors for Local Search, dead simple tactics, etc, it's important to get the basics right. A large chain of restaurants created a 'bulk upload' file with the correct data for each one of their locations. After uploading the file, they applied for it to be reviewed and 'whitelisted'. Local data that's been uploaded by the business owner and whitelisted is treated as authoritatively as locations that have been manually verified by postcard.

Despite various issues (Google's best practice guidelines still aren't quite the best solution in some cases) the traffic generated by visibility in Local Search has been significant and valuable. (The uploads were verified in late November when the traffic begins its steady rise.)

Architecture of Change

A current affairs magazine wanted to get more from their website. Because of falling advertising revenue, the publication was at risk of being closed down. They'd seen some growth from SEO already, but wanted to prove that the website had greater value.

Although the site had a good brand and some great content, it suffered from similar problems to many news-type websites, including badly archived content, duplicate issues and a CMS that hampered keyword targeting or promoting individual articles. Recommendations were made to improve the site's architecture and migrate to the new structure.

The effect of the changes was immediate growth which took the organic traffic to 257% in three months. A month later, the magazine's owner explained that the falling revenue from print advertising meant that they couldn't continue to lose money publishing the mag, and closed it down.

Hook, Line, Sinker

An office cleaning company wanted to improve the profile of their site through SEO. Amongst other tactics, a member of staff spent a day writing a 'linkbait' post to publish on their blog. This generated huge amounts of traffic from social media sites (dwarfing their regular daily visitors) and was subsequently linked to from dozens of sites. This post, along with other content published on the site to attract links, helped the site grow in strength and authority, and it now ranks position 3 for 'office cleaning' in their country.

Paid In Full

This is SEOmoz, but I'd like to share a graph from a PPC colleague working on a site that sells scooters. They were initially bidding on very broad terms (scooter, scooters, buy a scooter, etc) but the campaign was adjusted to target more long tail terms, including descriptions, specifications, etc.

Over a period of around six weeks, the cost per click was reduced by 30% and the more targeted traffic converted increasingly well - this allowed the site owners to increase their ad budget and generated more sales than their paid search campaign ever had before.

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Found this nice piece of infographic that explains almost in detail everything about the social media channels, all in one comprehensive, brief picture. 10 social media channels are illustrated here including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Linked In, Digg, Stumble Upon, Yahoo Buzz, Reddit and Delicious, where the possibilities and non-possibilites with characteristics of each channel are explained. A must have for every social media enthusiast. Impressive stuff !

Click on the picture to see the full resolution pic.

Original source – Drew McLellan, CMO (Awesome site, check it out !)

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While playing online you should always have in mind the security issue. It is vital to choose a correct website to play on. There are certain things you should take into consideration before starting playing online. First of all, check what software is the casino provided with. The most secure and well-known software providers are Cryptologic, Microgaming and Playtech. Second of all, look for the eCOGRASeal of Approval. e-Cogra is an abbreviation of e-Commerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance. It is an organization whose main aim is to provide players with safe online gaming. What is more, try not to surf on the internet while playing. In that way you personal data will be secured.

You should check full article from TX Gambling, where you will find all answers about online casino games. Worth to try, no doubt. Big risk, BUT big money, too.

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I’m not really comfy with this title honestly, but guess it conveys what its supposed to, right ?No ? Okay let me try and make things clear and possibly put things into perspective.

Trending topics are a huge addiction on Twitter. Period. They’re like shots. You have one, and you want more, you can’t just stop at one. Okay, wrong example, but the thing is Trending topics can get you intoxicated.

Trending topics are user created hashtags that gets popular and if the volume is right get featured on Twitter’s list of most discussed topics. That’s a raw an unpolished definition.

Hashtags were popularized during the San Diego forest fires in 2007 when Nate Ritter used the hashtag “#sandiegofire” to identify his updates related to the disaster.

Trending Topics is sort of a wrong name for the thing in my opinion. It should  rather be “Most discussed hashtags” or “Active discussion topics” or something, that’s more sensible and meaningful. Trending is probably the second nature. Like the “most discussed topic, which is getting some traction globally” – makes things more clear isn’t it ? Unfortunately, Twitter thinks “Trending Topics” is a more cool name, and I have to agree. So, when does a hashtag become a trending topic, and when does it make it to the top ? What can one do to make a topic trend on Twitter ? Let’s find out.

1. You cannot trend a topic if you tweet more frequently.

This is tested and proved from my experience. Many people think that if you tweet more about a hashtag, like adding a hashtag to every tweet of yours, you can make that hashtag trend. Wrong. Hashtags depend to a certain level on frequency but that’s not all, they have to be diverse and collective. That means if you have five friends, and they add a hashtag to all of their tweets, its very unlikely that hashtag trends.

2. More than number of Tweets, its the number of people tweeting about a hashtag that matter.

That’s the most simple version of it. The most important factor for a hashtag (or topic) to trend depends on how many people are tweeting about it. And of course, the whole equation is relative to the number of people active on Twitter. But talking about things in perspective, its better to have 100 people tweet about a single hashtag less frequently, than 5 people tweeting the same hashtag more frequently to make it trend. The frequency becomes secondary nature here, but the volume or number of people tweeting is the primary focus.

3. More people, using the same hashtag, more frequently at a steady pace

That’s the formula if you are looking for one. Think about it, its natural is it not ? Let’s say we have an event like an Oscar night, and even without someone trying, its likely that more people from around the world tweet about it at the same time. That’s a natural trending topic. An artificial one (someone trying to game it) cannot possibly match the volume of a natural trending topic.

4. Size doesn’t matter but Time Zones does.

If you’re outside the U.S, you’d already know what I mean. Certain times are favourable for region specific natural trending topics. Let’s say an event that’s taking place in the U.S in the morning, will have a chance to trend naturally as more and more people start tweeting about it in the day time there. At the same time, its night/ dusk at other parts of the world, and it might not be wise to artificially trend a topic at that time, as naturality favours the U.S twitter users. Similarly, for an event that’s happening let’s say in India during the afternoon would have a good chance to trend, with less effort that at night (in India).

But, how can I trend my own hashtag ?

That’s the question everyone asks. So you have a conference, or a tweetup, and you want to trend the hashtag, your buddies came up with. Here’s what you can try doing.

1. Select a time zone that’s favourable.

See what the trending topics are at the moment, is there a major event around the corner, or is there a major product release from Apple ? If there’s one, you might want to postpone your tweetup. If not, select the best time for it, let’s say if you’re in India, around afternoon might give you the best mileage.

2. Gather a group of interested people who can support you.

If possible, an influential guy on Twitter. Get him interested to your topic, or if he is not, convince him your cause and get him to tweet a few tweets for you around that time with the hashtag. Most people agree if they see something in return, like letting them start the hastag and getting the credit for it, while all you want is the topic to trend after his tweet.

3. Make it fun and open the hashtag to others to take away.

One mistake most people do (especially at conferences) is that they speak within their circle, not letting others join and leaving them to guess what’s going on. This might piss off people. Make it fun, ask questions, and allow more people to participate. Remember, the more the merrier.

4. Run a quiz, host a show.

This is a good strategy if you can pull it off well. Its easy to screw up but if you get the basics right, its easy to make it a success. It also depends a lot on what you can offer. You can either run a quiz, where one nominated person (or many) asks questions and seeks replies with the particular hashtag. If you can’t find people interested, add in some value by giving away a prize that fits your budget and is equally a pulling factor for others. For geeks things like an iPod, or a Gift voucher can work. Remember, its not about what you give but how you present it.

You can of course come up with something better than a quiz, just think about the ways to get more people interested, and break out from your circle, give people something to chew on and enjoy.

So there you have it, some clues on what makes a trending topic on Twitter, and what does not. Many a times people set out to trend topic without knowing how to, and we see this everyday. Hope this guide help them.

Additional resources.

Here are some sites and tool that help you with organizing, starting and making popular a trending topic on Twitter.

1. What The Trend – A site tht lets you create and monitor hashtag trending topics on Twitter.
2. Monitter – Lets you track trending topics on Twitter with custom columns and numbers.
3. Trendistic – Live Twitter trends monitoring and analytics.

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So chances are that you’re either planning to get an Android (some cal it maturing from an iPhone/ Smartphone) or already have one like a few already out there, and you’re already into a set of social media stuff like Twitter, Facebook and blogging. SO would your migration from iPhone to Android smooth ? Looks like it will be better with the plethora of android apps that are coming out for social media addicts and bloggers. Here are a few of them that I found useful.

1. Twidgit – Twitter application for Android

Not the best one but Twidgit Lite is a Twitter application for the android that’s lightweight and works smoothly. Its a homescreen widget for your Android as they call it. Twidgit Lite keeps you up-to-date with your most recent timeline feed, lets you view your last 20 tweets, reply to each, retweet & set your status in an instant! Update frequencies can be set from every 15 minutes to 2 hours or only on manual refresh.

2. Free Facebook App for Android – Babbler

Babbler is a native client for facebook on Android, that brings facebook almost completely to your android phone. It uses the official facebook API, and it never asks you for your facebook username and password but directly uses it on the API, something like the Twitter OAuth.

3.  Free Android App for music streaming on Last.fm

Make the best of Last.fm on your android phone, all the features available online is available on this app too, and comes with a pretty and simple interface. Last FM Android App

4. Hootsuite Android App

Hootsuite, one of the best Twitter clients is available on Android. Its the best twitter client to schedule tweets, manage your followers and use multiple accounts. It does things the complex way for advanced Twitter users but with a very simple and manageable interface. (Image via)

5. Blogging on Android – Blogger App

If you’re a blogging addict like me, there’s a way out too. Blogging comes to Android with AndroBlogger, the app lets you blog from your Android phone to your Blogger account. Simple as that.

6. Check & Analyse AdSense Earnings on Android with DroidSense

AdSense is probably the best advertising network and the most popular out there for bloggers, so what if you get an Android app that will constantly analyse, check and suggest you reports on your earnings on AdSense ? DroidSense is just that.

7. Instant Messaging App for Android

Palringo is the ultimate Instant Messaging client for mobile phones and computers. Now you can chat with all your buddies, no matter what IM they use, all from one universal Instant Messenger. Windows Live Messenger (MSN) , AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, iChat etc.

Hope you enjoyed the collection.

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This week, despite still being seriously under the weather (see this week's sad WB Friday), I flew down to SMX West to speak on the Link Building Strategies panel. Although I'd wanted to put more work in and deliver a better presentation, I received some very kind words afterward and requests from folks to share the deck via the blog. Before I embed the actual deck, though, I need to provide some context (as this isn't a wholly self-explanatory presentation).

Link building has, classically, been a tactic slapped on to a marketing campaign or website post-launch. I believe that those companies/sites that treat link acquisition as an afterthought, rather than building it into the product, will always lose out to those who treat link building strategically. In the deck below, I walk through a number of examples of sites, primarily startups, that have done this. These include:

• Twitter - every user of Twitter has an incentive to link to their profile so more people will follow them. This is also true of sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, DeviantArt, Etsy & others
• Vimeo - nearly everyone who uses Vimeo appreciates the beautiful aesthetic they've created. The embeddable versions of Vimeo videos look and feel more professional and high quality than nearly any other player, hence they get embedded (a lot). This embed action automatically drives links back to the video on Vimeo's site, Vimeo's homepage and the user's profile, all with targeted anchor text.
• Urbanspoon - not only do they give badges to restaurants like Yelp and have started an online reservations system like OpenTable, Urbanspoon also features reviews from bloggers and foodies, who are then incentivized to promote their inclusion on the site.
• Last.fm - the widgets users embed on their site to share their favorite music automatically creates links back to the service.
• SurveyMonkey - a truly viral product (anyone who's surveyed is automatically exposed to the site), SurveyMonkey is inherently link acquisitive through the product. In order to use the service, you need to link to SurveyMonkey's site, where your form is hosted.
• Scribd - just look at the embed and the link below; 'nuff said.
• Miibeian.gov.cn - possibly the greatest link building strategy ever devised. The Chinese government requires that all websites in the country link to this site in order to operate legally; not too shabby, eh?

Here's the deck:

Strategic Link Building

As you can see, I've put in a shameless plug for Open Site Explorer at the end. If you haven't seen the new features launched yesterday, you're missing out. Tons of the data is completely free, and top pages is just about the easiest way to find traffic and link opportunities ever built (not that I'm biased or anything). :-)

Look forward to your comments about the presentation and the concept of productizing link acquisition into a site.

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 Today I am proud to announce the launch of the second version of Open Site Explorer. Since SEOmoz has officially moved out of consulting, we are now able to put our full resources into building fantastic SEO software. We want to thank all of you who provided feedback on the first version of the tool for your guidance and we look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

Now enough with the chit chat, on to the new features!

New Features:

• Top Pages on a Domain
• Target URL
• Comprehensive CSV Export
• Usability Enhancements (The end of page reloads when applying filters!)
• Improved Filtering

Top Pages on a Domain

With the new version of Open Site Explorer you can get a sorted listed of the top 10,000 pages on a domain. This is essential for viewing your own site and for doing competitive analysis.

With this new feature, we can see that Microsoft is unwisely 302 redirecting their homepage! Doh!

You can also see which content is drawing the most links on your competitors websites. In this example we see that that these are the most linked to comics on XKCD.

Target URL

Comprehensive CSV Export

After lots of input, we are now offering more robust CSV exports.

The new CSV exports offer:

• The Target URL of the given link
• Numbers of links to the given source page
• Indication of whether or not the linked is followed
• Indication of whether the link is internal or external

Usability Enhancements

Remember how you used to have to reload the page every time you applied a filter in Yahoo! Site Explorer?

With the addition of the Filter Results button, these needless page reloads are a thing of the past.

Common Tasks are Easier to Perform

New buttons make performing common tasks easier and faster to do.

The new Explore and Compare buttons make it easier to get more information about any links you find interesting.

Improved Filtering

With the new version of this tool you can do even more filtering to drill down into what you think is important.

In this example, we filtered the data to show only followed (dofollow) and 301 redirecting external links to the specific page.

Open Site Explorer vs. Linkscape vs. Yahoo! Site Explorer

Throughout this process, we also heard a lot of questions about the differences between Yahoo! Site Explorer, Open Site Explorer and Linkscape. The chart below lays out the similarities and differences.

Help us Improve!

Are there other features you want to see? Are we moving in the right direction? We want know! Please feel free to share your suggestions and opinions via SEOmoz on Twitter, SEOmoz on Facebook or in the comments below :-)

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Are we running for too much customization these days ?  Good old green-black-blue serps seems to be a thing of high-school now. Any ways there’s no stopping Google form customizing its search result pages. And this time, its introduced a brand new option, that which will enable you to bookmark websites that you like right from the result pages.

It works something like this. You search for something on Google, and you like the 13th result. You just click the star seen right next to the listing and click it on, just like the Gmail star.

And next time when you do the same search on Google, you’ll see the earlier starred results right on top of the normal listings !

Magic ? Well, no. In fact, Google this is what Google did.

Google Bookmarks + Google SERPs = Google Star !

If you check your google bookmarks right after you starred a website today, you’ll see that it appears in your bookmarks history.

If you’ve been using Google bookmarks anything like me, then your SERPS already will have lot of bookmarks on the top area for most of the searches ! Just like this.

So, if you have not been using Google bookmarks, get used to it. Or get used to the stars, its the same difference

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