Do you have a keyword rich URL ie www.widgets.com? Do you have good rankings? You better be worried, Google has you in the sights http://www.seroundtable.com/google-keyword-domains-13125.html
At one stage (even somewhat now) if you used a domain name that had your keywords in it you got a nice little boost in your search engine rankings, this was always a cheap shot at getting good results but not anymore or at least not in the not to distant future.

While it is still early days on the changes Google will be imposing I suspect that if your business name is different to your URL you can be penalised.

Search Engine Optimisation is not about taking shortcuts it is about ethical tactis that will ensure sustainable results.

radelman | Search Engine Optimisation | 03 17th, 2011 | Comments Off

Search Engine Optimisation through a reputable company that delivers great results is not a cheap investment for your business.
At TopRankings we continue to learn new things every day. My latest learning is that an ‘SEO Friendly Flash Website’ isn’t cheap either.

I’d like to warn some readers that this post may agitate some web designers but a factual case study is indisputable and statistics speak for themselves when it comes to SEO Flash Websites.

SEO CASE STUDY
During the past 4 years or so TopRankings continue to turn back new clients commencement date until such time their website is redesigned to be both reputable and SEO friendly. Many of these have been clients with flash websites. In October one client and equally his web design company completed an absolutely stunning and user friendly Flash Website. Best of all both client and web designer stood firmly by the website asserting that the website will be just as SEO friendly as an HTML site and that TopRankings should be engaged ASAP to deliver results.

Having spoken to the client I addressed two fundamentally important points:
1. TopRankings will apply all known techniques to deliver results but as this is the first time we’re prepared to take this risk on behalf of the client, we were not prepared to exercise our post 12 month results guarantee where the client ceases to pay until results are achieved. No problem here, the client agreed.
2. TopRankings didn’t want the landing page to the load page as from a visitor experience and SEO point of view this was not favorable. The client advised nothing could be done but to proceed anyway.

Good News: Within a short period of 4-5 months from commencement the client did receive page #1 results on Google for one of his most important keyword phrases. Importantly there was even one particular enquiry from Google that would translate to a very nice sum for the business.

Bad News: The client provided feedback that overall the business wasn’t experiencing many new enquiries. TopRankings dug deep into the Google Analytics page to realise that traffic was not the issue. There were people Googling to find his company’s exact service however:

1. The bounce rate across a considerable number of keywords for his industry was close to 95%. With bounce rate, the lower the % the better and the longer people stay on your website.
2. The average time on site spent by new visitors was between 3 to 5 seconds

The devastating news was that when one visits this website you count a record long 12 SECONDS. That’s right every time you visit this website you wait an eternity to actually see the website. What you see is the annoying ‘LOADING’ text with a circular image ticking over like a clock.

Two solutions existed for the client:
Option A: Speak to the ‘seo flash friendly’ web design company in an attempt to cut the load time from 12 seconds to 2-3 seconds maximum or
Option B: Create an entirely new website in HTML.

Lesson Learned: The client is now investing money from scratch redesigning a website which TopRankings will do their best to ensure rankings are sustained – there is no guarantee. So sure Google may find and rank an ‘Search Engine Optimisation Flash Friendly’ website but your business is worth NOTHING online unless you make it dead easy for your clients to see, understand and engage your business.

Noam Judah

radelman | Search Engine Optimisation | 03 10th, 2011 | Comments Off

At TopRankings we are not just focused on Search Engine Optimisation, we are also focused on ensuring our clients get the best value.

While we can get clients top rankings in search engines this only part of the equation, one equally important part of the equation is ensuring that your visitors stay on your site and ultimately either purchase goods online with your and/or contact you for a sale.

One important metric of Google Analytics is `Bounce Rate’. Bounce Rate occurs when a site visitor only views a single page on your website and doesnt visit another subpage. Ideally the lower the % the better.

Their are many reasons why someone may not click on another page and it isnt all doom and gloom, afterall your main page may have all the info the user requires and thus doesnt need to go to another page, however you should look at your analytics very closely and ensure that you try and minimise your bounce rate. Their are many ways to do this and one of the important ways is to ensure that your menus are easy to follow and make sense.

At TopRankings we grade each clients Bounce Rates and assist clients where we can to ensure that their bounce rate is kept to a minimum afterall a client that gets good rankings and good quality traffic is a good client!

radelman | Search Engine Optimisation | 03 7th, 2011 | Comments Off