Tag Archives: competition

The only way to win at SEO (part 2)

In part 1 of this series I covered what Google is looking for (authority for the keyword) and the first 2 levels in my ’5 levels of SEO sophistication’ chart seen below. In this article I will cover the last 3 levels and will explain the 1 and only 1 way you will rank in Google.

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The only way to win at SEO (part 1)

As a small business owner I bet you have heard it all when it comes to being ranked in Google.

“Put your keywords in your title and headings”

“Just create lots of great content and Google will love you for it”

“Get loads of backlinks”

The truth is, there is 1 and only 1 way you can possibly rank on the front page in Google (we are talking about natural listings here if you don’t know the difference between paid and natural listings start here).

By the end of this 2 part article you will know what that is and you will be able to make a start towards making it happen.

First it’s important to know what Google wants.

What Google wants

If you are a small business owner trying to make sense of the hazy mess of SEO advice out there start with this one simple piece of information

“The front page of Google for your keyword will be filled with the results that Google decides have the most authority for that keyword”

This will make more sense as I go so with that in mind let’s move on for now.

SEO Strategies – The 5 levels of sophistication

Next it’s important to understand that there are a lot of ways of going about ranking in Google (called SEO from now on) and they vary in terms of their level of sophistication. Some of them do not work and will never work anymore (like adding keywords to your meta tags). I will focus here on the methods that do work, including doing nothing.

I think it’s helpful to group them visually into 5 levels as I have done here. Read More…

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Are you a small dog?

chase_the_sun_shirt.jpgChase the Sun are a web development firm in Palmerston North in NZ. You might be wondering why I’m wearing their T Shirt to work today?

We do quite a lot of work with the guys from Chase the Sun, they are excellent programmers and good blokes. But they are a web firm like us so perhaps we should be looking at them as our competitors in which case wearing their shirt to work might not be the best idea. A story about a Microsoft executive smashing one of his employee’s iPhone at a company function springs to mind.

I heard George from Masterchef on the radio this morning going on about “there are painters and there are painters”. They haven’t been quiet about the fact that there is another Kitchen show (My Kitchen Rules) which has also been very successful this year – a competitor if you like. So the way Masterchef have chosen to respond to their new competitor is to basically come out and say their show isn’t as good as theirs. These guys are friends, they are in the same industry, all doing it presumably for the same reason. Well over 1 million people watched MKR each night it was on. Small dog syndrome perhaps? He is quite a small man come to think of it.

What will bagging out this show do for Masterchef? Is it going to attract more viewers? Is it going to help their industry? It’s probably just going to annoy the 1million plus people who watched and enjoyed MKR.

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