Posted by Kelly Hall, Account Manager

“Optimization” has many meanings in today’s marketing world. What might come to mind first is search engine optimization — or improving your rankings in search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. And while that should be an important part of your overall marketing plan, optimization has a place in many other tactics you use to build brand awareness, attract your audience, and of course, create conversions.

To read the full article and learn more about measurable optimization tactics subscribe to 90news and view the February 2010 issue in the archives.

Posted by: Shannon Anderson, Project Manager

As a fundamental building block to a search engine optimization (or SEO) program, it is important to build strong, qualified incoming links to your website. Here are a few ways to build these links and optimize visibility:

• Submit Press Releases: Submit keyword-rich press releases through newswires and online PR sites, such as PR Newswire and PR Leap, to gain increased online visibility.
• Submit to Directories: Directories, such as DMOZ, are a great way to submit links to your website building quality incoming traffic.
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Posted by: Janessa Seewald, Account Manager

The latest statistics show that more than 40% of searches within search engines have local intent. For local business owners this means that not only is important to have a website, but to also focus on optimization of your local business listings. Some best practices to consider when developing and optimizing local business listings include:

• Claim your business listing and ensure it is updated. This may sound obvious, but you would be surprised how many listings some businesses already have that they don’t even know exist or are outdated. Claiming the listing you want or that is the most accurate, will allow you to make updates on a regular basis which is very important within the eyes of the local and larger search engines.
• Select the most appropriate categories for your business listing. In most cases you are given several options and can choose more than one category. Make sure you don’t select too many categories as this can dilute the significance of your listing for the most appropriate and relevant categories; however, you also don’t want to select too few categories as this may make it difficult for potential customers to locate your business when searching.
• Include important product and/or service keywords related to your business within the title of your listing. This will not only help increase your rankings within the search engines, but also make your listing stand-out amongst the competition.

Similarly to optimizing a website, optimization of local business listings can take time and involves several more factors than the ones listed above, but starting with these few tips will help start your listing in the right direction.

Posted by: Susan Smith, Marketing Coordinator

Now that Google and Bing are displaying Twitter tweets in organic search results alongside other social media, tweets should be optimized just as a website would be.  There are multiple ways to increase the relevancy of your tweets and have them indexed by the search engines:

• Get more followers, each follower is considered an incoming link
• Get relevant followers, keywords in their bios relate to your relevancy
• Get tagged in lists that relate to your industry
• Have your tweets retweeted
• Tweet relevant, keyword rich content utilizing active lingo and buzzwords
• Choose a username that is short, easy to remember, and relevant to your brand or industry
• Stick to one handle/username for consistent indexing
• Choose an account name that reflects and promotes your brand
• Utilize the 160 characters available for a bio to insert key words and phrases
• Place a call to action on your website to gain Twitter followers
• Embed your Twitter URL in the footer of your website
• Occasionally tweet a link to your website to drive traffic
• Place your most important keywords at the beginning of your tweet as that is what shows up in Google

As Twitter continues to gain popularity and people begin seeking out real time updates, optimizing tweets will become vital to keeping your company at the top of the search results.

Posted by: Erin Wilson, Marketing Coordinator

Over the past month, Yahoo has been bombarded with questions about their statements regarding how they use the meta keyword tag as a ranking factor. When Yahoo first stated that they were no longer supporting the meta keyword tag, many were hesitant to believe it and curious how it would affect their search engine optimization. Other big search engines such as Google and Bing have long since confirmed that they do not use the tag for ranking, but this was Yahoo’s first statement surrounding the subject.

Unfortunately for Yahoo, many a company and individual have proven them wrong, performing tests to see if words they place only in keyword tags and not anywhere else on their sites are getting ranked, and indeed they are. This pressure has forced Yahoo to clarify their statements.

According to Yahoo, the meta keyword tags are given the lowest ranking signal compared to words that appear in the body, title, description, etc. Essentially, if you have the same keywords in your meta tag and on your website (body, anchor text, etc.) then the meta keyword tag is ignored. But, if there is a keyword only in your meta keyword tag and cannot be found elsewhere on your site it will be used to rank your site.

So how does this affect your search engine optimization? For right now keep your focus on having a site rich with keyword content and continue to place your most relevant keywords within site copy and within your title, description and keyword portions of the meta-tag.

Posted by: Caitlin Diehl, Senior Marketing Coordinator

We’re all familiar with Google’s Local Search, but after we’ve set ourselves up for success there, where should we go? The answer is easy, get involved with Bing.

With Bing’s increasing popularity as a search engine, it is going to be vital that you get your company set up in Bing Local. Not only is it easy, but Bing comes with new features that other local engines don’t offer.

First, get a local business listing. It is as easy as entering your basic business information (address, name, phone number). No edits or additions can be made without a Windows Live ID, so get one set up today!

Once you get through the first steps, the process is easy. Users are encouraged to make use of the links that can be added to listings. This is a great spot for reviews or menu links. After you are done customizing your listing, you’ll be required to verify ownership via mail or phone. Your listing will be live within 2-7 business days of verification.

So now you are all set up in Bing, but what makes it different than any other local engine?

Bing has some distinct features that offer a better user experience and more potential traffic to your business. The first is a Scorecard, which compiles all user reviews and sets up easy-to-read rankings within categories like atmosphere and return potential. Bing also features a ‘Show info from’ link where users can see data pulled from other trusted sources like Frommer’s travel guide. Finally, searchers can get a ‘bird’s eye view’ of local listings. They have the ability to see its general location, parking options, the neighborhood type and what is nearby. Directions are also offered from major intersections as opposed to only specific addresses.

While these features set Bing apart from competitors, don’t forget to get your business posted in as many local engines as possible. Just be sure to put Bing at the top of the list!

Posted by: Jessica Shepherd, Project Manager & Gloria Dutton, Senior Marketing Coordinator

You’ve done some SEO work, by hiring an SEO agency or dedicating some in-house time and expertise. What’s next? Is your team giving you regular actionable reports prioritizing the tactics they are engaged in? Are you seeing how the program is performing and what your next high-priority steps are? If not, are you considering an SEO audit?

Some search professionals describe an audit as a “99 point assessment” of every possible SEO tactic, from meta data to links to social presence. That’s nice, but it doesn’t tell you much when your budget only allows for 20 tactics – and you may just need to do five of them right to dramatically improve your program.

The key is to start not with a laundry list but with evaluation and prioritization. As long as you are focusing on the right keywords – an assumption that an audit can help validate – you can use a broad set of analytical tools and a solid methodology to efficiently identify where your program is strong, where it is weak, and where the low hanging fruit is. Consider taking these steps:

1. Focus on major tactical areas like on-site factors, linking, social media and local visibility.
2. Identify the areas that are most likely to get you listed and convert your target audience.
3. Measure how well you are executing on the high priority tactics.
4. Scope out the level of effort required to fill the gaps in each of these areas. Play to your organization’s strengths – e.g., if you have a great story and a PR engine to tell it, use that asset in your SEO program.

With this approach, you can direct your team or vendor to focus their time where the impact will be greatest. If you are also engaged in paid search, combine your SEO and SEM analyses. Contact us to get started – email info@90octane.com and ask about our SEO/SEM audit.

Posted by: Leslie Norgren, Senior Marketing Coordinator

Search engines are becoming increasingly competitive in trying to detect and respond better to search query intent.  As Google states in their corporate information, they are striving to “understands exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want.”

Each search engine is able to provide query-specific information based on their unique search algorithms.  When you are launching a search engine optimization strategy it is important to consider each engine’s algorithms and their key factors in deciding search relevance.

Google relies on more than 200 signals including hypertext-matching and PageRank technology to assess the importance of webpages.  The recently launched Bing appears to place greater importance on a smaller number of factors including content, keyword placement, inbound links and strong site structure.  Yahoo also places a strong emphasis on content, in addition to XML sitemaps and the age of the site.

Knowing that each search engine has a different search algorithm may leave you questioning how to develop a search engine optimization approach that meets the needs of every search engine. read more »

Posted by: Nikki Johnson, Marketing Coordinator

In light of all the hype that has been centered around the new search engine Bing, Microsoft recently released a PDF discussing search engine optimization (SEO) entitled, “Bing: New Features Relevant to Webmasters.” The first part of the document describes the difference in the way Bing organizes search results compared to Live and how this change could affect site owners. Online advertisers will also want to pay attention.

When a user searches today, he or she will notice that results six through 10 have been replaced with categorized listings. For example, a search for “vw beetle” would return normal results for listings one through five, but instead of seeing typical listings beyond that, the user is presented with relevant listings sorted by category, such as “Volkswagen beetle for sale” or “used Volkswagen beetle.” This new method requires search advertisers to be more thorough in the way they optimize their site. read more »

Posted by: Shannon Anderson, Project Manager

Last month, Google launched a search filtering tool called Search Options which allows users to filter their search results to show only videos, forums or reviews over a specified time frame. By selecting the “Show Options” feature in the blue bar under the search field, users can access these filtering options to bring up more relevant and useful listings.

Google’s Search Options also allows users to select “Wonder Wheel” to display other relevant searches that might be of interest. The example below shows related searches to the term “summer olympics.”

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