Tag Archive for: SEO

Siri Search Optimization

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You may have heard that the iPhone’s new voice-command and personal/search assistant “Siri” will be “the end of SEO as we know it.” Undoubtedly a shift is coming, but I for one doubt it will be as disruptive as the apocolyptos might have you believe. After all, we’re not all going to use only our phones for everything. We like our laptops, and in addition, bargain hunting (AKA commercial search) is deeply ingrained in human nature.

There are a lot of fun things Siri can do including transcribing text to voice, setting reminders, playing music, checking the weather, getting directions, and yes carrying out search queries. Undoubtedly, Siri will catch on like wildfire, and as a result will compete with many apps and tools, including search engines.

Optimizing for Siri

The integration of Siri will begin to affect strategies and optimization efforts, but most of these things should be part of an immersive SEO program from the start.

Local Search for Siri

People search from mobile devices on the move; they’re not sitting down to do in-depth research. A majority of mobile searches are location-specific including directions, finding nearby restaurants, or other local services.

With Siri, it’s not about people getting to your website through Google placement alone because visibility comes from other sources. Siri wants to give users a visual experience and draws data from local listing sites such as Yelp, Google Maps, Citysearch, YP, etc. There are more than 60 of these sites on which it is well worth your time to create a listing. It’s not just for Siri, getting listed on (and links from) all these sites improves local listing and organic placements in SERPs as well.

Obviously, you’ll want your information to be correct, up to date, and fully filled out on these sites with accurate address, phone number, images, positive reviews, and a high number of ratings. For more info on local optimization, check out our post on local listings SEO.

Rich Snippets and Schema Tags

Schema.org lets you use a specific markup language (web code) to identify specific information about your business and web presence and make that information more easily found by search engines.

Search engines are using on-page tags in a variety of ways. Google uses them to create rich snippets in search results and will continue to do so more and more. These snippets include author information, address, phone number, operating hours, and so on. So you can see how these tags have value to local searches such as are the focus of Siri. Offering a highly structured format for this information makes it that much easier to be found.

Variety in Linkbuilding and Long Tail Keywords

This is the first version of Siri, and its depth of language capabilities will continue to increase with new versions. Therefore the following effect will only continue to grow. Already, the length of Siri queries are longer because users are searching in natural speech rather than pecking away at keyboards or small iPhone touchscreens.

The result is more long-tail and highly targeted searches. Optimizing for long-tail means more words on the page and more flexible link building. Both of these strategies work in organic search as well, so you won’t even have to duplicate your efforts.

It used to be that you chose your anchor text and could simply bang away at it over and over. With enough links, you’d move on up. That hasn’t been best practice for a while, and Google is becoming even more focused on natural-looking anchor text profiles. Not only is this a safety-first method, but it’s also more efficient. Flexible anchor text (anchor text with the keyword integrated here and there, but also broadly varied) is more efficient in increasing rankings, even for the targeted, high-volume terms.

Back to Siri, the efforts you make to naturalize and get the most out of your link profile will also help you rank for long-tail searches, which Siri is all about. As a bonus, long tail searches are more targeted to the specific needs of a given search query and therefore convert at higher rates.

The iPhone 4s (S is for Siri? Seems that way to me…) is Apple’s best-selling phone to date, with 4 million sales in three days. Verizon started carrying the iPhone earlier this year and even Sprint has had no choice but to jump on the bandwagon. It’s a monolith, and it’s the impetus for a new fold of search optimization.

Free Local Listings for SEO

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Local listings are an increasingly large part of search. Google places results now pop up at the top of search results automatically. This is good news for local businesses. If you have a physical location, you better take full advantage of the opportunity!

You should always start by claiming your business on Google Places, then work your way down by submitting information to Yahoo Local, YellowPages.com, and maybe even Bing Local. From there, you want to convince search engines that your business exists and is significant to users. To do that, you’ll have to submit to many alternate local directories.

In Chapter 9 of our book, SEO for WordPress, we talk about local listings and their explosive power in the hands of local businesses.

We at TastyPlacement have been scouring local directories to figure out which best factor into local rankings.

Directory Link Post speed Pictures Notes
Kudzu.com Yes Slow No
MojoPages.com Yes Immediate 4
SuperPages.com(search)
Supermedia.com(data entry)		 Yes Moderate 4
InsiderPages.com Yes Immediate 4
ExpressUpdateUSA.com No Moderate No
advertise.local.com Yes Moderate No Upgrade to Premium to add pictures
local.botw.org Yes Moderate Logo only Must email a representative to edit mistakes
MerchantCircle.com Yes Immediate 4 Must email a representative for multiple listings
Hotfrog.com Yes Immediate 4
Yellowbook.com Yes Moderate No May require phone verification
Foursquare.com Yes Immediate No Customers can check-in
thinklocal.com Yes Moderate No
cityslick.net Yes Moderate No
USYellowPages.com No Slow No
MyCity.com Yes Immediate Logo only
BizJournals.com No Slow No
mapinsight.teleatlas.com/mapfeedback No Slow No Provides a tracking number
justclicklocal.com No Immediate No
DiscoverOurTown.com Yes Slow No
MetroBot.com No Moderate No
BestDealOn.com Yes Moderate No
Manta.com/claim Yes Immediate Logo only
Infignos.com No Slow No
Yellowassistance.com No Slow No
MyHuckleberry.com Yes Immediate 4
BrownBook.net/business/add Yes Immediate 4
CitySquares.com Yes Immediate No
Navteq.com No Slow No
CitySearch.com Yes Slow Logo only
Yellowee.com Yes Immediate Logo only
MatchPoint.com Yes Immediate 4
Mapquest.com Yes Moderate No They have a number of options for verification
Sustainlane.com No Immediate 4
Localprice.com Yes Slow No
Thumbtack.com Yes Immediate 4
Scrub the Web No Slow No
CommunityWalk.com Yes Immediate 4
ChamberofCommerce.com Yes Moderate 4

Are Site-wide H1 Tags in WordPress Good or Bad?

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Questions from Readers

The great thing about writing our book, WordPress 3.0 Search Engine Optimization, is we get to hear from all those readers who have taken our material and put it to work in the field. Today, we’ve got a fascinating question from Robert, who asks that question we confront every day in one way or another: Just how far should I trust Google’s sophistication?

Hi Michael,

I’m currently reading your Packt book on WordPress SEO, and I have a quick question about HTML5 and the way it uses header tags. Your book says to use only one H1 tag per page, which makes sense. However, HTML5 advocates multiple H1 tags per page, as long as each is contained in a separate section/header.

Worse yet, the first H1 tag on a page is usually a wrapper around the home link logo and contains the same meaningless title text on every page. You can see a typical example at CSS3maker.com :

<header>

<h1 id=”logo”><a href=”index.html” title=”CSS 3.0 Maker”>Css 3.0 Maker</a></h1>

</header>

Most SEO bloggers assume single H1 tags are a thing of the past. Based on your experience, has there been any evidence that Google/Yahoo interpret HTML5 content any differently than HTML/XHTML?

If not, should I remove the header and h1 tags around my logo anchor tag? My site looks like the CSS3maker code above. And like them, I don’t have anything else in my header, so if I remove the H1 tag, wouldn’t I also just scrap the header tag? I have a meaningful H2 tag in my content section, which could be elevated to an H1 tag.

Thanks,
Robert

BTW, I’m really enjoying your book.

 

Robert,

This may be a cop out…but does this help?

I think google is tuned in enough to ignore site-wide h1 tags. One of my philosophies is “packaging”–make it so brain-dead easy for a search engine that it can’t POSSIBLY get confused. We are sort of on-page nerds when it comes to that stuff. Most of the pages we create are pretty perfect, at least on the page.

Do we, in our SEO business, remove site-wide h1 tags around logos and site names in the header? Absolutely we do, but I don’t think it’s the kiss of death if you don’t. Remember one thing: google has to fit its algorithm so that it doesn’t punish sites for small mistakes–otherwise, it would punish 80% of the web or more.

I am very glad you are enjoying the book!

Michael

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From the Wordpress SEO book

Book Excerpt: Creating Keyword-Rich Content

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Our book, WordPress Search Engine Optimization (now in second edition!) is out on the stands of all the upscale local bookstores and online retailers in your neighborhood. But why buy before you try? Here’s one page out of the whole volume to give you a taste of the SEO tips and strategies that you’re missing. You can buy the book at Amazon.

Creating Keyword-Rich Content

It may seem unnatural to focus on a keyword when writing content for your website, but it is absolutely essential to write your pages in a manner that will get them ranked highly in the search engines. No matter how well-written your content is, if it doesn’t contain the keywords and phrases that people use to search for your product or service, it won’t show up in the search engine results pages and no one will ever see it.

For this reason, the first step to creating content for your site is to begin with the right keywords. We learned in Chapter 3 how to research keywords, find the big-money keywords and key phrases, and organize and prioritize them. With sound keyword research, writing flows naturally: start with the high-volume, high-value keywords and write high-quality content for your site that focuses on those keywords.

It’s best to target one keyword phrase or group of phrases per content page. Recall that keyword overlap can give us a close group of keywords such as “Miami AC” and “Miami AC repair.” In any case, keep your content very focused on a small group of words.

Whichever phrase or phrases you are targeting should be used several times within the body content. You should make sure to include the keyword phrase in the title and headings as well as a few times throughout the actual content. It is especially important to include your keyword phrase near the beginning of your content . Most search engines tend to give more weight to words and phrases that appear in the first few paragraphs of a web page. Remember that search engines determine the subject of your page from the words you use on the page. If you don’t use the keyword phrase often enough, your page will not rank for that phrase.

What this means is that if your page is selling book covers and you are targeting the keyword phrase “buy book covers,” that phrase needs to appear on the page in several places. First of all, it must be included in the title and somewhere in the first paragraph of the copy. In addition, you should try to work it into the rest of the copy at least two to three more times and into the headings that separate different sections of copy. You can also add the keyword phrase to the alt text for any photos that appear on the page.

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Tutorial: How to Remove link rel=’prev’ and link rel=’next’ from WordPress Head

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How to Remove link rel=’prev’ and link rel=’next’ from WordPress Head (in WP 3.0+)

WordPress, in its default state, prints a lot of excess code to the head section of webpages. One element that always annoyed me were two entries that always appeared:

<link rel='prev' title='' href='' />
<link rel='next' title='' href='' />

These entries are recommended for web usability for disabled persons–consider that before removing them. We were looking for a way to lean up our pages, though, so we thought we’d like to remove these entries. There are some outdated instructions in WP forums that will not work in WP 3.0; we tried several approaches, but nothing worked.

In your WordPress template, you’ll find your functions.php file. Open that file and enter the following line.

remove_action( 'wp_head', 'adjacent_posts_rel_link_wp_head', 10, 0 );

This “filter,” as it is called, will tell WordPress not to generate the link rel=’prev’ and link rel=’next’ lines in the WordPress head.

Just a note on why those outdated instructions wouldn’t work with WP 3.0. The filter we created instructs WP to turn off the action titled “adjacent_posts_rel_link_wp_head.” Our commands works in WP 3.0 and above because the former action prior to 3.0 was titled “adjacent_posts_rel_link.”

 

WordPress Stripping iFrame Elements? Here’s the Fix.

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Elements like Google Map embeds get stripped out. Here’s the Fix.

If you have ever tried to enter a Google Map embed into a WordPress page or post, you’ve noticed that switching between “Visual” and “HTML” view in the page or post edit window strips the iFrame out–leaving you with broken code that displays nothing. Luckily, there is a fix.

You’ll need to find the functions.php file in your active theme folder. It’s a standard WordPress file, so it’ll be there. Next, we are going to add two short functions that change the way the WordPress editor handles iFrame code. You’ll want to insert the following lines of code before the closing “?>”  of your functions.php file.

// this function initializes the iframe elements 

function add_iframe($initArray) {
$initArray['extended_valid_elements'] = "iframe[id|class|title|style|align|frameborder|height|longdesc|marginheight|marginwidth|name|scrolling|src|width]";
return $initArray;
}

// this function alters the way the WordPress editor filters your code
add_filter('tiny_mce_before_init', 'add_iframe');

That’s it. You can test your mod by entering some iFrame code in the editor window and switching between  the visual and HTML editor.

From the Wordpress SEO book

SEO Master Class: The Mathematics and Operation of Google PageRank

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The following is an excerpt (with some recent modifications and editorial comments) from our book, WordPress Search Engine Optimization. You can buy the book at Amazon.

The Mathematics and Operation of Google PageRank

Google’s PageRank is part of its search algorithm; the other search engines’ ranking algorithms work similarly. Yahoo and Bing, while they obviously measure inbound link counts as a ranking factor, do not disclose to web users any measure of page value equivalent to PageRank. PageRank works through complex mathematics. Understanding the mathematical intricacies is not vital, but can help illuminate how PageRank impacts your link building efforts. PageRank works the same on all platforms, WordPress or otherwise.

The PageRank Calculation

PageRank calculations works as follows: Google assigns a numerical value to each indexed page on the Web. When an indexed page hyperlinks to another page on the Web a portion of that numerical value is passed from the linking page to the destination page, thereby increasing the destination page’s PageRank. Inbound links increase the PageRank of your web pages and outbound links decrease PageRank. PageRank, often abbreviated as “PR,” is expressed as a number from 0 to 10. Google.com and Facebook.com, both of which benefit from millions of inbound links, enjoy a PageRank of 10. In common parlance, a PageRank 10 site is referred to as a “PR10 site.” Remember though that PageRank refers to pages on the web, not just sites themselves. A PR5 site simply means that the site’s front page is a PR5.

So how is PageRank specifically calculated? Every indexed page on the web enjoys a small amount of PageRank on its own, a PageRank score of 1. This inherent PageRank is the original source of all PageRank on the web; it is only through linking between pages and sites that some pages accumulate higher PageRank than others. However, a page can never send all of its PageRank to other pages—this is where the damping factor comes into play. The damping factor is simply a number between 0 and 1 (but think of it as zero to 100 on a percentage scale); it represents the amount of PageRank that can be sent away from a page when that page links out to other pages.

If a search algorithm’s damping factor were set to zero, no page would ever send PageRank away, and the entire PageRank calculation becomes pointless. On the other hand, if the damping factor is set to 1, then 100% of a page’s PageRank is sent away through outbound linking, and any page with any outbound links retains no PageRank. In this case, the algorithm also fails—the internet would be populated entirely sites of either PR0 or PR10 with no sites in between. As it happens, the damping factor employed by Google is widely believed to be .85. This means that 85% of a page’s PageRank is available to be passed to other pages through linking, while 15% of a page’s PageRank will always be retained. It is believed that Google can alter the damping factor for particular sites.

Consider for a moment that Google manages PageRank calculations for billions of web pages. If that wasn’t daunting enough, consider that Google undertakes the even more staggering task of managing the mathematical calculations of immeasurable numbers of links between those billions of sites.

PageRank, Diagramatically

This graphical illustration of Pagerank calculations for a hypothetical group of web pages shows that the PageRank distribution is accumulated in site “B” because it enjoys a high number of links. The sites represented by the small circles at the bottom of the illustration retain only 1.6% of the PageRank distribution because they link outward and have no inbound links. Note also that site “C” enjoys a healthy amount of PageRank simply because it enjoys a single link from site “B.”

You Have to Share Your PageRank

Also bear in mind that the amount of PageRank available to be passed by a page will be equally divided among all the outbound links on that page. So, if a webpage has a total of six links: three internal links and three external links (links to outside websites) then the PageRank passed away by that page will be shared equally among the six links on that page.

What does that mean for the link builder? Well, it means that if you have secured a link on a great PR4 page, but that page has 200 outbound links, then you’ll be sharing the available PageRank with 199 other sites. That’s why you want to seek out pages with low numbers of outbound links. When there are fewer outbound links, your link will enjoy a much greater percentage of the available PageRank.

The Logarithmic PageRank Scale

If the mathematics underlying PageRank weren’t complicated enough, there is another facet that you must consider. The PageRank scale of PR1 to PR10 isn’t linear, it is logarithmic. Therefore, it takes ten times as much linking power to rise from a PR2 to a PR3 page. Expressed another way, a PR4 page has 100 times the linking power of a PR2 page. As each level of PageRank is reached, it becomes harder and harder to reach the next level. There are only about 120 to 150 PR10 pages at any given time, and generally this elite class of pages and sites includes Google.com, Microsoft.com, WhiteHouse.gov, and other sites of equivalent popularity and character.

PageRank Is Historical

PageRank is historical and only updated every three months or so (although sometimes much longer periods pass between PageRank updates, it’s really up to the whim of Google)—when you check the PageRank of a page, you aren’t seeing the current PageRank, you are seeing the PageRank reported as of the last PageRank update.

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From the Wordpress SEO book

SEO Master Class: Choosing a Keyword-Rich Domain Name

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The following is an excerpt (with some recent modifications and editorial comments) from our book, WordPress Search Engine Optimization. You can buy the book at Amazon.

SEO Master Class: Choosing a Keyword-Rich Domain Name

Almost all websites will rely on primary keywords on core pages like the front page. If your keyword research teaches you that one phrase or a very small group of related phrases represents your high-volume, high-relevance primary keywords, then you’ll want to consider using those keyphrases in a keyword-rich domain name. For some, this won’t be possible or desirable: perhaps the domain name has already been chosen, or the business’ marketing strategy revolves principally around a customized brand name. But if you have the opportunity to choose a keyword-rich domain name, you’ll benefit from a little extra power in your ranking efforts down the road. You may have noticed that often a competitive search market is populated with websites that have keywords in their domain name. This is no accident: key terms in the domain name is a ranking factor and experienced webmasters know it.

Whatever you do, choose wisely; if you ever need to change your domain name, it’ll take a lot of work and you’ll loose both incoming links and existing customers.

Tip:

SEO professionals know that you don’t always have—and won’t always need—every SEO element (domain age, keyword-rich domain name, expert title tags, thousands of inbound links, etc.) to rank well. When you consider all the elements together that make a site rank well, you want to make sure you have 80% of the elements present—but don’t fret if a few elements are out of your control.

Domain names are certainly an element that search engines consider as a ranking factor. Remember a search engine’s core purpose: to deliver relevant search results to a user entering a query. Certainly a domain name that includes a few of the searcher’s query terms would tend to be relevant for that query. The weight afforded by search engines to keywords in the domain names is moderate. In competitive markets, a keyword-rich domain name can provide some extra push to pass tough competitors. This can be frustrating in a market where every conceivable variant of a domain name has been snatched up.

Also keep in mind that keyword prominence applies to keywords in domain names. This means that the first words in a domain name are afforded greater weight by the search engines than the last words in a domain name. You will also want to mirror the word order of popular search phrases whenever possible and keep your important terms first in the domain name.

To craft a domain name, begin with your primary keywords. We’ll use some real keyword data and search volume surrounding the keyphrase “Denver homes” as an example.

Keyword Monthly Search Volume
Denver homes for sale 1000
Denver homes 1000
Denver homes for rent 280
new homes Denver 280

The preceding table demonstrates a few important points:

  • “Denver” is the first word in both of the highest volume key phrases.
  • “Denver” appears in all four of the keyword variations.
  • “Homes” appears in all four of the keyword variations.

In this example, the terms “new” and “for rent” aren’t the valuable terms—unless of course your website is concerned with rental homes and apartments in Denver, in which case the “Denver homes for rent” keyphrase is the only relevant one on which to base your domain name. With “Denver” in the first position for the majority of searches, you will want to maintain that word order.

You should also consider keyword overlap in crafting domain names. Keyword overlap exists when one key phrase or keyword is incorporated either partially or fully within another—and you can use it to your benefit. In our example, “Denver homes” has full overlap with “Denver homes for sale.” When you see overlap like that with robust search volume for both phrases, the longer key phrase becomes even more attractive as a primary keyword for your domain name. “New homes Denver” has only a partial overlap, and even that’s a stretch because the word order is reversed.

And so, in our example, the path is clear: “Denver homes for sale” is a highly desirable high-volume phrase to use as the basis for a domain name. But what to do if “denverhomesforsale.com” is already taken? You have two options: buy an existing or dropped domain, play with hyphens, or create a clever variation with extra words.

Buying/Acquiring Domain Names

You can always buy a domain name from its owner or wait for an existing domain to expire (so-called “dropped” domains). For dropped domains, there are a host of online services that, for a fee, will help you navigate the increasingly complex world of expired domains. This approach will yield some some inevitable frustrations: the system is dominated by experts that have mastered its subtleties. As a newcomer, you’ll likely have to endure a learning curve. Also, an owner of an expired domain is entitled to a redemption period during which you’ll have to wait if you want to snatch up a choice domain. For most SEO pros, the extra time and risk isn’t worth it—especially when you can overcome a less-than-perfect domain name with sound on-page optimization and some extra linking power.

You can also buy a domain in the aftermarket from an existing domain owner. Dangers to watch our for with this approach are that some domain owners make it impossible to be found, and when you do find them, they have a completely deluded sense of the domain’s value. Services like sedo.com and domainbrokers.com maintain ostensibly active listings of domains for sale. Domain registrars like godaddy.com offer domain “buying services” where you select a desired domain name and they attempt to secure it for you.

In the domain resale market, asking prices for domains are typically astronomical. Overall, the domain resale market is riddled with complexities, dead ends, and punitive pricing. If you do undertake to purchase a domain, either by resale or following expiration, be prepared for a hunt. Smart SEO professionals don’t overpay for domains, and they certainly don’t endure unreasonable delays to launch their next project.

Hyphens and Extra Characters in Domain Names

It’s true: all the easy domain names are taken. But you still have an opportunity to fashion a keyword-rich domain name with a little creativity. All domain names must follow these technical rules:

  • Domains can include letters (x, y, z).
  • Domains can include numbers (1, 2, 3).
  • Domains can include dashes/hyphens, and can be repeated in sequence (-, –, —).
  • Domains cannot include spaces.
  • Capital letters are ignored.
  • Domains can’t begin or end with a dash.

Hyphens present a good opportunity. In our example, we might consider checking for the availability of denver-homes-for-sale.com. This domain keeps the keywords in order, maintains keyword prominence, and the hyphens have two benefits: they certainly make the domain easier for humans to read and can help search engines distinguish the words (i.e., “kitchens pot,” vs. “kitchen spot”). The drawback of hyphens—and it is worth consideration—is that hyphenated domains are awkward and unmemorable and can appear trashy. Visitors are unlikely to remember your specific combination of words and hyphens. It can also be inconvenient to express your email address repeatedly as “Peter at Denver homes for sale , dot com, with hyphens between all four words.” That said, in a pure search environment, where you are going solely for keyword-based traffic, you can worry less about memorability. You’ll be getting your visitors solely from search and not requiring repeat visitors.

Hyphenated domains have a fairly-deserved reputation as being a bit trashy; many link farms and thin content sites employ hyphens in their domain names.

A helpful variant of this technique is to simply apply a suffix to the domain, such as denverhomesforsalenow.com or denverhomesforsale303.com (303 is an area code in Denver). Get creative: think of a term that adds to your domain. The terms “express” and “pros” have positive connotations. “Express” suggests speedy, high-value service. “Pros” suggests someone licensed with experience. Find an appropriate suffix for your domain and you will have a keyword-rich domain without the hassle and expense of purchasing in the domain aftermarket.

As a final word on domains, make sure you use a reputable domain registrar. Some disreputable registrars may make it difficult for you to transfer you domain away later.

Tip:

Don’t park your domains, put up content! Domain registrars like GoDaddy offer domain parking “service.” This isn’t a service at all—it’s a way for GoDaddy to squeeze a few pennies in pay-per-click ads out of your domain. The better approach is to put up even just a few paragraphs on your domain just to get the search engines indexing the page and building up some site age. Parked domains don’t earn site age.

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From the Wordpress SEO book

Book Excerpt: How to Use Demographic Data to Find Wealth Centers

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The following is an excerpt (with some recent modifications and editorial comments) from our book, WordPress Search Engine Optimization. You can buy the book at Amazon.

Follow the People, Follow the Money

When building your keyword list, you’ll always want to return to the question “who is my customer?” If you are a deck builder, pool builder, or plastic surgeon, your customer is a homeowner (in the case of home services) and a person of financial means (in the case of home services or plastic surgery). It’s obviously helpful to know where the people with the money live. If the residents of a town or neighborhood aren’t able to afford your product, you’ll obviously not want to market there. Similarly, you’ll prefer to put your efforts into high-population areas over low-population areas. This same approach can apply to other demographics that might impact your bottom line: where are the families with children? Where do the senior citizens live? These inquiries are basic demographic questions that you can use to focus your keyword strategy.

For most, you’ll have a sense of your own community: where the population centers are, where the wealthier people with disposable income live. There may be other variations: areas with new home construction underway are a gold mine for home services like window blinds, alarm companies, and pool builders.

If you don’t have a true encyclopedic understanding of the demographics of your region, or you simply want to deepen your understanding of the local marketplace, there is a great web-based tool that can help you “follow the money.” The tool is Webfoot Maps and can be found at http://maps.webfoot.com/. Webfoot has created a collection of demographic-based Google Maps mashups that visually represent demographic data like population density and household income as an overlay over a standard Google Map. With this tool, you can zoom into your town and see where the population centers are and where the high-income folks are living.

The site offers a tremendous amount of data and it can be very helpful in crafting a keyword strategy. The census data upon which the site relies is from 2000, but will likely be updated soon when the new 2010 census data becomes available. To use the tool, browse to http://maps.webfoot.com/ and follow the link for “US 2000 Census.” From there, you can select any of the following demographic criteria:

  • Median Household Income
  • Population density
  • Median Owner-occupied home value
  • Median age
  • Median home value/median income
  • Percent White
  • Percent Black
  • Percent Hispanic
  • Percent Asian
  • Percent Native
  • Percent Female
  • Percent Male
  • Percent of owner-occupied housing units
  • Percent of renter-occupied housing units
  • Percent of vacant housing units
  • Average household size
  • Average family size
  • Percent with college degree
  • 2008 Unemployment Rate (county)
  • 2007 Unemployment Rate (county)
  • Unemployment Rate Change 2008-7

Webfoot presents sensible graphical data for each default selection, but you can adjust the “Value” parameter to display, for example, only areas with incomes above $100,000 per year.

Webfoot’s demographic Google Maps mashup at work displaying household income in the geo-markets including and surrounding Kansas City. Darker areas indicate higher income levels. Areas with higher incomes can present excellent web marketing opportunities for some businesses.

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SEO Power Tip: Don’t Park Your Extra Domains

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SEO Power Tip: Don’t Park Your Extra Domains

If you are like most people either in business on the web or in business generally, you may have accumulated some extra domain names. And, like most people, you might tend to leave those domain names in a dormant or parked status. GoDaddy is a perfect example: they offer free domain parking for domains purchased through their service.

Domain Parking: Almost a Scam

If you use domain parking services, it really isn’t a service at all– the parking service places ads on your domain and does not share of the ad revenue with you–I wonder how much revenue GoDaddy earns in the aggregate from the 100s of thousands, or millions, of domain names parked there. Also, parked domains in most cases will not be indexed by search engines. So, in the eyes of a search engine, a parked domain doesn’t exist.

Best Approach for Parked Domains

The better approach is to “park” your domain by yourself. Set up a very simple page, or better a few pages with some text that is original and contextually relevant to the domain name itself. You can even place some Google Adsense Advertisements on the site to earn a few dollars a month. Meanwhile, the search engines will crawl and index your site because of the original content they find there. Then, when you finally go live with your domain, you’ll have an indexing history—old sites with some age and history always outrank brand-new sites.

An extra tip: always leave your contact information easily findable on a parked domain– you never know when someone will want to offer money for it.