Many SEOs will first do keyword research using tools such as Wordtracker and Overture. Unfortunately, a good majority of the time, the estimated search engine traffic reported for their keywords can be way off. Therefore it would make their work almost useless for their clients. Thankfully, Google is making keyword research a breeze by providing more accurate search volume information.

The reasons why many SEOs use tools like Wordtracker and Overture is because they list the estimated search volume for each keyword. Sadly, this number isn’t very accurate. Take for example the term “MichiganSEO Web Design”. Wordtracker had reported that the key phrase would yield a search volume of 933. We decided to test this out by creating a blog post targeted for that term. Within a few hours, that post took over the number one position in Google and has kept that position for over three months. But according to our website statistics, there has been absolutely no traffic from that search term and therefore making Wordtracker’s report questionable.

Google on the other hand with their Adwords Keyword Tool, reports different information regarding the search term. According to Google, there is little or no traffic reported for that term. Their report states that there is “No Data” for the search volume and “No Data” for any search volume trends within the last year!

So far Google’s keyword tool only showed graphs for search volume information. But some exciting news from overseas in India reported yesterday that the keyword tool is now showing actual numbers for search volume. This will greatly change the way that keyword research is done and will eliminate the inaccuracies with Wordtracker.

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Update: The Google Keyword Tool is now showing numbers in the U.S. as well.

Link building should be an essential part to your SEO strategy. Many search engine algorithms base their rankings on the number of links pointing to your site. So it’s no wonder why link development is an important aspect to consider with your online marketing strategy. Ever hear the expression “the best things in life are free”, well the same goes for link building with a strategy called linkbaiting.

What is Linkbait?

Linkbait in a nutshell, is basically something on your site that visitors would like to link to from their site. Linkbait can be a brilliantly written article on creating “Stumble Bait“, a funny picture, a neat WordPress plugin or perhaps some useful website tool that everyone should know about. Remember that content is king, but great content will rule above all. If you supply your visitors with quality content, there’s a good chance that someone will want to link to it. Be sure to put linking instructions on your linkbait page. This will make it easier for visitors to add a link to your site.

Be Relevant

Search engines like Google place a lot of value on the relevance of links. So even though it is great to have many links for the funny picture of your cat, it won’t help you rank well for your page about vacuum cleaner reviews. If you can create linkbait that is relevant to your site, then and only then it will help with your rankings. If you provide linking instructions, be sure to vary the anchor text to make it look less spammy in Google’s eyes.

Linkbaiting should be an added bonus to your linking strategy and should not replace traditional link building. Creating quality content can be challenging at times, but if pulled off correctly, it can greatly help you in regards to your search engine marketing strategy.

After turning down Microsoft’s bid to acquire Yahoo! for $47.5 billion, the internet pioneer has turned to Google for help. Yahoo! and Google have come to an agreement to show Google ads on Yahoo!. Currently Google has 75% of the search advertising market share.

This deal, which will go into effect in September, has projected to boost Yahoo!’s revenue by $800 million in the first 12 months. Although this has shareholders in a frenzy, this could be good news for pay per click advertisers that are using Google Adwords. Since this will expose ads on yet another popular search giant.

How many times do you search for your name in Google? Do you do it out of boredom or as an ego boost? Believe it or not, ranking well for your own name can be an easy task. Here are a few tips to get a top 10 ranking for your name.

Competition

When you search for your name in Google, how many results are returned? If there are less than a million results, you may have a good shot of ranking well for the term. Try putting quotation marks around your name such as “John Smith”. This will search for exact matches on web pages. The lower the competition is; the better.

On-Page

If you have access to the page you wish to rank well for, make sure that your name is in the title tag. Also make sure that your name is used at least three times throughout the entire document. Have you registered a domain such as yourname.com? By having your name in the URL, it will greatly increase the chances of a high ranking.

Off-Page

Building links is an important step that will aid in top rankings. If you participate in forums, put a link in your signature with your name as the anchor text. Participate on blogs by posting comments with a link back to your web page. The more links you can build, the better your ranking will be. But beware that if you build too many links too fast, Google may flag you as a spammer and your ranking may be compromised.

Results

Results can vary depending on the number of links, the on-page optimization and the number of competing websites. You can sometimes see results in a matter of days or even a matter of months. SEO is a continuous process of adjustments in order to rank adequately in Google.