TAMPA, FLORIDA—When I think of SEO experts outside of Master Google who I deeply respect, the names Rand Fishkin and Dharmesh Shah come to mind.

So when I found a webinar recorded in August that involved Fishkin and Shah, you can imagine my excitement.

Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz, and Shah, CTO of HubSpot, are featured in “The State of SEO & Internet Marketing in 2012.” They shared some fascinating information that I believe may help you better craft the SEO work you do to improve your Google website ranking, or equip you to ask the right questions of your SEO provider. So let’s get right to it.

Interesting facts shared during the webinar:

• Google gets about 3 billion searches per day, and about 75 percent of clicks are on organic results- not paid ads, Shah says. That means if you focus solely on pay-per click, you’re missing out on most of the opportunities to drive traffic.

• More than half of search results have no ads at all. So when it comes to ranking for those sorts of terms, organic is the only way to go.

Much of the webinar’s content came from a SEOmoz survey of more than 6,000 people involved in SEO conducted between March and May 2012. Thanks to the survey, the following trends were identified:

• Duplicate content is front and center now more than ever, due to Google Panda. Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed use rel= “canonical” to control duplicate content.

• Nearly 80 percent set up a Facebook business page.

• Nearly 70 percent set up a Google+ business account.

• Lots of attention is focused on site speed and page load times these days. About 75 percent of those surveyed follow analytics that analyze and track this information.

The statistics regarding content were heart-warming to this writer:

• More than 60 percent of those surveyed have started a blog, or “invested heavily” in blogging.

• Interestingly, the written word still seems to dominate the content market. When it comes to creating viral content that attracts links, slightly more than 40 percent reported creating video content, while less than 30 percent created infographics.

• More than 70 percent of those surveyed market their content via blogs and social media outlets.

This content-related information also pleased me because it drove home the fact that what we here at Master Google do for our clients in terms of content continues to be right on the money.

“We’ve used textual content and blogging as an SEO tool for more than five years,” says Master Google CEO Ali Husayni. “Any new client who signs up gets a free, custom-designed WordPress blog and we assign a professional writer to their account to conduct interviews, research and write quality articles and press releases for their business. Our SEO team carefully optimizes and places these articles on our client’s site on a regular basis.”

Many of our clients report getting phone calls from individuals who have read the articles we write for them, Husayni says. Providing relevant and useful information to the public is a great form of indirect marketing, which gives our clients a good reputation as truly being experts in their field.

My personal takeaway from the webinar is this: while SEO pros love to focus on the minutiae, the deepest inner-workings of search engines, and sometimes the tricks that may be used to “game” the system, all roads still lead to the user.

“Solve for the humans,” Shah says, adding that when you focus attention on SEO strategies that circumvent that, it’s only a matter of time until the search engines catch on.

This webinar was packed with information and over the next few weeks I’ll extract bits of that information and expand upon it a bit. If you’d like to check out the webinar yourself, follow the link above.

TAMPA, FLORIDA- There’s something going on in social media that really bugs me. Too many companies claim to participate in social media simply because they have a Facebook Page or a Twitter account.

But you must do more than simply “be present” to win the social media game. You have to actually be social.

Courtesy of mediabistro.com

By being social, you can use Twitter to help improve your website’s appearance on Google. Google Search engine ranking and Bing is influenced by social networking websites, according to Pingler.com.

I’m a firm believer in using every tool in the SEO toolbox. We use guaranteed SEO techniques to help our clients appear in the top spots on organic search results, but the good news is that there is no finite number of techniques. Social media continues to create additional opportunities for those who use those outlets properly.

Here’s what several experts say about achieving better search rankings through Twitter and other social media.

1. Be Social
Kevin Gibbons over at Search Engine Land says it well when he explains that your SEO strategies have to include more than tweeting links to your own website if you want it to help improve your ranking.

“You need to enter conversations, respond to questions and queries, talk to customers who mention your brand, and interact,” Kevin says according to searchengineland.com.

2. Write Great Content
Here’s what makes me admire Kevin the most: like me, he’s a firm believer that creating quality content will help improve your ranking.

“This is the simplest rule for most SEO strategies, but it’s also one of the hardest to pull off,” he says. “If you want people to retweet your content and enhance your importance in Google’s eyes, then create valuable articles and tools that will make them want to link to it and share it with their own followers.”

Once you have great content, you need an attention-grabbing tweet to get people to click through. And remember, you only have 140 characters to grab their attention.

3. Optimize
Kevin also recommends optimizing your Twitter account by including keywords that you want associated with your business. Include them in your bio and in your tweets, he says. And don’t forget to make your tweets retweetable by leaving enough characters for them to add their own comment if they wish.

4. Quality Trumps Hype
Duane Forrester of Bing participated in a search engine roundtable at SXSW in March and he confirmed the need for businesses to be active in social media. He indicated that small businesses in particular can benefit from it, because if they have a product or service that has true quality, people are bound to talk about it in social media. And anything mentioned in social media that points to relevancy is given a “big thumbs up,” Forrester says. “Does the rest of the world think you have a great product? If so, and they amplify this on your behalf, we’ll pick up on those signals.”

Forrester went on to say that if you’re not engaged socially as part of your Internet marketing strategy, “you’re missing the boat,” because the conversation is happening socially about you and about your content, whether you’re involved or not.

So get on Twitter. When you post something on your blog that is useful, unique and beneficial to others, post it to Twitter as well. Start conversations, reply to what others are saying about the post, and notice the conversation it generates. The number of retweets generated can be a good indicator of how well you’re addressing users’ search for information. Provide information that others deem useful, and chances are you’ll advance your website exponentially in the SEO game.

© 2012 Master Google. Authorization to post is granted, with the stipulation that Master Google is credited as sole source. Linking to other sites from this press release is strictly prohibited, with the exception of herein imbedded links.

SANTA MONICA, CA — Search engines are a complex weave of algorithms and updates, which can be stressful when it comes to tackling SEO. Master Google’s CEO and SEO expert Ali Husayni shares that in an ever-changing SEO world, a great team is everything because the game is always changing. On the eve of the Super Bowl, we at Master Google invite you to stay ahead of the game. Husayni shares a few different Super Bowl related analogies to throw around this idea: how creativity and critical analysis join forces to play a big part in any SEO strategy, and in all SEO teams.

“The Super Bowl is extremely analytical. You have to know exactly who to throw it to, and at one correct speed. It’s precision that comes with a lot of practice with the team, and requires them all to be extremely smart. To win, you have to guarantee that when you throw the ball to the quarter back, it’s going to land in your teammate’s hands,” Husayni says.

Husayni’s Super Bowl analogies are outlined below, and include the importance of a strong team and persistence.

Illustration Courtesy of Digboston.com

Know How To Analyze Different Ideas from Your Team

Husayni has advice for the head of any team, which includes knowing how to utilize the different ideas of his team. Husayni analyzes his own managerial style, saying:

“I can analyze, see a trend and see where it’s headed. What I’m good at is looking at what other people suggest and taking it a step further, combining different ideas to come up with a specific solution to a problem.”

Every employee has a different perspective, so be sure to listen. After all, the solution to any problem often comes from a combination of ideas.

Be a Team Player by Knowing Your Strengths

It suits the Super Bowl topic well to say that when it comes to launching a successful SEO strategy, you have to be a great team player. Each individual needs to know their area of expertise on the field, and each one needs to be the best at what they do. The combination of this expertise and hard work is what’s going to make the team a winning one, according to Husayni.

“Each team member we have is an expert in what they do. What they do is going to make the entire process succeed, and let the ball land with Google, with a higher search engine ranking result for our clients,” Husayni says.

Always Strive for Accuracy: There are No Shortcuts for Effective SEO

An accurate team is a winning team, according to Husayni. We can’t control SEO efforts entirely, because just like a football game SEO has fluctuations. You may go forward and then a little bit back. To hit a 10 yard mark, you need to be persistent and be careful not to go back a couple of yards without noticing it. Husayni explains the importance of a team effort when it comes to carrying out a touchdown of an SEO campaign.

“Before the quarter back throws the ball, the rest of the team needs to protect him. While an SEO strategy is vital, if you aren’t throwing your SEO tactics out at the right speed, you can get red flagged from Google,” Husayni says.

To avoid an interception from another business on Google’s search results, remember that a lot of what Google does is common sense. Google hates spamming techniques, like Black Hat SEO. So remember, while it might be tempting to duplicate content or buy links, if you just copy and paste or try to buy your way to the top without hard work, Google will take notice. Don’t risk getting flagged to save a tiny bit of time.

“Because some SEO companies are always looking for shortcuts, they are also looking for black hat techniques. The client is very happy and then Google changes their algorithm, and the black hat techniques are revealed. Then they hire us.”

So enjoy the game and remember—it’s all about the team.

ORANGE, CA— Google’s U.S. market share increased from 64.8 percent in August to 65.3 percent in September, reaffirming that the search engine should be the main focus of business owners’ search engine optimization campaigns.

On October 11, comScore, Inc.—a global leader in digital business world analytics—released its monthly analysis of the nationwide search market, revealing that 65.3 percent of searchers typed their queries into Google’s search box. During the same month-long period, second place market shareholder Yahoo fell to 15.5 percent, trailed by Microsoft’s Bing that remained unchanged at 14.7 percent.

Ali Husayni, SEO expert and founder of Master Google, said that Google’s increase was predictable, considering the company’s history of technological innovation.

“With Google being the cutting edge provider of search, it’s only natural for their search market to grow,” he said.

Husayni said that Google’s recent raise in market shares validates Master Google’s concentration on the search engine giant.

“It reiterates our thought process in developing our SEO strategies to focus on Google alone,” Husayni said. “Ranking on Google is what generates new business, which is our goal for every one of our clients.”

Following the release of the comScore report, shares of Google increased by $22.05, amounting to $537.17, compared with Yahoo, which rose just 37 cents to $15.84 and Bing, which climbed 69 cents to reach $26.94.

“Business owners should be aware that, in order to stay in business and grow, they need to be found on Google search results,” Husayni added. “That is the bottom line. If your business is not on Google, your business is doomed.”

Google’s third quarter results, which were announced October 13, reported revenues of $9.72 billion. “We had a great quarter,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google, in a press release posted on Google Investor Relations. “Revenue was up 33 percent year on year and our quarterly revenue was just short of $10 billion. Google+ is now open to everyone and we just passed the 40 million user mark. People are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate and we are just getting started!”

The wealth of new search features and social networking components is what sets Google apart from the competition, Husayni said.

“The search results are not diluted or full of spam,” he said. “They have a very sophisticated, fast-paced way of analyzing sites and their relevancy to a particular query. What’s more, their development of Google+ is a good alternative to Facebook and Twitter.”

Husayni said that, in light of Google’s imminent monopoly of the search market, the Master Google team will continue becoming better at optimization strategies specifically geared toward Google crawlers.

“Now there is going to be even more competition for Google placement,” Husayni said. “And Master Google will certainly rise to the challenge.”

With Google’s ever-changing algorithms and competitors catching up, Master Google, a leading search engine optimization (SEO) company has invested heavily in R&D to develop new, unique approaches to SEO that yield big results for the company’s clients.

As a result of their research, Master Google will be changing approaches to its SEO strategy each month to keep up with Google and keep their clients climbing Google’s search results pages. Read more…