Content is Key to Search Engine Visibility and SEO Infographic

Source: http://hosting.ber-art.nl/content-seo-search-engine-visibility/?_tmc=kpxfdSmuUhNezJMz8FElSNGgr8G80BI5H7vUuIyz6Cs

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.

In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.

Explores how content is key to search engine visibility on why is Content Good for SEO #Inforgraphic

 

20 Tips for More Efficient Google Searches

Written for Dumblittleman.com on 06/07/2007 by Leo Babauta and republished on 10/3/09. Leo offers advice on living life productively simple at his famous Zen Habits blog.

Photo Credit: manfrys

For millions of people Google is an indispensable search tool that they use every day, in all facets of their lives. From work or school, research, to looking up movies and celebrities to news and gossip, Google is the go-to search engine. But instead of just typing in a phrase and wading through page after page of results, there are a number of ways to make your searches more efficient. Some of these are obvious ones, that you probably know about. But others are lesser-known, and others are known but not often used. Use this guide to learn more about, or be reminded of, some of the best ways to get exactly what you’re looking for, and quickly.

1. Either/or Google normally searches for pages that contain all the words you type in the search box, but if you want pages that have one term or another (or both), use the OR operator — or use the “|” symbol (pipe symbol) to save you a keystroke. [dumb | little | man]
2. Quotes If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. ["dumb little man"] will only find that exact phrase. [dumb "little man"] will find pages that contain the word dumb and the exact phrase “little man”.
3. Not If you don’t want a term or phrase, use the “-” symbol. [-dumb little man] will return pages that contain “little” and “man” but that don’t contain “dumb”.
4. Similar terms Use the “~” symbol to return similar terms. [~dumb little man -dumb] will get you pages that contain “funny little man” and “stupid little man” but not “dumb little man”.
5. Wildcard The “*” symbol is a wildcard. This is useful if you’re trying to find the lyrics to a song, but can’t remember the exact lyrics. [can't * me love lyrics] will return the Beatles song you’re looking for. It’s also useful for finding stuff only in certain domains, such as
   educational information: ["dumb little man" research *.edu].
6. Advanced search If you can’t remember any of these operators, you can always use Google’s advanced search.
7. Definitions Use the “define:” operator to get a quick definition. [define:dumb] will give you a whole host of definitions from different sources, with links.
8. Calculator One of the handiest uses of Google, type in a quick calculation in the search box and get an answer. It’s faster than calling up your computer’s calculator in most cases. Use the +, -, *, / symbols and parentheses to do a simple equation.
9. Numrange This little-known feature searches for a range of numbers. For example, ["best books 2002..2007] will return lists of best books for each of the years from 2002 to 2007 (note the two periods between the two numbers).
10. Site-specific Use the “site:” operator to search only within a certain website. [site:dumblittleman.com leo] will search for the term “leo” only within this blog.
11. Backlinks The “link:” operator will find pages that link to a specific URL. You can use this not only for a main URL but even to a specific page. Not all links to an URL are listed, however.
12. Vertical searchInstead of searching for a term across all pages on the web, search within a specialized field. Google has a number of specific searches, allowing you to search within blogs, news, books, and much more:
• Blog Search
• Book Search
• Scholar
• Catalogs
• Code Search
• Directory
• Finance
• Images
• Local/Maps
• News
• Patent Search
• Product Search
• Video
13. Movies Use the “movie:” operator to search for a movie title along with either a zip code or U.S. city and state to get a list of movie theaters in the area and show times.
14. Music The “music:” operator returns content related to music only.
15. Unit converter Use Google for a quick conversion, from yards to meters for example, or different currency: [12 meters in yards]
16. Types of numbersGoogle algorithms can recognize patterns in numbers you enter, so you can search for:
• Telephone area codes
• Vehicle ID number (US only)
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC) equipment numbers (US only)
• UPC codes
• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airplane registration number (US only)
• Patent numbers (US only)
• Even stock quotes (using the stock symbol) or a weather forecast regarding the next five days
17. File types If you just want to search for .PDF files, or Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets, for example, use the “filetype:” operator.
18. Location of term By default, Google searches for your term throughout a web page. But if you just want it to search certain locations, you can use operators such as “inurl:”, “intitle:”, “intext:”, and “inanchor:”. Those search for a term only within the URL, the title,
    the body text, and the anchor text (the text used to describe a link).
19. Cached pages Looking for a version of a page the Google stores on its own servers? This can help with outdated or update pages. Use the “cached:” operator.
20. Answer to life, the universe, and everything Search for that phrase, in lower case, and Google will give you the answer.

For more on Google’s search syntax, see this guide, and this one.

Source: http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/06/20-tips-for-more-efficient-google.html

14 Things You Should Do To Protect Your Online Reputation

By invesp on in Business-Economics, Lifestyle, SEO

In 30 minutes, your SSN can be dug out using free internet resources. Recruiters sniff the net for personal data about you and base their hiring decisions on what they read. This can mean good news or bad news, depending on what kind of online reputation you have. Here’s what you should do to ensure your online presence is stigma free.

1. Check For Activity Around Your Name

Monitor online activity connected to your name; Google yourself frequently. Set up an RSS news feed for your full name. Read the feeds now and then to know if your name is coming up in any news stories or blogs.

2. Make Sure You’re Not Mistaken For Someone Else

Register a domain name under your full name. Also, register as a member on every social networking site using your full name. By doing these, you can ensure that someone else does not falsely set up their online presence using your name.

3. Watch What You Post

Sometimes, the most innocuous entry can work against you, and most of the time, these entries are made by you. Recruiters watch out for online mentions and eliminate candidates based on what they find on the web. So if you’re unhappy about your job and want to crib, don’t do it online.

4. Create A Positive Digital Presence

Don’t ever let someone else establish your online reputation. You should do it yourself. Set up a clean, positive image through professional and social networking profiles, personal blog and professional website. This is your personal insurance against potential damage. Being digitally non-existent is just as detrimental to one’s reputation as having a bad digital presence.

5. Use Google Profiles To Direct Search Results

Use Google Profiles to maneuver what appears first on search results. Use this tool to add positive connections to your profiles. Use professional pictures, link to good reputation building professional URLs, employment and contact information.

6. Opt Out Of People Search And Data Brokerage Services

If you have a highly searchable web history, remove your personal data from the top data aggregators, public record searches and web tracker services. The opting out procedure will vary for each service type. You’ll have to repeat this exercise, since new profiles will be created when there’s new info on you. Some of the top services are 123people.com, Acxiom, EmailFinder.com, InfoSpace and so on.

7. Use Google Privacy Center Tools

Use the tools included in the Google Privacy Center to monitor and manage your online reputation. You can also prevent Google websites from harvesting your personal data.

8. Disable Tracking Cookies

Prevent web trackers from installing tracking cookies on your computer. Use the opt-out form from Network Advertising to discourage web trackers.

9. Limit Your Online Aliases

Don’t create any number of online aliases on IMs, social networking pages and the like. Even long after you’ve stopped using them, they can be traced back to you. When you decide not to use an account anymore, delete it from the service provider’s server.

10. Use SEO

Use your personal blog to post positive articles about your industry or experiences. Make sure that you apply every possible SEO optimization strategy to your blog to ensure these articles come up top on search results.

11. Secure Your Online Accounts

Make sure you regularly change the passwords for your banking accounts, social networking accounts, and IM and email accounts. Also, log in to any service only when you want to use it; disable the ‘stay logged in’ feature. This will ensure that some bonehead won’t be able to access your account and post nasties about you online, or perform illegal transactions with your bank and ruin you.

12. Don’t Reveal Personal Information

Even if you’re using a 100% (supposedly) connection, don’t share your complete personal information online. This means no one communication should contain your full name, address, and phone number, full date of birth, hometown details and information about family and friends. Any half-wit hacker can put this kind of information to any number of negative uses, to your total detriment.

13. Use Google Image Search

Try not to post pictures of yourself on photo-sharing websites unless it’s a secure site. Use Google Image Search to look for pictures of you that might be misused online.

14. Deal With Negative Reputation Immediately

If you find negative mentions of you on other blogs or networking sites, request the owners to remove them. The longer you allow the mentions to remain, the faster they’ll spread. If they don’t comply, you can resort to legal action; however, the first step should be to identify, isolate and address the issue immediately.

Source: http://www.vfacebook.net/online-reputation-management/