Off-Page' Search Engine Optimisation Clarified

Off-Page' Search Engine Optimisation Clarified

by Jason Kendall

On-Page SEO factors have been dealt with in a previous editorial. But the crux of SEO is off page. Imagine it as a 'voting' system. Site A gives a link (vote) to site B. They're suggesting the site is worth looking at.

The link to your site has two main parts. The full web address of the actual page being pointed to. And second, the 'anchor text' or 'keyword phrase' that is highlighted on the web-page for you to click. That page can then be seen as receiving one 'vote'. So, a tick to move the site higher up the listings for that phrase.

It is always so. The keyword phrase and targeted page are completely tied to each other. Or the process can't happen. The SE's know what search term to use for that page based on the anchor text. This is vital to understand: The search terms you will be listed for are completely determined by your anchor texts.

For this reason, a highlighted link with 'CLICK here to read more' would serve no SEO purpose - can you see why? 'Click Here' becomes the keyword phrase we've created a vote for. Who would choose to search for Click Here? Clearly no-one would!

That's why it's so necessary to use the right anchor text. For it represents all the phrases your site will be listed for. And by the way, if you DO Google "Click Here" you will always find the Adobe Reader download site at the top. Is that because it describes their site? Of course not! It's simply that 'click here' features on so many sites to download Adobe Reader.

So the Search Engines draw on the anchor text 'phrase'. It's quite sensible really. Search Engines seek to replicate how an actual person would look for something. But in many ways your actual page content is irrelevant. For if the text that is pointing to your site says Blue Flowers, then that is what you will be listed for! That's irrefutable!

Inevitably there are other things to consider... The Search Engines also take into account a pages' title and its wording. And many more factors too. They'll look, for example at how appropriate the relevancy is of the websites linking to yours.

The crux of it all is though that a mass of back links solves all the problems! And these need to be from as many different sites as possible - with the correct phrases used as anchor text. The 'authority' of a site also plays a major part: Receiving a link from a top site like Microsoft is much more valuable than one from a start-up site.

Selecting the right keywords to build ratings for is quite technical. Always perform keyword research, and check out what the competition are using. But this is the crux of the thing... When someone is looking for your product, what words do they use for their search? Find the answer to that, and you've got your keywords.

Interesting answers often come up when you do your researches and tests. As a matter of fact, the phrases are very often not at all what you'd expect. Human beings are odd creatures and we all have our own ideas of how to find what we want. You may think to Google "quality mattresses" if you're hoping to sleep better. While someone else might automatically think to say 'I need more sleep'.

Would you really want to trust your marketing to vague ideas and feelings about what might be typed in? DO NOT under-estimate the value that well-phrased keywords can carry. The amount of traffic you'll receive is intrinsically linked to this. A comparison could be made with a Business Yellow Pages entry. If you've been entered as a Florist, but you're actually an electrician, you're not going to get anywhere. Similarly, for effective and profitable optimisation on-line, you must perform thorough keyword research and analysis. - 20490

(C) Jay Kendall. Hop over to EvolveSEM.co.uk for logical ideas on (http://www.evolvesem.co.uk/SEM_Consultants.html) SEM Service and (http://www.evolvesem.co.uk/SEO_Consultants.html) SEO Service.

Mission Control: Putting Our Purpose Above Our Goals

Mission Control: Putting Our Purpose Above Our Goals

by Marshall Goldsmith

At the surface level, 'purpose' and 'goal' seem to be very similar. In fact, my thesaurus tells me they're synonyms. It might appear that we can use them interchangeably. But in parsing the definitions of these words, we discover they're as different as night and day.

Goals are the specific objectives we strive to achieve, usually within well-defined parameters of space, time and resources. On the other hand, purpose is abstract. It's the 'why' behind any thought or deed. Purpose is not about achieving an objective it is more of a way of life. Purpose is enduring, whereas goals can be created, adjusted and discarded as needed.

Going beyond mere semantics, you can see the variation between purpose and goals in what you do at work. Goals can be the targets you set regarding the recruitment, retention, development and progression of your organization's workforce.

In contrast, purpose should be what the goals serve. You establish those targets to achieve a greater overarching aim, one that benefits the business and its shareholders.

For instance, you wouldn't bring in 1,000 employees just for the purpose of making your workforce larger, would you? Of course not. (At least I hope not.)

On the other hand, you might set a goal of bringing in these employees to prepare your organization to support its purpose and to ensure the success of an exciting new growth opportunity.

We often get lost and confuse our goals with our purpose, both with our companies and our families. I will never forget teaching a leadership development session in a Fortune 500 company that not only involved executives - it involved the spouses or partners of the executives. As part of the session, executives received feedback from their partners.

Many executives learned that their partners felt ignored or put in 'second place' compared with work. When the executives were asked, 'Why are you working so hard?' they invariably said, 'Because I want my family to have a great life.' Their partners almost always replied, 'We have more money than we will ever spend. We would just like to see you more!'

Many executives had clearly let their goal (make a lot of money) become more important than their purpose (create a great life for themselves and their families).

I bring this up because the distinction between a goal and a purpose sometimes can be lost on talent management professionals - we can get so absorbed in our own limited objectives, thinking that these are our raison d'etre.

A good friend of mine left consulting to become the executive vice president of HR for a huge corporation. He reviewed a study of the company's employee benefits and found some benefits were costing the company millions of dollars and delivering very little that the employees actually valued.

When he suggested cutting the benefits to save the company money, he was told he was 'confused' by his HR staff members. They noted that cutting these benefits would mean a smaller budget for the HR department and less power for them. They had become so interested in 'building their empires,' they had forgotten about making a return on investment for their stockholders.

The idea that the purpose of the organization should come before the goals of any one part of the business seems to be simple enough. Yet why do many of the leaders in talent management (and to be fair, in other areas of business, as well) so often fail to get it?

The answer is rather simple: When a goal is designated, it tends to become a fixation for highly motivated people. Add to that the pressures that come with tight deadlines, struggles for finite resources and organizational turf battles, and it's not hard to see how our own goals can absorb any of us.

The solution to this problem is equally simple, although it isn't necessarily easy. It requires honest, perhaps even painful, introspection and reflection. Conduct a thorough analysis of your goals. Ask yourself, 'What goals are consuming my time and energy?' and 'What goals are consuming the company's resources?' Rank your goals in terms of cost. Then look at the true purpose of your organization. Rank your goals in terms of 'contribution to the purpose.'

If we are honest in our assessments, most of us will find some clear discrepancies between 'cost of goal achievement' and 'contribution to our purpose.'

When this happens, we can step back, take a breath and realign our goals, successfully completing our 'to do' list with our purpose - successfully doing what really matters. - 20490

Canadian Management Centre offers a wide range of (http://www.cmctraining.org) training and development courses for professionals including IT professional development, sales training, (http://www.cmctraining.org/ottawa/) leadership training Ottawa and many others designed for today's professionals.