Guest Post By: Rex Liu, Intern Vertical Measures

Google released their latest innovation, Google Instant, yesterday in the hopes of improving the wheel we call a “search engine”.  Google believes that they can save about 2-5 seconds per search for everyday users, which amounts to about 11 hours every second.  This seems like skewed data that is likely based on slow typers.  However, this doesn’t change the fact that this is a pretty sweet innovation Google has come up with.

Here are the Google figures on their Google Instant page.

When you use Google Instant you will notice that the pages update in real time to display results for the top completion of what you have typed, which means that you will be seeing, and maybe visiting, websites much faster than before and likely without using the search function of the page.  You’ll also notice that the search results will be local and personalized, which means that all of your search history and any local search data will be used to propagate the results.  Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way to get Instant to not use my personal data or IP to determine my local results.  These are the results that I came up with when I did my Instant searches using every letter in the alphabet by itself.

Ultimately Google Instant will not change the results displayed in search, but it will change the way users utilize search.  It’s too early to predict how it will change the way users use search engines and how significant the impact will be on SEO.

Your results will likely be different than mine based on your location and your past search history.  How do you feel about Google Instant and what are your results?  And what sort of impacts do you predict Google Instant will have on SEO?

Elise Redlin-Cook

Elise is the Content & Marketing Manager at Vertical Measures, an internet marketing company in sunny Arizona providing services ranging from content marketing, to social media marketing, link building, and advanced SEO. She’s fully immersed herself into the world of content marketing and content strategy and is the managing editor of this blog.

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Very often, people who professionally optimize websites for search engines come to a point where they focus exclusively on the big picture of site rankings and the associated link building.  While link builders can’t usually be charged with myopic vision and inflexibility in their methods, sweating the little details isn’t generally on the collective agenda either, especially when trying to promote multiple sites simultaneously.

Many times a new focused strategy or technique may not seem worthwhile because of the huge amount of top-level searching and otherwise time-consuming processes needed to begin the undertaking.  Faced with the option of using tried-and-true tactics for good rankings with the major search players or experimenting with new techniques like social media, niche marketing, local search & directories, and video optimization, many will choose to do what they’ve always done in the past simply because they know they can meet their deadlines that way.

In the long run, though, most seasoned SEOs would agree that experimentation with less-often used sites like local and niche search engines pays off in many valuable ways.  Not only is there simply more “link space” to be had by promoting a site across local search engines and other sites specifically devoted to the same vertical markets, but the act of using them for research brings up results that would otherwise remain hidden if the major search engines and common site tools are the only methods used.

Pushpins on the Map

Regardless of the global nature of the Internet, geography still plays a huge role in determining which sites get listed where.  For example, a site that has a local store and doesn’t sell their products online has no choice but to focus their web marketing on local search engines and directories, since almost all potential paying customers have to be in their city.  Using local directories for an example like that makes sense, but it makes equally good sense to use local and niche search engines and directories for a website that does every bit of their business online; it simply gives them another avenue by which to be discovered, along with precious links from generally decent and respected sites.  In addition, there are a few local business sites that don’t seem to care if the business is actually local, which means that there are some free backlinks to be had from them.

Social Connections

            By now it’s no secret that social media plays a large and steadily increasing role in many aspects of web marketing.  From the search engine side of things, they’re valuable in all the obvious ways:  Social networking platforms are often popular, regularly updated, and respected sites with an enormous amount of unique and (somewhat) organized content.  Therefore, all the normal bookmarking, voting, and commenting techniques apply well to this arena.  Beyond that, though, there’s an added benefit to having one’s content on a social media site:  A huge potential audience.  Of course, depending on what exactly is being promoted, there may not be a huge user response to whatever you’ve contributed on social sites, but that really doesn’t matter so much.  It’s great when other users are really excited about something that they’ve been informed about through the network and begin to interact, because it draws search engine attention.  If it’s at all possible, it’s wise to submit humorous or valuable content that only subtly resembles marketing material.

            By exploring the furthest reaches of the web and even some places that seem less than worthwhile, one’s SEO efforts will be improved tangibly.  Furthermore, the link builder who takes the time to do this research will certainly be exposed to different opportunities that would remain hidden if working exclusively within the confines of their historical precedent.  Make sure to stop back at this blog tomorrow for part 2 of this post, where we will take a look at some niche search engines and examine their usefulness for optimization and research.

Vertical Measures

By now, most webmasters know that link popularity is the single most important factor in driving top search engine rankings. But did you know that some some links can actually kill your search engine rankings?

The importance of links has led to the creation of "links programs" such as LinksToYou and others. If you’re already in a links program, hold on to your hat, because I’ve got bad news for you.

How Links Programs Work:
In a links program, every member of the program uploads a page or pages to their website. These pages carry links to the other program participants’ websites.

Why They Don’t Help Search Engine Rankings:
All of the major search engines are aware of these programs, and most of them use automated processes to weed out "identical" pages. Even if a search engine recognizes the link, they won’t give it much weight.

How Links Programs Can Kill Your Business:
The most popular search engine in the world today is Google. In late 2000, Google began a systematic campaign of permanently removing links program participants from their index. Altavista has begun a similar program, although recent problems kept them from executing it.

Don’t the operators of links programs know all this?
Of course they do, yet they continue to operate and proliferate. Tobacco companies know cigarettes kill people, yet they continue to sell them.

What To Do If You’re In A Links Program:
First, immediately remove all of the program’s pages from your site. Second, remove all the links they had you set up on your other pages. Third, if possible, cancel your membership… then get to work creating some legitimate link popularity.

Creating True Link Popularity

If you want your site to have lasting popularity and relevance with the search engines, you need links from related sites. Dedicate 10 minutes a day to locating and contacting other webmasters to swap links, adding your site to directories, and publishing articles in your area of expertise.

Create Multiple Layers Of Links
For some search engines, links to your home page are good enough. At least some of your links, though, should be targeted at your internal pages. For example, if your site sells tools for gardeners, get some links set up to your "how to" and FAQ pages too. This will help you get more of your site’s content into the search engine, and increase referrals significantly.

Get Those Links Indexed!
It doesn’t do you any good to set up links if the search engines never find them. You can submit the pages that link to you, but most search engines nowadays won’t index them unless there are other links to those pages somewhere on the web. Consider adding a "resources" page to your site, linked from your home page, with links to all the individual pages that link to you.

My Secret Recipe: How To Make Sure Your Links Get Indexed
In order to ensure that the links pointing to your site get indexed, you really have to take an additional step, and set up a second domain and website – ideally with a completely different hosting provider. For instance, the gardening website in the above example might need a partner site like "gardening-resources.com" with a single page linked to every webpage that links to your site.

Once you’ve set up the secondary domain, add a link to it from your main site’s home page, and wait for the search engines to index it. Don’t forget to link back to your main site, of course. You should submit this additional site to the same directories that you use to list your primary site.

It also helps to ask for an additional link to your secondary domain when you set up links swaps. Just explain how the secondary site helps both partners, by adding link popularity and helping the links pages get indexed. Any sensible webmaster will gladly add the second link.

What Happens Next?
As the link popularity of both of your sites grows, they begin to feed on each other. Don’t neglect to track any search engine referrals to your secondary site – if they grow to a high level, you may want to turn it into more than just a links page. If you’ve done a good job of optimizing your primary site, though, chances are your secondary site will never outrank your primary site on any search.

If you take these initial steps today, and commit to a program of link building for ten minutes a day, your site’s traffic will begin to rise dramatically within just 2-3 months, and it should only get better if you stick with the program.

Provided by Dan Thies.  Check out his Search Engine Optimization Fast Start.

[tags] link popularity, search engine optimization, search engines, webmasters [/tags]

Vertical Measures