PAID LINKS..

SEO - Paid Links

Debating about whether purchasing links, reviews, considerations, etc. is ethical or not is something we'll leave up the individual. Search engines would prefer that all links are natural, but the fact of the matter is that a substantial number of the links on the internet have been paid for in one way or another. Be sure to check out Google's official policy on paid links.
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That aside, let's talk about the different kinds of paid links you have access to and some strategies for getting the best bang for your buck.
Permanent Vs. Temporary Links

The most temporary a link can be is a paid placement on a search engine. When you sign up with Microsoft, Yahoo, or Google to pay for an advertisement spot for a given keyword, you are not buying a link; you are buying a paid listing in the search results that is not guaranteed to even show up. Search engines do not index these links, and they are completely ignored when they are determining how much of an authority your site is. This is a common misconception among newbies, and you should be glad that you won't be wasting any money on your SEO efforts purchasing paid placements on the big search engines.

Moving away from search engines, however, most websites allow you to purchase a monthly text link or banner placement in a designated "sponsor" section. While this type of temporary link might give you some good click through traffic, the benefit in terms of SEO is limited. Search engines can take months before they credit your site with the new link, so if you only purchase a one month placement, you'll probably not see a change in your rankings. For SEO purposes, try to keep a link for at least three months before deciding if it's worth keeping.

On the flip side, a permanent link might be a placement in a website's link section, a review on a blog, or even a new topic posted on a forum. These links are typically forever, unless a site is taken offline (happens more than you'll like) or the site is sold and redone. These nearly-permanent links are the best for SEO and are key to building up your site's authority with the search engines in the long-term.
Where to Buy Links

There are several places to buy links. Some types of purchasable links have been around for years, and others are quite new. Expect to see this list change in the future, as it's one of the more volatile parts of SEO there is.

    Directories
    Forum Signatures
    Text Link Ads
    Blog Reviews
    Directly Contacting a Webmaster

Directories

There are literally millions of directories that you can submit your website to. Not only that, but there are services out there that will automatically submit your site to hundreds of directories, for a fee. These directories and services are, for the most part, worthless. The search engines caught on long ago to the people mass-submitting to directories, and now, only a select few directories pass on the link love they used to.

It should be noted that directories which are easy to get into are most likely going to contain a great deal of poor-quality sites. When the search engines figure out that a directory is not filtering submissions, the value of the link will be worth next to nothing. This is why we recommend that you focus on the three directories listed below (or niche directories for your industry). Avoid low quality general directories!
DMOZ

Viewed as the golden child of Google, the dmoz directory has often been the source of much anger and frustration from webmasters trying to get their site listed in this king of directories. Although the value of a link has decreased over the years, a link from dmoz.org can still significantly affect your search rankings. To be listed on dmoz all, you need to do is navigate to a category related to your site and submit a free submission.

However, don't expect an immediate response. dmoz is notorious for being slow to add links (and sometimes never) for a variety of reasons they probably won't tell you. Also, if you resubmit your site to a category you are often placed at the end of the queue, so don't submit more than once a year and hope for the best!
Best of the Web

One of the oldest sites on the net, Best of the Web has been around since 1994 and is pretty strict about who they let into their directory. To be considered for a listing you must pay a fee. They also have two different types of payment plans: annual or lifetime. If you're serious about your site being successful on the search engines, pay the lifetime fee, as it will pay for itself soon enough.
Yahoo

Yahoo's directory is similar to Best of the Web, but the quality is a little less. However, all search engines still consider this a valuable directory and a listing here will definitely boost your rankings.
Forum Signatures

Forums are a great source of traffic and link love for sites that are just starting out. First you need to find a forum that supports links in the signature, then you simply have to post on the forums to get links. Another option is to sponsor a member of that forum in exchange for them including a link to your website. However, it should be noted that some forums do not allow this, and you should research this issue before investing any money.

Important note: Some forums have a system where links are automatically marked with the attribute "nofollow", which means that they are marking the links as untrusted. Read up on our no follow lesson to see how this will affect the link love you receive from that site.
Text Link Ads

Although this isn't exactly a permanent form of advertising, these types of links tend to be a bit more below the radar than a typical site sponsorship deal. There are several text link ad brokers that have a network of sites that are willing to put text links on their website in return for a monthly fee. At some of these sites you can even get placed on a single page on the site, rather than on every page (this is good because then your link doesn't look like a normal sponsored link!).
Blog Reviews

With the rise of blogging popularity, it was obvious that something was going to come along to allow the massive amount of bloggers to make an extra buck. Well, there is a new option for bloggers to make money using ReviewMe, SponsoredReview, PayPerPost, and V7NContextual. All of these sites have a network of bloggers that are waiting to make a post for your company if you're willing to pay a fee. These posts can range from a full review of your product to a simple mention of your website in a post that's about the industry you work in.

These links are forever, but make sure you don't purchase links from blogs that have too many paid posts. The search engines are getting better at sniffing these sites out and will often penalize these blogs, preventing them from giving out link love if all they do is post sponsored reviews.
Directly Contacting a Webmaster

Often, the best way to get a nice link on a website is to talk to the owner of the website directly. By doing this, you can select sites that do not have a great deal of paid links already, and you can get a whole bunch of value at a reasonable price. The downside to this approach is that it takes more time and effort than it does going through another company that has streamlined the process for you.

KEYWORD RESEARCH..

Keyword Research

Before you can start optimizing your site for the search engines, you must first know which terms you want to target. A good start would be to choose 3 or 4 keywords you would like your website to rank well for. With these keywords in your mind you can then set a goal to rank in the top 10 results on Google for each of them (we refer to Google because if you can rank well there, you'll rank well on the other search engines). These keywords can be either broad or specific, but you'll want to study our list of pros and cons of each before choosing.
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Broad Keywords

A broad keyword is one that many people search for, because they may only have a vague idea of what they're looking for. Broad keywords tend to be very short and aren't very specific (e.g. "shoes" or "sports"). These keywords are difficult to rank #1 for because so many other websites might have an article or two that mention shoes. However, if you can rank well for a broad keyword, you will be receiving a great deal of traffic.

Summary: Hard to rank for, but worth it in the long run. We recommend that beginners only choose a broad keyword if their industries are not very competitive.
Specific Keywords

A specific keyword is something that contains many adjectives or words that make the search very targeted. The people doing these types of searches know exactly what they want (e.g. "used black high heel shoes"). These keywords are much less competitive and are easier to rank for on search engines. The downside is that they receive a great deal less volume of searches per month. In terms of traffic, you will need to have several #1 rankings for specific keywords to equal one #1 ranking broad keyword.

Summary: Easier to rank for and it's highly targeted traffic. The only downside is that the number of visitors you will receive is relatively low.
Unique or Branded Keywords

These are the words that are specific to only your company. They are one of the most easiest ways to get traffic. However, some companies will release a new product, with a unique name, and then forget to optimize for that keyword on their website. Their SEO savvy competitors can then pick up the slack and take over the top rankings for these terms. If you have a popular brand or product, make sure that you have optimized for these freebie keywords.
Keyword Research Tools

Keyword research tools are 2 parts voodoo magic and 1 part hard statistic. This is partly due to Google not releasing actual numbers and partly due to overeager SEO Tool developers trying to sell their products. Because there is such a sizable uncertainty in all keyword research tools, it is best to use as many different sources as you can,. Even with multiple sources, you should only take the information you gather as a recommendation, rather than a fact.

Yahoo has been releasing their keyword search information for years, and many tools are based off of this specific data. We've collected a wide variety of helpful tools that will give you a general idea of which keywords you should target when making and optimizing your websites.
Picking a Short List

To put the optimizing tactics that we teach to good use, we recommend that you try to target no more than 2 or 3 keyword phrases per page. A common mistake by many SEO beginners is to stuff 500 different keywords on one page and wait for the #1 rankings to roll in. That might have worked 10 years ago, but the algorithms that search engines use these days are much more sophisticated and are not tricked by this. That's why it's best to start small, and be concise with the keywords that you choose. New sites in particular will find it nearly impossible to rank well for many keyword phrases upon first starting out.

PAGE RANK..

What is PageRank?

PageRank is a ranking system that previously was the foundation of the infamous search engine, Google. When search engines were first developed, they ranked all websites equally and would return results based only on the content and meta tags the pages contained. At the time, however, the PageRank system would revolutionize search engine rankings by including one key factor: a site's authority.
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To determine how important, or authoritative, a site was Google chose several big sites, such as cnn.com, dmoz.org, and espn.com. These sites were clear authorities, and Google figured that if these websites chose to link to another site (let's say site B), then site B would receive a piece of that site's authority. If site B were to link to another site (how about C), then site C would also receive a piece of authority, though much smaller.

Using this system of passing authority, Google would then count up how much authority a site had and give it a PageRank from 0 to 10. The PageRank system has become more complicated since then, but this is how it all started.
What's my PageRank?

If you would like to see what PageRank your site has or other sites have, install Google's Toolbar. Google has made a small green bar that starts at 0 page rank (a blank bar) all the way up to 10 (a full green bar, which is 100% authoritative). It should be noted that the PageRank shown in the toolbar is an estimate released by Google, and it is only updated every 3 months or so.
Who Uses PageRank?

When PageRank first came out, only Google was using the technology, but as other search engines have seen how much it improved Google's accuracy, nearly every search engine has added the PageRank system in to be at least part of their algorithm. In the past, while many of the search engines were still working on adding PageRank to their search algorithm, some couldn't wait to make their own and instead signed deals with Google to have them power their results (Yahoo did this for quite some time).

Apart from search engines, SEOs (Search Engine Optimization specialists), link buyers, webmasters, marketers, and anyone interested in a site's value will often look to the Google PageRank when trying to quickly determine the importance of a site.
How Important is PageRank?

When Google was in its childhood, PageRank was the single most important factor for ranking well. However, as soon as the SEO community caught on to this, there was a great deal of people who found ways to artificially boost their clients' PageRank. Those sites became more authoritative than Google thought they should be. Since then, Google and other search engines have constantly refined how important PageRank is, and its importance has definitely declined through the years.

One tactic Google uses is to update Google Toolbar PageRank values four times a year instead of every week, making it difficult for SEOs to know a site's real PageRank. Another tactic is to prevent a site that has been known to sell links from passing any of its PageRank (authority) on to sites that it links to. However, Google can't use that tactic too much because then they run the risk of preventing good sites from being ranked as they should be.

This is a battle between Google and SEOs that will not be ending anytime soon!
Where do I Get PageRank for my Site?

Now we've come to the part where you actually have to do work! It's tough, but getting a high PageRank for your site should definitely be part of your longterm SEO strategy.

The only way to get PageRank is to get a link from a site that already has PageRank. This means that getting a ton of links from PageRank 0 sites will not help your score. However, a single link from a site with a PageRank 6 can immediately boost your site to a PageRank 5 if the site is trusted by Google and is not linking to a massive amount of other sites.

The process of increasing your PageRank is directly tied to link acquisition. Link acquisition is getting links from other sites, be it via natural or through link purchasing. We cover both of these topics in greater detail, and you should read each lesson to learn more about the benefits and drawbacks of each.
Final Thoughts: PageRank

Although not nearly as important as it used to be, PageRank can still be the deciding factor that bumps your site to the top of the search engines. Not only that, but it is also a good indicator of which sites you should spend your most time trying to get links from. Sites with a PageRank 0 are either being punished by Google, or just have an authority of zero, nada, zilch, bupkis, and generally not worth your time.

White Hat & Black Hat SEO

White Hat SEO

 In search engine optimization (SEO) terminology, White Hat SEO refers to the usage of SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus on a human audience opposed to search engines and completely follows search engine rules and policies. For example, a Web site that is SEO optimized, yet focuses on relevancy and organic ranking is considered to be optimized using White Hat SEO practices. Some examples of White Hat SEO techniques include using keywords and keyword analysis, backlinking, link building to improve link popularity, and writing content for human readers White Hat SEO is more frequently used by those who intend to make a long-term investment on their Web site. Also called Ethical SEO.

Black Hat SEO

In search engine optimization (SEO) terminology, Black Hat SEO refers to the use of aggressive SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and not a human audience, and usually does not obey search engines rules. Some examples of Black Hat SEO techniques include keyword stuffing, invisible text and doorway pages. Black Hat SEO is more frequently used by those who are looking for a quick financial return on their Web site, rather than a long-term investment on their Web site. Black Hat SEO can possibly result in your Web site being banned from a search engine, however since the focus is usually on quick high return business models, most experts who use Black Hat SEO tactics consider being banned from search engines a somewhat irrelevant risk. Black Hat SEO may also be referred to as Unethical SEO or just  spamdexing, as spamdexing is a typical frequently used Black Hat SEO practice.

Why SEO is needed??

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is an art of optimizing a website/ webpage to boost its rank in search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc. Optimizing a website makes it understandable and readable to search engine spiders/robots thereby making it visible at a higher spot for related keyword searches.

Any website is capable of attaining search ranking and visibility if optimized in a proper manner. Apart from creating visibility on the web, SEO also enhances online exposure of a website/webpage and offers a branding to any online business. SEO involves improvement of numerous aspects of a website/webpage including site theme, design, quality, site link structure, directory structure, webpage content, site link structure, relevance etc.

After an SEO expert optimizes your website, you will see a significant rise in its traffic. Your website will be visited by targeted customers who search for relevant keywords on search engines. To direct targeted customers to your website, it is very important that your website ranks higher in the search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc.

We at Swans Technology have gone through a lot of analysis and research to come up with effective SEO techniques. We closely follow search engine guidelines to take your website to the top and maintain its ranking all through. While applying our SEO skills, we do a complete research on the reasons behind your website not being indexed. From modifying web structure and coding to changing design and presentation, we do whatever it takes to make your website noticeable to Search Engine robots/ spiders.

We believe that valuable content is the key to improved Google ranking. Original content that is valuable to the visitors is always appreciated by search engines. Original and valuable content plays a vital role in converting visitors into potential customers.

SEO Tools..

Similar Page Checker Search engines are known to penalize websites that contain duplicate / similar content. Your content could be similar to other websites on the Internet, or pages from within your own website could be similar to each other. This tool allows you to determine the percentage of similarity between two pages

Search Engine Spider Simulator This tool simulates a search engine crawler by displaying the contents of a webpage exactly how a search engine would see it. It also displays the links that a search engine would follow (crawl) when it visits the webpage.

Backlink Anchor Text Analysis This tool help you determine the link text used by your backlinks to link to your wesbite.

Backlink Builder This tool helps you build a LOT of quality backlinks. It searches for websites of the theme you specify that contain keyphrases like "Add link", "Add site", "Add URL", "Add URL", "Submit URL" etc, most of the results could be potential backlinks. Text links are important for ranking well in search engines.

Backlink Summary This tool will give you a summary of your competitors backlinks.

Keyword Density Checker This tool will crawl the specified URL, extract text as a search engine would, remove common stop words and displays the density of your keywords.

Redirect Check It is import that a search engine is able to follow any redirects that you may have set up. This tool helps you determine whether the redirect you have created is search engine friendly.

Link Price Calculator This tools will help you provide SEO Services by determining the appropriate amount you should be paying (or charging) per month for a text link (ad) on the specified URL.

Reciprocal Link Check This tool helps you ensure that your link partners are linking back to your website. It also determines the anchor text used by your link partners to link to your website.

Cloaking Checker This tools tries to detect whether a website is 'cloaking' it's contents for search engines

Domain Age Tool Older domains may get a slight edge in search engine rankings. This tool displays the approximate age of a website on the Internet and allows you to view how the website looked when it first started. It also helps you find out the age of your competitor's domains.

Keyword Suggestions Tool This tool will help you determine relevant and popular keywords related to your website.

Website Keyword Suggestions This tools tries to determine the theme of your website and provides keyword suggestions along with keyword traffic estimates.

URL Rewriting Tool This Search Engine Optimisation tool helps you convert dynamic URLs into static looking HTML URLs.

Keyword-Rich Domain Suggestion Tool Having a KEYWORD-RICH domain name is an important factor for Search Engine Optimization. This tool will suggest keyword rich domain names.

Alexa Rank Checker This SEO tool allows you to get the Alexa traffic rankings of you and your competitors.

Backlink Tracker Pro Free tool to check your paid / exchanged links. Get alerts when your backlinks have been removed or converted to nofollow links.

RULES FOR SEO

1.Focus on Your Keyword Portfolio, Not Rankings

Search engine users are getting smarter and more specific. Today, over 70 percent of searches online contain three or more words in the search query. Furthermore, Google reported that over 20 percent of search queries are completely new queries that had never been searched before! The long tail is where the growth is happening, and your strategy needs to be built around this growth.

Focusing on "fat head" keywords is an unbalanced strategy with diminishing returns. Marketers need to focus on increasing the number of keywords sending search traffic rather than improving a specific keyword position. This is known as your keyword portfolio.

2. Create Problem-Solving Content

Creating great content isn't rocket science. If you have trouble coming up with ideas, or you think your industry is too boring, focus instead on solving a customer's problem. This can be done easily by utilizing your organization's intellectual property to create how-to guides, white papers, or research studies. If you're in business, then you're solving problems! Combine people, processes, and software to scale content marketing.

3. Publish Content on Quality Sources

Last year's Penguin update eliminated the value of content published on untrusted websites. This includes low-quality websites, content farms and many "free" PR websites. Showing up in Google search is a lot like getting a job--it's your references that make the difference. Concentrate on earning references from high quality and trusted industry websites. Industry organizations and online communities are where you should be publishing content on a regular basis.

4. Distribute and Promote Content through Social Media

Social media is an extremely efficient channel for distributing and promoting your content. This includes content that you publish on your website, as well as content that you publish on highly trusted third-party websites. Social media channels enable you to reach millions instantly, as well as stay on the radar of search engine algorithms for topics related to your content. Google and Bing have both admitted to using social signals in their ranking algorithms, so social media engagement is a must-do for digital marketers.