Keeping your company’s SEO up-to-date can be one tough job. Just when you think you know it all, something about Google and their ranking system changes in an instant. That is why you have to stop thinking about the actual way Google functions, and begin to think about how you want Google to work for you.

This may sound difficult, but really all you need to do is put yourself in Google’s shoes; take charge of the task of ranking your own results, instead of having something else do it for you. Yes, Google’s algorithm comes in handy, however you have to understand exactly how it works if you want to be successful with your company’s SEO.

The way it works is one result usually gets clicked on more than others. The user, more often than not, browses the initial page for a few seconds at maximum, and then navigates back to the results page, to find an alternate result.

In the meantime, there are other results that receive a lot of clicks too. Typically, when users click on the next result they tend to explore the page longer, and in some cases they won’t even go back to the main results page to search for anything else. They also do not alter what they are looking for. So the question is, which page is really more suitable in terms of content for their specific investigation?

Now, is when you must ask yourself if bounce rate should be a legitimate ranking factor. The ability to view both pages to decide which is better is in your hands. At this time you have to begin to think outside of the box—imagine that you are the Google algorithm, and you are in charge of ranking worldwide data for all of these information seekers. You also have over 200 signs that assist you in concluding which page should receive higher rankings.

Although Google’s algorithm may not specifically use bounce rate, they are using something that is relevant to it. It is known that the algorithm serves as a ranking system which utilizes a bounce back to the path of the SERP. However, it is unclear whether or not Google is actually using bounce rate as a factor, or if they are using a similar or specific part of it.
There have been many commentators and speculations from SEO experts about what tactics Google has chosen to go with. Google’s very own Matt Cutts had suggested in a video that bounce rate is not in any way used in their algorithm as a ranking tool. He sort of danced around the subject picking and choosing his words cautiously.

Although there may be many theories and educated suggestions behind the Google algorithm, it is not known exactly what goes into the making of the new Panda update. This just means you really have to concentrate on creating your page to be the best of the best.

You want your page to be the solution to the problem that the users are experiencing. In reality, that is the main focus of search ranking normally. All search indicators aside, you still want to make sure that you are distributing top notch solutions for the inquiry.

Remember, you want to prevent visitors from exiting your page, before they are even able to finish what they were looking to do. So stay on your tip-toes when it comes to keeping your site updated with its best content. Make sure that you give them the answer that they are looking for, that way they won’t have to go elsewhere to find it!

What are your feelings about bounce rate in the post-Panda atmosphere? Let us know its effects on you!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical when it comes to running your own business on the internet. One of your main objectives as a blogger or a webmaster should be to increase as much traffic flow to your website as possible. There is a greater chance of owning and operating a successful business and website with more publicity your content receives from the amplified traffic.

Here are some helpful SEO suggestions that you might want to try out!

Original Content

Ok, this might seem like it is an obvious tip that you have already picked up on. But, there are so many reasons why it is imperative to have your own quality and unique content up on your site. It may take a lot of research and time, but in the end it will all be worth it.

When you do research and spend time keeping yourself updated on the latest websites it may help to fuel your own fire and give you new ideas, which is so important because people do not want to read the same content that they saw on someone else’s blog, or see the same material that is on another site.

Furthermore, search engines are looking for unique content.  Bing, Google … you name it – they’re all crawling for unique content.

Keep your material unique and flavorful. Hopefully this will make it resonate with your site visitors and search engine crawlers, resulting in greater rankings for your website.

Keeping Up

One of the worst things you can do is let your own website fall behind because it has old content that no one is interested in anymore.

As a blogger, you should make sure that you keep yourself updated with current news. If anything, as a blogger, it is important to be one step ahead of the game and get brand new information before anyone is aware of it or has published it.

This also is true if you have a website for your company. It is good to ensure to your visitors and customers that you are up to date with current technologies that they are searching for. Stay on your toes and work hard to provide your site visitors with fresh information and that will be a sure way to gain traffic for your website.

Just make sure not to slack off; the internet and technology are constantly changing, so just because you may want to take a break, think again!

Social Media Marketing

Now, more than ever it is very important that you are participating in social media marketing. Almost everyone has hopped onto the social media craze whether it is via Twitter, Facebook, etc. So it is important for your blog or business that you stay connected with the community. Social media is a great and simple way to bring in more traffic.

Google has also introduced Google Real Time Search, which is very useful when it comes to SEO. The way that it works is when something is typed into a Google Search the results that appear feature the most current Tweets and messages about a topic. The search results also contain links from sites such as Twitter, which encourages the visitors to interact with your website.

So the more that you participate on social media websites, the better it is to bring in traffic to your own page.

Hopefully these tips are useful to your blog or your business. Let us know if you have any insight on what could boost SEO.

As the blogging trend phenomenon takes over the web, more and more people are questioning which blogging software would be best for them to use. On one hand, we have the tough competitor WordPress, which is arguably the most popular blogging software of the modern technology world. And then of course there is Drupal, another fierce contender, which is more than just your average blogging software.

There are factors one must take into consideration when you decide what software to use when creating blogs.

• Do you have specific plans for your blog?
• Do you have expert computer software skills?
• Are you a solitaire blogger or are you looking to run multiple blogs with various authors?

All of these questions examine the type of blogger that you set out to be, and the expectations that you are seeking. But the biggest question that remains right now is plain and simple…WordPress or Drupal?

It seems to me that there are definite benefits to each program. Let’s do a short comparison:

WordPress

• Easy to install. “WordPress is arguably the most popular blogging software used today, and with good reason. It is extremely easy to install, even for newcomers,” (thesitewizard.com).
• If all you have the desire to do is blog without having to worry about programming code, WordPress makes it simple. User friendly.
• There are default themes provided for you, but if you really wanted to there are lots of third party WordPress themes that you can search for.
• Did somebody say Plug-ins?
• If you are a single blogger and you do not need the function of having separate blogs on one website where there are different users posting to multiple blogs then WordPress is optimal. Although with the latest versions, WordPress now has the built in option for multiple authors.

Drupal

• Upon installation, Drupal needs to be tweaked a bit, before it can be used for prime blogging. “Drupal is more than just a blogging tool, although more and more people are using it to blog. It is a full-fledged content management system (CMS), which means that you can use it to run your whole website, set up forums, shopping carts, normal web pages, etc. As a consequence of this, it is also considerably harder to set up than WordPress,” (thesitewizard.com).
• Beneficial if you know CSS/HTML and know how to write PHP programs. Otherwise, Drupal may not be for you.
• There are default/built in themes and templates on Drupal for starters. It is up to you and your knowledge of CSS/HTML/PHP, whether or not you want to take it a step further to design your own.
• Offers built in support for multiple blogs and authors as an option. If you are in the position of supervising other bloggers, Drupal could help you with that.

*Both WordPress and Drupal are free.

Both applications have different qualities to offer users. WordPress fronts a more simplistic approach, while Drupal might be a bit more multifaceted. Each program brings its own offering to the table. I think of it as the two being much like people, as in siblings or family members. While the two may appear to look or be very alike, they each have their own personalities or qualities, making them very different at the same time. Sometimes you might get along with them and sometimes you won’t. As Mike Cohen commented on ForTheLose.org, “I actually found it easier to switch one of my sites from Drupal to WordPress than it would have been to upgrade from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6.”

Subsequently, for someone who wants to blog but is by no means a master of computers and CSS/HTML/PHP/etc., then WordPress definitely is the way to go. It is easy to install and generally user friendly. If you are a beginner or want the easy ride and to start your own blog quickly, you should probably hop on the WordPress train, and won’t be likely to hit any bumps along the way.

For the more advanced user, Drupal can be the key ingredient to creating more than just a perfect blog; it can be the source of a more complex and profound website. According to a source from Webhostingtop.com, “Drupal is an original advanced content management system [CMS] providing the user with full control over the development of a website. Different from other CMS using WYSIWYG editors and basic interfaces, Drupal is specially designed for web developers.”

So, now that you have some background on each program, which one should you choose? Well for me, I think it is just personal preference, and also personal knowledge of each product, along with your computer skills or lack thereof. There is definitely going to be positives and negatives that come along with anything. In this great debate many would agree that for beginners WordPress’s simplicity is perfect, and for advanced users Drupal would be more beneficial due to the infinite amount of freedom and control that is disposable at your fingertips. Both WordPress and Drupal can be amazing products, it just depends if you are able to use them in the correct way or not. Ultimately what it will come down to is the experience, resources, time and willingness of the user to learn, as well as what specific needs they are trying to cater to.

Source(s):

• http://forthelose.org/drupal-vs-wordpress
• http://www.thesitewizard.com/general/wordpress-vs-drupal-vs-expression-engine.shtml
• http://webhostingtop.org/blog/338-drupal-and-wordpress