Christian Reads… (So You Don’t Have To) – SEO Edition – January 2012 (Part Deux)
Welcome to another January edition of Christian Reads… (So You Don’t Have To) – SEO Edition. Since January has 5 weeks, I’m up again so I’m labeling this edition as “part deux” (inspiration for this is below):
So let’s get moving and see what was shared in the latter half of January 2012:
6 Reasons To Bid On Branded PPC Keywords
While more about paid search than SEO, there are some good SEO nuggets of info in this post that was written by the boss man here at Amplify. One nice nugget? If you bid on branded keywords in paid search and have a high position in organic search, you get a nice bump in click through rate and conversion rate! How much? You’ll have to read the article to see.
.htaccess Files For The Rest of Us
I’d like to think most SEOs know what an htaccess file is and what it does. I’d also like to think that most SEOs could give specific recommendations of what to include in that file instead of just “you need 301 redirects.” If you don’t know much about htaccess files or need a nice refresher, this is a fantastic resource.
What’s New With Sitemaps
The Google Webmaster Central blog keeps us up-to-date with some recent changes they’ve made with information they’re presenting about your submitted sitemaps in Google Webmaster Tools. I’m loving the new visualizations they’re showing!
Google – Page Layout Algorithm Update
Google rolled out a new algorithmic change that looks at the layout of the webpage and the amount of content you see on the page once you click on the result. If you tend to have an excessive amount of ads “above the fold”, Google will start to dock you in the organic search listings, as they want to show relevant results to users. Google is reporting that this algorithmic change is affecting less than 1% of searches globally… so, really, if you’re just going overboard with the ads, then this might affect you.
21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic
This post is a BEAST! And it beasts, too! Presented are some sure-fire ways that you help increase traffic to your blog. It hits on everything from performing keyword research for topic ideas to content syndication. A lot of these tactics, I would think, a lot of bloggers already do… but they don’t do a good enough job at to really see the results.
4+ Recommendations To Enhance B2B SEO Initiatives
This article hits on four things marketers can implement to increase search referrals as well as help promote link building and social sharing. The author information tagging item (with using the rel=author tag) is something that we really are pushing to our clients.
Anchor Text Distribution: Avoiding Over Optimization
This was a quality YouMoz that was posted recently that goes over some good facts on how to properly define an anchor text optimization strategy. Geoff Kenyon suggests a 7:3 ratio (non-targeted keyword in anchor text to targeted keyword in anchor text) and presents some data that he has collected.
My Own Personal Christian Reads…
I’m currently reading Equally Shared Parenting, as my wife and I have decided that this is the kind of parenting style we’re actually kind of already exhibiting and wish to really pursue it.
Readers Read… (So I Don’t Have To)
What have I missed? Did you read anything really awesome in late January that you’d like to share? Please let me know in the comments!
Hi Christian – I almost didn’t open your email because the title was “Christian Reads.” I thought it was a religious site.
Love your blog posts tho! JW
Thank you Christian. An excellent selection of news in January, thanks for the useful links!
Hey Jill -
I get that a lot