One of the advantages of online professional development is how well-suited it is to measurement. You can easily measure things like visitor traffic, search engine positions, followers, like, etc, etc. And while I do think “more data” is generally a good thing, people tend to focus on all the wrong metrics. This is particularly true [...]
by Gyi Tsakalakis on May 17, 2012
in Search
“Give visitors the information they’re looking for Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. This is the single most important thing to do. If your pages contain useful information, their content will attract many visitors and entice webmasters to link to your site. In creating a helpful, information-rich site, write pages that clearly [...]
by Gyi Tsakalakis on May 8, 2012
in Search
The quote, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough,” has been attributed to Albert Einstein (h/t Victoria Nigar). I don’t know whether Einstein actually said this or not, but there’s a lot of wisdom in it. And so, here’s my simple explanation of SEO: SEO is creating technically sound web [...]
by Gyi Tsakalakis on April 23, 2012
in Search,Web
Search engines want to deliver the most popular pages in their results. One of the ways they measure a page’s popularity is the number and quality of links pointing to a page. So, if you want your pages to appear in search results, you need people to link to your pages. But how does one [...]
by Gyi Tsakalakis on April 5, 2012
in Search
I’m a big fan of Google’s search quality highlights. In February, I thought the local updates were among the most important. In these most recent updates, I’m hopeful that the anchor text update plays a significant role in my small neck of the web. Here’s how some of Google’s most recent updates may impact your [...]
by Gyi Tsakalakis on March 27, 2012
in Search
As reported by Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land, another link network bites the dust. Does this mark the beginning of a period of great change in search? Maybe. But maybe it’s just a PR move. In any event, here are some details about what’s been going on and who you should be avoiding (if [...]
I was, and although I haven’t seen it quite a while, still am, a pretty big fan of The Highlander. For those that haven’t had the pleasure of seeing it, The Highlander is about immortal swordsmen who battle each other to the death in order to receive “the quickening.” While allegiances and friendships often formed [...]
by Gyi Tsakalakis on March 21, 2012
in Search,Web
We’ve all seen it in the inbox: And in our comment filters: And in a whole bunch of other places online. It’s web spam. And we can talk about wearing different color hats, following webmaster guidelines, and the ethics of SEO. But in the end, there is only one solution for ending, or at least [...]
Over on Google Webmaster Central’s YouTube channel, Googler Maile Ohye shares 5 common SEO mistakes and 6 good ideas: Contrary to what many of the comments say, I found the video very helpful. You see, most people that become frustrated with Google’s vague SEO information, just don’t like the answers that they are getting. This [...]
In February, Google announced 40 changes reported, a new record for their monthly series on search quality. As you know, SEO for lawyers is different from SEO for just about every other business. While many of these changes probably won’t have much of an impact on your law firm’s online marketing, there are a couple [...]
Last night (for me at least) Rand posed the question: Is there a phrase (besides “inbound marketing”) that describes combined processes of SEO, Social, Content, CRO & Analytics to earn traffic? — Rand Fishkin (@randfish) March 9, 2012 And while, perhaps, all of these could fall under a very general umbrella of marketing, my impression [...]
According to SEMPO head terms are: Search terms that are short, popular and straightforward; e.g., “helicopter skiing.” These short terms are called “head terms” based on a bell-curve distribution of keyword usage that displays the high numbers of most-used terms at the “head” end of the bell curve graph. See also Tail Terms. At the [...]
Search engine optimizers spend a lot of time organizing websites and motivating signals that will help search engines understand what clients’ pages are about and help to increase their visibility within search engine results pages. In order to help search engines understand what pages are about, SEOs will add targeted keyword phrases to important HTML [...]
While there is no question that the web is moving in the direction of local and social search, links still remain one of the most important signals that search engines used to order sites. So, if you’re interested in increasing your visibility search engines, you must focus on attracting and building new links to your [...]
Masslomap Local Search for Law Firms View more presentations from Gyi Tsakalakis.
I’m not one to hate on the other guy, but people should have access to information about the products and services they’re buying. I recently received an email from 1&1 containing the subject line: 1&1 Search Engine Marketing Service: Be Found Online Faster Ah, search engine marketing from a hosting company. This should be interesting. [...]
When it comes to using search engines and the internet to market a law practice, there is still a lot of confusion out there. One area that many lawyers still don’t quite grasp are the differences between paid and organic search results. When it comes to understanding Google, including the differences between paid and organic [...]
What’s one of the first things people do when they meet someone personally for the first time? They shake hands. It’s expected. What’s one of the first things people do when they meet someone new professionally? They exchange business cards. It’s expected. And more and more, when we meet new people in this age of [...]
by Gyi Tsakalakis on February 16, 2012
in Search
While search engine optimization is moving more and more into the mainstream, it’s still largely misunderstood. Here’s my version.