Kristi Hines - cognitiveSEO Author

Once your small business has determined what keywords to target through keyword research, your next goal is to make sure your website is optimized for these keywords. Otherwise, you won't get the most out of your link building and PPC campaigns. In this post, we're going to look at the best ways to make sure your website is properly keyword optimized so that the right pages rank for the right keywords. Matching the Appropriate Keywords to Your Website's Pages Chances are during your keywor [...]

Ready to dive into search engine optimization for your small business? It this series, we're going to look at the common concerns you may have about SEO, from whether to do it yourself or hire a consultant to the things you need to know and tools you should be using regardless of whether you are working with an agency or an in-house team. In today's post, we'll start with the considerations you should make when choosing to who ail handle your search marketing. In-House SEO Team Choosing an [...]

Want to capitalize on the trend of using infographics as link bait? Then you'll want to do a little research on the types of infographics that get the most links. Find Infographics in Competitor's Top Linked Pages If you know your competitors are using infographics for link bait, then your best bet is to start by doing a little digging into their backlink profile to see which infographics make a dent. You can start with the inBound Link Analysis tool's list of top linked pages to see if infogr [...]

It has been almost two years since the first Google Panda update went live. The biggest hits from that update were dealt to sites Google designated as content farms. Some well-known websites from the article marketing world suffered the greatest loss of visibility and keywords in search. These included article directories used heavily by online marketers and SEO's such as EzineArticles with a 90% visibility loss and Hubpages with a 87% visibility loss. In this post, we're going to look at how [...]

The world of link building is rapidly changing thanks to Google algorithms. Along with the loss of article marketing, blog networks, and other link strategies, the question remains: is link building through guest blogging on its way out too? The first piece of evidence to consider is the video by Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam team.   The second is the number of blogs that are closing their doors to guest post submissions. The reason the doors are closing and Google is [...]

Even in a post-Penguin world, a well-rounded link building campaign generally includes links from web directories. The key is to make sure you are submitting your websites to quality directories. Quality Directory Checklist Here are some ways to test a directory to see if it is a good fit for your link building strategy. Domain Authority First off, you will want to make sure that the directories you choose for building links to your website have a good domain authority, Google PageRank, [...]

If you have a local business, or a business with some local aspect, then you can incorporate local link building opportunities into your SEO strategy. This can help you gain more variety in your backlinks as well as get exposure with your geo-targeted audience. The following are various local link building opportunities you can pursue for your business website and have a higher chance to increase your local rankings. Local Review Sites If you're not interested in the reputation management bene [...]

Link building isn't always about discovering new opportunities. Sometimes it can simply involve taking advantage of opportunities that already exist but haven't been tapped into yet. The following are five strategies you can use to claim links that you rightfully deserve. Photo Credit: dcJohn on Flickr Google Alerts for Brand Mentions If someone mentions your name, your business name, or your website online, then you'll likely want them to link to you to. Google Alerts makes it easy to [...]

When it comes to link building, the link request can make or break the deal. Webmasters can be immediately turned off by a request just from the introduction. This is because many have been overwhelmed by irrelevant, impersonalized link requests in the past. This is where using a link building persona can come in handy. It takes a little evaluation of the site you are targeting and the person (webmaster) you are going to email to decide what persona to go with, but if you choose the right one [...]

Want to take a new approach at link building in 2013? One way to do it is by taking the focus off of building links for rankings and start focusing on building links that lead to direct traffic and sales. Here are some ways to build conversion-oriented links for your 2013 link building campaign. Look For Advertising Networks / Directories with Real Customer Traffic There are lots of directories out there that receive tons of traffic, but that traffic isn't necessarily the kind that will lead t [...]