Marketing Smartt » Google

How To Search Google Without Personalized Search Results

Kyle Pearce — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:49:37 +0000

Google is now personalizing search results based upon your previous search history and your location (based on your IP address). Google has made it clear that personalizing search results is a significant part of its future search strategy so this is a trend that will continue. The result from personalized search is generally better and more accurate search results for most Google users.

However, if you want to search Google more objectively to see how your own website is ranking, for example, then Google’s personalized search can be very frustrating. Your website may be coming up first for important keywords when you are searching, but you’re not getting any traffic from these keywords because for everyone else you’re nowhere to be found on the first search results page. Fortunately, Google has made it easy to opt-out of the personalized search.

Disabling Personalized Search For All Searches

Here’s what you need to do:

First make sure you are logged out of your Google Account if you have one.
Next, perform a search on Google and then click on “Web History” in the top right corner of the search results page.
On the Web History page select “Disable customizations based on search activity” and you’re done.

Temporarily Disabling Personalized Search

If you want to only temporarily disable personalized search results, this is also possible. Try this:

If you don’t have a Google Account already (the one you would use for Gmail or Google Analytics) then sign up for an account.
Make sure you are logged into your account and then perform a search on Google.
Scroll down to the bottom of the first search results page and you will see the link for “View Customizations” at the bottom.

4. On the Search Customization Details page, you will see link a few lines from the bottom where you can view your search results “without these improvement”. Click on that link and you will now be shown non-personalized search results for your most recent search only.

There you go! You can now search Google more objectively.

5 Easy Ways to Rank Higher on Google

Kyle Pearce — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:08:52 +0000

Ranking high on Google isn’t all about SEO and HTML tricks, but about regularly creating compelling and useful content that encourages people to return to your website. The beauty of Internet Marketing is that if you are creating effective content, then ranking well within your niche will be easy, provided you follow some important online marketing principles.

These 5 easy steps to ranking higher on Google’s search are tested and proven techniques that will enable you to increase your website’s ranking and overall traffic. Follow each of these guidelines and you will begin to see results in a short period of time.

1. Submit Your Business to Google Local

If your business is targeting local search traffic, you need to add your business to Google’s Local Business Center. Since most location-specific searches on Google now display Google’s Local Listings alongside an embedded Google Map (look at an example here) at the top of the search results, a Google Local listing is absolutely necessary.

Once you have signed up for Google’s Local Business listings you can customize your business’ Google Local page with pictures, videos and customer reviews. Since many businesses fail to make a compelling Google Local page, if you add some interesting content and get a few of your customers to review your business you will rank well in the local listings.

2. Submit Your Website to High PageRank Directories

I recommend against paying to have your website listed in directories since Google has publicly announced recently that they are no longer passing on PageRank from many of the spam-like directories on the Internet. The only two paid directories that I have attained good results from and are worth paying for a listing on are Business.com and Yahoo’s directory (both cost $299 per submission).

The best free directory to be listed in is the Open Directory Project or DMOZ. Google considers listings in DMOZ to be a strong vote of confidence in your website and one listing in this directory means you also get listed in the hundreds of directory partners that index DMOZ listings. The problem with DMOZ is that because it is volunteer-run, it can often take 3-6 months to get listed in the directory. That is why you should submit your website right away to the proper category for your business and then re-submit your website a maximum of once every month until you finally get a listing. Other free directories with high PageRank that can produce decent results are SearchSight, Jayde, SoMuch, One Mission, Directory Storm, Infignos and Directory Free.

3. Get a Google Webmaster Account and Submit an XML Sitemap

A Google Webmaster account is an excellent tool for seeing how Google indexes your website and identifying any problems the Googlebot may be having with your website. In the Webmaster Tools section you can submit an XML Sitemap which will increase the number of pages of your website that Googlebot indexes and will also contribute to your website ranking higher.

Another useful feature is the site performance overview which measures the speed that your web pages load. Google has recently confirmed that site loading speed is a criteria used in their algorithm and that faster loading sites will rank better. For more information, you should read Google’s Webmaster Guidelines for creating effective content and ranking higher on their search engine.

4. Submit Articles to Article Directories

Writing interesting content and submitting it to article directories and syndication services is a great way to get vital backlinks to your website. When you submit to an article website like EzineArticles or Isnare, you can include a signature at the bottom that includes some author background and a few links back to your website. For the links to your website, make sure that you use targeted keywords in the link anchor to maximize the effectiveness of your article writing campaign.

5. Use to Google Keyword Tool to optimize your targeted keywords

Google’s Keyword Tool gives you the information about search volumes and popular keywords that you need to optimize your web pages. Identify important keyword related to your business niche and then create specific content and blog posts related to those keywords. To optimize the content, place the keywords in the title tag, h1 heading tag and 4 or 5 times over the course of the content page. It is also useful to use internal link anchors in the content that contains the particular keyword or search phrase you are targeting.

Well, there you have it. Follow these 5 steps and you will be on your way to a higher ranking on Google.

Image Credit: manfrys / flickr (cc)

SmarttNet Takes an Analytical Approach to Internet Marketing

Smartt Team — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:16:12 +0000

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – December 2, 2009

After 15 years of providing integrated Web solutions to businesses across Western Canada, Vancouver Internet marketing firm SmarttNet is setting out to help small and medium sized enterprises enter the profitable world of Web Analytics.

The recent addition of 4 Google Analytics Qualified Individuals to the company is a major expansion, but also a natural progression for SmarttNet, whose Chief Marketing Officer Martin Wong has always put hard numbers first when it comes to measuring the success of any marketing campaign.

“Web Analytics should be a cornerstone for any web strategy,” says Wong, “Especially with the economic downturn, it is absolutely essential for companies to measure and analyze any marketing activities. Web analytics can help you control your costs and optimize your return on investment by observing how your customers react and behave cross-channels.”

Google Analytics is a free and powerful tool that lets business owners measure website traffic and determine the effectiveness of their online marketing efforts. While it is free to install, small businesses stand to benefit greatly from the training and insights that Google Analytics Qualified Individuals can provide.

“Recent research from Forrester Research has shown that 75% of large enterprises consider Web Analytics technologies to be indispensable,” says Wong, “Through our expert implementation services and training programs, we want to bring the power of analytics to local businesses.”

SmarttNet is a full service Internet marketing firm with a long history of serving Vancouver’s business community. The company has roots as a connectivity provider and has since expanded to include co-location, web design, search engine optimization and social media marketing services.

With 4 Google Analytics Qualified Individuals in house, SmarttNet currently employs nearly ten percent of the 53 certified professionals in Canada.

For more information please contact

Jon Mandell
Writer and Media Specialist
jon.mandell@smartt.com
www.marketingsmartt.com

How to be on Top of Your Competition on Google

Smartt Team — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:55:26 +0000

If you’ve ever wondered what it is that your competitors are doing to rank number one on Google, you’re not alone. For many people the mere thought of ranking on the first page is an impossibility. Even with the all the talk about the importance search engine optimization (SEO), it’s still a mystery for many corporations how to out-rank your competitors.

Even through all the confusion, there is some good news. It’s not as hard as it seems. If you know what your competitors are doing, you can easily mimic the same process they used, do it better and out-rank them.
Click to Read More!

Research your competitors

Start by Googling the keywords that are relevant to your business or industry. These words should be words that are related to your business that people type into the search bar in order to find your product. Now, take a look at the top 10 results that come up on the first page. These are the businesses you want to learn about and study because you know they’re doing something right if they come up on the first page. Browse each of their sites and find out what they’re doing on their website that might be helping them rank so well. Look for these elements:

Blogs
Forums
Videos
Articles

All of these components of a website help sites rank well because they’re interactive and provide information. Make note if your competitors have any of these on their site.

Find your competitors’ keywords

Continuing with the top 10 sites from your Google search, your next step is to find out what keywords they’re using and optimizing their page for. Look in the code of the website and find what keywords they’re using. This will give you some more ideas as to what keywords you could be optimizing your page for. If it’s working for them, it could work for you as well.

Find your competitor’s links

Link building is the foundation of all SEO work so it’s crucial that you know what your competitors are doing to get their links. Use Yahoo! site explorer to find out who is linking to your competition. The number of back links a site has is an excellent indicator of its ranking on Google. The more incoming links it has, the higher its position.

So, however many links your competitors have, you’re going to have to get more. If they’re on the first page and don’t have many incoming links, then that’s good news – it’s less work for you. However, if you find they have hundreds or thousands of incoming links, you have your work cut out for you. But don’t worry, if they did it so can you. When you’re browsing the list of incoming links look for places where you can also add your own link. Forums, blogs, discussion groups and directories are all places you want to look for. If your competitors are there, you can be there as well. Participate in the same forums, comment on the same blogs and submit your site to the same directories. By piggybacking off the research they’ve already done, you’re cutting your work in half because you don’t have to find these sites by yourself.

The secret of getting on top of Google

Back links are the key to ranking well on Google. As long as you have the most back links with well optimized anchors, you will rise above your competition and out-rank them every time. It’s not difficult, but it will take a little work. To make this link building strategy work, start by getting one new link every day for the first two months. After that you can bump it up to two links a day for the third month. And from the fourth month and beyond, you can add up to three new links every day.