It reiterates the importance Google places on incoming links, so let me repeat again, if you want to go after a competitive keyword term then you better have a lot of high quality links. For help on link building visit our link building packages.

Enough talk, go and read the article.

So, not to be left out in the cold, the key factors for number one websites in Bing seem to be:

• having an old domain name
• having quality inbound links, specifically from pages that have the same keywords in the title
• then the usual good amount of quality content (I’ve read Bing likes more than 300 words on a page), clean code and a sitemap

If you’ve done a good job of optimising your site for Google then your rankings shouldn’t be too different for Bing. If you’ve got loads of spammy links holding your website up in Google then these won’t help you in Bing. Bing seems to like better qualified links than Google – it’s about time!

Read more over at Bing

From Google:

“In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.”

We do recommend you carry out SEO on your website before engaging in link building as the end result will be much better. Prices start at $AU450 per month. Click here to order now.

Matt Cutts, Google, has released this video to explain more about why we can’t guarantee a number one ranking.

____ ends ____

I think one of the hardest aspects of our industry is making the client understand what you are doing. Having just had a conversation with prospective client this morning, she was at a loss to really understand what is good SEO and what is bad. She’s been using an SEO guy for about six months who appears to have done nothing to her website at all, but just provided her with automated reports, but since she didn’t understand them they weren’t passed on to her webmaster.

I sympathise with her. For a small business owner, you should not be expected to know the technical details about SEO, you should be able to trust the person or agency you’ve engaged to increase traffic to your website and they should be able to demonstrate this with monthly reports.

I’ve since emailed her a number of links to try to demystify SEO somewhat and thought they would be really useful to a lot of small business owners. Obviously you don’t want to know all about SEO, but you are going to have to know the basics if you want to avoid getting ripped off.

Google have provided a lot of information to dispel myths. Don’t forget to download and read their Search Engine Optimization Guide.

I recommend you start reading here, these provide good background information:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=70897&cbid=1qsbnd1hhxbgs&src=cb&lev=topic
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40349&cbid=-1jjfbjsqd41j6&src=cb&lev=topic
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=34432&cbid=1gbt9m2gel4jv&src=cb&lev=topic

The link below has more links to relevant information about appearing in Google. If you click the link below, I would suggest reading the link, “Site not appearing in search results, or appearing lower“.
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/topic.py?topic=8524

This link also has a list of articles that are relevant to you:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/topic.py?topic=8522

From the above link I recommend you read the General guidelines: “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)“. Actually this is probably the most important link. It will provide you with information about what to look for in an SEO agency and when to run away from a dodgy one.

Don’t forget to ask questions if you don’t understand. Your agency should be able to help you to understand what is needed to be done to improve the ranking and traffic of your website. You should get some information about their past success, either written references, data or be able to speak to some of their clients.

Once you’ve done that, check us out. We provide ethical search engine optimisation packages and link building services.

Google Afghanistan

Google Antigua and Barbuda

Google Anguilla

Google Armenia

Google Argentina

Google American Samoa

Google Austria

Google Australia

Google Azerbaijan

Google Bosnia & Herzegovina

Google Bangladesh

Google Belgium

Google Bulgaria

Google Bahrain

Google Burundi

Google Bolivia

Google Brazil

Google The Bahamas

Google Botswana

Google Belize

Google Canada

Google Congo

Google Rep. of Congo

Google Cote d’Ivoire

Google Cook Islands

Google Chile

Google China

Google Colombia

Google Costa Rica

Google Croatia

Google Cuba

Google Czech Republic

Google Djibouti

Google Denmark

Google Dominica

Google Dominican Republic

Google Ecuador

Google El Salvador

Google Estonia

Google Egypt

Google Ethiopia

Google Finland

Google Fiji

Google France

Google Georgia

Google Germany

Google Gibraltar

Google Greenland

Google Gambia

Google Greece

Google Guatemala

Google Guyana

Google Guernsey

Google Hong Kong

Google Honduras

Google Haiti

Google Hungary

Google Indonesia

Google Ireland

Google Israel

Google Isle of Man

Google India

Google Iceland

Google Italy

Google Jersey

Google Jamaica

Google Jordon

Google Japan

Google Kenya

Google Kyrgyzstan

Google Korea­

Google Kazakhstan

Google Liechtenstein

Google Sri Lanka

Google Lesotho
[/column]
[column 2]
Google Lithuania

Google Luxemburg

Google Lithuania

Google Libya

Google Micronesia

Google Morocco

Google Moldova

Google Mongolia

Google Montserrat

Google Malta

Google Mauritius

Google Malawi

Google Mexico

Google Malaysia

Google Namibia

Google Nauru

Google New Zealand

Google Nepal

Google Netherlands

Google Nicaragua

Google Nigeria

Google Niue

Google Norwegian

Google Norfolk Island

Google Oman

Google Panama

Google Peru

Google Philippines

Google Pakistan

Google Poland

Google Pitcairn Islands

Google Puerto Rico

Google Portugal

Google Paraguay

Google Qatar

Google Romania

Google Russia

Google Rwanda

Google Saudi Arabia

Google Solomon Islands

Google Spain

Google Seychelles

Google Sverige

Google Singapore

Google Saint Helena

Google Slovenija

Google Slovenia

Google Senegal

Google San Marino

Google Switzerland

Google Thailand

Google Tajikistan

Google Turkmenistan

Google Tonga

Google Timor

Google Turkey

Google Trinidad and Tobago

Google Taiwan

Google Ukraine

Google Uganda

Google United Arab Emirates

Google UK

Google Uruguay

Google USA

Google Uzbekiston

Google Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Google Venezuela

Google British Virgin Islands

Google Virgin Islands

Google Vietnam

Google Vanuatu

Google Samoa

Google South Africa

Google Zambia
[/column][end_columns]

It really is SEO 101, but it’s a great lesson to new website owners that there is no substitute for a quality website when it comes to chasing a high search engine position.

Download the Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide here.

Sounds promising, but as Google worry about giving away too much information for fear of their competition, I don’t think we’re going to read about anything too revealing. Anyway, it’s certainly a blog post to watch, read more here:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/introduction-to-google-search-quality.html

Read Jill’s article here: http://www.talentzoo.com/website/columns/ColumnContent.aspx?Id=2140

From these first two articles, it looks like you will be able to SEO like a pro once you’ve read all her articles.

So far there’s:

Part One – Hunting for Keyword Phrases

Part Two – Creating a Keyword Phrase Map

And if you want to listen to Jill, you can download her podcasts on the emarketing talkshow

Actually you should, she sounds nothing like you’d expect from her photos. It’s like listening to your 8 year old niece talk about SEO…