Category: SEO

Articles about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

  • China Internet Censorship – You Should Pay Attention To When Doing SEO

    China Internet Censorship – You Should Pay Attention To When Doing SEO

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comIn recent years, you can find that China is growing rapidly. According to some statistical reports, the number of internet users in China has increased with a double-digit percentage from year to year. And the average number of hours being spent on the internet has increased to 18 per week. This clearly shows that China is getting more and more influential on the internet. However, a lot of people have found that there is great censorship being conducted in this internet world.

    Due to some social issues, the Chinese government has adopted straight internet censorship. This form of Chinese internet censorship has created problems for businesses to enter Chinese market indeed. Even Google had encountered difficulties in positioning itself in China and considered to quit the market. Therefore, you should pay attention to some techniques that you should apply in order to conduct SEO in China effectively.

    In recent years, Chinese authority is working hard to eliminate the website which would have too much sex appeal. Therefore, you should not try to use some sexy images to do the SEO work for your website. The local search engines such as Baidu would have a straight control over this form of SEO technique and they would not rank your website at a high position in the results page if you try to use this kind of technique to promote your website.

    Since the government wants to emphasize the harmony in the society, businesses can consider using this as the central theme of the SEO work. They can consider using some keywords to show that this website is matching the social harmony and this can let the website pass the control or the censorship. However, businesses should also be aware of the fact that some Chinese citizens are fed up with the message of ‘harmony’. This means that they, as the final consumer, may not like that business website. Therefore, a great challenge for the businesses in China is to balance between the censorship and the satisfaction of customers needs.

    Some of the businesses would try to employ Chinese local consultants to help them design the keywords and the promotional tactics so that they can target Chinese citizens more. This is possible if you really want to have a firm base of customers in China in long run.

    To conclude, there are both opportunities and threats raised from the China internet censorship. With the control over the content in the internet world, you can see that harmful or negative messages about a business would not flow online easily. In other words, your business would not be intentionally harmed online. But you have to pay attention to the rules that the local Chinese search engine would apply in ranking the websites. If you do not follow this kind of rules, the work of SEO may be wasted. Therefore, altering the SEO techniques to suit Chinese search engine may be necessary and this is something that successful businesses would do in order to attract Chinese customers.

  • Overcoming Duplicate Contents with Search Engines

    Overcoming Duplicate Contents with Search Engines

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comA duplicate search is described in the World Wide Web as cheating, and in worst cases, plagiarism. Both acts are penalized accordingly. Aside from that, search engines may permanently delete your post in their indices upon detection of a duplicate content. These things may be scary, but you can deal with them all the same. There are a lot of ways in which you can prevent or handle cases of duplicate searches, and they may be all quite complicated.

    Since duplicate contents could possibly put your articles or your entire website in jeopardy, it is more advisable to avoid them. Also, you must understand that your site’s whole content is the one you should examine thoroughly, and not its codes. To prevent your content from having a duplicate search, read the following tips and tricks.

    If possible, make your content very much yours.
    Express your products and describe your website using your own words. Post everything according to your opinion. While you may find yourself having the same ideas as other webmasters, remember that there are still a thousand ways to express something. Try using creative and playful words all throughout your post. This way, you are sure that you have a personal touch on it and no one could possibly have the same and exact views as you do.

    Be consistent and careful in your links.
    Link your website and posts to other distinct URL’s. Try to manage your internal linking carefully.

    While there are some effective ways of avoiding duplicate contents, there are still some cases in which your article may turn out to be a duplicate of some other websites. To solve these hassles, follow these tips to help you fix that duplicate content problem.

    To know beforehand if your content has a duplicate, search the web for content checkers and post your articles or URL on their sites. Also, do not forget to indicate the URL you are going to use for your site and be consistent with it.

    If you are posting duplicate contents on different URL’s, use a 301 permanent redirect system to specify the certain URL you will use for your posts. Redirect your duplicate URL’s to your preferred one. This makes search engines locate ONLY your preferred URL in their results.

    If your content is included in an indexing search engine, wherein different URL’s all with the similar content are detected, you may use canonicalization to fix the problem. Canonicalization is done by using a rel=”canonical” link element in your site. Implement this link to indicate your preferred URL.

    Another way to resolve your duplicate content problems is by using URL parameter removal tool. Supported by most search engines today, this parameter handling tool easily notifies you if your post is a possible duplicate content.

  • Tips for Getting the Best out of Your Baidu Keyword Research Tool

    Tips for Getting the Best out of Your Baidu Keyword Research Tool

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comSEO campaign has been the primary concern of most search engines and advertisers today. Several companies came up with their own techniques of securing that most coveted top spot in search engine results. With this, Baidu, the premiere search engine company in China, produced their own SEO promotion, the Baidu Keyword Research Tool. Baidu Keyword tool is considered the most reliable keyword tool in the country, since it contains a vast number of search volumes.

    Baidu Keyword Research Tool is among the search engine marketing strategies offered by the Baidu Chinese. A means to achieve optimum ranks in the results of keyword searches, Baidu Keyword Tool provides advertisers with a simple, yet effective way of placing their websites on the search engine. With the use of some strategic keywords and PPC (Pay Per Click) services, advertisers are sure to get top spots in search engine results.

    Baidu Keyword tool, as mentioned, is a very simple way of promoting your website. However, following these useful tips in using it is an added advantage for you. Here are some tips to make sure that you get the most excellent results from your keyword tool. Baidu Keyword Tool and Baidu PPC Phoenix Nest are on the same platform. That means, they go hand in hand in providing services to clients. To access your keyword tool, you must first subscribe to Baidu’s PPC Phoenix Nest, where you can create your own account for your website. Baidu Keyword Research Tool is located on the topmost area of your PPC account.

    The keyword suggestion tool helps you create different keywords from a single word you entered. This makes your website more advantageous, since you are encouraged to generate several other words directly connected to your core keyword. Just use the suggestion tool indicated in your PPC account. Another task a Baidu Keyword tool can perform is the generation of keywords from a certain URL you entered.

    In making your core keyword, you must consider some things that could make your keywords more relevant. Include different forms of a certain word, for example, you can use both the singular and plural forms of nouns. Also, different verb tenses will help a lot in making your keyword more interesting and search engine friendly. Other essential keywords to include are the synonyms of various words, locations and places and your trademark or brand name.

    After generating your core keyword, try adding some of these relevant words as your keyword matches. They will act as additional support for your targeted keyword.

  • How to Use Baidu Zhishu

    How to Use Baidu Zhishu

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comAs China’s leading search engine company, Baidu lives up to their mission of providing only the highest quality service to the public. Over the years, the company continues to expand their scope through creating various improvements on how people can view web pages on the Internet. Thus, Baidu rose to become one the most sought after search engine sites worldwide.

    Baidu offers a wide range of services both for the public and their advertisers. Baidu Zhishu, one of the most recent additions in the company’s list of services, is an index of the latest trends in keyword searches. It presents the freshest and most popular searches made by millions of Baidu users in the country. In the Baidu Index, searches are categorized according to similar keywords, and are ranked based on how frequent people look for them. Also, users can search a keyword on the program and find out how many people looked for it in the past. With these, anyone can access the list of the top searches in the website in a certain time frame.

    More about the Baidu Index
    Aside from the hottest trends in the search engine, Baidu Index also provides news articles and charts connected to the keyword you are looking for. This is very helpful especially if you are searching for a relevant data that is currently in the news.

    Using the Baidu Index
    Baidu Index is such a very simple and easy to understand program. Here are the steps in making the most out of your Baidu Index. No sweat!

    Go to the index site, index.baidu.com, you can view the hottest trends in the search engine. The website displays the most popular searches made by the people. This is usually according to a certain time frame; within the month, for example. Baidu Index allows its users to view the hottest searches for even a year ago. To use this option, just click in your desired time frame, namely one month ago, a quarter, half of the year and the year ago.

    You can now view the latest and most popular searches in the website. However, if you want to know how often a particular keyword is searched by the site’s users, just type it in the search box provided. The searches with the same keyword are displayed, together with the number of people who searched for it. Charts and news articles connected to the keyword are also posted on your results.

    You can look for various keyword searches on the program. Also, you can compare three keywords at a time.

  • Duplicate Contents and How Search Engines Trace Them

    Duplicate Contents and How Search Engines Trace Them

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comThe Internet is such a very huge community, with over a million websites, pages and even viruses interconnected with each other. It is so great and widespread that sometimes ideas and contents can be easily duplicated or copied. Or in some cases, an individual posts the exact same words on two different domains, making two distinct websites. However, they still contain the same substance and may be tracked down by various search technologies. These are called duplicate contents. And how innocent though you may be of copying someone’s work or posting your articles in different websites, it’s still important to know what duplicate contents are and how search technologies trace them.

    What is a duplicate search?
    A duplicate search is essentially the same content posted on two or more distinct websites. Duplicate articles, or any other web contents for that matter, may contain the exact word for word account of the original one, while some have only a few parts changed in them.

    How Search Engines Find Duplicate Contents
    Articles with duplicate content may seem harmless; nonetheless, it’s when search engines detect them that you might be at a risk.

    Search bots crawl around the whole World Wide Web to provide results based on entered keywords. These bots are inclined to filter all the contents of various websites and dispose the unnecessary pages. When these bots trace duplicate materials, they will choose one article based on a certain standard. This article will be the one placed on the results list; and it might not be yours if you have a similar content.

    Search engines use different ways to detect duplicate contents. Google, for example, sorts contents through indexing search engine. This is done through the careful comparison of the contents of the websites. If Google finds multiple websites containing the same content, they are then sorted and ranked according to the search engine’s criteria. Several adjustments are made in the search engine’s indexing, and only the article which topped the rank is displayed as a search result.

    Here are some of the standards some other search technologies use to trace duplicate contents and eliminating them.

    Product Specifications
    There are a large number of products and services sold throughout the web. Also, there are as quite as many product descriptions available. More often than not, this gives rise to copying of reviews and articles. Other standards include changed print pages, canonicalization and the publishing of duplicate contents on different URL’s. While search engines actually attempt to trace the original one among the duplicate contents, it is still not that reliable. In the end, it’s a lot better just to avoid having one.

  • Tips to Help People Do SEO in the Chinese Market

    Tips to Help People Do SEO in the Chinese Market

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comSearch Engine Optimization, which is abbreviated as SEO, has become a leading Internet marketing tool. These days, if you want to reach a bigger market and earn bigger profits, you need to have a tried and tested strategy to be implemented in your website, which in itself must be designed in such a way as to attract and maintain customers. While SEO can be applied in any business from whichever part of the world, some countries have unique rules to follow which make business more challenging and exciting than usual.

    For instance, the services for SEO in China are different from the services for SEO in the United States. For instance, Chinese companies generally charge by the keyword in SEO for the Chinese market. A top-ten listing for a particular “cool word” (a word that has low return results in Google) may cost you 8,000 RMB a word/year. On the other hand, a “hot word” (a word that has high return results) may cost you 20,000 to 30,000 RMB a word/year. It is important to understand and embrace this difference in SEO culture; that is the only way to ride it and make profit from it.

    Baidu vs. Google: Content-consciousness is cool in China
    Indeed, SEO for the Chinese market is unique. One concrete piece of evidence that China has a different SEO perspective is the fact that Baidu, not Google, dominates the search engines in this country. The primary reason for this, as experts have revealed in various studies, is Baidu’s content-oriented policy. Baidu is no doubt extra sensitive to the information posted in a blog or forum. Adult content, such as pornography, and forbidden words by the Chinese government, are a complete no-no if you want not just one page but the whole of your website to rank high in this search engine.

    Of course, it is important to optimize page titles, headings, and keyword density. These factors all affect content description, which Baidu, the leading search engine in China, prioritizes. Do take note, however, that anchor-texts for incoming links, which seem to be an imperative SEO factor for Google, matters very little for Baidu, so do not dwell on these things if your target are Chinese search engines. Also, do not spend so much time duplicating content for SEO for the Chinese market – Baidu does not care much for this, either.

    Content translation is also a key factor in the success of a blog for a business based in China. Automatic tools are available these days for translating site content. This can give you better exposure than you think; many bloggers using automatic tools for translation have reported relative success. Some companies even invest on human resources to have their blog or website’s content translated in order to reach the seemingly elusive – yet very loyal – Chinese Chinese audience.

  • Baidu PPC (Pay per Click) Phoenix Nest to Enhance Website Exposure

    Baidu PPC (Pay per Click) Phoenix Nest to Enhance Website Exposure

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comStill reigning supreme over several other search engine companies in the country, Baidu Chinese produced yet another high quality service for their clients, Baidu PPC Phoenix Nest. Baidu PPC Phoenix Nest, also called Baidu Search Marketing Pro, is a program for the search engine’s advertisers. This program aims to allow advertisers to manipulate their own PPC accounts in the search engine, enabling them to qualify for top positions in the results of Baidu’s keyword searches. Aside from the top ranks in the results, websites with excellently managed PPC accounts are also eligible to be placed on the right side of the search results, making them very much noticeable to the public’s eyes.

    Baidu PPC Phoenix Nest is an online promotion for different advertising companies. It is a kind of SEO campaign wherein clients pay for their positions on the search engine results. With such a minimal investment, clients are guaranteed of an increased volume of customers. This is done through a careful manipulation of a PPC account, using the keyword suggestion tools provided in it and of course, paying the required fee for the search engine’s services.

    To manage your Baidu PPC Phoenix Nest and attract numerous potential customers, follow this guide on how to use your Pay per Click account.

    1. To set up your account, go to the Baidu website, www.baidu.com and click in the link of PPC or Paid Search.
    2. The company’s site is in the Chinese language only. So if you are not speaking the language but still want to advertise in the country, contact Baidu’s SEM experts to help you with your account. The experts will assist you in choosing the keywords and advertisement for your site.
    3. The structure of your Baidu PPC Phoenix Nest account includes your account, campaign, ad group and your keyword and ads, respectively. Baidu Phoenix Nest allows different keyword relationships to your account, such as one keyword is to one ad and many keywords to one ad. Be familiar with these parts so that you can use them to improve your website. It is advisable that you control the money you spend for your PPC account. Not managing your investment might as well ruin your chances of earning from this online marketing strategy.
    4. There is a keyword research tool in your PPC account, use it. This will help you create product reviews or articles with specially targeted keywords. If optimized properly, your website will surely arrive at the top spots in search engine results.
    5. There are three types of keyword matches for your website. These are the right, broad and exact matches. Make sure that you select the appropriate type of keyword match to achieve optimum results for your site.
  • Increase Page Rank – 19 Surefire Ideas to Improve and Overcome Page Rank Myths

    Increase Page Rank – 19 Surefire Ideas to Improve and Overcome Page Rank Myths

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comIncrease Page Rank through Google’s search engine and enjoy better marketing position. The secret to Increase Page Rank is based on the number of back links. Back links refer to links that will lead to your website.

    Other effective ways to increase page rank is by doing the following suggestions:

    1. Aside from back links, providing inside links to your website can also help increase your sites page rank. Try to provide additional links to your previous and next articles on your article page.
    2. Update your website regularly by adding new and unique features. This way more web traffic can be generated pushing your rank a notch higher.
    3. Creating sitemaps can also help improve your webpage’s rank. Create an XML site map for Google and text base sitemap for yahoo and then submit it to Google’s and Yahoo’s sitemap. Sign up for a Google account to see your webs weekly statistics.
    4. Trade links with other websites. Place your neighboring website’s link on your webpage and ask them to do the same on their page.
    5. Make sure you situate your primary keywords in your page title, header, and in its content.
      Try to keep your website layout design neat and simple.
    6. Write informational articles and submit it for your webpage. This will help make people perceive that you are an authority in your field.
    7. Consider hiring SEO professionals. This approach may sound a bit costly, but it is actually better rather than burning all your money on a webpage that generates no web traffic.
    8. Make sure you create unique and catchy Meta tag descriptions. Search engines displays these Meta tags in their search results so be sure to make your Meta description creative.
      Remember to always optimize your website.

    Despite adequate information regarding effective ways how to improve your ranking, there are still ideas and suggestions that continue to circulate on the web deemed not really true but still remains practiced by some. Experts call this Page Rank Myths, and here are some of them.

    Common Page Rank Myth Deemed Untrue:

    1. The higher your ranking is, the higher you’re webpage will be in search listing.
    2. Google Toolbar includes your webpage in their List of Page Rank.
    3. It is fully based on the number of back links and incoming links included in your website.
    4. Googling for incoming links using the term ‘link’ will display all your backward links.
    5. Listing your webpage in Open Director Projects will give you and your webpage additional page rank points.
    6. Google heavily considers Meta Tag descriptions to Rank websites.
    7. Google does not and will not indexed dynamic pages in ranking.
    8. Google will not penalize or list your site if you use Pop-ups.
    9. Artificial back links will result to penalty incursion from Google.
  • Baidu English Part 2 – Rules in Baidu SEO Ranking

    Baidu English Part 2 – Rules in Baidu SEO Ranking

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comBaidu is currently China’s number one search engine in its country, and many webmasters who does not naturally reside in China may want to build their own Chinese websites to expand their online business’ exposure. Unfortunately, Baidu English uses a different page ranking algorithm and follows a different rule. So if you want to increase your webpage rank in Baidu search engine, you should at least observe the following rules.

    Rule 1: Avoid Sex Related Content
    If you want to gain a good page rank in Baidu English keep your website free from sex related discussions or contents. Always keep in mind that China is not keenly open to sex talks. Openly discuss about this topic and your website won’t even exist in Baidu’s searches.

    Rule 2: Avoid Contents that Attacks Chinese Government
    Another thing to avoid is to display, write, or submit articles or other related contents that contain malicious and harmful information against the Chinese Government. Baidu does not allow such act.

    Rule 3: Chinese Pinyin Domains
    Baidu loves Pinyin domains. Pinyin domains are mostly written in as a .cn, .org.cn, and .com.cn domains. They love domains like this and are reflective in their search engine responses. So if it is possible to keep a domain name in these formats, its better to name your domain title this way.

    Rule 4: If it’s Possible, Host your site in Mainland China
    Baidu highly prioritizes websites with Chinese IP’s. They instantly give it high page rankings higher than websites that contain non Chinese IP. So it’s highly preferred to host your site in their mainland as Baidu gives in more weight to its local websites.

    Rule 5: Avoid using ISO-8885-1 Coding
    Instead of using web script in your webpage, use GB2312 or UTF-8 instead to gain higher points in rank. In addition, if you’re using a free CMS web script, it’s highly recommended to convert these scripts in to a Chinese script.

    And instead of using Joomla CMS and WordPress, opt for China’s Dede which is CMS’s English counterpart, and so on. Customizing the site should also be simple. Avoid using too much flash, Frames, iFrames, and Javascript.

    Rule 6: Webpage Content
    The number one to be followed in content is to keep everything 100% original. It is also imperative to update the website frequently, at least once a week with fresh and unique features.
    The minimum word requirement in Baidu should not be less than 700 words.

    Rule 7: Redirects 301
    And finally, after managing to change your websites domain name and URL structure, use 301 to redirect your webpage from its old domain version to its new one. Baidu also gives ranking points for 301 redirects so it pays to keep this mind.

  • Baidu English Part 1 – How does Baidu Work?

    Baidu English Part 1 – How does Baidu Work?

    As Featured On EzineArticles.comIf the world has Google as their primary web search engine, China got Baidu English. Just as the infamous Google rules over the war in search engines throughout the world, Baidu too dominates this category in its homeland China. This Chinese based site is currently China’s most popular search engine that leaves Google China second place.

    Baidu uses an unusual page rank algorithm, different from Google and Yahoo. Many people assume that since Baidu has managed to out wit and out shine Google China in SEO supremacy, its algorithm should be closely related to Google China. This assumption, however, is purely false. The website’s search engine still relies on paid links mixed together with natural links. Furthermore, its adopted natural ranking algorithm and SEO rules are not really that complicated. Here is how Baidu English search engine works.

    Meta Tags, Titles, and Descriptions
    Similar to Google, Title still plays major in Baidu’s page ranking and for engine optimization. Unlike Google though, Baidu also considers Meta Tags and Meta keywords in ranking sites. So basically, the best way to improve webpage rank is by writing meaningful and attractive descriptions to a website.

    Searching Related Information
    Keywords and keyword density are also used in searching related information similar to other search engines. The amount of keywords that can be found in a website can greatly affect a webpage ranking. It is also recommended to keep the keyword density around 12-16% for better efficiency.

    Language Content
    Baidu uses Chinese language in its website, but it can also display its context and content in English depending on preference. The option to use English language is available and possible in Baidu. But since not all Chinese citizens are that keen to use Baidu English, Chinese language still remains dominant as language content.

    Alt Tag
    Another way to optimize a website in page ranking is through Alt Tags. Alt Tags are keywords that are associated with Alt text. Alt Tags are effective page rank gainer, however, it is not recommended to overly stuff things with keywords. Baidu may not penalize websites containing stuffed keywords, but it can still affect a webpage’s rank.

    Webpage Links
    Baidu, unlike Google, does not rely on webpage links. The site does not utilize a complex algorithm system in determining the relevance and quality of each links. Baidu relies more on quantity rather than link quality. Placing keywords in internal anchor text can also give positive feeds on the webpage ranking.

    Mainland Servers
    Another way to drastically improve website ranking in Baidu is by hosting sites in Mainland China. China prioritizes website based in China so they get high points and closer ranking easily.