Latest surveys during the previous months in terms of internet user’s share shows that Google is still a dominant force that is yet to be toppled. As of the latest in the field of search engine Google is still ahead with an average internet users’ share of sixty to seventy percent (60%-70%), This means therefore that the other competitors are sharing in the thirty to forty percent internet users’ percentage (30%-40%), which is a small percentage compared to the hundreds of different search engines out there. In addition to this achievement by Google the search engine giant is also gaining success on different fields such as in the open source arena. Currently, Google is offering the public different open source softwares that can be utilised by the public in general. Take for example Googles’ Docs, this is a free service that Google is offering its’ clients or website visitors. Other tools or application programs such as Google’s analytics for people who are engaged in the SEO business, and even google’s Gmail which is a free email service all you need is just to register an account. With the non-stop offering of Google of different features or applications for free it is no wonder that it’s competitors in the field of software development are slowly losing steam from the first quarter surge.

So why is Google winning and the others losing? Well it all boils down into who could give the best service, and by best service we mean fully functioning application program that is also free to use. Recently, Google has launched its operating system that will rival the current operating system of Microsoft. There are of course differences in the operating systems that the two companies are offering but the main difference of installing Googles’ operating system is that such application program is being distributed as free. This is a marketing strategy that Microsoft cannot duplicate as they would be losing on their profits as their company depends on the number of people who would purchase their product. Offering products or services for free to the general public is one main reason why Google is becoming one of the fastest growing company out there, and if rival companies do sell their products assurance should be shown that they would be delivering quality applications which is more than what Google can offer.

The different process in an SEO campaign is to start with extensive research and brainstorming. Next is to start collating the data gathered and analysing those data on how to utilise it to the advantage of the target website. Usually, in starting an online business the first requirement that you should have is of course a website that will cater to your business. Apart from designing the website one of the most important task of an SEO consultant is to determine the domain name of the website. The question on whether or not domain names would affect one’s search engine results page rankings. The answer is that having keywords integrated in your domain name could be of great help especially in terms of search engine optimisation. Unfortunately, there are several problems that usually arise when it comes to domain names especially if the domain name was not well-thought of and in which case the domain name cannot be a contributing factor in the increase of the target websites’ search engine results page ranking.

There are several problems that could come up as brought about by domains and websites. One common problem is that there are several websites that are under one owner but the problem is that they have different domain names that every SEO strategy that may be implemented in all of them might cause them to divide on the traffic that may be being funneled in. Such domains that are also focused on one primary domain are called aliases. Funneling all the traffic and the page rank to the primary site can be done by utilising different tools that serve or give such purpose. One way is through using Google Apps that would merge all the alias domains into the primary domain where it could also help in the centralization of your emails.

There may be instances also when you own several domain names that might pertain to the possible error in spelling that may be typed in by the internet user into his or her web browser address. In order not to confuse them and in order to funnel in their clicks to your actual site use the redirection method wherein an error on the part of the internet visitor while entering the URL is going to be converted into a traffic on your part. This is however an impractical way of using the redirection method as you will then have to purchase the different domain names. The redirection method is best utilised in cases when you want your landing pages or promotional pages to be hosted on another server which would then filter out your traffic on those who really are interested in your services or product offers.

Domains may not greatly affect you when proper observation of different other SEO techniques are going to be employed. However, the utilisation of keywords in the domain name as well as doing the different strategies as stated above will help the overall SEO campaign.

If there is one thing that Microsoft should celebrate is their being number one in the total number of time spent by the internet user to their website. With the constant battle for supremacy  in terms of internet users’ share which Google dominates, makes Microsoft very happy as according to the latest statistical data gathered by comScore. The increase in the total time spend by the user in Microsofts web pages is a proof that there Microsoft do have loyal traffic going their way and that these traffics does not only pertain to incidental or lose traffics, these are instead traffics that are interested in what the site has to offer, this is beneficial to Microsoft as it also reduces the bounce rate of the website as a whole. The survey conducted by comScore yielded a result that Google does not want to reminisce because for the first time Microsoft have defeated search engine giant, garnering a total of 14.5% share of the time spent by users in their website globally whereas the search engine giant only got 9.3% in the global scale regarding their share of the total time spent by the different users in their website. Coming in third is Yahoo who got a total time share percentage of 6.3%, Facebook garnering the fourth in terms of total time share globally with 5.1% and Tencent Inc. is ranked at number five with 3.3%.

Search engine optimisation is a combination of several processes that are performed to reach only one goal and that is to increase traffic going to the website by increasing the search engine results page ranking of the website on the different or on all of the different search engines. One such process in SEO is the method known as link building. Link building just like SEO is a series of different processes that would have an ultimate goal of increasing traffic and conversion rates going to the target website. This process focuses on building links that goes towards the target websites’ different web pages emanating from other websites. For example site A which is an external website will be creating a link to site B which is your website. This process is being utilised merely because of the fact that every link going to your website from another website especially such with a high page ranking would mean a vote to your website coming from a highly trusted source. Linking however, is not that easy, there are also rules that have to be followed in order to make all links count as a vote to your website.

First thing that you have to consider is the relevance of the link. You have to make sure that your website is being linked to by another website which has the same or similar content-theme. This means that a site linking to your website must also pertain and engaged to the type of online business you are in, otherwise the links going to your website would just be useless.

Second is to make appropriate link proportions, there are two ways a link is being built with the aide of other websites, one is a single link and the other a reciprocal link. A single link is a link that only goes to your website, where for example site A is linking to site B without the latter linking back. Reciprocal link on the other hand requires the target website to link back to the site that has linked to it. Where for example site A links to site B and vice versa. There is no actual measure on the proportionality of the links rather what is being favored in SEO or by SEO companies and SEO consultants is the adage the more single links the better.

In this three part series we have encountered several indicators that would tell us whether or not the SEO company or SEO consultant that we hired or would hire is a legitimate one. So far there are several ways to determine their legitimacy and such way of determination would actually help us in choosing the right SEO company and SEO consultant that would take care of increasing our website’s web presence. The following are some more indicators that SEO scammers are saying or promising their potential clients in order to gain their trust and confidence.

“Our SEO company can guarantee that your website will have a page one search engine results page ranking (SERP)”. That is the most ideal goal, to get to page one of the major search engine but the problem with that is no one can guarantee such claim. This is because of the fact that every search engines’ algorithm is confidential, no one knows how it works, well certainly not those working within the search engine companies. Otherwise abuse of the search engine algorithm may occur. The best SEO companies will not guarantee anything but a full legitimate service. So how do we know which one to hire if they do not give us guarantee? We base this according to their past achievements in the field of SEO, look closely on their portfolio.

Another way for you to know the capability of your potential SEO consultant is to ask them their concept on how to determine the right keywords for you. Should they start to mess about by giving general terms it might be that they are not aware on such concept, this is because of the fact that keyword determination entails research in order for you to get the keyword that would identify your website as well as have an increase traffic and ROI. Being specific in your keywords might be useful as it would create lesser competition but with a higher search rate.

Last of these scam alerts or indicators is “We have someone inside Google working for us”. This is one of the funniest claim that I have ever heard. This is because even though you know someone inside the search engine giant they wont tell you how their search algorithm works, and besides these search engine companies pays far better than what a SEO company could afford. This and the fact that employees of the search engine company honors their agreement with their employers.
Search engine optimisation scam determination is not rocket science it need just a little logic and common sense, if what they offer is too good to be true then be on your guard.

Search engine optimisation have become one of the most lucrative business over the internet it is because of this that many people are trying to take advantage of its popularity by convincing online entrepreneurs to acquire their services, which they do by giving their potential clients false promises which could prove to be costing the client much more that what legitimate SEO companies and SEO consultants would actually charge. Following the previous post on the different scam indicators here are some more guides or indications that the SEO company or SEO consultant is fraud.

Asking for a very low SEO fee is an indicator that such SEO company or SEO consultant offering their services is a fraud. SEO scammers offer around only £30 a month for their services which is very unrealistic in the SEO industry. This is because of the fact that SEO is a continuous process and that it would require the inclusion or utilisation of several techniques which for some would require a budget that is going more than thirty pounds (£30). Building your own customer base and your web presence does not only require cheap submissions and sometime free processes it would have to involve finances that could go way beyond thirty dollars so if an SEO company or SEO consultant is charging way too little you might also get little or no result at all.

Another indicator that such SEO company or SEO consultant is a scam is when they tell you that everything they do is trade secret which would then incapacitate them on telling you about their progress. Search engine optimisation is an industry that is popular over the web anyone could just search for the term and they will be getting the information that they need. SEO is not rocket science it only involves a little computation, logic and common sense. So beware if your SEO consultant cannot tell you their progress and says that their methods is trade secret because it might be that there is no progress at all or simply because they don’t have any idea on what they are doing.

There is an old business adage that says “clients don’t understand what I do, that is why I get to charge so much.” Many people have started their online business because of the promise of becoming your own boss, only problem is most of these online entrepreneurs started their business with little or no knowledge in the field of e-commerce. This is the reason why there are a lot of people out there that tries to take advantage of the ignorance of such newbies in the online business by promising good results for a high price. The field of Search engine optimisation is a fast growing industry because of the fact that it has become a necessity for online companies to reach their goal. The main purpose of Search engine optimisation or SEO is to drive traffic towards the target site in order to reach a higher goal and that is to increase conversion rates or the amount of people availing of your products or services. It is because of the fact that SEO has become a necessity in the online business it is one of the areas where posers are emerging. Posers are those who claims to be SEO professionals, consultants or even SEO companies who gives promises to the client just so that the latter would acquire their services which in the long run would prove to be time consuming and expensive. Here is a guide for online entrepreneurs and newbies alike in order to identify whether or not the SEO proposals that you have been given is a scam.

First indicator that the SEO company or SEO consultant is a scam is when they tell you that all SEO efforts should focus on the home page. This concept is wrong because of the fact that every web page in your website can become a potential entry point to the whole website, thus it is important to have every web page in your website to be equally optimised.

Second are those SEO firms that promise submission of your website to around one thousand if not more, search engine websites. In the field of search engine there are only three names that have been constantly battling it out to achieve supremacy these are Google, Yahoo and Bing. The other search engines are merely being powered by one if not all of the big three search engine. So therefore submission to the Big three is all you need because once you are indexed with them you automatically get indexed with the other search engines.

Third is that SEO firms asking you to place your entire budget into search engine optimisation. As what was mentioned above search engine optimisation is one strategy that has an ultimate purpose and that is to help increase conversion rate which means therefore that SEO is not an automatic solution to your online business, it does not guarantee zero bounce rates but it does guarantee an increased web presence. Therefore to infuse your entire budget into SEO it might in the long run leave you bankrupt as you would then have no money to use for the other aspects in your online business such as initially paying for shipping costs, maintenance of you website among others.

Social bookmarking is one of the website cluster where you will be able to build your links. In the increasing competition between and among SEO companies and SEO consultants using all avenues or possible ways of increasing your websites’ traffic and conversion is now a necessity. The social bookmarking site is viewed as a site that is focused on different contents as generated by the user thus in turn making the site to having a strong user base. Social bookmarking sites are different from social directories by way of the fact that the former allows people or users to create an account and then freely post any link they want into the social bookmarking site but unlike social directories the community of members in the social bookmarking sites are given the power to rank the most common, important and popular links. The name social bookmark is given because of the fact that the user can keep a list of their favorite websites which they could access anytime. Social bookmarks is a very effective tool in link building because of the fact that it allows you to make or create a link from the social bookmarking website to the target website.

Posting links on a social bookmarking site is an essential part of an SEO campaign specifically a link building process because of the fact that this allows for the inclusion of links and keyword-links into the target website. It is even more beneficial if the social bookmarking site has a considerable or decent page ranking this would mean that traffic coming from the bookmarking site have the possibility of being driven towards your target website. In addition, a link from a website having a good page rank , from PR 3 and above, will allow the creation or increase of the target websites’ page ranking because such link from the social bookmarking site is considered to be a vote towards the target website, thus increasing its importance as according to the search engines’ point of view.

Social bookmarking sites are important in the link building process and even though such websites does not offer any flashy website design or functionalities it is nevertheless very helpful in creating or building your websites’ presence, page rank and search engine results page ranking.

Google, the leading company in terms of the search engine field has recently developed a new search engine algorithm that allows for a more associative search. The search engine algorithm was developed by Googles’ finest minds although the concept of which is easy to understand. Basically the new search engine algorithm that Google has added to its long list of search engine algorithm is associating group results from your past search results. For example your search results pertains to broccoli, carrots and potatoes Google will then such series of queries from their search query box is interpreted as the user is searching for vegetables. This new search engine algorithm was applied for a patent which was approved last week after being reviewed for five months by the US patent office. With this developments this new associative search engine algorithm will definitely affect the different SEO techniques and strategies that are currently being applied to websites. This is because of the fact that the search term where a website is indexed may have either a lower or a higher popularity rate, this is because of the fact that your search term or keyword might end up on an unpopular general term or it could even be that your keyword may be classified under a very popular general term. Either way this poses a great risk of your website going down in the ranking especially if your keyword is going to be classified in a very unpopular general keyword term.

Microsoft battling Google or Google battling Microsoft is not a new story anymore. Ever since Microsoft has entered the online business most specifically the search engine field these two titan companies in their own original niches, Microsoft for operating system and Google for search engines, have been constantly locking horns. In one of its unprecedented move Microsoft has, after revamping its search engine from MSN to Bing, acquired a partnership deal with the pioneer in the search engine field, Yahoo. With this partnership Microsoft hopes to rake in Yahoo’s internet users share and thus increase such share into a number that would then close the gap between them and Google.

Now in a more recent move from Microsoft, the operating system giant has announced that they have already inked a deal with OpenX Technologies, this latter being an independent ad server for Web Publishers. OpenX is known to have a base of around one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) websites which generates around three hundred billion ads in a month.

In the deal that was entered into by Microsoft and OpenX these companies will be cross-marketing with one another as well as refer publishers to each other, and with OpenX’s base number of websites Microsoft hopes to generate and promote their content advertisements and further hoping that this move would be dubbed as the adsense killer. This move by Microsoft clearly shows that the Redmond company is trying to battle Google on different aspects in the online business that is currently being dominated by the search engine giant. With this move coming from Microsoft it is to be expected that Google will also release their own techniques on how to take on their most persistent competitor.