Search Engine Optimization and Blogging, Pt. 2

Part II of III

 

GETTING TO THE FIRST DOWN ON GOOGLE

By REV JIM PURCELL

I am going to begin this segment where the last one left off. My basic take on Search Engine Optimization is to allow Google blogs to do the heavy lifting, so to speak. Why? Well, it's cheap (as in free) but it is manpower intensive. So, if someone has no money and a lot of time then they can achieve maximum result without having to spend a lot of money.

For the record, I am not saying that using social media like Facebook or Twitter can ever hurt your SEO, but it is not going to help it as much as staying and living within the 'Googleverse,' which is saying stay within Google's paradigm for best results.

I am not addressing the Bing algorithm in this segment, because I do not know much about it beyond some basic observations and there are similarities to the Google algorithm insofar as architecture, if not search imperatives.

OK, with that said. We know Google promotes its blogs over anyone else's: without exception. We know that the Google blogs that are promoted first among those are blogs that: 1. Update frequently; 2. Use photography; 3. Hyper-link to other Google products; 4. Are tagged at the end of posts (so the algorithm can find that post); and, if you really want to bump your SEO, use a YouTube segment (also a Google product).

Now, we are ready to go: Go where? Do what?

Well, I want to talk about, for example, Pluto not being considered a planet anymore. I want to be the No. 1 reference online for the controversy about Pluto, or at least get the best SEO placement I can get.

I might name my blog with a name that has "Pluto" in it. I would use Blogger accessories to the greatest degree. I will install a YouTube video bar on my blog that references YouTube pieces on Pluto. I may emplace another video bar that discusses the Pluto controversy. Then, I would install links on my page to other blogs, all of which were trusted blogs by Google. Then, as a greeting for the blog, I might hyperlink to something about Pluto in the text so it is there permanently. I would certainly add an RSS feed that discussed Pluto and the Pluto controversy. Perhaps I will select one YouTube video that distills my point of view on the subject permanent along the margin of the blog. Awesome start.

My imaginary blog will specialize in Pluto, and it will bring in distinguished scholars' video posts or I will break down news offerings about it (and hyperlink to the original works). I will not digress in my blog, and my blog is ALL about Pluto. You see, even on this blog, I do not specialize, per se. I write what I want, but in writing what I want I trade point of view for location in Search Engine Optimization and know it.

So, my blog frame is done. Looks great. It's on point and now I am blogging. Every day, I am going to blog about Pluto, the controversy and use all of the rules I know I have to use in order to capture favorable SEO on Google.

I am also commenting on those other blogs, we previously discussed, that are also discussing Pluto and the Pluto controversy.

Now, and only now, do I look outside the blog at Facebook, for example. Why? Glad you asked. Having a blog configured in this way is the equivalent of a billboard placed on a highway near the Lincoln Tunnel, but just having a Facebook account dedicated to my subject is like having a lemonade stand along the same highway. Now, having a lemonade stand and a big billboard is wonderful, but I would not trade the billboard for the lemonade stand. Same for Twitter.

 I want to make an argument for good morals here. No one respects a site that has smut on it. Kids like to put filth on sites because they think that it's witty. It's not witty, it's garbage. If you are running a blog, the first thing it should be is 'family friendly.' I count that as meaning that a five-year-old can go to your site and read it. If they are bored, then fine. But, they shouldn't learn anything online that their parents wouldn't want them to know. And...by the by...Google treats family friendly blogs a lot better SEO-wise than those blogs that do not use good common sense and decency.

Rev. Jim Purcell is a graduate of the New York Theological Seminary. He received his M.P.S. there and wrote frequently about Search Engine Optimization and Digital Ministry.