Multiple Domains and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Because the search engines, including Google, place a lot of value on the actual words in the domain itself, many people are now trying to Search Engine Optimize their web presence by buying domain names that contain their target keywords.


It's not a bad strategy because it doesn't hurt you, but how much does it really help you?

Let's say you now have 30 domains, all containing your target keywords, but not including your main website. What can you do with them?

1. Keep them registered and do nothing. This prevents competitors from registering them and using them for their benefit. End result: No SEO value, for obvious reasons.

2. Within your registrar's account, you can set up 301 Permanent Redirects for each one, redirecting them to your main website. End result: No SEO value, but if someone types in the exact domain name of one that you have registered and redirected, he/she will be taken to your main website, so you might get some traffic, but not likely and not much.

3. Use them for a mini-site buildout. This strategy is to actually use each domain on its own by building a mini-website using around it. End result: Potentially a TON of SEO value.

Let's take a look at this "mini-site buildout" strategy; the one with the most SEO value.

One by one, you take each domain and host a site for it. If you have a hosting account for your main website, chances are you can just add on new sites to that same hosting account. This is very common and you can easily find out if you can do this and how you can do this by calling your hosting company to inquire.

Once you have your hosting set up and each domain pointing towards its own mini-site, you then want to build each site.

To build each site most easily, you should do two things: first, plan all the content around your main keyword (the keyword that is in the domain name) to include both articles and videos; and second, develop the site using some type of ready-to-go website template with a built-in CMS (Content Management System). Probably the best CMS to use in this case would be WordPress because it is very user friendly, search engine friendly, easy to set up, and there are a ton of free (and well-designed) templates out there.

OK, so now you've got your domains pointing to their own respective mini-sites, you have created all the content for them, developed the sites, and finally published all that content you created on to the sites, hopefully using a CMS like WordPress to do it.

Now, keeping your main website in mind, you'll want to make sure you drive traffic from your mini-sites to your main website. To do this, simply include content about your main website in those mini-sites and include links going back to your main website. Furthermore, if you have a business phone number and operate over the phone, make sure to include your main business phone number on all those mini-sites.

There are more advanced SEO techniques you should employ; however, that is way beyond the scope of this information piece.

In conclusion, if you have already invested, or want to invest, in buying multiple domains for SEO purposes, then put them to good use. Keeping them "locked up" unused or simply redirecting them to your main website are not effective strategies. You want to use them to build out an "Internet empire" with a lot of "Internet real estate" all focused on your target keywords and eventually leading people to your main website and business.

Search Engine Optimization Versus Public Relations Strategies

While Public Relations Management as a discipline has been around for a while now, the recent trends in Search Engine Optimization and the evident overlap between these two disciplines has given rise to a turf war that show no sign of ending anytime soon. While professionals belonging to both these disciplines focus on defending their roles to a great extent, a significant mistake that everybody is making at this point is, not taking the initiative to actually understand what optimization means and how it is relevant to PR management.


Core Functions

Optimization initiatives on search engines aim to ensure that the website of any business receives a good ranking as results for relevant search terms. Consequently, the primary objective of public relations management is to ensure that the brand has a positive reputation among its target audience and stakeholders.

Where do these Functions Overlap?

When described in simple terms, the two disciplines seem so very different. Yet, the main reason behind the friction between these two functions is that they tend to make use of very similar strategies to achieve their own respective core objectives.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to enhance your website's ranking is to have other websites link back to your own pages. If your links appear on authoritative and well reputed websites, especially on respected media sites such as the New York Times, BBC etc., it s deemed to be of great value and an interesting way to convince these brands to talk about your company in their content.

Evidently, there is a conflict on this exact point, where the PR teams of a business believe that maintaining relationships with the media is meant to be their job. At the same time, optimization experts also need to innovate and find ways to engage with internet based media in order to achieve those back-links and mentions on the World Wide Web.

In addition to interacting with high-profile media, Optimization experts are also working with a number of other reputed websites which may or may not belong to media to achieve more back-links on the internet. More often than not, PR teams tend to disapprove the content of the articles of the type of websites that optimization experts chose to associate with.

The Complexities of Social Media Integration

When social media platforms such as blogs and other networking websites come into play, there is an added opportunity for content and search engine experts to post a lot of keyword-rich content to attract further attention. At the same time, PR teams will want to make use of the same space to publish news announcements and other leadership related articles. There is a clear difference of opinion and objective between these two functions which tends to convert into a violent disagreement on the ownership of these social media platforms.

The practical thing to do is for businesses to draw lines between each department and design specific jurisdictions even on the internet space. For example, it would make more sense for the optimization projects to be executed on social channels such as Facebook and Twitter, since they also benefit the rankings and the PR could take over aspects which help in effectively managing the reputation of the business on the internet.

Whether or not a solution is arrived at with respect to these two disciplines, they both remain to play significant roles in the growth of the business in the long run.

Designing Your Site For Search Engine Optimization

With numerous businesses going online, there is a need for business owners to know the significance of a search friendly website design. Search engines perceive web content in a totally different way from the way internet users perceive it. Therefore, designing a website to cater for the search spider recognition is necessary and essential in SEO. However, the need to design websites to appear favorably on the search results should in no way undermine the need to present quality content for the internet users since they are the main target of any internet marketing and at the core of any successful business.


For any website to be on the search engine results' list, the content must be in HTML. Having a beautiful website with numerous images, java applets, and flash files does not contribute to web ranking. Despite the advancement made in crawling technology, search engine spiders are unable to recognize such formats hence the need to design business and corporate sites in a recognizable format. Apart from HTML text format, there are other formats that can be used to ensure visibility by search engines; such formats may include using images in jpg, png, or gif format, where you assign them "alt attributes" in HTML abetting the engines to recognize descriptions assigned to visual content.

Other methods that can be used to enhance SEO include supplementing search boxes with crawlable links, supplementing java plug-in or flash with HTML text on the page, and lastly in order to optimize video and audio content in SEO, it is essential to use HTML text for the transcripts of the video and audio content. These methods will ensure the website is visible to the search engines; however, it is extremely essential to incorporate these techniques in writing high quality material that will appeal to the targeted users.

When writing web content, it is essential to ensure keyword use. Keywords are essential for the search process and they should be the main building blocks of web content. However, the use of keywords should be handled with care as some SEO experts have abused this important aspect by overusing keywords. While the web content you write should have specific keywords, it is essential that your content satisfies your clients' needs. Any business owner should recognize that designing a good website requires more than just what appeals to the human eye; and being visible to the search spiders is as necessary as the content you write for your clients.

Search Engine Optimization Checklist

To be an expert in search engine optimization (aka SEO) is more than simply a skill - it requires constant monitoring of the requirements of the individual search engines and this is an ongoing task better left to those dedicated to this.


But as a website owner / builder there are certain aspects of SEO that you can ensure you are following and our checklist will help you get good SE rankings (known as SERPS) so necessary if your website is to be found by surfers.

1. Monitor your Stats

If you use cPanel, there is a Stats link on the main page. Check that the search bots are able to index all your pages. Click on the Error Log icon in your Control Panel to see what pages are causing problems and correct the problems. Your stats will also show you what search terms visitors are using to find your site and these keywords are the clue to what words you need to use.

If you have a Google Account, activate Analytics. It provides really good statistical data.

2. Navigation for the Search Robots

Your site must have a robots.txt file, a sitemap.html file and a sitemap.xml file. These files are all supported by major indexing bots and ensure that the bots / crawlers index your site content completely while avoiding those directories and files that you do not want them to index.

In addition, in your links on your pages, make use of the tag: rel="no follow" which most search engin honor.

3. Open a Google Account

The reports you get in your Google Account are invaluable and better still they are free. These reports also allow you to monitor how long it is taking Googlebot to access your pages, so you know if your page content is too large or if there are server speed problems. You page should load in under 15 seconds. If the search engine crawlers are unable to call your pages up quickly there is a good chance users are experiencing the same slow load times and it is an established fact that most surfers move on if they have to wait longer than 15 seconds.

4. See What The Search Engine Sees

The search engine does not see your website as it appears to you on the screen; it is important that your site is targeting its keywords correctly.

One of the best ways to determine just what your site looks like to a search engine crawler is to go to this search engine simulator URL and enter the full name of your main page: http://totheweb.com/tools/spider-test/index.php

This tool will also give you keyword density details.

5. Use HTML for all your navigation links, not javascript nor images

One of the most common mistakes in website design is to use images for site navigation - your site navigation is basically valueless for search engine crawlers and they will not be able to follow the links to the pages.

6. All Images Must Have an ALT Tag

Include a descriptive ALT text using your keywords as not only is this important for accessibility for vision-impaired users but search engines cannot 'see' images and hence have no idea what they are; the ALT tag will explain the image to them.

7. Use Flash sparingly, if at all

Search engines cannot index text or content within a Flash file. So whilst Flash can do a lot for your website presentation, from the SEO point of view it should be used very sparingly (we would recommend not at all) and certainly only on non-crucial content pages.

8. Each page must have its own, unique tag.

The TITLE tag should not be your website name... it should be the main keyword describing the content of that page. For example, if the page is about selling blue widgets, then that is exactly what should be in the Title tag.

Whilst Google does not place a lot of emphasis on the meta tags it does use the TITLE tag, so these tags need to be carefully structured.

9. Each page must have its own, unique tag

Google does not place a lot of emphasis on the meta description tag but all other search engines do.

10. Each page must have its own, unique tag

Google does not place a lot of emphasis on the meta keyword tag but all other search engines do.

11. Your page content should follow a structure similar to this:

Assuming your main keyword is "blue widgets" and your secondary keywords are "blue metal widgets", "blue plastic widgets and "blue fiberglass widgets"

Include at least one instance of your keyword in the tag

Search Engine Optimization and Business Growth

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most significant elements in internet marketing. It is a process of increasing the ranking of websites in search engine results. Users searching for any general or specific information on the internet prefer search engines such as Google, Bing, MSN and Yahoo. When they type any particular word in the search box of any of these search engines, countless results appear, but normally information seekers of modern age do not go beyond the first page of search engine results. That makes it simpler for you to understand that to get more visitors on your webpage you need to make your website stand amongst the top ten results. This is what SEO does for you.


In the process of search engine optimization, your website is optimized by using adequate content, defined keywords and their proper placement across the website content. There are various other techniques used in the process of SEO, which include article marketing, on-page content development, off-page content development, building back-links to your website and interlinking of web pages.

Benefits of Search Engine Optimization:

Inexpensive method of Business promotion: It is a cost effective technique to promote your business. You can target a wider section of customers by planning minimal budget as compare to the traditional marketing techniques.

Noteworthy existence on the World Wide Web: Modern generation looks for the easier way to search for any product or service, therefore, they prefer internet. If you have remarkable presence on the web via dedicated online marketing tactics, they will surely notice you.

Increased profits: Growth of business depends upon its strong market presence. You can get higher revenue by serving to a wider assortment of customers.

Strong Business Reputation: Having a presentable business website supported with interactive and intelligent SEO ideas stands you on a reputed place as an enterprise. Strong business reputation has its own value in the marketplace.

Perfect method to beat Competition: Search engine optimization is the only reasonable and best suitable idea to deal with rigorous competition. Strong marketing grounds built for your business, make you stand tall amongst other competitors.

Strong PR: For building strong public relation with other businesses or clients, you require SEO marketing because in current times it is only the best suitable mode of connecting with people.

These benefits are promising enough to make you think about implementing major SEO techniques for your company's growth. Social media networking, which also uses SEO methodologies, is next stage in internet marketing. This explains the role of SEO methods in modern online marketing field.

Blog Must-Do Tips For Search Engine Optimization

No matter what your reason for writing posts on the Internet, you are most certainly writing to be read. There is no better way to increase your readership than proper search engine optimization (SEO). When you SEO your sites effectively, you'll see major jumps in your total traffic. Read on to learn some of the must-do tips for your blog on SEO.


Select the proper keywords for your articles and place them strategically into your posts. Your potential customers use search queries in search engines to discover the new websites related to their current needs. Ask yourself, how would one of your customers search for a website like yours? How would they search for a specific web page like one that you are trying to promote? The answers to these questions will give you your first clues to your best keywords. These keywords act as flags for the search engines so that they understand your content is relevant to that specific search query.

Before layering them into your content, check the keywords popularity as both a search query and as a search engine marketing term. Google's AdWords Keyword Tool is excellent for this (and free). There you can type in your proposed keyword and see whether the search term is actually popular and whether there is a lot of competition marketing for that term. If a keyword is highly competitive, even if it is incredibly popular as a search query, you are better off looking elsewhere. That level of competition is tough to break through. Rather, look for a keyword that is popular, yet low on competition. There you can make your mark.

Layer your keyword(s), then into your blog post. Be careful not to overdo it. Search engines frown on keyword stuffing. If you have too many of the same term, Google will sense that is your action and will punish you in the rankings. Just a handful of keyword mentions (two or three) can do the job. Make sure you include the keyword in your title and your meta description as well.

Now that your content is properly prepped with keywords, concentrate on increasing your external links. Search engines love external linking (called backlinking in the industry); they weigh them positively when they are considering your website's search ranking position. Find every opportunity you can to increase the amount of locations that link back to your content. A great place to begin is through social media. You can announce your new content immediately on your social profiles. If it helps with a solution to someone's problem, offer them advice and pass on the link. The goal is to soon have others passing the link on as well so that more and more people have quality link backs to your site.

Don't forget to also consider how you can internally cross-promote your own posts. Internal linking not only makes your website more sticky (people stick around for longer), it helps the search engines map out more pages when they are crawling your website for rankings. Search engines don't go too deep into your site during their analyses, so these links help propel them a little deeper. It's a great way to secure rankings for deep links on your site.

SEO Companies Use Search Engine Optimization And Link Building To Give Businesses A Crucial Edge

Modern business is not just a competition to prove who has the best products, services, and prices. It has become a battle for web presence. In most cases, if people don't visit your website, they don't know that your business exists. Studies show that the average internet user doesn't look beyond the first three items in a web search, which means that the competition for those top rankings is fierce. Whoever is listed first in the keyword searches will probably get the most business. It may not seem fair, but it's the truth. It's no longer enough to have the best goods or services at affordable prices. You have to have the web traffic, and that means scratching your way to the top of the search engine rankings. The best way to make sure that customers have the opportunity to know who you are and what you have to offer is to invest in affordable Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is a complex but effective process that dramatically improves the visibility of your business website, bringing targeted potential customers to your site and increasing your profits. It's one of the best business investments you can possibly make in this "information age."


There are a number of large SEO companies around the world that cater to big corporations. Their quality can be very high, but so are their prices. Furthermore, they often have a touch of snobbery in their business approach; they don't bother with the "little guys." Fortunately, there are a few companies that exist specifically to help small and mid-sized businesses to survive and thrive in a modern economic jungle that is dominated by mega-corporations with billions to spend on advertising. Smaller businesses are finding that the services offered by the best small SEO companies are allowing them to affordably compete with the "big guys" and stay profitable. These groups apply tested strategies that involve thorough keyword research, link building, custom content writing, and a number of other carefully honed processes that allow clients' websites to climb to the top of search engine rankings, attract more customers, and increase profits.

It's worth it to shop around for an SEO company that specializes in small and mid-sized businesses, one that combines excellent service with great prices. They do exist. The reason for their affordable rates is simple - efficiency. Unlike the larger Search Engine Optimization companies, groups tend to consist of small, highly trained, experienced teams of professionals who have worked together for years. They have the SEO process down to a science. They also follow sound business principles to maintain low overhead, high productivity, and open communication with their clients, keeping their costs low so that they can keep their rates affordable.

Most of them begin every new project by listening to the experiences, needs, and goals of the client. Then they craft each campaign to maximize the client's results, building a relationship that nurtures each business's web presence and profits, monitoring and tweaking their link building, content creation, and web development techniques for the best possible results.

The business world has changed, for better or worse, and the internet is king. But it's challenging enough to manage the "nuts and bolts" of a business without also having to go back to school to train yourself to handle all of your own web design and development, online marketing, keyword research, and content writing. If you own your own business, chances are that you have more than enough to keep you busy. It makes sense stick to your own areas of expertise while you let other professionals stick to theirs. No matter how smart you are, it's impossible to know everything. It's worth bringing in an expert for jobs that really matter, and web development definitely matters. Many business owners bring in experts to take care of their accounting, repairs, contracting and other needs, but they try to manage their own websites themselves. This usually doesn't go very well. Your website is your connection to a world of potential customers, so one of the wisest business decisions you can make is to invest in the services of a good SEO company.