Your ALT attributes should describe your images. You do not want to use these to spam the search engines. SEO Friendly Images can handle title attributes for your images too. It has 4 special tags you want to get yourself familiar with to optimize your attributes.

Why would you want to use this plugin? For starters, it can make your website’s code W3C compliant. It may give you a small SEO benefit (very small). ALT attribute hold more weight than image titles. But don’t use them to stuff keywords on your site. All in all, SEO Friendly Images is a time-saving tool for people with a ton of images on their sites with no ALT attributes.

Drops in search engine rankings are a major part of the blogging business. No matter how great your blog, there is a good chance you will have to worry about major drops in your rankings once in a while. Companies such as Google make tweaks to their ranking algorithms all the time. As a result of these changes, some sites move up and many move down. If you have not set a solid foundation for your blog, chances are you will have your own heartbreaking moments dealing with Google, Bing, and other search engines.

Spending the majority of your time crying over major drops in your rankings won’t solve anything. In fact, it makes you a lot less productive. It is always better to look into the future and focus on setting things right for your blog. Here are 6 ways you can make your blog protected against changes in search engine algorithms:

• killer content: as long as you have garbage content on your website, you have got nothing to complain about when your pages slip down the rankings. The more effort you put in developing killer content, the more you will get out of your work.
• build community: you may lose your search engine rankings but Google won’t be able to take your established community away from you. That’s why every blogger needs to focus on developing a solid community that makes people want to come back for more. By developing high quality outposts for your blog, you will have an easier time growing your community faster.
• use multiple streams of traffic: I have learned this lesson the hard way. If you put all your eggs in one basket (e.g. Google), you are going to get burned sooner rather than later. There was a time our blogs were getting a ton of traffic just from Google. These days, Facebook, Twitter, and, Google+, and LinkedIn are all contributing to our traffic.
• multiple revenue models: many bloggers are worried about losing their traffic because the only way they make money is through ads. That is a dangerous business model to have in this day and age. No matter how much you are earning from AdSense and other ad networks, your earnings could decrease highly if your site loses its top search engine rankings
• stay ahead of the crowd: nobody gets in the blogging business to be just another struggling player. Most of us want to succeed, provide our visitors with a ton of value, and make a respectable amount of money in the process. Innovation is the key to achieving those.
• build connections: just because you do the majority of your work behind your computer does not mean you should not network with other bloggers. The more solid connections you have, the better chance you will have of surviving major drops in the search engine rankings.

You can’t control what companies such as Google do with their search algorithms. By focusing on creating killer content and solid foundations for your blog, you will have a better chance of surviving major algorithm changes.

Credit: dcandea

New blogs do not often get that many link requests. But once your site starts getting ranked high in the search engines, people will e-mail you, asking you to link back to them. The majority of these requests are not even worth checking out. Nobody wants to link to a spammy site anyway. But once in a while, you receive link requests from high quality (on paper) websites. You don’t want to just ignore every link request nor do you want to be too polite and accept them all. Here are 5 ways you can handle link requests professionally:

1. paid link requests are no no: I get a ton of these requests everyday. People will use all kinds of tactics to get their paid links on your website. Some publishers do accept paid links. But that could get their sites slapped by Google. Organic linking is what search engines such as Google are encouraging. If you value your blog and the brand that you have built, you should discard all these paid link requests right away.
2. analyze the target URLs: so you feel you have received requests from high quality and legitimate websites? Just because a site has a good looking template or all kinds of bells and whistles all over it does not mean you should link to it. You should thoroughly analyze the target URLs to make sure you are not linking to a banned website.
3. verify the site owner: a few months ago, I received an email from an individual who claimed to be the developer of a product I had covered on my blog. Naturally, he wanted me to link to his new site. The individual had done his best to cover his tracks. But a little bit of research did prove he was not the developer after all. If someone is lying to you in their e-mails, they are not worth linking to.
4. link to relevant pages:  search engines do pay attention to the sites that you link to. Linking to a couple of irrelevant sites may not kill your site’s rankings. If you do it often, that could become a problem for your business. Make sure you link to sites that are somewhat relevant to your blog. To stay on the safe side, use the most appropriate anchor texts for your links.
5. monitor your results: link swapping is a big issue these days. Some people may ask you to link to their site only to redirect their URL to a whole new site once they have gathered enough links. You should check the URLs you have linked to from your site to make sure you are not a victim of link swapping.

There is nothing wrong with accepting link requests from high quality websites. Just make sure you do your research to avoid sending your visitors a site that may not be worth their time.

There is a difference between blogging for the sake of doing it and having a plan to get your blog some major traffic from the top search engines. Many SEO professionals understand what it takes to optimize sites, their content, links, and structure for the search engines. As a blogger, you may not have the time to become a SEO master. But spending some time to study the work of these people can give you some ideas on how to take your blog posts to the next level.

Optimizing your content for the search engines takes a lot of work but does not require you to be a SEO genius. Here are 6 ways to do just that:

1. blog often and keep it unique: a lot of people claim that you do not have to blog everyday or so to be in the good graces of Google. That may be true, but you stand a better chance of improving your rankings if you have fresh content every day or two. That does not mean you have to sit behind your computer blogging everyday. If you don’t have the time for it, just schedule blog posts ahead of the time.
2. pay attention to your keywords: I know. Keywords are boring. But they still matter big time if you want to have any chance of achieving success with your blog. Thankfully, there are plenty of decent keyword research tools you can use to get this process done more conveniently.
3. watch the trends: blogging about the latest trends can increase your traffic and get more eyeballs on your website. You can use Twitter trends and Google Insights to find out topics to blog about everyday. In order to go viral, you want to look at the latest trends from different angles though.
4. add some variety to your content: writing opinion or tips articles are one way to add value to your blog. Adding video round-ups, cheat-sheets, top lists, infographics, and other dynamic content can take your blog a step further. Don’t forget to tag your content and add them to your site map.
5. focus on social media: by taking a look at the stories that are trending on sites such as Topsy and Tweetmeme, you can get a better handle on what types of stories may get your site some major love on social networking sites. This is where less talking and more watching pays off.
6. add sharing tools and incentives: so you have created your best work yet? You are going to need the help of your readers to get your content the attention it deserves. Adding social sharing buttons strategically to your website is one way to go. Providing your visitors with some incentive to share your articles is not a bad idea either.

Who says you have be a SEO genius to write content search engines will love…

Every blogger needs to be concerned about optimizing his/her blog for the search engines to maximize traffic and build a larger community of loyal readers. Optimizing on-page factors and getting links from third-party websites is one way to make sure more people find your website through the search engines. I am often surprised to see how many bloggers do not link to their very own articles in their posts. Internal links can not only help bloggers maximize their traffic, it does have some SEO benefits as well.

Here are 5 simple reasons you should start adding internal links to your blog:

• improve SEO: adding internal links with the right anchor text to your blog can help the search engines find out more about your content. This approach can also be used to help Google find your other works more easily and index your pages faster. Let’s not forget that you are passing link juice to your other articles by linking to them. So make each and every article on your blog count.
• promote other content: just because a lot of people have come to love one of your articles does not mean they know about your other killer articles. There is simply no reason for bloggers not to link to their other top articles to try and build a more loyal community.
  
• fight back against content theft: this has been a big issue for our business. We are in the business of creating magnetic content. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try, we always end up with people who just steal our work without even linking back to us. By adding internal links to our articles, we have managed to get links from some of these sites. It won’t stop content theft but it is the next best option. Let’s not forget that you can use these links to find out who is stealing your work to contact them in the future.
• keep your visitors on for longer: if you had the chance to keep your visitors to stay on your website 24 hours a day, wouldn’t you go for it? By linking to your other top articles, you can keep your visitors on for longer and open their eyes to other great articles they may want to explore on your site.
• buy more time for conversion: whether you are interested in getting more Google ad clicks or just want to get people to sign up for your newsletter, you have more time to get the conversion if you keep your visitors on your website for longer. Adding multiple internal links to each and every article you right can help here.

Thanks to solutions such as SEO Smart Links, you can optimize your website for the search engines and add internal links without having to spend a whole lot of time to get the job done. Linking internally does not take that much time but can make a big difference for your site over the long run.

SEO Smart Links keeps you in control of all your links. You can define your keywords and destination URLs, and the plugin does the rest for you automatically. It goes through your content and find keywords and pages it can add links to. The premium version of this plugin offers some more advanced linking options. For starters, you can avoid cross category linking or target posts based on their dates.

I personally prefer being in control of which keywords I want to use for my hyperlinks. Thanks to this plugin, you can not only manage multiple keywords per page, you can define multiple URLs per keyword, letting the script pick one of the URLs at random. That can be a great way to test multiple affiliate links.

prelovac.com

You certainly don’t want to have 20 links per page going to all kinds of pages. That would be just annoying for your visitors. This plugin does allow you to control the number of links that show up on each page. SEO Smart Links also offers affiliate link cloaking which is a very helpful feature. The detailed report which is available in the business version of this script is powerful too.

SEO Smart Links Premium can make a difference for your blog if you have never focused on optimizing your internal link structure. It is not cheap by any means but is very powerful, especially for sites with a lot of content.

Credit: stock. xchng

Nothing is more heart-breaking than working on your blog posts for hours and days only to see others get all the exposure on Google and other search engines. That’s a reality of life for many bloggers. Having the best content around does count, but it is not everything. Many lesser bloggers get their blog posts to the top of the search engines and manage to outperform quality blogs in the process. While being a SEO guru can give you a big leg up over your competitors, you don’t have to know it all to give your blog a better chance of getting ranked higher in the SERPs.

It always surprises me to see how many bloggers don’t know the basics of search engine optimization. These days, there is no excuse in not having a keyword strategy or optimized titles. We are not talking about complicated link-building campaigns or rocket science here. Have no idea where to start? Here are 5 simple ways you can make your blog more SEO-friendly:

• Choose your keywords carefully: don’t just write for the sake of writing. Paying attention to keyword phrases that people are searching for can help you better position your blog posts for success in the SERPs. Smart bloggers pay attention to long-tail keywords too. You can hope and pray for Google and other engines to find your content, but that is less likely to happen if you don’t have the right keywords in your title and content.
• Pay attention to internal links: link building is one of the best ways to achieve success in the SEO world. It is not just about incoming links. Your internal link structure matters to the search engines too. Every single blog post gives you an opportunity to link to your other related posts. Every little thing you do counts.
• Do your content research: including the right keyword phrases in your title or content may help you improve your rankings, but it won’t make your readers come back for more. Quality content is still king, so do your research and offer something unique to your visitors if you want them to revisit your website in the future.
• Be active in social media: this is really a no brainer. If you are not taking advantage of Twitter and Facebook to drive traffic to your blog and connect with your readers, you are missing the boat big time. At the very least, you can add social media buttons to your website and count on your visitors to help your content go viral.
• Take advantage of Google Insights/Trends: I am a big fan of those premium blogging and keyword research tools. The good news is you won’t have to spend a dime to take advantage of tools offered by Google. Google Insights and Trends can help you figure out what to blog about and how to position your blog posts to gain more attention for your blog.

I am not suggesting that optimizing your blog for the search engines (fully) is going to be an easy process. But there are things every blogger can do to get a head-start. Nobody likes getting beat in the rankings by blogs that offer much less value. The above tips should give you some ideas on how to prevent that from happening.

Not a lot of bloggers spend enough time learning the art and science of SEO. Some only think about outsourcing the process. I can tell you from experience that knowing some SEO can always help when you are writing your posts or planning for ways to add more content to your blog. There are plenty of SEO books that teach you the basics of search engine optimization. But if you want to go beyond the basics and get a firm understanding of search engine optimization, here are 3 SEO training resources you should look at:

SEOBook: the best search engine training program on the web. It goes deep into topics not covered by other books or courses on the market. These guys have been at it for years, and the content keeps getting better.

SEOmoz: more known for its powerful SEO tools, SEOmoz comes with a set of training guides for web designers, developers, and small businesses to help them go about their business with an eye out on improving their search engine rankings. Plenty of things you can learn from SEOmoz.

Bruce Clay Inc: Bruce Clay is a world class expert in this field and his site is top notch as well. There are plenty of things you can learn from his website. If you can afford it, his training program can give you all the tools you need to start optimizing your blog for the search engines.

There are plenty of other places that you can try to get some SEO training. I have tried Stompernet and other similar courses in the past. If you want to get some education in Internet marketing, those courses may work for you. But for SEO training, the above resources have everything you need to become a master in this science.

A lot of people can’t handle the thought of losing their search engine rankings overnight, but it could happen. A lot of blogs get flagged for duplicate content and some even become victims of hack attacks or serve downtime. It doesn’t take much to lose your position in the search engine results pages. You can handle a drop in your search engine rankings two ways. You can panic and start going berserk, changing your code, web host, and even your domain, or you can think logically about it. While there are no guarantees that you can get back your original search engine rankings, there are things you should and shouldn’t do when faced with such a dilemma.

How To Handle A Drop in Search Engine Rankings

Here are just a few ways you can go about handling a drop in your rankings:

• Don’t Lose It: I have seen a lot of bloggers who just lose it when faced with a drop in their rankings. Blogging is all about having fun and facing challenges. If you can’t handle the heat, just don’t get in the kitchen. Just because you have dropped a few places in your rankings, doesn’t mean the world has come to an end. Sometimes these changes are temporary. Sometimes they are due to things you have done to your blog. But don’t just lose it and start changing everything. I did that once, and I can tell you changing things drastically more often than not backfires.
• Back to Basics: make sure you check your blog’s structure and SEO basics to figure out what could have gone wrong. Also make sure you keep your web host in check. Maybe they were down when you were not checking. If you haven’t taken time to optimize your blog for search engines, you may want to take time to add titles, address duplicate content issues, and create a sitemap for your blog.
• Identify the Source: my blog disappeared from the SERPs as someone hacked it and added Viagra and other malicious links to my database. It took me a while to realize what had happened, but if you keep yourself up-to-date with the latest hacking tactics, it’s not too hard to identify the source of your problem. Not every issue on your blog can be attributed to hacking, but hacking is a part of life for bloggers. Thanks to great posts such as this you can stay up-to-date.
• Diversify Your Traffic Sources: never put all your eggs in one basket. I don’t care how many people are visiting your blog from Google or Bing. Just make sure you stay involved in the social media and use article marketing, hubs, and other traffic sources to keep bringing people to your blog. That way things will be less stressful if Google drops your blog.
• Try Paid Search: paid search for blogs? I must be crazy, right? In some situations, you may have to rely on paid search to get people to your blog (especially if you have built your empire upon your traffic from Google). StumbleUpon and Facebook ads are not too expensive, and they can get a lot of people to your blog.

The best way to handle a drop in search engine rankings is by staying calm. The world doesn’t end when your rankings drop. More often than not, you can get it back by making minor tweaks. Even if you are hacked, you can always get yourself back to your original position. By losing it, you may make decisions that you will regret in the future. Nobody likes to get slapped by Google. Just take a time-out and try to think of ways you can regain your position in the SERPs. If you haven’t put all your eggs in one basket, you won’t have to stress too much while planning your next moves.

One of the best ways to drive traffic to your blog is by optimizing it for the search engines. Getting free traffic from Google, Bing, and other top search engine sites enables you to spend money on growth and more premium advertising opportunities. There is no simple way to dominate the SERPs on Google and other engines. But you got to start somewhere, so you might as well start with the most important SEO factor that you can control on your blog — your title tags. Your title tags can make a big difference in the amount of traffic you get for free through the organic search. Choosing the right keywords and using them through your content gives search engines the indication that your page should probably get ranked for those keywords. I admit there are a lot of moving parts here. But without optimized titles, you are not maximizing your blog’s traffic.

All-in-One SEO is a cool free plugin for WordPress bloggers that allows you to optimize the title tags on all your pages without doing too much. If you happen to have a blog that has never been optimized for search engines, you can use the plugin to mass update your title tags in a flash.

Now, I don’t recommend this option to those who are just getting started with their blog. But if you have over 10,000 pages and don’t have time to go through them one by one to optimize your title tags, using the mass update feature is a good way to get started. The plugin allows you to optimize your post, page, archive, and category titles on the fly. Since you are defining a format for your titles, you won’t have to do anything other than write a headline for each of your posts (which you should already have done).

Advanced users can always use the option provided under each of their posts to customize their title tags on an individual basis. You do want to make sure that you approach the process with a strategy. At the same time, you should use long-tail keywords to make every post count. Think about it. If your blog receives 10 visits per post each day (on average), and you have 10,000 posts, you are looking at a decent amount of traffic. Now getting to 10,000 posts that people want to read could take a lot of work. But once you get there, your optimized title tags (and your content) will give you a better chance of maximizing the traffic to your blog. This is not all that you need to do to optimize for search engines but is a good place to start.