A basic SEO "crash course"?

[grcorp]

I'm in the process of acquiring a great two word real estate domain name. Keyword gets great searches on Google... every other TLD is taken (I'm buying the .ca), and I think this name will really help me out in my real estate endeavors.

What I'm looking for advice on is basic SEO.

I don't have the budget to hire an SEO professional right now. I recognize the value in it (most agents don't - they think the listings will just come), so it's on my radar should this do well for me, but would also like to learn about doing it myself, just out of curiosity, as well as to rank the site high.

Currently, the keyword is dominated and those looking it up will have no trouble finding my competition, in either organic or sponsored results.

So, my first question is... should I even bother to compete with the keyword which makes up the domain name, or should I try for variations of the keyword which aren't as popular?

Next, I'd like to know what the most advisable strategy is to secure and sustain a good ranking on Google.

My rudimentary knowledge of SEO would be to employ the following methods:
- Keywords in the header
- Well-optimized meta tags
- "alt" descriptions in images
- a sitemap on the homepage
- lots of unique content such as articles
- articles should have links in the form of "example.com/title-of-the-article-with-all-the-right-keywords"
- organic backlinks (i.e. sites that I've guest blogged on)
- not-so-organic backlinks (i.e. purchased on eBay - one-way links are preferable to my understanding)
- backlinks from .gov and .edu pages
- links from sites which rank high such as ezinearticles, yellow pages, etc.

Could anybody advise me on my strategies such as which ones to focus on, which ones to scrap, change a little bit, etc.?

And I wouldn't mind knowing about what should determine which keywords to target, as I have a feeling that the most popular ones are likely a lost cause.

any input is much appreciated!

 

[DomainMagnate]

Sounds like you have the basics down. Focus on backlinks, the rest is easy.

 

[Aleksandar]

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[grcorp]

Sounds like you have the basics down. Focus on backlinks, the rest is easy.

Thanks! Really appreciate the advice.

Any words of caution WRT backlinks? For example, what makes one more valuable than others? Are there any backlinks which can hurt my ranking?

 

[Tia Wood]

Fastest SEO Crash Course

Keywords = Good
Keyword Stuffing = Bad
Good Content = Good
Scraped Content = Bad

You may print the following for your certificate of completion of this SEO Crash Course.

------------------------------------------
| I have completed the SEO Crash Course. |
------------------------------------------

 

[draggar]

Good Content = Good
Scraped Content = Bad

You forgot the adjective "unique".

Search engines may punish a site SEO-wise if they see the same text in several sites. Write the articles in your own words as if you were talking to someone.

Backlinks are also good, and can help a lot (it helps the search engines find your site). RSS feeds, pingbacks, directories, Twitter, etc. can all help.

 

[stock_post]

So, my first question is... should I even bother to compete with the keyword which makes up the domain name, or should I try for variations of the keyword which aren't as popular?

If you have the keyword domain - if you could write one page a day towards your Real estate business, you will get to #1
in no time .. Make sure to update the site regularly and keep adding back links..

 

[grcorp]

If you have the keyword domain - if you could write one page a day towards your Real estate business, you will get to #1
in no time .. Make sure to update the site regularly and keep adding back links..

By "One Page Per Day", do you mean like a blog?

I'm well aware that content is king, so I have a feeling that's what you mean.

That said, here's how I was going to organize it...

example.com would be the main page, soliciting people to search, to contact me, etc.

blog.example.com would be where people find my articles, and would be my general catchall link for blogging (i.e. check out my blog at blog.example.com)

blog.example.com/example-keywords-contained-in-post-title would be how a link to a specific article would appear

I love blogging, so I would have no trouble writing an article a day (or several a week at least).

Does this sound like a good strategy? Or would blogging on other sites be better to continuously generate new backlinks?

 

[stock_post]

If I were you I will write on the same site.
( I never passed SEO 101 Exam)

 

[sitemarker]

I'm in the process of acquiring a great two word real estate domain name. Keyword gets great searches on Google... every other TLD is taken (I'm buying the .ca), and I think this name will really help me out in my real estate endeavors.

Let's start this from the beginning....you don't want to go too far or start 'climbing' only to find out later that your ladder is leaning against the wrong wall... tell me ....or anyone ( or maybe it's just me who is noticing it)...how many .ca domains have you noticed that are ranked top 5 in Google's first page...that are somewhat in niches that satisfies a considerable amount of searches/traffic?

Unless you're creating a website intended for local business marketing....maybe .ca is ok.... maybe...

Let's put this in another perspective.... I SEO'd 4 of my blogs.... one a dot .net ( which is now top #2 in Google for "facial cleanser") the second, is TLD .com
also now ranked top #3 for 'dog insurance information' but have given up trying to ranked my .info and .biz ( i've come to a conclusion that I have to double my efforts and the waiting time for these 2 to rank)

My solution? I got another .com and .net

 

[stock_post]

He is from Ontario Canada and for his local business a .ca would be very much suitable.

 

[sitemarker]

well, we'll let the man clarify this...he said "every TLD domain is taken" so he has opted for a dot .ca...... maybe he wasn't merely focusing in the local market or had other reasons why he would have preferred a dot .com, a dot .net or a .org first , rather than a dot .ca

..and if in any case he's indeed going to focus in his local market, then grcorp should instead opt to do Google maps...which is a totally different approach from the conventional SEO techniques...at least, this is what I would do for local SEO.

=========

Amazing! I've just checked and looks like you can outrank these guys for "Ontario Real Estate" with just about 4-5 citations ....
http://maps.google.ca/
(just enter Ontario Real Estate in the search box )

 

[copper]

Are you a realtor/agent seeking local leads?
If so, Google local listing will give you better results and easier to get it.

 

[sitemarker]

@ copper..... he needs to outrank the other realtor or agents as to the number of their citations....I agree with you though, it's easier to rank but there's really no point if Google allocates you in the second page....

 

[grcorp]

@ copper..... he needs to outrank the other realtor or agents as to the number of their citations....I agree with you though, it's easier to rank but there's really no point if Google allocates you in the second page....

To clarify, I am in Ontario, Canada and thus, .ca would be treated differently for local searches than another ccTLD. The .com, .net, .org, and .info are all taken (thought the .biz was, but it isn't. Not that it matters. I may as well be going for .mobi at that point.)

@copper - I'm not yet licensed, so I can't call myself a REALTOR - but I just passed my final exam, so my license is not far off.

To answer your question, yes, that is ultimately my goal - to generate leads (buyer leads to be specific).

Sitemarker, that's good thinking to create a listing in Google maps... what exactly do you mean by a "citation"? How do you know how many I need to beat out these other guys?

Unfortunately, the keywords "Ontario Real Estate" won't do me any good, as it's my experience that searches are more city specific (i.e. Toronto, Mississauga, etc.).

To get you an idea as to who's doing it right, www.citydreamhomes.com is doing something right. I don't know what. I've put painstaking effort into trying to discover their strategy but I just can't figure it out.

They're ranking right at the top of Google (#1 position) for every phrase that I'm going after.

 

[dmyre]

Google recently released an updated SEO Starter Guide.

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/09/seo-starter-guide-updated.html

Also, feel free to check out realestatewebmasters[.]com for some extra guidance...

 

[DomainMagnate]

To get you an idea as to who's doing it right, www.citydreamhomes.com is doing something right. I don't know what. I've put painstaking effort into trying to discover their strategy but I just can't figure it out.

They're ranking right at the top of Google (#1 position) for every phrase that I'm going after.

No tricks here. Good SEO history, thousands of quality backlinks. Get that and you'll rank high as well. Good content only won't get you far here, as real estate serps are very competitive.

 

[sitemarker]

hello @ grcorp

to answer your question about 'citations'
=================================

Getting listed with Google Maps, helps small businesses in making them known to prospective customers, that are on the lookout for specific type of businesses located within a specific geographical location.

To gain an edge on this, you need citations or reviews that makes your Google Listings stickier.

A citation is where your business name and address are mentioned (or cited) on another website. Citations don’t necessarily have links leading back to a website since many business owners don’t have website(s). Google crawls content across the web and anywhere they find a citation on your business they give you a point. A citation is a mention of your business name, address, & phone number.
=============================

Now, going back to conventional SEO re: www.citydreamhomes.com

here' some few facts that I've gathered when going through the site ( using my own know-how in SEO and some help from Market Samurai)

* they are ranked no#1 for the keywords "Toronto Homes"
* Domain is very old and have thousands of backlinks pointed to their site
* ...you're up against a 180-POUND GORILLA

(BUT, the fact that they're ranked #1 doesn't mean that they're doing everything right. They just haven't found a competition yet that would take as much action as these guys have... reviewing their backlinks, looks like these guys have done lots of SEO using Web 2.0 marketing)

Add to that, here's what I also found out.... that they're NOT doing:

* Making the most of their website ( no 'above fold' incentive' or directive to join their list - they're not really capturing leads effectively)
* From where I am looking at ( as Google has many servers, what may be no#1 from where I am based, maybe #3 to you),
they're NOT even in the top 7 in Google maps
* although they've worked on their site's title, they haven't done really a good job for on-page optimization
* and for the more obvious, the keywords the site is targeting, isn't in the domain name itself...

the "NOTs" are the ones you can use to outrank this site or ranked close to it as possible and gather the leads it fails to capture
(perhaps designing your site to the likes of this one can help: http://realestatemoneymall.com/become-informed/

Also, I see a dot .ca targeting the same keyword ranked only @ position #6 (re: http-//propertysold.ca) , the fact that it has more backlinks than site @ spot #1 (re: www.citydreamhomes.com).

This comes back to my earlier point.....you'd be leaning your ladder against the wrong wall if you started with a dot .ca domain for a conventional SEO but not really much of a concern to rank in Google maps, because as explained earlier, you can even rank without a website.

For conventional SEO therefore, I would start with a dot .com , .dot .net or dot. org domain that bears the keywords I am targeting "Toronto Homes" .....buy hey, that's just me....all of these is simply my opinion...

 

[adonivideo]

every thing you think you know about SEO is wrong

I constantly put BLANK PAGES on page 1 of google for high cpc words

and most are new reg's

so content?

LOL

google will pop a blank page, so what does that tell you about content


anyway, very few people really KNOW how to hit page 1, and those that do, keep the real info to themselves

we get paid a lot of money to manipulate google and yahoo, etc

so what we know is based usually on 15 years or more of doing it

but I will tell you 1 thing

exact key word match is the MAIN thing

you got that and you can put a blank page on top of google, and I've done it over and over to show 'seo experts' how they know NOTHING

so KEYWORD is the keyword

there's seo guru's and there's SEO GODS

the guru's read the books written by the GODS and we leave out most of the inside info

 

[randomo]

every thing you think you know about SEO is wrong

Other people who posted in this thread have tried to offer helpful advice. In what way is your post helpful to anyone, as opposed to just bragging and mocking?