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> Get Articles > Search Engines and SEO > Top Tips from Some of the Best SEO's in the Business

Top Tips from Some of the Best SEO's in the Business


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Robin Nobles
RobinNacws.com

Academy of Web Specialists
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/more_info




Top Tips from Some of the

Best SEO's in the Business

. . . Learn from the Pros in this Informative Article!



by Robin R. Nobles



Have you ever wondered what types of strategies the top search

engine optimizers use for their own sites or the sites of their

clients?



In an industry like the search engine industry, where no one can

possibly know everything, it's important to learn from trusted

experts in the field. So for this article, I interviewed some of

the best SEO's in the business in an effort to share their

winning strategies with you.



Important facts about these tips



Please remember that these tips aren't necessarily the

fundamental strategies that should always be used when working on

a Web page, such as including your keyword phrase in your title

tag or capitalizing on headline tags or link text. Instead, many

of these tips are meant to be applied to the top of the basic

strategies in an effort to give you an edge over the competition.



Also, these tips aren't in any particular order of importance.

The first tip in any category isn't necessarily the most

important, and the last tip certainly isn't the least important.



I've identified each tip with the SEO who wrote it. Then, at the

end of the article in alphabetical order, I highlighted the

various SEO's who participated in this article, along with brief

information about their qualifications.



Enjoy these tips from some of the best SEO's in the business!



Basics



* Stick to the basics of search engine optimization for your

existing Web pages (i.e. optimized titles, header content,

keyword density, the order your text is presented in the code,

etc.), before you move into supplementary techniques like doorway

pages, doorway domains, and the like. The odds are that if you

have not mastered the basic skills to optimize your existing Web

pages, you are not going to be able implement supplementary

techniques successfully. (J.K. Bowman with Spider Food

http://www.spider-food.net )



* My advice to everyone is always to remember the basic, simple

things that have not changed rather than get lost in details that

may change on a regular basis. I find that even very advanced

people sometimes need a reminder of the basics to see the forest

from the trees. (Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch

http://www.searchenginewatch.com )





Content



* Focus on building useful "research content." Remember that the

Internet is constantly being used for all types of research. Take

advantage of this and develop content that will appeal to the

people who are doing the research. What is it that people want to

know? People are looking for "how to" articles, "inspirational"

articles, reference material, financial advice, technical advice,

comparison charts, phone numbers, historical information, serial

numbers, and the list goes on and on. Don't just do up a general

page on a topic. Do a little research. Talk to some real people

and see what it is that fascinates a specific group. Look for a

newsgroup and see what they talk about. From your research, try

checking a few keywords in WordTracker. From WordTracker, you can

discover trends that people are using to conduct research. If you

have a garden center online, perhaps you'll want to build a

content rich doorway page that offers detailed blue prints for

building a birdhouse or an article on "How to attract

hummingbirds to your garden," etc. If you have an online jewelry

store, perhaps you'll want to offer articles on how to determine

the real value of a diamond or a tutorial on Victorian gemstones.

(John Alexander with Beyond-SEO.com http://www.beyond-seo.com/ )



* If your site makes heavy use of graphics and has no substantial

real text content, this will severely impact your ability to get

good search engine listings because there is nothing for the

search engines to read when they index your Web site. You should

consider redesigning some of your pages to include real text

rather than graphical text. (Paul Bruemmer with Web Ignite

http://www.web-ignite.com )



* Customize content for each page. Every URL is a potential entry

point. Keep content in the header tags focused and terse.

Simplicity is so important in search engine optimization.

(Marshall Simmonds with About.com http://www.about.com/ )



* Use cgi-based date scripts to keep the site fresh. (Ginette

Degner with ServiceBrokers.com http://www.servicebrokers.com )





Directories



* Proper submission to the major directories is critical. One of

the most significant changes in search engine marketing in recent

years has been the rise in popularity of human-reviewed

directories and catalogs like LookSmart, Yahoo, and Open

Directory. Some search engines prominently display directory

listings for many popular searches. MSN is a prime example. Some

of the other major engines also list directory results

prominently, or at least emphasize them in various ways. You can

recognize directory listings since they are often called "Web

Site" results rather than "Web Page" results. Once you submit to

a directory, it's difficult to go back and correct mistakes

later. Some of them like Yahoo and LookSmart charge you for the

privilege of simply being reviewed for inclusion. Therefore, it's

of utmost importance to get it right the first time. (Brent

Winters with FirstPlace Software http://www.webposition.com )



* Get listed with the human-powered directories of Yahoo,

LookSmart and the Open Directory. If this is all you do, you'll

get plenty of traffic. All either get lots of visitors or "power"

other sites that get plenty of visitors. In addition, getting

listed with them helps crawler-based search engines locate your

site and perhaps help it rank better, because of the link

importance these sites provide to you. (Danny Sullivan with

Search Engine Watch http://www.searchenginewatch.com )





Diversify



* It's important to experiment and diversify your optimization

strategies. The algorithms of each engine change frequently to

keep content fresh -- so should your techniques. It is important

to abide by all the rules and regulations as set forth by the

engines to avoid spamdexing. (Marshall Simmonds with About.com

http://www.about.com/ )





Due Diligence



* First comes content, then optimizing your pages for the search

engines, checking your HTML code, etc. Next comes the submission

of your pages to the search engines. Possibly resubmit your older

content, depending on ranking and various other factors.

(Introduce at least some minor changes before you do.) Follow the

rules of the craft. Later, check your logs daily. Learn how to

recognize search engine spiders to see if your submissions were

successful. Check out all search engine generated hits to

determine: a) your ranking, b) what people are really searching

for and finding you under -you may be in for a surprise or two on

that score. (Ralph Tegtmeier, a.k.a. Fantomaster

http://fantomaster.com/ )



* Read, read, read - learn the trade from scratch. Test out stuff

- your mileage may vary immensely from the gurus' -every Web site

is different, or, at least, should be. (Ralph Tegtmeier, a.k.a.

Fantomaster http://fantomaster.com/ )





Frames, JavaScript, and Dynamic Delivery Systems



* Framesets need NOFRAMES content added to the FRAMESET section.

Also, sites using frames, image maps, or JavaScript navigation do

not get properly indexed by search engines because the frame

containing links to other pages within the site gets overlooked.

A remedy for this is to create a redundant set of text links in

as many of the frameset component pages as is practical, such as

at the bottom of your main content page. (Paul Bruemmer with Web

Ignite http://www.web-ignite.com )



* Build crawler-friendly. Avoid using frames or dynamic delivery

systems, and ensure that you have good internal linkage between

your pages. (Danny Sullivan with Search Engine Watch

http://www.searchenginewatch.com )



* Consider putting your JavaScript in external files. This also

will streamline your source code and make your pages load faster

and more search engine friendly. (Bill Gentry with The Selling

Source http://www.sellingsource.com )





Keywords



* Know what you want to be found for. You should know the top two

or three terms that are most important to your Web site and have

incorporated them into a 25-word description that doesn't use

marketing hype, which can then be submitted to human-powered

directories. You should also know a list of the top 10 to 100

terms you'd like to be found for and ensure that you have pages

within your Web site with good, solid content for these terms to

please the crawlers. (Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch

http://www.searchenginewatch.com )



* Don't make the mistake of picking the wrong keywords. Nothing

is more disappointing than taking the time to achieve top

rankings and then seeing no increase in traffic from all your

efforts. Also, don't pick keywords that are too popular or broad

like "games" or "entertainment." You'll not only get visitors

that are far less likely to buy your product, but the amount of

work needed to gain that ranking will not be worth the trouble.

You'll then join the ranks of misinformed critics screaming

"search engine optimization doesn't work - don't waste your

time!" SE optimization works and works well, IF you take the

time to do it right. (Brent Winters with FirstPlace Software

http://www.webposition.com )



* Research your search phrases. If you can, also check your

referrer logs or other traffic tracking program to help you. If

you don't have referrer logs, install a traffic tracking program

such as Web Trends Live on your site and let it gather stats for

you for a couple of months before you decide on your search

phrases. A program such as this or your referrer logs will tell

you which search phrases are currently bringing you search engine

traffic. You might want to use some of these for your

optimization, since you already know that people find you using

these. Then, check your rankings for the search phrases that you

researched from WordTracker, or other search phrase research

tools, as well as those from your traffic tracking program or

referrer logs. I suggest this because you may find that you are

already doing fairly well with some phrases and you may not want

to mess with those. (Bill Gentry with The Selling Source

http://www.sellingsource.com )



* Build focused pages around "real world" queries. Use phrases

exactly how they are typed into a search engine, such as "How can

I" and "Where can I." You will notice that sites with FAQ pages

like this can end up garnering an awful lot of top placements and

traffic. (Ginette Degner with ServiceBrokers.com

http://www.servicebrokers.com )



* Searching for the key phrase in Yahoo and noting the Yahoo

Categories returned can suggest key themes and words useful to

the site for optimization as well as showing the quantity and

quality of the competition. (David Johnson and Annam Manthiram

with Position Research http://www.positionresearch.com )



* I like to thoroughly explore all possibilities when researching

keyword phrases. I like to think of keyword phrases as "fuel" for

specific topics. After much study using a resource like

WordTracker (one of my favourite tools), I like to identify

several "high performance" keyword phrases. Then I try not to

simply settle for the first ideas that come to mind for how that

topic might be employed. I try to "think outside of the box."

Learn to develop topical content with a unique spin on it, always

keeping the visitors in mind. In a nutshell, understand your

visitors' demand for useful topics and then give them what it is

they are seeking. Focus should not just be on how to get tons of

general traffic to a page. Use page optimization strategies to

create useful pages with content that is "in demand" by a target

audience. When you start thinking this way, it has a wonderful

compound effect on making actual sales or achieving your site

objectives. Isn't this why you started a Web site in the first

place? (John Alexander with Beyond-SEO.com http://www.beyo nd-

seo.com/)



* Check log files for user country location and most often used

keywords in search engine search. This may demonstrate the need

to offer the site in another language (or to provide a link to

Alta Vista's Babelfish or the Lycos equivalent) if there are a

lot of hits from another country. Knowing the keywords used to

arrive at the site helps to decide on variations and changes to

the site theme. (David Johnson and Annam Manthiram with Position

Research http://www.positionresearch.com )



* Did you know that the KEI Factor used in WordTracker is an

excellent guideline to follow? According to WordTracker, an

excellent keyword phrase has a KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index)

of 400+. Are you having trouble finding appropriate phrases with

high KEI factors? Try using one single word (appropriate for your

site) in the "comprehensive search" feature. I very often extract

excellent phrases with a KEI level well into the thousands or

even into the hundreds of thousands. Always ensure that the

search phrases you select are solidly related to site content.

(John Alexander with Beyond-SEO.com http://www.beyond-seo.com/ )





Link Popularity



* Submit to link popularity-based engines LAST after you have had

a chance to build your inbound and outbound links up. (Ginette

Degner with ServiceBrokers.com http://www.servicebrokers.com )



* Examine your internal link structure carefully. Even for large

Web sites, to the extent that it is possible, you want every Web

page linking to every other page. Complex linking structures will

work to your disadvantage. (J.K. Bowman with Spider Food

http://www.spider-food.net )



* Build links. Search for the top terms you want to be found for.

Review the sites that come up. Visit those sites and ask the non-

competitive ones if they'll swap links with you. These sites are

important because the search engines themselves are telling you

they are important, by ranking them highly. That means links from

them can help you in link analysis systems. It also means that if

these sites get visitors, you may get visitors who follow links

out of them. (Danny Sullivan with Search Engine Watch

http://www.searchenginewatch.com )



* Link exchange with other like sites, and be sure to interlink

your pages. (Rocky Rawstern)



* Develop your inbound link popularity the old fashioned way, one

link at a time. An investment of just 10 minutes per day to this

with a personalized e-mail to Web site owners of similar and

significant sites will produce immediate results. And you will

never have to worry about the risk associated with link

popularity programs. (J.K. Bowman with Spider Food

http://www.spider-food.net )



* Upgrade your site to an info hub by offering prime outgoing

links - such as a search engine portal. This will help boost your

site's ranking with the search engines. Contrary to popular

opinion, linkage counts both ways, incoming and outgoing. Check

out this free distributed search engine portal:

http://searchenginebase.com/ . The signup page is here:

http://searchenginebase.com/sbfreeportal0.html . Link to lots of

useful sites not directly competing with yours. Request

reciprocal links. Create more domains and interlink them all.

Avoid mere link farms - there's a ongoing witchhunt targeting

those currently. Also, check your linkage regularly. (Ralph

Tegtmeier, a.k.a. Fantomaster http://fantomaster.com/ )





Make it a Game and Have Fun!



* Make a game of it. I like to akin SEO to playing chess. It's a

matter of thinking three steps ahead of your competition. For

those who do this, the nip and tuck battle for the #1 spot can be

quite fun. In fact, it's addictive! So, when you think about SEO,

don't just think about it in terms how much money you might make.

If you truly become interested in the art and competitive element

of search engine optimization, you will be incredibly more

successful. (J.K. Bowman with Spider Food http://www.spid er-

food.net)





Newsletters, Forums, and Lists



* The best thing you can do to help your search engine efforts is

to stay informed via newsletters and forums. Some of those will

cost a great deal of money, and others will be free, but staying

informed of search engine developments is important. (Brett Tabke

with Webmaster World http://www.webmasterworld.com )



* Participate in discussion forums. Promote on Usenet via your

sig file if you can answer (or ask) questions in areas you are

either proficient or at least interested in. Contribute to

mailing lists. (Ralph Tegtmeier, a.k.a. Fantomaster

http://fantomaster.com/ )





Online Marketing



* Generate lots of fresh, useful content. Keep your blatant

marketing activities on economy drive (pardon the pun), be subtle

about your promotion. People will notice, and will favor, less

dumb hysteria, more openness, and honesty. Admit to mistakes if

you make them (as you're bound to), but don't cringe and don't

give the impression of reacting self-assertive or self-

deprecating for the heck of it. If you can, issue a newsletter of

your own. Never mind if you only have yourself, your wife and

your stepmother for subscribers - put it on site and submit it to

the engines. They simply adore that sort of all-text stuff!

(Ralph Tegtmeier, a.k.a. Fantomaster http://fantomaster.com/ )



* Search engine optimization in only one aspect of a well rounded

promotion campaign. That campaign should slowly broaden into more

traditional avenues. Search engines aren't the formula for long

term site success - it's up to your site to produce repeat

visitors. (Brett Tabke with Webmaster World

http://www.webmasterworld.com )



* Make sure your top scoring pages include a call to action. This

is not difficult or time consuming but it can make a real

difference in getting results. You can easily provide a visitor

with some sort of reason to take action now. If it is done well,

you can even have customers place a order from a doorway or

gateway information page. Every business is different of course,

but if you don't believe it, give it some thought and try it. At

the very least, experiment with placing your toll free phone

number (if applicable) on your top ranking pages. I have a number

of clients that do a really great business with a toll free

number displayed prominently on their top ranking pages. One of

the easiest ways to prompt action is to purposely leave an

important piece of information off of your site. At first this

does not sound too professional, but really think about it. If

they are impressed with your site content, obviously the depth of

your content has gained you some respect and credibility with the

reader.... so just leave one vital bit of information out. This

may start more phone calls and e-mail responses than you expect

but it's one of the easiest ways to trigger response. You see,

from those e-mails and phone calls, you can now enter further

dialogue with the visitor and this will often result in the

visitor becoming a customer. (John Alexander with Beyond-SEO.com

http://www.beyond-seo.com/ )





Pay Engines



* Open your wallet. If you have the money, paid placement and

paid inclusion programs can be a fast, easy way to get good

listings or better representation. But even if you have money,

don't forget to do all the basic things that can help you get

plenty of traffic for free. (Danny Sullivan with Search Engine

Watch http://www.searchenginewatch.com )





Relevancy



* There are countless tips for optimizing your page's content so

that it will be more "relevant" to a given search. Each engine

ranks pages differently, so most tips are not universal. However,

there is one tip that overrides them all: Create pages that

emulate the "statistics" of pages that already rank at or near

the top of the search results. These statistics include: a)

Frequency of the keywords on the page. Tip: This does not mean

more keywords are better. b) Total words on the page. Tip: Mimic

the approximate number of words of a top ranking page on your own

page. c) Weight of the keywords on the page. (i.e. frequency

divided by the total words) Tip: Too high a weight is just as bad

as too low a weight. d) Area or location of the keywords on the

page. (i.e., title, heading, etc.) Tip: A keyword is given more

relevance by an engine when the keyword appears in the engine's

"preferred" areas. e) Prominence. Tip: Generally, the closer to

the front of the area you can place the keyword, the better. f)

Proximity. Tip: The closer that the words of a phrase appear

together, the better. g) Off-page criteria. (i.e., link

popularity, click through popularity, etc.) Tip: Even when you've

done everything else right, don't forget the off-page factors!

(Brent Winters with FirstPlace Software

http://www.webposition.com )



* For best positioning, content should be placed at the top of a

page. However, for splash pages or pages without any content,

content can be added at the very bottom and the scroll bar can be

hidden to prevent a visitor from reading the optimized content.

(David Johnson and Annam Manthiram with Position Research

http://www.positionresearch.com )



* Keep the graphics low and the content high. All engines do two

things: index text and follow links. Give the spiders the

opportunity to do just that. Keep the content as high on the page

as possible and give relevant links to quality content either on

or off-site. The HTML title should be focused and accurately

represent the content of the page. (Marshall Simmonds with

About.com http://www.about.com/ )



* If you run a regional business where most of your business is

local, it's critical that you include your full company address

on every page of your site. Otherwise people could search for

"Ford dealer in Chicago" and you'd not appear if your company

address is buried only on your contact page. Also take advantage

of "proximity" by putting the word Chicago as close to the phrase

Ford dealer as possible. Lastly, make sure the address is in text

form since search engines can't read your address out of a

graphical logo on your page. (Brent Winters with FirstPlace

Software http://www.webposition.com )





Simplicity



* Keep things simple. Write good content and titles, and use text

links either as your main navigation or in conjunction with

graphic buttons, image maps or flash menus. It's ok to use Flash

animation on your site, but if you use it on your index page, be

sure to integrate it with content so the search engines can index

your home page. Also consider making your Flash animations

smaller where possible, such as banner size. They are much easier

to integrate into a page with content. Flash does not have to

dominate the page to be effective or add pizzazz to your site.

(Bill Gentry with The Selling Source

http://www.sellingsource.com )



* Did I mention keeping things simple? General optimization will

get you good results without a lot of extra time or effort. (Bill

Gentry with The Selling Source http://www.sellingsource.com )





Site Maps



* Web Ignite recommends the creation of a site map page that

includes plain text links to as many pages within your site as

possible. This will increase the ability of search engines to

spider your site and can result in more of your pages being

listed. A plain text link to the site map should appear on all

pages. (Paul Bruemmer with Web Ignite http://www.web-ignite.com )





Software Programs



* Consider getting SE Optimizer (http://www.se-optimizer.com).

It's a snappy little tool to help you with your optimization

efforts and helps remind you of all those things you ought to try

to do every time you optimize a page. (I am not an affiliate of

SE Optimizer or AWCS trying to sell you this program. I just

really like it and think it belongs in every optimizer's tool

box.) (Bill Gentry with The Selling Source

http://www.sellingsource.com )





Spamming



* AltaVista has been vocal lately with the statistic that

approximately 95% of all submissions are spam. Therefore, take

the time and effort to learn what search engines consider spam

and do everything in your power to avoid these violations. It

will save much grief if optimization and submission are done

properly the first time. (Marshall Simmonds with About.com

http://www.about.com/ )





Stylesheets



* Consider using a stylesheet to redefine html tags and define

custom classes. Also make this an external .css file and link to

it in the head. Doing so will streamline your source code and

make future site-wide style changes much easier. Also, consider

using layers instead of tables to further streamline your source

code. Streamlining your source code will make it more search

engine friendly and your pages will also load faster. (Bill

Gentry with The Selling Source http://www.sellingsource.com )



* Use linked Cascading Style Sheets creatively. Using CSS, you

can custom define how your HTML tags display text and links,

which is a powerful optimization advantage. (J.K. Bowman with

Spider Food http://www.spider-food.net )





Tags



* Properly done TITLE and META tags at the top of the homepage

HEAD section are crucial to your SEO efforts. When applicable,

all frameset component pages should contain those tags as well.

Properly done ALT text tags are suggested for images. (Paul

Bruemmer with Web Ignite http://www.web-ignite.com )



* Take one minute, at least, and eyeball every page in your site

when you make it, in order to write a descriptive 7-15 word HTML

title. Think newspaper headlines! You want to grab the readers'

attention when they see this title in search engine results and

convince them to click through, though you don't want to be

misleading. Look at the page, think of the top 1 or 2 terms you'd

like it to be found for, then incorporate those words into a

title. Don't worry if you go longer than 15 words or shorter than

7. Those aren't limits; just guidelines from my experience on

making your titles attractive to readers. What about meta tags?

Use the first sentence or two on your page for your meta

description tag's content, and in the meta keywords tag, list any

important keywords you think the page should be found for and

which ALSO appear in the HTML copy of that page. (Danny Sullivan

with Search Engine Watch http://www.searchenginewatch.com )



* You need to create titles and descriptions that are focused on

getting that click, not just on keyword density. The more clicks

you can get, I guarantee you the more popular your site will be.

(Ginette Degner with ServiceBrokers.com

http://www.servicebrokers.com )





Themes



* Before you touch one line of code, make sure that you have

diligently defined your Web site. You should be able to say, "My

Web site is about _____ ______ ______" without any hesitation.

You will be able to optimize for many keyword phrases, but this

single one, two or three keyword phrase theme should resonate on

every page. (J.K. Bowman with Spider-Food http://www.spid er-

food.net)



* Use lots of text on each page [over one hundred words],

specific to one extremely narrow theme. (Rocky Rawstern)



* The primary technique for good positioning is rich, robust

visible text. A theme page is much better than a doorway page,

since it emphasizes relevant body copy. (David Johnson and Annam

Manthiram with Position Research http://www.positionresearch.com )



* Create a themed mini-library that pays off in big numbers of

targeted traffic! Using WordTracker, find an appropriately

related "hot topic" for your Web site. What I like to do is to

build a little group of information rich, top ranking pages and

fashion them into a little mini-library (6 to 20 pages), all with

slightly different variations of that hot topic. They are all

linked together with a separate topical index page. The key to

success is to first research the best keyword phrases (high KEI

values), then build quality content (the stuff that folks love to

learn about). Only use topics that appropriately apply to the

overall theme of the site. Each content-rich "library page"

should also employ creative text links into different parts of

your main pages. You want lots of horizontal "click throughs" to

your entire site. Make sure each optimized page within your

themed library is for a DIFFERENT or slightly different phrase.

Also ensure your library pages are not just slapped together from

a template. Each library page should have a unique layout and

differing content to avoid penalization with anti-spam filters.

The result is a flood of targeted traffic to the "library" which

can then move throughout your entire Web site. (John Alexander

with Beyond-SEO.com http://www.beyond-seo.com/ )





Tracking



* As you learn more about search engine marketing, you'll

discover it is not an exact science. Some of your pages will rank

well the first time out, and some will not. In addition, your

rankings will fluctuate, calling for tweaks in design from time

to time. Therefore, as with any marketing strategy, you need a

method to measure your progress. In this case, you need a

convenient way to report your rankings for each keyword and

engine you're targeting, and to track the number of visitors to

your Web site, along with where they came from. WebPosition Gold

(http://www.webposition.com) helps you manage and automate both

these essential tasks. (Brent Winters with FirstPlace Software

http://www.webposition.com )





Web Design



* Design the Web site with the search engines in mind. Use text

links especially if you have image maps or frames, etc. (Ginette

Degner with ServiceBrokers.com http://www.servicebrokers.com )





A special thanks to the following Search Engine Optimizers who

were willing to share their tips for this article (listed in

alphabetical order):



* John Alexander is a Professional SEO who operates an

independent Internet consulting business in affiliation with

WorldSites.Net (http://www.Worldsites.net). John also owns

Beyond-SEO.com (http://www.beyond-seo.com/), a Web site devoted

to professional SEO's looking for tips beyond the basics.



* J.K. Bowman is the Editor of Spider-Food.net

(http://www.spider-food.net), one of the largest tutorial

resources on the Web for search engine optimization and Web site

promotion techniques. He currently lives in Mississippi, where he

also provides consultancy and positioning services.



* Paul J. Bruemmer is CEO of Web-Ignite Corporation

(http://www.web-ignite.com), a search engine traffic agency.

Founded in 1995, Web-Ignite provides search engine traffic for

Fortune 1000 dot-coms and for B2B and e-commerce sites.



* Ginette Degner operates Service Brokers

(http://www.servicebrokers.com), a Web Optimization and Marketing

Strategies firm providing expert search engine placement and

consultation services since 1993.



* Bill Gentry is Manager of Search Engine Optimization Services

for The Selling Source (http://www.sellingsource.com), an online

marketing company that offers a wide array of online marketing

solutions to a diverse clientele.



* David Johnson and Annam Manthiram are Search Engine Research

Specialists with Position Research

(http://www.positionresearch.com), a search engine optimization

firm that considers "research" an integral part of optimizing Web

sites.



* Rocky Rawstern is a Senior Search Engine Analyst with a

prominent search engine optimization company on the West coast.



* Marshall Simmonds is the Director of Search for About, Inc.

(http://www.about.com/), a division of parent company PRIMEDIA

Inc. Marshall is responsible for maximizing search engine

exposure for About's 700 topic sites which cover 1,000,000

articles. He also oversees search engine strategies for

Primedia's online properties, such as Americanbaby.com and

Seventeen.com.



* Danny Sullivan, Editor of Search Engine Watch

(http://www.searchenginewatch.com), is often considered the

Internet's "search engine guru." He has been helping Webmasters,

marketers and everyday Web users understand how search engines

work for half a decade.



* Brett Tabke of PHD Software Systems is also the owner of

Webmaster World Forums (http://www.webmasterworld.com) and Search

Engine World (http://www.searchengineworld.com/), extremely

popular informational sites designed "by Webmasters for

Webmasters."



* Ralph Tegtmeier is the co-founder and principal of

fantomaster.com Ltd. (UK) and fantomaster.com GmbH (Belgium)

(http://fantomaster.com/), a company specializing in Webmasters

software development, industrial-strength cloaking and search

engine positioning services. He has been a Web marketer since

1994 and is editor-in-chief of fantomNews, a free newsletter

focusing on search engine optimization, available at:

http://fantomaster.com/fantomnews-sub.html .



* Brent Winters is the President of FirstPlace Software, Inc. and

author of the highly popular MarketPosition Newsletter.

FirstPlace Software develops and markets WebPosition Gold

(http://www.webposition.com), the first software product to track

your rankings on the major search engines and to help you improve

those rankings.





This article was written by Robin Nobles, a professional

freelance writer and the Director of Training of the Academy of

Web Specialists. Over the past few years, she has trained several

thousand people in her online and onsite courses in search engine

positioning strategies and has written three books that can be

ordered through Amazon. Visit the Academy's Web site to learn

more about their online courses and products:

http://www.academywebspecialists.com/more_info .





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