Optimizing for keywords in your code is one of the basic tenants of SEO. But any professional SEO consultant will tell you that you need to support that with the proper keywords in your content. If you cannot properly describe the topic that you are writing about then the search engines will not be able to properly index and rank your post. The search engines are not as smart as you may think, that is why SEO people have jobs. That is also why it is important to both optimize your site on the back end, in the code, and to also optimize your site on the front end, in the content. The content and the code optimization must match up with each other, otherwise the search engines may get confused.

So when you are writing your next post you need to pause and think to yourself, "did I use the right keywords in my post?" You can use various keyword analysis tools like Wordtracker or the Google keyword tool in order to get a better idea of what users are typing in to Google when searching for information on your topic. And use many different variations of your main keyword in order to cover as many bases as you can. After all, you DO want people to find your post and read it, don't you?

A 2006 study by Cornell University, using eye racking and control groups of undergrad students, showed the breakdown of how many clicks each listing (1-10) get in the Google SERPs. This has been an age old question that professional SEO consultants have been trying to figure out.

As you can see by the chart above there is a significant difference between being #1 and being #2! The top spot gets you over 56% of the clicks and the #2 spot only about 13%. That is a gigantic difference. Also of important note is the difference between #4 and #3. At the #3 spot you get 9.82% of the clicks and the #4 spot only gets you 4%. I have known that there are huge differences in being #1 and not from experience with clients I have worked with. But having a formal study done by Cornell is nice because it validates things more. Of course these numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt because each keyword search could result in different click behaviors. Actually there are many things that could skew the results. But the idea is to show that there are significant differences within the top 4 or 5 spots.

In a huge announcement today ICANN announced that they will launch an unlimited amount of top level domain (TLD) suffixes. Tired of your old .com, .net, or even your .travel? Well now you can get TLDs like .webmaster or .superman. What I find unbelievable about today's announcement is that ICANN admitted that they have spent $10 million on researching this initiative and plan to spend another $10 million to implement it! It doesn't take a room full of Phds to figure out that this is a good idea, nor does it take $10 million. This is a good move because it opens up a huge opportunity for marketers and business to get really creative with their domain branding. It is also good for ICANN and the various domain registrars because they will make a mint on this deal! I foresee many 301 redirects in the near future as people will be moving their sites from the old and stale .com to the new .whatevers. Except that bidding for a new custom TLD will start at $100,000. Sorry, no small business opportunities here.

I often curse, celebrate, and enjoy Google each day. Being a professional SEO requires a love/hate relationship with the search engine giant. But I really need to applaud the recent attempts of Google to reach out the the webmasters of the universe.

Google analytics is an excellent FREE analytics program and the best FREE analytics to ever come out so far. Google Webmaster Tools is another great toll that offers webmasters a wealth of information on how Google perceives your site and its pages. Previously this information was not directly available to the public and I think that it has done nothing but good for everyone since its launch. There was a while there where it seemed that Google would never reveal such things to webmasters and SEOs. And the Google Website Optimizer is the latest of the bunch.

Checkout this great post with cartoons depicting Google's newfound friendship with webmasters.

And to think that people actually believe that we cannot see into the future!

Predictive copywriting is not a new idea, it has actually been around for a very long time. Many people who make a living online, selling adsense ads or affiliate links and things of that nature, have been doing this for years. Even Wikipedia is in on it with their page on Olympics 2028! The idea is to pick something that doesn't exist yet but will soon. For instance, I do not want to wait till 2028 to capitalize on the term Olympics 2028.

Maybe you know of a TV show or movie that will launch soon. Or a product that will be coming out in the coming months, like a purple Iphone nano. You want to pick something that will be hot so that you can start writing and optimizing your pages for the term and will hopefully have the advantage in ranking for the term in Google. By the time the item or event that you are writing about becomes hot, you will be there at the top of the SERPs to capitalize on it via affiliate links, adsense, text or banner ads, etc.

Don't forget to write some good, keyword rich content and get it up ASAP. Then ping Google to let them know that you have fresh content for them. And also you will need to build links to the site/page. If you practice you can become very good at this and there is a certain satisfaction/adrenaline rush that comes with ranking #1 for term you are targeting. At least for this search nerd there is!