Nowadays you can’t read a search marketing blog without seeing a post on SEO tools. There are so many out there that it’s overwhelming. My bookmarks are overflowing with them… saved by the dozens to never be visited and used. The truth? You really only need a couple good tools to do your SEM job well. And luckily, I’ve found a couple tools that accomplish many tasks, thereby further decreasing the Firefox add-ons and bookmarks I must keep up with. Below, my list of top tools I go to again and again.

1. Aaron Wall’s SEO Book Firefox Toolbar Add-on. This little gem does a lot. A LOT. This is my all-in-one SEO toolbar add-on of choice. Features of interest include:
   • Web stats you need, from Page Rank to indexed pages.
   • Easy access to keyword research with the option to have many research tools power the results, like Aaron’s Keyword Suggestion tool, Google, Wordtracker, and Keyword Discovery.
   • Rank Checker button to check organic rankings.
   • NoFollow button to visually see the NoFollowed links on a page.
   • SEO X-ray feature to gives a snapshot of on-page keyword density, internal and external links, and meta data.
   • Competitor SEO KPI side-by-side comparison tool.
   • Hot buttons to Alexa, Whois, SEMRush, Compete, and more!
2. Link Sleuth. Although cumbersome at times, Link Sleuth crawls sites thoroughly and produces an easily sorted broken link list when copied into Excel.
3. AuditMyPC.com. Producing HTML and XML sitemaps can be a pain in the butt. Both because it’s time consuming and there always seems to be that one page that shouldn’t be in a sitemap that sneaks in. With easy exclusion and filtering options, AuditMyPC.com’s version is the best I’ve played with yet.
4. SEO Browser. Sometimes the easiest way to understand how Google crawls your site is to see what Google sees. And that is exactly what SEO Browser provides. Although I know there are more “techy” text viewers out there, this one serves my purpose well by giving me the site, live links and all, in a text only format.
5. Copyscape. Duplicate content has become a scary word in SEM. This little tool helps ID the offending pages perfectly.
6. Link Diagnosis. We all know anchor text and site authority are important metrics to research when link building. This tool gives you that, and then some, without having to manually research, click, or visit the pages in question.
7. Google Webmaster Tools. The cornerstone of all SEM work. Use it to find crawling errors (especially 404s), indexation errors, assess inbound links, or the newest feature that I love, organic click through rates!

Good luck!

Ok, so, that title may be a little misleading. The actual Seth Godin, author of some of the most popular marketing books around like Purple Cow and Small is the New Big, is not physically coming here. But his ideas and tips are in a new unofficial Seth Godin Linchpin Meetup through Meetup.com.

Although obviously a marketing ploy to promote his new book slyly called, you guessed it, Linchpin, Meetups are happening worldwide on Monday, June 14^th to discuss his new book. How this Meetup is being described:

“A completely non-commercial chance to find and connect with other members of Seth’s tribe; an opportunity to talk, challenge, and inspire your fellow travelers around his new best seller – Linchpin.”

You may be wondering what exactly a “Linchpin” is. Well, if you’re a search marketer, you will probably understand the definition well.

Definition of linchpin:

An artist, who is not just some person who messes around with paint and brushes, but somebody who does (and I LOVE this term) “emotional work.” Work that you put your heart and soul into. Work that matters. Work that you gladly sacrifice all other alternatives for.

Being an SEM, we spend hours playing with code, doing keyword research for sometimes ridiculous terms, and get excited at the mere thought of moving up 2 spots in Google or going from PR4 to PR5. We do “emotional” work; work that other people and even clients sometimes think is either menial, frivolous, or both. We are obsessive but we do it because we love it and we know it will make a difference to our clients’ bottom line. We are artists.

So come out to meet some fellow artists in our area and share the evening discussing the job we love while thousands of people and Meetup groups around the world do the same. Kind of a cool unity, huh? Oh Seth, you sneaky marketer you.

Seth Godin Linchpin Meetup Group- Greensboro

Seth Godin Linchpin Meetup Group- High Point

Seth Godin Linchpin Meetup Group- Winston Salem

Linchpin Greensboro Facebook Page

If you are an SEO or are familiar with search engine optimization, the terms “Robots.txt” and “No Index” are somewhere in your vocabulary. If not, the explanation of these is fairly simple: both Robots.txt files and “No Index” meta tags are ways to keep search engines from reading and saving content to their database, known as their “index.” Why would you want to exclude pages from a search engine’s index? Another simple answer: To keep the engines from giving priority to unimportant pages at the cost of the good (i.e. converting) ones. So, let’s get into how the Robots.txt file and “No Index” meta tag operate.

The Robots.txt “Disallow”

Robots.txt is a file that you upload to your site’s root directory. Is it located at http://www.YourSite.com/robots.txt. In this file there are directions for search engines. When the file has a directive that says “Disallow” relating to a certain page, the search engine knows not to read that page. By telling a search engine not to read a page, you are giving it a signal that the page is not important and they will skip it. And for the most part, this will ensure that disallowed pages do not show up in search results.

However, “Disallow” means “do not read”, not “do not see.” Disallowing does not make pages invisible; it makes them not crawlable. If inbound links or citations exist to a disallowed page, search engines will still be aware of the disallowed page’s existence. It will simply be unaware of the content of the page. And, in the rare case someone does a search and there are no better results, a search engine will serve up a link to a disallowed page. The link will just be presented without a description.

(Also, as a side note, some smaller search engines don’t use the Robots.txt file. Therefore, disallowed pages will be crawled and indexed by them. )

The “No Index” Meta Tag

The “No Index” meta tag is piece of code that you put in the head section of your website. Unlike a “Disallow”, the “No Index” tag allows a search engine to read and see the page, but states explicitly that an engine should forget it ever saw the page once it is left. This instruction then also applies to any links and citations pointing to a “No Index” page: forget they exist.  Thus, the “No Index” meta tag prevents any occurrence of the page from being present in all indices in any form. Additionally, all search engines follow the “No Index” meta tag.

When to Use Robots.txt “Disallow” and When to Use Meta “No Index” Tag

In my opinion, the “No Index” tag is a more secure way of keeping pages out of an index. However, this method can also be harder to manage and keep track of since it’s applied on a page-per-page basis. The Robot.txt “Disallow,” on the other hand, is simpler to manage since it is one single file.

Every business should assess its own web needs, but for simplicity’s sake, the “No Index” meta is best used on pages you need 100% no index security on or are creating in secret from your competition. In all other cases, Robots.txt “Disallow” will do.

Does Robots.txt “Disallow” and “No Index” Meta Tag Consume Page Rank?

There has been much discussion over whether and how disallowed and “No Index’ed” pages consume Page Rank (“PR”). Here is the answer:  if you disallow a page but leave the incoming links to a disallowed page “do follow”, the disallowed page will still consume rank. And, because the page is disallowed and its outbound links are not read by engines, PR is wasted since it cannot be passed on. However, “No Index” can pass PR on if the links on the page are “do follow,” since an engine reads a “No Index” page but simply does not index it.

To learn more about Page Rank and controlling it, read my post on sculpting Page Rank.

What is Page Rank?

Page Rank (“PR”) is a numerical value from 1 to 10 that Google assigns to every page of your site.  The reason this number is so important is that it is one of the single biggest clues to figuring out what Google really thinks of your site. Sites with a PR of 1 to 3 are questionable, PR 4 to 6 are trustworthy and authoritative, and PR’s 7 and above are seen as real authorities. Many factors go into this number, like the age of the domain, a site’s content, and a site’s inbound links.

But why does a high Page Rank really matter? A high Page Rank means Google trusts you. And the more Google trusts you, the more traffic and better rankings it will give you. And who doesn’t want that?

The Need to Control the Flow of Page Rank

Now that we understand what Page Rank is, we need to understand how best to use your site’s Page Rank.

Page Rank flows through your site like water through a spout. Your homepage has the highest Page Rank because it’s usually the oldest page and the one with the most inbound links. Your homepage is the big bucket. From here, Google cascades Page Rank throughout your site, so that a homepage of 8 will have subsequent pages at 7. Your PR 7 page then passes rank to the pages below it, which will be a PR 6, and so on.

However, like any bucket, the pressure with which water escapes becomes weaker as the number of spouts increase. And this holds true for Page Rank too at every level, not just the homepage. The more pages to flow rank to, the weaker the flow (power) will be. Therefore, you must find a way to only give Page Rank to your most important pages. This will ensure that Google directs web traffic to your best pages with the highest probability of making a visitor buy (or take your goal action).

Page Rank Sculpting

Just like humans, links are the way search engines find things on the web. Thus, you can control the flow of Page Rank by controlling your site’s links. You can do this through two main methods:

1. THE BEST METHOD: Limit the number of links on all pages.
2. Add an invisible note onto links that tells Google not count them, known as “No Follow.” (You do this on the HTML side.)

Although limiting links is the best method, sometimes you a required to have a link to a page on your site that you don’t want to give Page Rank too. This is when (and only when) No Follow should be used.

The links to limit or No Follow vary from site to site. However, as a rule, links to pages that do not sell but MUST be linked to on your site, like your “About Us” page, “Contact Us” form, or “Privacy Policy” should have No Follow on them. The easiest way to figure out if a link should be removed or No Follow’ed is by asking yourself this question:  If, from a search engine, someone were to land on the page being linked to, would they be able to buy or be funneled through a buying process? If the answer is “No”, then remove or No Follow the page’s links. Remember, be cut-throat. Go through and consider all links, including headers, footers, navigation, and in-text links. If the link does not sell, remove or No Follow it.

This completes our Page Rank Sculpting tutorial. Follow the above process and you’ll be on your way to better and more qualified traffic (and conversions) in no time!