Alex Yeo » Search Engine Optimization

SEO: Directory Submission Is Dead – Oh Really?

Alex — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 09:01:38 +0000

If you browse some blogs or forums that talk about SEO, most likely you will hear people saying that directory submission is dead. They said links from directories are not effective anymore and don’t carry much “link juice”, thus no point in wasting time and money submitting your sites to web directories.

Although I believe that directories’ links don’t carry much link juice, I still submit them. Why? To me, every link counts and make your backlinks more diversified and more natural.

And here’s a case study from Hobo Search Marketing that proves that directory submission still works. Follow the link below:

Is This Proof Directory Submission Still Works?

How to Check Your US Google Search Rankings Without Using Proxy

Alex — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:24:09 +0000

Most of the time the SERP for United States and your own local country is different. If you are living in the US, of course this will not be an issue for you. However, for marketers who are targeting towards the US demographics, you need to know your search rankings based on Google US.

Normally I used a proxy to find out my US rankings and it can be troublesome sometimes. But now I don’t do that because I have found an easier way to do it. Let me show you this simple method.

Let’s say you are searching for car insurance in Google. You will get a long URL like this:

The whole URL is this:

http://www.google.com.sg/#hl=en&q=car+insurance&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=car+insurance&gs_rfai=&fp=990ecd0f5fe550b8

You just need to insert “&gl=us” (without the quotes) at the end of the URL, hit the return key and you will get your US rankings instantly. Here’s what I mean:

http://www.google.com.sg/#hl=en&q=car+insurance&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=car+insurance&gs_rfai=&fp=990ecd0f5fe550b8&gl=us

Using this method, you don’t have to go through a proxy and it’s faster as well! Try it next time.

Doing Some SEO Testing

Alex — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:12:30 +0000

If you search for the term: “alex yeo”, you will realized that I am not ranked number 1. I am in 3rd position. I captured a screen shot.

The no.1 spot is another “alex yeo” from Singapore. He’s currently the managing director at McDonald’s Singapore. LOL.

Now is the time for me to do some SEO. I want to derail him from the top spot and take over that position. Yeah, I want to make sure that when people search for “Alex Yeo”, I will ranked no. 1.

Right now, my title tag doesn’t have my name on it, which is obviously a disadvantage.

It’s fun time now for me to do SEO. But it’s not my main priority, so I won’t do it very aggressively. At the same time, I can do some SEO testing as well by only using ONE method to boost my rankings. I hope I can share some results soon and when you search for my name next time, I will be no. 1.

Fusion between SEO and PPC

Alex — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:51:49 +0000

After many months of hardwork, a few of my sites are already becoming authority sites. These sites are getting bulk of the traffic from Search Engines. SEO (search engine optimization) cannot be done overnight, and the main reason why I am getting decent traffic from the search engines is because I have good quality content. In fact, my largest site have reached 100 posts (that’s 100 pages).

Well, what I am weak is PPC (pay-per-click marketing). Yeah, I know many of the super affiliates are driving traffic via PPC and making 5-figures per month. I WANT such income as well.

Downside? Steep learning curve and losing money initially.

What if I can leverage on my authority site and drive MORE traffic using PPC? Will it be widely successful? I don’t know.

I am re-learning my PPC at the mean time. And yes, I am prepared to lose money. Losing money to invest in my education as Amit Mehta had said it.

A lot of PPC affiliate marketers have thin landing pages (therefore no SEO traffic) while those who are damn good in SEO never ventured into PPC. How about a fusion between SEO and PPC? Will it explode my income exponentially?

I am gonna test out.