The web is growing by leaps and bounds and businesses are now ready to shell out a huge part of their marketing budget towards online marketing. Becoming visible to people who matter, is thus on the priority list of all brands. And when it comes to online visibility, Search Engine Optimization is the key. So what does 2012 has in store for Search Engine Optimization?

• Social Media: In 2012, Social Media will gain more prominence when it comes to online search. More and more social media mentions will find their way into search result pages. With the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Google+ gradually capturing our mind spaces, it will take them only some time to establish their full-fledged presence on our search result pages too.
• Personalized search: Keeping in tune with Web 3.0, the internet will become more and more personalized. Your search results will increasingly display results that your online network has recommended. Logged-in users can also enjoy the benefits of a more fine-tuned search. Yet at the same time, privacy issues will become all the more important…how much to reveal and how much to hide, would be a tightrope walk in 2012.
• Mobile search: With more and more iPhones, Androids and the likes entering the market, mobile will be the most common platform to communicate with customers on-the-go. Thus optimizing sites for mobile viewing would be crucial in 2012. In addition to this, new mobile technologies like ‘Speaking’, ‘Tapping’, ‘Shaking’, etc. will further expand the Mobile SEO market.
• Quality content : Content will still be the king in 2012. As recent updates of the Google algorithm has suggested, quality content will be awarded and bad or low quality content will suffer. So in 2012 before you even think of making an impact online, make sure your content is in place.
• Local Search : With new age technologies like Near Field Communication, ‘Push’ mails, etc. local search will acquire a completely new meaning in 2012. Also with more and more directory-based portals like Zomato, Just Dial, Sulekha, Buzzintown, etc. entering the market, local will become the new global.

So what will be your SEO strategy for 2012?

Source : seomoz

Banner Ads are a great way to attract relevant traffic to your site but you need to have your basics in place before you venture out with your Ads. Here are a few best practices to make your Banner Ads strike the right cord with your target audience:

• Keep it simple: The more the clutter, the less are the chances of your ad being clicked. Internet users like to browse through the maximum information in the minimum possible time. Tell them what you want to say and tell them fast.
• Make it appealing: The colors, the font, the graphics and the content- all play a major role in the success or failure of your ad. Make sure your ad is in sync with your target audience.
• Research: This is the key. See what your competitors are doing and how you can do it differently.  Target your ads properly. Make sure it reaches the right audience.
• Placement:  CTR or Click through Rates is highly dependent on the placement of your ads. In general, ads placed near the content generate a better CTR than ads placed elsewhere.

• source : elegantbanners.com

• Call to Action: Ensure that your ad has an effective Call to Action. Your entire ad may be clickable but the Call to Action is crucial. It stresses on what you want your visitors to do with your ad.
• File Size: Ensure that your ad is optimized.  Most websites specify the permissible file size. For those sites which do not, make sure your file size is about 45 to 70kb.
• Link to the main site: Your Banner ad campaign can be a major disaster if the outgoing link is broken. Worse still it can be a major turn off for your visitors, if your ad and landing page are not in sync. Make sure your landing page conveys the same information for which your banner ad was created in the first place.

Content and Navigation of a website are supposed to be two key pillars which support any Search Engine Optimization campaign. However at times, good content and a well thought of navigation might not be able to do the SEO wonders it was supposed to do.

Theme Bleeding might me a reason!

By definition, Theme Bleeding is a link leading from a specific topic or theme to another theme (or topic) that is not directly related.

For eg: You have a webpage about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Some of the outgoing links from this page point to a web page about Social Media Marketing. Though you may be offering both the services to your clients and it might make business sense to cross sell, however Google and other search engines might consider it as an apt case for Theme Bleeding. Your ‘theme’ of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is bleeding into an unrelated theme of Social Media Marketing.

Google Algorithm ranks pages on the basis of their Relevance to the content/Keyword. Theme Bleeding leads to Google according a low relevance to your content.

How to avoid Theme Bleeding?

• Plan your navigation properly: Most webmasters suggest the use of a silo structure for your site wherein related content is stacked together.
• Using the NOFOLLOW attribute:  Add a nofollow attribute to pages you do not want the search spiders to crawl.
  Eg : If you do not want the spiders to crawl your Social Media Marketing page from your Search Engine Optimization page, you can add the nofollow attribute to the Social Media Marketing page.Normal Link: 

  <a href=”http://www.myseopandit.com/socialmediamarketing.html”>socialmediamarketing </a>

  Link with nofollow attribute:

  <a href= “http://www.myseopandit.com/socialmediamarketing.html” rel= “nofollow” >socialmediamarketing </a>

• Using the Robots.txt file: This is the most effective method to prevent Theme Bleeding. Robots.txt is a simple text file that sits on your server in the same directory where your home page exists. Using the Robot.txt file in links/directories you do not want to be crawled, will ensure that search spiders under any circumstance would not crawl these links/directories.

URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) form an integral part of any Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign. A recent study shows that of the top ten indexed pages for a particular keyword, ‘Google has 40-50% of those with the keyword either in the URL or the domain, Yahoo shows 60% and Bing has an astonishing 85%’. What this translates into for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is that having keywords in the URL or domain name can make a lot of difference to a page’s ranking.

There are primarily two types of URL – Static URL and Dynamic URL

Static URL: As the name suggests, Static URLs do not change. It does not have any variable strings or URL parameters. The page actually exists on a server and can be downloaded via FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

Eg: A URL of the type http://www.discountpandit.com/web/ is a static URL.

Dynamic URL: A Dynamic URL is an address that directs to a dynamically generated web page. The content of the page is stored on a database and is displayed only on demand. There is no actual page. The page is only a template on which the results of the query are displayed.

Eg: A URL of the type http://www.discountpandit.com/web/thread.php?threadid=123&sort=date is a dynamic URL.

Static URL or Dynamic URL, which is better?

Though both have their advantages and disadvantages, Static URLs have a definite edge when it comes to SEO.

• Static URLs are indexed faster and ranked higher in SERPs.
• It is wiser to optimize Static URLs (for long term SEO benefits).
• It is easier to insert relevant keywords in Static URLs rather than in Dynamic URLs.
• It is easier for the end user to understand a static URL, thereby the chances of clicking the link increases manifolds.
• It is advisable to use Static URLs for all branding activities as it ensures faster retention and recall.

In spite of the so-called disadvantages of a dynamically generated URL, they are used for the following reasons:

• Web Pages of a dynamic URL can be edited easily.
• It is a cake walk to update the dynamic URL page content. Just updating the same in the database ensures that the content gets updated for all relevant links.

For affiliate sites, blogs, e-commerce sites, etc. which have huge content that need to be updated regularly, Dynamic URLs are generally preferred.

The key is to find the right balance for your website -between your dynamically generated pages which allows for a faster updating and your static pages which helps in SEO.

If you have further queries on the issue, post it as a comment below.