Pleasanton Web Design

There has been some talk in the seo industry about Google PageRank becoming obsolete due to their exclusivity rights to the patent expiring this year. They can renew those rights,  however (not sure why they wouldn’t).  Even if they do, the patent expires completely in 2017, at which time any search engine can start using PageRank.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with PageRank, it was the concept that launched Google into the forefront of the search engine universe. It is the part of the ranking formula that counts links pointing to a website as part of that website’s relevance to the search phrase, as well as sign of that website’s authority on the subject. It made what is linking to a website more important than the content of the website itself, when it comes to ranking in competitive searches.

The thing is, that in the years since PageRank’s invention, the overall algorithm has become so complex, PageRank itself is now only a small piece of the puzzle. Looking at that little green bar is a favorite pastime of seo neophytes, but they soon learn that PageRank obsession is unproductive, and can often be an exercise in wheel spinning. PageRank SchmageRank, I say. I’m tired of hearing about it! As an SEO that needs to get results, PageRank is more a thorn in my side, especially when clients are familiar with it, and fixate on it, sometimes to the expense of the overall promotion campaign.

Ok, this concludes my first and possibly last post from my iPhone. Boy are my thumbs tired!

Campaign Web Design

I created this Website for a School Board Campaign.

Attorney Website Design

This is a website I created for an attorney practicing in the Sacramento area.

Criminal Defense Attorney Web Design

I created this website for a law practice in the San Diego area to promote their criminal defense legal services.

I tweaked the design I created to promote the services of a swimming pool construction company to add room for news, features and special promotions.

Swimming Pool Construction Company Web Design

This is a blog I created for a law office in the bay area. It’s a WordPress blog with a customized theme.

Attorney Blog Design

Blogs to promote legal practices are getting more and more popular these days. The blog can contain timely analysis of current events relating to the legal practice’s focus, and highlight the attorneys’ expertise regarding the subject. The posts can also link back to the attorney’s main website, adding some SEO benefit.

Before

After 

Just completed this Website for a custom cabinet maker in Pleasanton. Check out their work. It’s pretty cool!

Website for DUI Attorneys serving Pleasanton

Internet Search Engines are vitally important to modern businesses, particulary to small businesses with limted resources. They are also widely misunderstood, or just plain mysteries to many small business owners. The following is an excert from an eBook I am writing to help small business people understand search engines, so that they might better incorporate search engines into their overall business strategy.

1. What is a Search Engine?

Search engines are complex web applications that do the following:

1)      They crawl (visit) all available pages on the internet

2)      They “index” (store a snapshot) of every web page.

3)      They take the word or phrase (search term)  entered into their search box and process it through an algorithm (complex equation) to create a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). This is a list of links to websites found in the search engines index.

To gain traffic through the Internet it is important that a business’ website show up within the first ten results when the keywords that best describe their business are typed into a search engine.

Myth #1: “Gaining significant targeted traffic through your website is easy.” It is definitely not a matter of “build it and they will come.” Search engine exposure is “free” advertising and is extremely competitive.

2. What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization usually refers to the activity of designing or tweaking a website so that it has the best chance at showing up high in SERPs for the selected keywords. It refers to manipulation of on-page factors – characteristics of the website itself.

Often SEO is used to refer to the entire process of gaining more search engine traffic for a website, however this usage is misleading. Even Wikipedia promotes this idea:

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

Myth #2: Search engine optimization alone will only result in good ranking for non-competitive searches. Doing well in competitive searches primarily depends on off-page factors – factors not directly modifiable by the Webmaster.

What are off-page factors? Check back next week for the next installment!!!