A little background on the “experiment”.  A couple years ago, there were a few marketing “gurus” online who thought it would be cool to rank for “coolest guy on the planet”… It was an experiment to demonstrate how Google ranking algorithms worked – theoretically – and show that if you knew some fundamental things with on-page SEO and backlinking, you could rank for essentially any low competition keyword phrases on the web (also known as the “low hanging fruit” in the keyword / seo world).   All sorts of peeps entered into the fray and I believe my friend Jon Leger is still the reigning champion for that term.  If you Google it, you’ll see that he – like me – is not trying to be an arrogant idiot, but to just prove that we have some sort of clue as to how search engines rank web-pages.

Ok, so we’ve got the purpose of the ranking out of the way – now what does this all mean in the grand scheme of things?   Well, essentially nothing – but if you are a company that has a product or service that you want to offer online, think about how you are currently reaching your potential customers.  If you were a carpet cleaner in Los Angeles California, wouldn’t you want to rank #1 or at least somewhere in the top 5 results of Google for the term “Carpet Cleaning Services in LA”?   This is what search engine marketing or online marketing is all about.  Just making sure as many eyeballs as possible are seeing your product or service when they are looking  for *whatever* service online – pretty simple right?

Having said that, if you need someone to advise you on all this “web ranking stuff” or to get some help on how this can help you as an individual and/or your business (let’s face it, your name or YOU as an individual will be Googled by someone, somewhere at some point), drop me a note at tav at smartestguyonthenet dot com   (and yes, that is my domain )

About Tavis Yeung
 

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Technorati Tags: smartest guy on the internet, smartest guy on the net

Well, this has definitely been a fun “experiment” that I started about 2 years ago with a simple blog post about being the “smartest guy on the web“.

Seriously, there are a heck of a lot more people that are WAY smarter than me, and the entire point of the “experiment” was to just show that it’s not that difficult to rank in the Google search engine results for keyword terms depending on the level of competition. Back in 2009, there weren’t a lot of sites or consultants or weekend warrior SEO hacks that bothered *trying* to rank for the term “Smartest Guy on the Internet“, so it was pretty easy. Now it seems there are numerous other companies and individuals who are taking up the challenge of ousting me from the #1 search position – cool – we could use a little competition to keep everyone on their toes…

In any case, there are a lot of changes coming down the pipe when it comes to how Google ranks pages and it’s definitely going to get interesting in the months / years to come… One big component is going to be Google Search Plus One – check it out; and for all you SEO’s that are reading this trying to outrank me – keep up the good work and see you in the SERPS

Tavis.

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I did a quick Facebook post about 10 minutes ago and am now timing how long it takes for this term to get indexed and ranked by the mighty Google (update, it took 6 minutes from posting this and after 2 days, I’m now #1 in all Google regions as being a “bigger nerd than you“). For those of you that have stumbled on this blog, I’ve been ranked #1 (as well as #2) as the “smartest guy on the web” since last January. How? or perhaps more appropriately – WHY? because it was a way to prove to myself (and clients) that ranking for pretty much any term in Google is not that difficult – once you know how. Obviously these terms are more for “fun” and as I mentioned – testing. However, apply the same theory and “MacGyver’ing” to such terms as…. oh.. I dunno…. auto insurance? debt financing? how to lose weight?… see what I’m talkin about… For those of you that are indeed “web nerds” and have any knowledge of how the Google AdWords system works (and now Apple’s new iAd network) – those terms are worth millions of dollars A DAY to people who monetize that traffic… Kinda makes you *think* doesn’t it? Do you think guys (vendors) that rank in positions #1 thru #3 on product launch terms make a good living? ummm… yah… they do… I know many of them… It would scare you what these guys make in a month… actually no, what they make in a DAY would scare you and you probably wouldn’t even believe me if I told you.

Anyway, there’s a heck of a lot of factors involved for Google’s search algorithm and the days of keyword stuffing and forum/blog splogging or flogging are loooooong gone. What most so-called SEO (search engine optimization) “experts” don’t realize is, the methods and systems they are trying to sell you for $1,000 per keyword listing are essentially a joke and definitely not long term strategies. There’s a reason I’m still ranked #1 for that term and it’s been a year since I wrote that post. You can even see other “professional SEO’s” trying to beat me out of the #1 and #2 position the entire time – and they haven’t been able to do it yet… I won’t get into the details as to why – but let’s just say it’s a combination of really simple logic yet very complicated latent semantic indexing as described by the patents found here and here.

Point of the matter is – I’ve studied this stuff… at length… and for a long time…

So does that make me a bigger nerd than you? I’ll let you decide

Leave a comment and let me know what you think…

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Here’s a top 10 list as compiled by 37 of the world’s authorities on search engine optimization

1. Keyword Use In Title Tags
The title tag is probably the single most important HTML tag, not only because Google considers it to be a very important ranking factor, but also because Google uses the title tag text to create the listing’s heading (the blue link) on the search results. It is therefore equivalent to the headline of an ad inciting searchers to visit the site.

2. Global Link Popularity of Site
Last year this would have been considered the single most important factor. However, recent changes in the Google algorithm have slightly reduced the importance of the overall number of inbound links pointing to the site. The factor is still extremely important and weight, authority and relevance of the links are also factored into considerations.

3. Anchor Text of Inbound Link
The text contained within the link (between the and tags in the HTML) is called the anchor text. This text serves as a description of the link’s target, and is hence a very clear indication to users and the search engine of what the target page will be about. As a result, this continues to be a very important factor in ranking a site.

4. Link Popularity within Site’s Internal Link Structure
Unlike external links from third-party websites, internal links are fully within the control of the webmaster. How these internal links are structured gives Google a very clear indication of which pages are more important for the site owners. Accordingly, Google perceives this as an internal vote for the importance of individual pages.

5. Age of Site
Authority of a site, according to the Google algorithm is determined by two main factors: The number and quality of links pointing to it and the age of the site, in terms of the period of time that the site has contained indexable content seen by the search engines. Webmasters have no control over this factor. The only way to affect this is by buying old websites.

6. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links To Site
Relevance has always been the mantra of Google ranking, and this factor is a mere extension of that fact. Not only is it important to have lots of links pointing to a site, but it is also important that a good number of these links are from sites related to the topic of the target page and the target keyword.

7. Link Popularity of Site In Topical Community
Increased use of social networking sites and user generated content has turned the Internet and SEO around in the past year. Accordingly, a new factor now considered of importance is the link weight and authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.

8. Keyword Use in Body Text
Link bombs and spam linking enabled websites to be ranked, in the past, for keywords that were not even present on the site. This has changed. Google will almost never rank a site now based solely on links pointing to it, no matter how many they may be. Use of the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page is a must.

9. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site
This is all about PageRank of the site that is providing a link. Number and quality of links matter. The quality of the link is determined by its relevance and by its own link popularity. Hence, a single link from an extremely popular (high PR) website will be worth much much more than many more links from a relatively unknown site.

10. Rate of New Inbound Links to Site
Sudden spikes in the number of inbound links pointing to a site are unnatural. Google constantly monitors the frequency and timing of external sites linking to given domain, even though this may not be reflected in the link counts they show on their search results. A steady upward growth rate is always best.

The full article with all other ranking factors can be read at:

http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

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I have to be very careful because what I’m about to tell you. This has upset the two biggest search engines and a major affiliate company in just a few months.

You see, SEO Equalizer really takes the mystery on how to get good generic, no cost rankings from major search engines and even the smaller, second tier ones as well.

I have used this for several months and generated literally tens of thousands of visitors to my sites… Best part, I don’t have to pay for those visitors. In fact you may have landed on this very page because of a couple of my promotions for various product launches.

See, Jeff Alderson has created a “no holds barred” SEO software called SEO Equalizer that will help you get more traffic.

http://seolinkdomination.com/?e=confirm

Here is the best part… I saved the best for last.   It only costs $47 and has an unconditional money back guarantee!

If you can watch a video and follow directions, you can get traffic.

http://seolinkdomination.com/?e=confirm

That’s right, you can use it to start generating all the free traffic you can handle and even if you decide it is not for you, you can get 100% of your money back in 60 days!

No questions — No Hassles — Immediately get your money back, even after you have used the program for a full 60 days.

http://seolinkdomination.com/?e=confirm

SEO Equalizer has been called the best program for newbies as well as seasoned professionals alike who want to strengthen their rankings in thes search engines.

Take advantage of this deal because he is considering pulling it off of the market.

http://seolinkdomination.com/?e=confirm

Technorati Tags: jeff alderson, SEO Equalizer, xybercode

In a nutshell, it’s basically the process of selecting the most appropriate targeted keyword(s) and keyword phrases related to your product, service, article, promotional offer, etc etc and ensuring that this particular phrase is going to actually appear in the search results when someone searches for your stuff. There’s absolutely no point in having the prettiest/coolest/most colorful/(insert appropriate adjective here) website in the world if nobody is ever going to find you.

**SEO News Flash !**

Looks like Phil Henderson has pretty much revealed EVERYTHING I’ve talked about in their Stupidly Simple SEO search engine optimization guide.

Check it out here: Stupidly Simple SEO

SEO basically involves fine tuning or optimizing the content of your site along with the HTML and “Meta Tags” and also involves an appropriate link building process. The more links to your website from other external sources, the more likely it is your site is relevant or these other sources wouldn’t be linking to you (pretty logical isn’t it?) The most popular search engines are obviously Google, Yahoo, MSN Search and AOL and there are a ton of other 2nd tier search engines as well (7search, searchfeed, enhance, kanoodle, pageseeker, search123 to name a few). Every search engine guards their methods and ranking algorithms very closely in order to get credit for finding the most valuable search-results and to deter spam pages or automatically generated sites from clogging those results. A search engine may use hundreds of different factors when ranking their search listings where the factors themselves and the weight each carries are constantly being changed. Algorithms can differ so widely between search engines that a webpage that ranks #1 in a particular search engine could rank #200 in another search engine. I have no idea where my smartest guy on the web post ranks on some of the other search results, but since you probably never even heard of those 2nd tier search engines I mentioned, I’m not really worried about ranking on them – Google is the mother of all search engines anyway so that’s what I focus on. New sites don’t need to be “submitted” to search engines in order to be listed. A simple back link from a well established site will get the search engines to visit the new site and begin to spider or index its contents. It can take a few days to even weeks from the referring of a link from such an established site for all the main search engine spiders to commence visiting and indexing the new site. In my example, it took about 6 hours because the sites from which I was linked from are VERY highly trafficked and have a high degree of authority. The higher the authority of the site you are getting a link from, the more weight that link carries, and the quicker you’ll get indexed.

If all this doesn’t make any sense at all and you have no ideas what the best keywords are to target for your particular website, there are TONS of 3rd party companies out there who can help you out – me included. Search engine marketing and promotion companies, will look at the plan for your site and make recommendations to increase your search engine ranking and website traffic. If you wish, they will also provide ongoing consultation and reporting to monitor your website and make recommendations for editing and improvements to keep your site traffic flow and your search engine ranking high. Normally your search engine optimization experts work with your web designer to build an integrated plan right away so that all aspects of design are considered at the same time.

What is important though, is never believe ANYONE that can guarantee you a 1st position listing by paying them – the search engines aren’t influenced by the almighty dollar. Listing for certain keywords that are highly competitive could take YEARS depending on the competing results. At the time of my experiment, there were roughly a little over 120,000 competing results for the term “smartest guy on the web”, and since I have a few tricks up my sleeve (translation, I’ve studied the Google webmaster guidelines and taken many years off of my life by testing, experimenting and generally DOING this stuff and learning along the way), I was able to get a #1 listing probably within 6 hours… not too shabby.

Stay tuned for more insight from my “Web’s Smartest Guy” experiment…

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First and foremost, ranking on the search engines – using VERY SMART algorithms I might add – is not exactly rocket science.  It really comes down to understanding that Google and most reputable search engines simply want relevant content that relates precisely to the search term that someone is looking for.  Remember how frustrating it was as recent as 3 or 4 years ago when you would type in a search term and the first 3 or 4 pages of Google search results returned a bunch of random junk and garbage that really had nothing to do with what you were looking for?  Well it doesn’t take the smartest guy on the internet to realize it’s brutally obvious that if the search engines continue serving up irrelevant garbage, you aren’t going to return use that search engine anymore right?   Having said that, ranking #1 for a term that doesn’t get many searches is kind of irrelevant and pointless and is essentially why this article is able to rank so high. So why are you reading this? Well, I created this page as en experiment and wrote this article that I personally believe could be considerd useful and beneficial to someone looking for this particular search term – you may disagree but humour me for a just a little longer and you might learn something…

**SEO News Flash !**

Phil Henderson has pretty much revealed EVERYTHING I’ve talked about here in his Stupidly Simple SEO search engine optimization system.

Check it out here: Stupidly Simple SEO Guide

These days, the folks over at Google would definitely be considered some of the smartest people on the planet and it’s safe to say that their search engine likely drives more than 50 or 60% of all search traffic that is generated daily.  You don’t tell someone to “look it up on the internet” anymore – you simply tell them to “Google this” or “Google that”.  We’re talking over 31 BILLION searches a month (!!!) So, logic would dictate that the smart web masters in this world are going to optimize their own pages or their clients pages to rank favorably within Google – the big Kahuna.   Having said that, there IS a pretty systematic and simple approach to achieving high search rankings with Google and applying very simple on-page SEO (search engine optimization) elements as well as having a sensible OFF-page SEO strategy – anyone can rank highly for pretty much any term that they choose over time.

Now, there are definitely terms that have hundreds of millions of competing pages and the likelihood for ranking for these broad search terms (like DOG for example) is really pointless.   Most people wouldn’t go on Google and waste their time entering “DOG” into the search because it’s not targeted in any way, shape or form.   However, if you were type in “how to stop my dog from barking” – ok, that’s a little more targeted and specific and the person is obviously looking for a very focused topic.  This type of keyword phrase is called a “long tail keyword” and it is very important to understand the concept of the long tail.  There is actually an amazing book by Chris Anderson (editor of Wired magazine) that goes in depth in to the “long tail” and how it will literally change the face of how businesses operate on the internet.  It’s very interesting stuff and he’s definitely a damn smart guy

So back to the long tail – if you search a particular keyword phrase within Google using “quotes” – for example:  “The smartest guy on the web“, Google will return only the page results that contain that exact phrase.  This is called “exact matching”.   You’ll usually notice quite a huge difference between a broad match phrase – with no quotes – vs. an exact match phrase.  This simply means that the pages that are returned in the search results have optimized their “on page SEO factors” to target that particular keyword phrase and that keyword phrase alone – in another words, that page is thematically related to the keyword.   This page is a demonstration of that exact concept.   ALSO, if your page(s) and overall website have gained enough authority or page rank (in Google terms), it becomes more likely that your page will rank very highly for the broad term as well and overtime, because of this highly complicated thing called Latent Semantic Indexing, your page could appear for OTHER thematically related terms as well.   What the heck is a thematically related term?   Google is so dang smart, that as it searches and indexes your web site and inter-linked pages (called spidering), it can tell what the overall “theme” of your site is about based on the OTHER keywords you are using within your content.  In another words, your website shouldn’t be spammed full of a single keyword phrase – (that method doesn’t work anymore although it did about 10 years ago) – ie, if you had a site and all you put on the page was the word DOG repeated a couple thousand times, Google would look at that and think “well geez, that page has that word all over it, so it MUST be relevant to the search term, so let’s rank it”.   Not going to happen anymore my friend!

Nowadays, if you had content that contained keywords that were also RELATED to the main keyword (Dog) and common phrases and words that are typically used in everyday conversation about that main keyword – like barking, and leashes, and training, and walking and potty training, and chewing and digging, and milk bones, and doggy treats, and written in a conversational manner – now THAT would be considered more relevant and meaningful because now the content is written as if it was for HUMAN consumption as opposed to computers – and that’s who you want ultimately reading your website right?!?! It would ALSO contain terms and keywords that people would probably use when talking about dogs. Starting to make sense?

In another post, I’ll briefly go over what latent semantic indexing is and how it makes Google REALLY smart For more crazy shiznit like this, keep your eye out on this blog and you might learn a thing or two about how to put some of this crazy technical jargon to use…

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The fact that you googled “The Smartest Guy On The Internet” and landed on this site probably indicates that Tavis knows what the heck he is doing when it comes to Search Engine Optimization and the ability to rank for certain longtail keyword phrases. This post in the ironmarketer blog was merely an experiment to apply certain processes and methods to rank for the keyword terms “Internet’s Smartest Guy” or phrases similar to that.

For tips and advice on how to optimize your website to rank for essentially any longtail keyword term you are going after, subscribe to the ironmarketer newsletter below.

Technorati Tags: internets smartest guy, nets smartest guy, web smartest guy

So with all the hoopla these days about search engine optimization and methods to rank your web pages in Google or Yahoo or MSN or on any of the other second tier search engines, is it merely a coincidence that you landed on my page when typing in “Smartest Guy On The Web” ?

My name is Tavis Yeung and although I *certainly* do not profess to be the “smartest guy” by any stretch of the imagination,  I can tell you without hesitation that I do know a thing or two about ranking on the search engines – or in internet jargon – SEO or SEM (search engine marketing).   I work in IT project management and I am also a professional SEO / Online Marketing Consultant – in another words, truly a “propellor head and/or geek” at heart.

Using a very systematic and methodical approach to getting my content (or any content for that matter) indexed and ultimately ranked on the internet,  suffice to say I’ve paid my dues and figured out how this “internet search thing” works.  It has nothing to do with supreme intelligence or selling my soul to the devil, it’s really a very simple thing when you get right down to it.  Google (as an example) is a VERY SMART system,  so if you know how to “play nice” with their algorithm and meet the guidelines they lay out in plain english on their site, then there is a very high likelihood of your website content being ranked highly.   The formula is really simple,  provide high-quality relevant information about whatever topic or product you are trying to communicate or “share” with the world at large, and  if you’re 5% more beneficial or meaningful than your competitor from an information standpoint, you will probably outrank them… simple as that.

Having said all that, this particular blog – the ironmarketer.com - is basically my “marketing laboratory”  where I test SEO theories and conduct experiments for keyword ranking – and it’s an extension of my www.tavisyeung.com consulting site where I advise and help clients gain more exposure on the web via Local Search, Social Media and Mobile Marketing.

In any case,  if you are wondering why your particular website or product isn’t appearing in the top results of the search engines or you need any help with your web site structure and/or how to market your goods or services using the plethora of channels available to you, please don’t hesitate to drop me a note at tyeung at consultant.com or visit my SEO Consulting website at http://www.tavisyeung.com.

Not JUST a geek, but an Ironman Triathlete as well

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