Articles by Tom Schmitz
Tom Schmitz // 30 Jan, 2012
A Take Action Framework
I have two styles of work. One is intuitive. When I have invested my 10,000 hours into I work quickly. I can because I have the knowledge and experience needed to be accurate and effective. I am not, unfortunately, an expert on all things. In fact, when it comes to most topics I know just… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 23 Jan, 2012
Search Ranking Factors 2012 Discussion
Search engine results have changed dramatically. Today, which websites get top rankings depend on very different signals than in the past. So much so that what we once considered the whole of SEO is now only a small portion. Here are some of the factors affecting search engine optimization today. On-Site SEO On-site SEO includes… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 16 Jan, 2012
Before Jumping Into Social Media 2.x, Do SEO 1.0
Would you be surprised to learn that I’ve been writing Google Search+ recommendations and how-to guides for Portent clients this week? I plan to share my findings here on the blog, but before I dive into the new stuff I feel that it is important to cover some old ground first. Have you laid a… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 27 Oct, 2011
21st Century Keyword Density
I am not a fan of using keyword density for SEO. It’s been long and many a winter since search engines cared about how often a word or phrase appears on a page in relation to the quantity of other words. Today, Google and Bing care far more about natural language patterns. This means the… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 26 Oct, 2011
When Using Social Media for SEO, Remember the SEO
So far so good. Agencies have learned the power of social media to earn brand mentions and links. But here’s where it gets gritty. When you use social media for SEO you have to focus those energies to get SEO results. There are two types of social media: Social media for people This is the… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 22 Jul, 2011
Shopping Carts and Product Feeds In a Post Panda World
Lots of shopping sites have product feeds. Product feeds are a way to give other websites and search engines a list of what you sell. For example, you would use a product feeds to tell Google which items you want listed in their product search. These can appear in Google Shopping or in the universal… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 18 Jul, 2011
After Launch SEO Checklist
What are the first things you check after launching or re-launching a website? Here are seven things worth checking. Robots.txt Make certain that the search engines can visit and index your website. The blocking of search engines occurs more often than you may think. Developers disallow all spiders on the beta site then forget to… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 16 Jun, 2011
Twitter SEO Strategies for Online Newspapers & Magazines
Twitter SEO Strategies for Online Newspapers and Magazines – Part 1 This is the introduction to a series about how online newspapers and magazines can use Twitter for SEO and achieve greater visibility in the process. Twitter is an SEO signal. Google and Bing have told us so. Through observation we know that Tweets can… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 18 May, 2011
Complete SEO Keyword Research Strategy
A complete SEO keyword research strategy. All the steps you need to make great keyword charts.
Tom Schmitz // 12 Apr, 2011
5 Ways to Use Headings for SEO
Headings are for SEO Does your website use headings or h-tags for CSS design? It shouldn’t. Instead, reserve h-tags for outlining our document and SEO. Today the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog published this: One way Google’s algorithms determine the context of content on a page is by looking at the page’s headings. The way… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 25 Mar, 2011
High Quality Content on the Web == Golf?
What is Quality? Since the Google Panda update, aka Farmer update, I've received numerous queries asking what constitutes quality content. The actual questions are pretty diverse: What is good content? What is poor content? What makes one article better than another? Is link bait the same as good content? Does how I launch an article… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 24 Feb, 2011
Smart Internal Linking for SEO
If you charted your website’s internal links does it possess a logical order to it or does it look like a plate of spaghetti? Be careful before you answer. Strip away all the design and page names. Think of your site as dots (pages) and lines (links). Many websites try to link too many pages… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 10 Feb, 2011
Include SEO Early & Often in Your Web Projects
Use SEO early & often. Don’t make search engine optimization a discrete step in your project cycle. SEO: Not a Project Milestone Within a project, reaching a milestone means you finished an important and related group of tasks. Too often businesses isolate SEO as a separate project milestone, usually close to the end. Their project… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 13 Jan, 2011
A Facebook Events Rant – RSVPs and the Event Wall
I do a lot of Facebook events. Every other week I send invitations to a list nearing 800 people. It’s an opt-in list. All are members of an organization and Facebook is where we communicate with each other. Of those 800, between 150 and 300 typically attend. That means 500-650 do not. When someone attends… Read More
Tom Schmitz // 6 Jan, 2011
What Social Media Means for SEO
A metamorphosis is under way, one which will fundamentally change organic search engine rankings and search engine optimization. Google and Bing are getting faith in social media and are converting. Perhaps sooner than later, social media will eclipse backlinks as the gold standard for online authority. When Sergey and Brin created Google they invented PageRank,… Read More