User-Centered Design - Kelikuru.com

Finally!! Google releases a starter guide for Search Engine Optimization. The guide document essentially encourages us to make small modifications to parts of our website. When things add up, these small changes will have profound impact on site’s user experience and performance in organic search results.

Of these 22-page document, Googles has dedicated 3 full pages to cover navigation - How to make your site easier to navigate. The best practices for site navigation can be summed up:

• Information Hierachy is recommended to be user-centric 
• Text navigation works better than Flash or Javascript approach
• Use of “breadcrumb” navigation
• Set up an HTML sitemap pages on your site and use an XML sitemap file
• Consider what happens when a user removes part of your URL
• Have a useful 404 page

In my last posts about “SEO starter - Three basic ways to aid search rankings“  and “SEO starter: Good usability means good search engine optimization“, TG also touched on a few things about site navigation. 

The full document can be downloaded via the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog.

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written by admin \\ tags: Google, Keywords, navigation, Search, SEO, Yahoo

It’s difficult for us to see through China Internet development as it evolves far more speedy than the social and economic changes in the mainland. TG would like to see someone or some institutions, which are more objective and accurate in conducting research studies, can bring us closer to the dynamic life of the fledgling business environment.

Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, has just forged a bond with Beijing Zhongqian Wangrun Information Technology Co., Ltd. (北京华瑞网标信息技术有限公司), and the newly-formed company, CR-Nielsen, announced that they planned to release data for the market publicly.

Beijing Zhongqian Wangrun Information Technology Co., Ltd. is the operator of ChinaRank, in cooperation with the ISC(Internet Society of China). ChinaRank is the only Internet firm authorized to create and publish Web site rankings in China. The joint venture will develop and deliver robust Internet measurement and analysis services in China, the fastest growing internet market with more than 250 million Internet users.

Currently, there are a few research companies are tracking Internet use in China, but they rarely release their information publicly such as, comScore, IRsearch.

CR-Nielsen reported the top 15 Web sites in China between Sept. 8 and Sept. 14

Web Site Name,  Unique Browsers (in millions)
1 Baidu 171
2 Tencent (QQ) 117
3 Sina 108
4 Google (China) 81
5 Sohu 74
6 NetEase (163) 58
7 Soso 49
8 Hao123 48
9 Youku 47
10 Ku6 46
11 Yahoo (China) 39
12 Taobao 39
13 Xunlei 38
14 Tudou 38
15 Gougou 28

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written by TG \\ tags: China Internet, China Internet Research, China Web 2.0, Search

Photo courtesy of i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/Circleline/Pills.jpg 

TG feels overdosed myself with SEO pills over the last couple of days.. will take a break and write something else. Writing a blog is something TG like as long as its does not pose any pressure to keep up with the deadline or meet a target with dollar sign on it!! Anyway, the last part we will discuss is “Texts used in META description”

Texts used in META description

• Considered less important in the ranking as it was abused
• The META description should be a sentence to a paragraph describing the content of the site or page
• The maximum display of meta characters is 156.
• It will be displayed on SERP so we should apply the best practice in copywriting to attract target users
• The META description is recommended to include primary keyword, singular or plural, misspellings and synonyms, separated by commas each 

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written by TG \\ tags: Google, Keywords, Search, SEO, User Experience Design

Many friends told TG the first part is very easy to follow with the exception of finding the right keywords. That’s true, it’s a trial and error process, take a while to find what you are looking for. Working along with Google Insights tool, TG would also suggest using Google Adwords keyword tool, a great tool to be helpful in three situations, according to Google 

• When you first create a new ad group
• When your current keywords are performing poorly and you need to find better options
• When you have one keyword that really works well and want to find more like it

After discussing the first part -  Texts used on inbound link,  TG will continue to compose some points relating to  ‘Texts used in title tag of browser’

Texts used in title tag of browser

• Title tag is like a book title, it tells Google what’s our site or page all about. Google would match the titles with related categories and index them
• Relevancy is the key. The more likely the title tag ties to its content, the more times Google will search for its content and the more often users will come back for the right content  
• Short site titles are usually better than long one
• The following screenshot tells us and the search robots what products Yahoo! Shopping is selling in different sections of her site: The top one sells Sports and Outdoors, the second one sells Electronic and the one at the bottom sells Laptop Computers

• Less important than inbound links  

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written by TG \\ tags: Google, Keywords, Search, SEO, User Experience Design

In a recent post titled Straight From the Source from Yahoo Search Marketing blog,  Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and his team reassembled a mini site to describe Yahoo-Google Search agreement in greater details.

This non-exclusive agreement between Yahoo! as a publisher and Google as a supplier of ads gives Yahoo! the option to show Google ads in addition to or in place of its own sponsored search ads. The deal empowers Yahoo! to publish Google ads, with sole authority to make its own determination of whether to show ads sourced from Yahoo!’s marketplace, ads sourced from Google’s marketplace, a combination of the two and/or ads sourced from any other marketplace.

TG is interested in seeing the impact on Yahoo’s search result pages (SERPs) with Jerry giving his nod to opening up a doorway to rival Google. The mini site provides a simple snapshot for reference.

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written by TG \\ tags: Google, Microsoft, Search, Yahoo

Search marketing is a fast-changing business, search engines will change their algorithm from time to time. TG was lucky enough to find a couple of mentors who show the ropes and pointed the way to do search engine optimization (SEO). Through sharing, they tell TG a few tips that still always prevail and be effective in raising our site ranking. The first part we will discuss is ‘Texts used on inbound link’

Texts used on inbound link

• These texts are of the most peculiar and paramount to determine where to rank a website in Google. It’s highly recommended to be keyword specific, always use the most targeted keyword phrase 
• The rule of thumb is to ”use what people search for”.
• Said easier than Done! TG reckons that Google Insights is a great tool for search keywords, which can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames. In this example, TG searches for Nike Shoes, Nike basket ball shoes and Nike sports shoes. The outcome is “Nike Shoes” takes the first lead, most users use it for keyword search in China dated back from 2004.

• Google recommends 100 links per page max – ”There should be a reason for link to be on a page”
• It’s also recommended that our inbound link should be consistent with the page title it directs to so that Google would not get confused by the naming convention. The following screenshot acquired from Yahoo! Shopping shows the links and its referring page is consistent

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written by TG \\ tags: emarketing, Google, Keywords, Search, SEO, User Experience Design