Comments on: Building Links And Ranking In Google

By: Mark Mason

Mark Mason — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:19:57 +0000

Thanks Paul — appreciate the comment.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:11:04 +0000

Wow…so simple. Your post is straight to the point, and most newbies are doing their darndest to make it complicated. I believe organic SEO will be here today, tomorrow and into the future.

Paul

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:34:04 +0000

Mark

I recently received an email which said that – “apparently Mr Google, Matt Cutts, mentioned at PubCon recently that there are over 200 variables in the Google algorithm”.

I have been getting a fair degree of success with keyword optimisation but like all new skills it takes time to perfect.

Enjoyed the post

Regards

Sean

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:39:54 +0000

This is so true. It’s kind of crazy how easy ranking can be when you know the right tasks to take. You just gave away the best advice and for free. Some gurus are still selling outdated SEO methods that just don’t work.

Isn’t it funny how we expect this to be harder than it really is? I think on some level people feel like if the the harder they work the better the results will be. That’s only true when your efforts are directed in the right place. Finding out what that is is the difficult part and you just gave it to us.

By: Deborah Richmond

Deborah Richmond — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:32:52 +0000

You’ve boiled it down to its essence. This is not rocket science. But it does need to be worked on. Thanks for the link to Lynn Terry’s list of link builders. Everyone loves a good list!

By: Michelle Adams

Michelle Adams — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:30:25 +0000

Thanks for simplifying things Mark. I’ve proven to myself that thing one and thing two matter the most but I always have that nagging feeling that I should have bolded certain text, added more meta tags and all those hundreds of other things that are continually talked about that ultimately aren’t going to make that big a difference if any! I know my link building efforts have been too tightly focused so thanks for the reminder to go for links from lots of sources.

By: Mark Mason

Mark Mason — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:47:07 +0000

Thanks for all the great comments everyone. I really appreciate the support.

By: Anti Fatigue Mats

Anti Fatigue Mats — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:40:08 +0000

This is one of the great post which uncovers many of the myths of building links for popular search engines like Google.

By: Vance

Vance — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:10:47 +0000

Mark,
Thanks for the Google ranking tips. I’ve been focusing on relevant, actionable content and letting the settings in WordPress/Thesis handle the SEO. I haven’t gotten as much search engine traffic as I would like, but I need to just stick to the plan. I have been setting the title tag for each podcast or blog post, but I clearly need to focus more on link building.

By: Walt

Walt — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:20:19 +0000

GREAT post Mark. You, and the rest of the anti-guru-crew, always tell it like it is/should be – simplify, simplify, simplify.

However, as Alex stated above, a keyword-rich domain name can be absolutely explosive (used properly in conjunction with a matched title tag, of course ). In fact, I would trade many backlinks for a keyword-rich domain name any day. I’ve seen a couple of my keywordy domain names skyrocket to Google page 1 in no time at all with just a handful of well-placed backlinks – far less than was required with some of my much older, established, keyword-poor-domain-name sites.

By: Mark Mason

Mark Mason — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0000

@Jamie — that old man excuse only works with Josh. You and I are about the same age. LOL

By: Jaime Lim

Jaime Lim — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:52:18 +0000

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you and Josh for really keeping things SIMPLE. To be honest with you Mark, at 45 years of age, I feel I am too old to start learning about complicated SEO strategies that I get to read about. In fact, I only learned what SEO is just very recently. You and Josh made learning SEO much, much simpler.

And thanks to you guys, I actually am starting to find several of my blog posts and articles appearing on page 1 of Google results. I must be doing something right. Thanks so much!

Jaime Lim

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:45:43 +0000

Um, only one of the most helpful posts I’ve read in a while. Thanks Mark for keeping it simple for us. Keep up the good work!

By: Mark Mason

Mark Mason — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:22:00 +0000

Hey Jeff — to be completely fair — there are some great SEO guides out there. The google ranking algo is really complicated (it is said that they consider 200 items like the title tag in their algorithm). What I am saying is that in most cases, most people need to focus on the simple fundamentals.

Said another way, 80% (or more) of what you need to know about SEO is in this post. The other 20% costs you $97. LOL.

By: Mark Mason

Mark Mason — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:16:43 +0000

Here is a definition for the title tag

The title tag defines the title of the document.

The title element is required in all HTML/XHTML documents.

The title element:

* defines a title in the browser toolbar
* provides a title for the page when it is added to favorites
* displays a title for the page in search-engine results

Browser Support

Internet Explorer Firefox Opera Google Chrome Safari

The title tag is supported in all major browsers.

From here:

http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/tag_title.asp

By: Mark Mason

Mark Mason — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:15:25 +0000

@Tom — the HTML Title tag is a part of the HTML language (the code that web pages use so that the browser knows what to show). You can set the value of the title tag to anything you want. The value that you set usually appears in the top bar of the browser. The title tag of this post is set to “Buliding Links And Ranking In Google | MasonWorld….blah blah”.

You can set the title tag in a web page with a simple one line statement. In wordpress, the theme usually sets the title tag — and you can use something like the All-In-One_SEO plugin for WP to override that setting.

Does that help?

By: Jeff Sargent

Jeff Sargent — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:15:21 +0000

Hey Mark,

That just seems way too easy, that’s why what you say makes perfect sense. Everyone tries to make things so complicated so they can sell you the next best SEO piece of crap for $97.

Thanks for keeping it simple.

Later,
Jeff Sargent

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:53:41 +0000

Mark could you be absolutely precise for me here.
The title tag is that referring to for example – Building Links And Ranking In Google – the title of this post, and or Mason world.com the title of your blog.
I guess i know the answer but i am fed up with second guessing.
Oh by the way i love your podcasts, i listen when i go for a ten mile walk every other day.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:03:23 +0000

No way can it be that simple Mark, you must be mistaken.

There are tons and tons of ebooks on the subject, some half a forest thick (or the equivelant in pixels).

Surely all of the gurus can’t have got this so wrong, or can they

Steve.

By: Robert Phillips

Robert Phillips — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:49:18 +0000

Hey Mark your article is loaded with some amazing facts. Everyone tries to good rank in Google. But, most of them don’t know how to get that rank. The concluding lines “Write great content, put your keyword in your title tag, and get backlinks to that content.” is the most important strategy to be followed by every SEO expert. I am aware of this long back. But, it helps a lot for SEO aspirants. Anyway thanks for sharing this nice information.

By: Online CD Rates

Online CD Rates — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:29:10 +0000

Spot on as usual. Just remember, though it take time. You can’t give up too soon. Matter of fact, the longer you hang in there, you will see the domain age effect, too. Domain Age, Long-tail phrases, and proper links can be magic.

Just don’t give up.

BTW, I have purchased some tools to make life easier, such as Mark’s themes, Micro Niche Finder, and Market Samarui. As you earn income don’t be afraid to pick up some tools, just be careful which ones. If you are unsure, send people around here a message.

By: Harsh Agrawal

Harsh Agrawal — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:32:24 +0000

I have been using the All in one SEO plugin from day one. Recently I shifted to thesis and it has
inbuilt capabilities, but again some how my instincts dont allow me to remove all in one seo
or migrate all in one seo settings to thesis. Kinda scared to do so…

By: Niche Marketing Girl

Niche Marketing Girl — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:30:44 +0000

Shhhhhhh!!! If some of my clients see how simple it really is, I’ll be out of work!

By: Dave Tishendorf

Dave Tishendorf — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:22:04 +0000

Bravo Mark!

At last, someone has blown away the fog! And what we finally see is what a lot of us suspected we’d see all along.

Thank You!

Dave Tishendorf

By: 3rd Party blog

3rd Party blog — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:12:27 +0000

Mark, that is such great information. We started doing just this about six months ago and really see the difference with front page ranking of dozens of sites now.
Still, we are always trying something new from time to time, but keywords in the title and proper amount in the article are very good, and if you can match that up with the domain name you are golden.
Thanks.
Rich Hill