Ethical search engine optimization

There are so many free tools and software programs for SEO enthusiasts that it almost becomes overwhelming and difficult to grasp the “right” tools to use in your SEO efforts. Everyone has their own personal preferences which makes this predicament even more perplexing.

Well enough about me and my love of words; let’s get down to business: What are some of the best free SEO tools on the web?

Cool Tools

Google Keyword Research Tool: When this free tool came out the other week we all had a little dance party in the office we were so excited! Well to be honest… there wasn’t any dancing involved but it sure did give us a reason to celebrate.

This tool is amazing! Simply type in your keyword and you can see a long list of related keywords with approximate search volumes for those keywords as well! You can even customize the results with this tool: everything from the location (country) of your keyword results to finding out which month had the highest search volumes. For more information on how to use this keyword research tool check out this great article.

This free keyword research tool immediately replaced my other keyword research tools by Wordze and SEO Book after just one test use: that’s how powerful it is. In short, the tool rocks and it instantly makes keyword research way easier and much more efficient!

HTML Playground: This tool is great for those that have limited HTML knowledge or just aren’t sure how to apply the right formatting in an easy and efficient manner. Well this free tool takes all the “hard work” out of HTML coding for you. It has a list of all the most popular tags; simply click on the tag, customize the parameters and colours you desire and the HTML code is ready to go! It even shows you a preview of what your text or image will look like once uploaded! This tool is simply vital for any HTML rookie or beginner.

Firefox Extensions

There are hundreds of free Firefox extensions readily available at Firefox Add-ons. They have tools and add-ons for just about everything! My favourite Firefox add-ons for SEO are:

SEOpen: This add-on lets you place a toolbar in Firefox to quickly analyze everything from the number of Yahoo! Backlinks to verifying whether the PR of a site is legitimate or not; and that’s just the beginning. I think of it as in all-in-one SEO resource that is absolutely mandatory!

SearchStatus: This nifty little add-on simply lets you display the Google PageRank, Alexa rank and Compete ranking anywhere on your browser. It also allows you to highlight nofollow links and comes equipped with a fast keyword density analyzer. Pretty sweeeeeet!

SeoQuake: This tool is one of the most advanced Firefox add-ons for SEO. Yet it’s perfect for both beginners and advanced users. Basically, SeoQuake displays the parameters for search results and even includes the findings into the search engine result pages - Search engine ranking - for the most popular search engines. You can then set these parameters to display by ascending or descending order; so you can search for any keyword in Google or Yahoo! and then set the order to show the highest PR’s, or the most Yahoo! backlinks, or by whatever parameter(s) you are most interested in.

And now, my favourite Firefox add-on is…(insert drum roll)… Speed Dial!

This add-on lets you visually display your most used websites so you can access them instantly! Forget about using bookmarks ever again! Simply open up the add-on and enter the number of columns and rows to determine the amount of sites displayed in your speed dial. To enter in the sites simply click on the boxes and type in the URL’s.

When you want to access your favourite sites simply hold CTRL and press the number of the site (number set in speed dial options) to open it up in a new tab or window. Or you can press the speed dial button which displays all your sites in one window and then you can just click on the site you want to open. Once you get the hang of this add-on you can instantly access your favourite site(s) with just a couple of clicks: saving you both time and effort! It’s a win-win situation like no other!

These cool tools and Firefox extensions are really useful and can dramatically improve your SEO efforts while simultaneously saving you time and improving your efficiency. Be sure to check them out and feel free to share your own favourite Firefox extensions!

This article is for SEOs, Internet marketers, webmaster and site designers and all those who are interested in Search Engine Optimization.

For a long time now designer and developers used to stay away from flash because they were considered SEO unfriendly. SEOs had a bad time optimizing the flash files. The common trick used for this was the Google swf object a javascript package that used to manipulate a named div that already carried formatted text describing the flash content on a webpage. This was not only clumsy but it allowed keyword spamming too.

Now Google and Adobe got together and brought about a revolution in search engine crawling algorithms. Google search process can now read the text on your flash files. The flash files are now indexed like web pages. But make sure the text you are putting on the flash is flash text only. If you put an image that reads “apple” then no way the SE robot can read the text. So all information that you want to get cached must be in text. Images and movies in .flv format are still not indexed or understood by the SE bots.

As far as links are considered in the flash files or in other words the navigation from flash files they are done in the same way as done from the html pages. So even flash menus will not be a problem any more. I know its difficult to accept but its true folks. The things will now be easier. Hats off to Google.

All those who are using the swf object have nothing to worry. You may still continue to use the same code as Google says it will continue to support the code too that was used to fetch the flash file to manipulate the named Div as mentioned before.

So designers you have free hand form now onwards. Go ahead and so your creativity to the world. Flashy sites are now in.

Article marketing is popular for a reason: When done right, it drives traffic to a targeted Web site. It also allows a marketer to build back links to his or her Web site which, in turn, helps boost a Web site’s page rank. In an increasingly competitive online marketplace, you cannot afford not to write articles as a means of promoting your affiliate products and/or services.

If you’re an affiliate, there is simply no better way to promote products than article writing. Should you not have strong writing skills, or even if you don’t have the time, you can and should hire a professional writer to write SEO articles for you. Some of the best SEO tips for affiliates are also the most simple.

Whether you’re going to be posting your articles on your own Web site, on a blog, or you’re going to submit them to article directories, you must ensure they contain commonly searched for keywords and keyword phrases. You can research keywords on such keyword tools as Word Tracker and Overture.

One of the best SEO tips for affiliates is to choose your keywords wisely. Knowing which keywords to use in your content is key to ensuring the search engines index your articles, Web site, and blog quickly and to ensuring that your Web site ranks high in the search engines.

Anyone who’s surfed the internet has more than likely come across articles that are filled with the same words and phrases, but the content just makes no sense. Another of the key SEO tips for affiliates is do not saturate your articles with so many keywords and keyword phrases that the content makes no sense. If your articles are filled with nonsense, no one is going to read them. And, if people don’t read your articles, you’re not going to drive traffic to your Web site.

Another of the most popular SEO tips for affiliates is certainly to write your articles in an engaging, conversational tone. You want people to read your articles, to feel as though their time was well-invested in reading your articles, and to visit your Web site and purchase one of the products you are marketing as an affiliate. You can only achieve this goal by writing quality articles.

These are just several of the most popular SEO tips for affiliates. Tips, however, must be put into action to work. Article writing is an absolute necessity to your success as an affiliate marketer. Set a goal to write a set number of articles each week - two, for example - and write and publish those articles on a regular basis if you want to drive traffic to your Web site and to build a customer base.