Update: 21 May 2009

Fact: Correct internal linking can get a deep level web page to top rankings without any external incoming links. Case in point, this post is #5 for “seo cape town” in google.co.za local search and #8 in google.co.za world wide search. This article is competing against top level web pages with high Page Ranks yet it defies the belief of  external links are the best way to ensure high rankings for a competitive keyword/phrase.

The results are in and interesting results they are.

Since the long wait of my previous analysis (9 days ago – 3 Dec 2008), I have noticed Google has different results from upper to lower case searches.  The amount of search results have stayed the same, just that the results for one or two sites in the top 10 have changed slightly, namely mine.

- Upper Case Results:

#6 in google.co.za (World Wide) for ‘SEO Cape Town’ – www.webgrowth.biz/2008/12/05/seo-cape-town-analysis/

#18 in google.co.za (World Wide) for ‘SEO Cape Town’ – www.webgrowth.biz

– Search Results = 195, 000

#7 in google.co.za (Local) for ‘SEO Cape Town’ – www.webgrowth.biz/2008/12/05/seo-cape-town-analysis/

#6 in google.co.za (Local) for ‘SEO Cape Town’ – www.webgrowth.biz

– Search Results = 38, 100

- lower case results:

#9 in google.co.za (World Wide) for ’seo cape town’ – www.webgrowth.biz/2008/12/05/seo-cape-town-analysis/

#18 in google.co.za (World Wide) for ’seo cape town’ – www.webgrowth.biz

– Search Results = 195, 000

#7 in google.co.za (Local) for ’seo cape town’ – www.webgrowth.biz/2008/12/05/seo-cape-town-analysis/

#11 in google.co.za (Local) for ’seo cape town’ – www.webgrowth.biz

– Search Results = 38, 100

Interestingly the homepage is ranked higher for upper case than to lower case in google.co.za (world wide) by 5 positions.  Why is this so?  I estimate 85% my targeted keywords throughout the WebGrowth website are Upper Case.  This could be a contributing factor.

It must be noted that my settings for a geographical target are not focused on any specific country.  If I type in ’seo cape town’ in google.co.uk (world wide) the above mentioned blog post is ranked #8.  If I had set the geographical focus on South Africa, the UK ranking would not be possible but then who is going to search ’seo cape town’ in the UK?  Not many I presume…

So for the next and final analysis for ’seo cape town’ I am going to set my geographical target to google.co.za and see how this affects the post’s rankings.    I predict that the local rankings should be nearer to #1 and world wide rankings won’t appear anywhere.  mmm…  the opportunity cost?

I have kept the same URL as in Part 2 of this series but I have changed the title tag slightly.  I have inserted SEO twice, one in Upper Case and one in lower case.

With the geographic target set to South Africa and targeting both upper and lower case I am hoping this is my power article that elevates it to #1.

What I can tell you from this third of a four part series is the power of a blog post is immense.  You are putting your company in the limelight for only a few days but if written well and you provide informative content, it requires one blogger/webmaster to link back to your post and you may find your post being in a top ranked position for quite a bit longer.

My goal for the next series is to measure how long it will take for me to get to #1 for a more competitive keyword without being spammy.

Wednesday 3 December, the article search results were as follows:

#9 in google.co.za (local) for ’seo cape town’ – http://www.webgrowth.biz (remained in the same position)

#13 in google.co.za (local) for ’seo cape town’ – http://www.webgrowth.biz/2008/11/30/seo-analysis-blogs/ (new to index)

#11 in google.co.za (world wide) for ’seo cape town’ – http://www.webgrowth.biz (remained in the same position) (more…)

Since my previous article, The amount of content per blog post does not matter?, the ranking of my post, Excellent social media marketing by ameriquest, has changed somewhat.  Before the post was submitted WebGrowth’s homepage was ranked #9 for keyphrase ‘social media marketing’, as soon as the post was indexed the homepage slipped down to #13 and the blog post went to #1 instantly.

(more…)

The importance of posting comments in blogs is coming to realisation in the search engine optimisation community. There are millions of blogs out there but only a few are becoming really popular. Why? because the bloggers write quality content. There was the old SEO concept of getting the correct keyword density to get noticed by the likes of Google but internet users are wisening up.

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