Welcome to the Wix SEO Clinic. An examination of selected users’ Wix websites.

If you are new to the Wix SEO Clinic, you might want to first check out Chapters 1 (Patient History & Diagnosis) and 2 (SEO Treatment) before reading this post. Otherwise, read on for some heartwarming recovery stories straight from the bedsides of our first crop of SEO patients.

Case Study # 1: Blaine Photographers

• Main keyword = “California wedding photographers”
• Google rank before SEO: 650
• Google rank after 5 weeks of SEO: 49
• Google rank after 7 weeks of SEO: 7 (!!!)
  

Score! Consider this a perfect example of successful, organic SEO. A couple of months ago, Blaine Photography was buried deep within the black hole of Google (try, the bottom of page 64!). Now, this husband-wife team enjoys a spot on the very 1st page of Google search results for their main keyword, California wedding photographers.  Talk about high visibility!

Case Study # 2: Jaime Miller Photography

• Main keyword = “New Jersey wedding photographer”
• Google rank before SEO: 350
• Google rank after 5 weeks of SEO: 70
• Google rank after 7 weeks of SEO: 11

Top of 2nd page Google results!? Not too shabby. If this wedding photographer continues her SEO efforts (see “No Check-Out” below), moving up a measly 1 rank to achieve a spot on the 1st page of results is definitely feasible.

Case Study # 3: Studio 48

• Main keyword = “Minnesota wedding photographer”
• Google rank before SEO: 150
• Google rank after 5 weeks of SEO: 25
• Google rank after 7 weeks of SEO: 5 (!!!)
  

If you’re getting married in Minnesota, the chances of you getting exposed to Studio 48 is pretty darn high. With a ranking like this, it’s pretty safe to say that Studio 48 has experienced a very successful SEO treatment.

No Check-Out

There is no such thing as “checking-out” of an SEO effort. There are new sites popping up all the time, so in order to secure your place at the top, you need to maintain your site’s SEO. Refresh your content, add new pages and continue your link-building campaign. Wix’ free website builder makes it easy to keep your site’s content fresh without going through programming hoops.

Takeaway Messages

Using these inspirational success stories to encourage you on your own path to SEO success. Remember:

1. Keywords are called that for a reason. Make a list of yours in the beginning, and stick to it.
2. Get good backlinks. It’s all about “who you know” when it comes to getting your foot in the door. Having a link to your site from a popular, reputable source is great. Having that link use anchor text with your keywords is like gold.
3. There’s no check-out of SEO. Just because you’ve achieved 1st page ranking doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax
4. Be patient. You saw that it took our case studies weeks to get the results they have today. It can take months for a new website to get noticed by Google at all. But as long as you make all the necessary efforts, you will observe real results.

Good Luck!

Staff at the Wix SEO Clinic

Last week, we opened up the Wix SEO Clinic. We took a deep look at the websites of 3 wedding photographers. While the sites may have been ranking well for their own names or domains, the odds are you want your business or website to rank well for your keywords, or words used in a search in Google. Refer back to Chapter 1 of the Wix SEO Clinic, to see the condition of these sites’ SEO before they were checked in and given a full check-up by our team of SEO “doctors”.

Real Results in Google

While conducting SEO for these websites, we tracked the progress made, by searching for each site’s main keyword in Google. We marked down this # every few days. Sure enough, over the course of 5 weeks, some real progress was shown:

Case Study # 1: Blaine Photographers

• Main keyword = “California wedding photographers”
• Google rank before SEO:  650
• Google rank after 5 weeks of SEO:  49

Case Study # 2: Jaime Miller Photography

• Main keyword: “New jersey wedding photographer”
• Google rank before SEO: 350
  
• Google rank after 5 weeks of SEO: 70

Case Study # 3: Studio 48

• Main keyword: “Minnesota wedding photographer”
• Google rank before SEO: 150
• Google rank after 5 weeks of SEO: 25

How Did These Jumps Happen?

Magic? No. SEO efforts? Definitely.

As you can see, some real changes were made in the rankings of these 3 Wix websites. (Remember: in terms of search engine rankings – the lower the ranking, the more visible your site is to those searching for your keywords!)

We provided step-by-step instructions to these users in terms of what they had to do on their end, inside their sites. We supplemented this by submitting these sites to some key places on the web.

Here’s exactly what we prescribed for these 3 case studies:

1. Optimize Meta Data (Blaine, Jaime Miller, Studio 48)

This is probably the most important thing you can do for your website’s SEO. It’s also really easy with the Wix website builder. There is now a main keyword for each site in both the <Title> tag, and meta description.

2. Added Content to Home Page (Blaine)

To add some content to their site’s home page without disrupting the page’s clean look and feel, we told the folks of Blaine Photography to add footer text. This was done by creating a text box, and simply dragging it to the bottom of the main page. Using the color pickW tool in the editor, a light gray color was chosen for this text, keeping it readable yet not too distracting.

Footer text is a terrific opportunity to get in some quality content, while preserving the look of your site’s homepage. Blaine wrote a basic description of their services in their footer text. And of course, keywords were also included.

3. Added Keyword-Rich Headers (Blaine, Studio 48)

Google loves headers. To add a header in a Wix document, select the “Text” tool and select “Title”. Title texts in Wix are interpreted by Google as header tags.

Blaine was asked by one of our doctors at the Wix SEO Clinic, to add the following keyword-rich headers to various pages in their site.

Home Page Header: “California Wedding Photographers”; Page 2 Header: “California Wedding Photos”; Page 3 Header: “California Engagement Photos”; Page 4 Header: “California Wedding Photographers”; Page 5 Header: “Wedding Photographer Prices”; Page 7 Header: “Wedding Photographer Blog”

Studio 48 was told to add a keyword header on Home page = “Minnesota wedding photographer”

4. Submitted to Google Places (Blaine, Jaime Miller, Studio 48)

This is a crucial step for any small business hoping to get ranked for regional keywords. We submitted each of these websites to Google Places, and customized their profiles. The instructions for doing this are explained pretty well at the Google Places site.

5. Submitted to Wedding Photographer Directories

To gain some more backlinks (and inject some SEO juice into these sites), we looked for some good wedding photography directories. Getting listed in a directory once you submit your URL can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, but it’s well worth the wait. Especially if it’s a directory with a good PageRank. For our wedding photographers, we submitted to the following directories: www.wedplan.net, www.photographypros.com, www.freephotogallery.info,  and www.ferenc.biz.

Resources

We told these users exactly what to do in order to optimize their site’s performance in Google. If you want to do the same for your site, follow the steps listed above. Here are some helpful links to help you along the way:

• How to Choose Your Keywords
  
• How to Fix Your Site’s Meta Data
• How to Make Header Tags in Wix
• How to Get Ranked for Physical Locations
• How to Gain Backlinks

Note: These methods can be applied to both a free website, and a premium site with its own domain. There’s no excuse for applying some basic, subtle SEO adjustments to your site to get the best traffic you can. Remember: SEO is an ongoing process.  We will continue to track the position of these sites as time goes by, more pages are crawled, indices are updated – and SEO efforts continue to be made.

Good Luck, and stay tuned for the next Wix SEO Clinic chapter!

This post takes a look at the Wix websites of 3 wedding photographers. Each of these snazzy Flash websites sparkles with professional appeal. Each site is entirely unique, with customized logos and samples of work. In short – the websites look terrific.

But who is looking? Like most small businesses, these professionals relied heavily on word-of-mouth advertising to generate leads. This is where SEO comes in.

The Wix SEO Clinic

Each site had a full check-up by the Wix SEO Team. Here’s what the “Wix SEO doctors” took down:

Patient History

We examined the history of these sites, and what their current SEO tactics were bringing them in terms of traffic. Each site’s PageRank, amount of backlinks and keyword optimization were the benchmarks used.

Keyword Research

Using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, we researched what the best keywords would be for each site to be targeting. We considered the amount of users searching for each keyword, and the level of competition.

Diagnosis

Precise locations on each website were flagged as opportunities in which to improve the site’s SEO, and keyword targeting.

Treatment

The owners of each website were given recommendations on improving their site’s SEO. Both on-page and off-site actions were taken.

Follow-Up

After the recommended changes were implemented, we tracked the changes in site traffic with Google Analytics. We also noted each site’s position in Google for the targeted keywords.

Case Study # 1

Blaine Photographers

URL: www.blainephoto.com

Wix SEO Clinic Write Up

1. Patient History

PageRank = N/A (site too young)

# of Backlinks = None

Optimized Keywords = None

2. Keyword Research

Main Targeted Keyword: “California wedding photographers”

3. SEO Diagnosis

• Meta Data not Optimized
• No Content on Home-Page
• No Headers
• Pages Not Optimized for Keywords
• No Backlinks

Case Study # 2

Jaime Miller Photography

URL: www.jaimemillerphotography.com

Wix SEO Clinic Write Up

1. Patient History

PageRank = 1

# of Backlinks = 0

Optimized Keywords = None

2. Keyword Research

Main Targeted Keyword:  “New jersey wedding photographer”

3. SEO Diagnosis

• Meta Data not Optimized
• No Content on Home-Page
• No Headers
• Pages Not Optimized for Keywords
• Backlinks from low-quality sites

Case Study # 3

Studio 48

URL: www.studio48site.com

Wix SEO Clinic Write Up

1. Patient History

PageRank = 0

# of Backlinks: 0

Optimized Keywords: None

2. Keyword Research

Main Targeted Keyword: “Minnesota wedding photographer”

3. SEO Diagnosis

• Meta Data not Optimized
• Too Little Content on Site
• No Headers
• Pages Not Optimized for Keywords
• No Backlinks

Treatment & Follow-Up

Next week, we’ll take a look at the exact SEO steps taken to improve their Google ranking for the main targeted keywords. You’ll see where these sites ranked in Google just a few weeks after implementing just a few minor changes to their sites.

See if you can visit these sites and see for yourself where the SEO optimizations were made…and apply the same measures to your own site!

p.s. Want your own website to get a Wix SEO Clinic Write Up? Stay tuned at SEOMyWix for an opportunity to get one!

Getting Cached…and Re-Cached

Every time a search engine crawler arrives at your site, it takes a snapshot, known as a cache. This is Google’s perception of your website. If you enter in a search cache:yourwebsite.com,  you’ll see the version of your site as it appears to Google. Until your site gets crawled again, this snapshot won’t change, and the way your site appears in Google will remain the same as well.

We’ve written a few posts on the subject of getting Google back to your site, to take a new cache. Backlinks, or links to your site, are paths that search engines use to crawl from site to site. The more backlinks you have from quality websites, the more likely Google is to index your site. There is another tool for getting search engine crawlers to notice your website and keep coming back for more…

Add New Pages to Your Website

Search engines are endlessly hungry for new, quality content. This is how they provide users with the best, most relevant information out there. Otherwise, we’d all still be using our Encarta CDs, or even (gasp!) hardcover encyclopedias.

Adding new pages to your website with new content is like giving your website a big red flag to hold up, signaling to the search engines that your site has been updated. Your new content will also cause people to revisit your site, sending out additional signals to the search engines that there’s something worthwhile going on. You may even score some new backlinks.

Content Tips & Resources

1. Use the post How Do I Know Google Has Seen My Website? if you need help figuring out the last time you were crawled.

2. Here’s a video tutorial showing how to add pages to a website

3. Break up large sections of content into paragraphs. Use subheadings and layout separators. The easier your content is to read, the more likely your site visitors will come back.

4. Do not create pages with spam-like content – for instance, creating an out-of-the-way page and filling it with keywords. The search engines, especially Google, have developed sophisticated ways of detecting spammy websites, and if caught, you run the risk of getting your site removed from Google’s index entirely.

Ideas for New Pages

• Testimonials. Many of the free website templates found at Wix have Testimonial pages – make use of them!  Include some testimony from current or past clients, that demonstrates the value you offer users.

• Clients. Add a Clients page to your site, where you go into a little more detail about a particular client or patron of yours. Write a short story about how your business worked wonders for someone.

• News. Add a page for any important changes, and keep visitors updated as to the very latest in what’s going on with your business or website. Sort of a mini-blog inside your website.

• How To’s. This type of content can really get the SEO juice flowing. Provide something unique like a tutorial that users will appreciate.  Make sure it’s related to your product/services.

You don’t have to go crazy adding a new page every day, but make a schedule and spend some time enriching your site’s content on a regular basis. We’re all suckers for novelty; Googlebot is no different.

Using DMoz to Charm Google

Submitting your Wix website to the Open Directory Project, also known as DMoz, can help in your quest to woo Google’s search engine crawlers. DMoz is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited web directory. It’s purpose is to provide a list of websites arranged by category. Unlike a search engine, this web directory does not rank or promote the sites it includes.  However, Google, AOL, Yahoo and other search portals definitely have search engine crawlers that prowl DMoz to learn about new, relevant and worthy websites. And then they duplicate this data in their own “clone” directories. Why?

The Humans

Websites listed in DMoz were approved by volunteer human editors, who are experts in their fields of interest. Sites listed under a certain category actually do contain information relevant to that category. In addition, it is free to submit sites to DMoz, and only DMoz. So, the websites of large corporations and small business owners (like many of you!) all get the same treatment in DMoz land. The individual attention given to each submitted site is why search engines like to look at DMoz’ data. So, while it’s entirely possible to perform well in Google without getting listing DMoz, it helps a lot to get listed.

Submitting Your Wix

• Make sure your Wix site is completed. At least make sure all your pages have content and all your links go somewhere. Incomplete sites with broken links or graphics get “Under Construction” notices and generally aren’t listed.
• Do a search in DMoz for your Wix website, to make sure that you are not already listed. This step could save you time.
• Select the most relevant category for your website
• Scroll down to make sure that category has a category editor, and not a “Volunteer to edit this category” link.  Submitting a website to a category without an editor decreases the likelihood of your site getting listed. Try the next most relevant category if your top choice has no editor.
• Click “Suggest URL” link on the top of your category’s page.  Some categories are too general to accept submissions, in which case you should find a more specific category.
• Carefully follow the directions on the submission form. Submit your site only once.

Here’s a short video on How to Submit Your Site to DMoz.

While You Wait
It can take some time before a site is included in this directory, but it is worth the wait. DMoz’s editors review each site to make sure that it is completed, and relevant to the category under which it was submitted. It can take two weeks to a few months to get approved. To see if your site was included, check back on DMoz’ homepage in a few weeks and do a search for your site. Be sure to only submit your URL to the Open Directory once, as multiple submissions can result in your site being automatically excluded.

Other Directories

You could also submit your site to specialized directories based on your site’s area of interest. There are many free website directories on the web, but the key is to find ones that will give you valuable links, from reputable sources. This means PageRank. Directories with low-level PageRank won’t do much for your site’s linkability. The paid directories will require payment over the phone, a personal e-mail and even a pitch as to why you should be included in their listings. The harder the directory is to get into, the more link value it probably has.

A few good general directories (some free, some paid) include: ProLinkDirectory, Directory-Free.com, WhitePages.com, HotvsNot and DataSoftSystem

Getting your site listed in directories such as DMoz won’t guarantee that your Google ranking will improve, but it definitely gives you a solid push in the right direction.

When I say “Title” and “Description”, I’m not referring to content that you place on your web page, or the name that you gave to your web document in order to save it in Wix. I’m talking about your site’s metadata – text that is included in your website’s code, which is read by search engines. You do not need to actually do any coding with Wix, but you do need to enter text to your website’s Settings section. The website builder plants this inside your website’s source code automatically.

Add a Title and Description in 3 Simple Steps:

Step 1: Click on the Settings button, at the top of your website builder.

Step 2: In the SEO section, enter your own text in ‘Title’ and ‘Desc’.

Step 3: Click ‘Apply’.

Done.  Simple, right?

Tips for Good Title Text

• Use up to 70 characters (letters, symbols, etc.) including spaces

• Include the name of your website/business

• Include keywords (your type of business or what your main offerings are)

Your website’s Title appears on top of a user’s browser, while they are in your Flash website. Even though people might not pay much attention to this text, search engine crawlers do. If you DON’T insert your own Title text, Wix’s default text will remain there (see examples in the images both above and below, in this post).

Tips for Good Description Text

• Use up to 160 characters, including spaces

• Describe your website or business in clear terms

• Use one or two appropriately placed keywords

This is the text that shows up in a list of search results, underneath each website’s title.  These are the one or two sentences that you can read about a website, before deciding to enter it. In Google, they’re called snippets. If you DON”T add your own description text, default Wix text will appear under your website’s name in a list of search results. This will look pretty strange to people when thinking about which website to enter. Also, make sure you keep your descriptions short enough for all the text to appear. Ellipses (…) at the end of a description in a search looks sloppy.

Free AND Premium Users

Every single site created with Wix has these settings. You have the power to customize these super-important parts of your site, whether it’s a free website or one that you upgraded to a premium site. It’s especially disheartening for us to discover premium users who don’t adjust their site’s Title and Description, since those users have already taken action toward establishing their website’s online success, yet somehow skipped this basic step. It’s like planning a party and forgetting to invite your guests. So please, take a few minutes to make sure you’ve done this really simple, really important step.

Links = Votes for PageRank

PageRank indicates the relevant importance of a web page, compared to all other pages on the internet.  A Google patented algorithm is used to assign each web page’s PageRank, the details of which are protected by Google to minimize the manipulation of PageRank by webmasters.  What we do know, is that Google takes into account both the amount of links there are pointing to a page, and the quality of those links, when determining that page’s PageRank.

Each link to a page is considered by Google to be a “vote” for that page, a concept explained in our blog post last week about gaining backlinks to your website. But it’s not just the amount of votes that matter – it’s who cast them.  Links from reputable, high-quality websites carry more SEO juice. Having only one link from The New York Times is worth more than having ten links from your best friend’s blog (unless your best friend blogs at The New York Times).

But watch out for B.O.!  Otherwise known as “Backlink Obsession”

There are several reasons why Google’s PageRank metric should not be something you spend an inordinate amount of attention on, when optimizing your Wix website.

“Toolbar” PageRank v. Actual PageRank

The PageRank scores that Google allows the world to see are only updated as often as Google takes a snapshot of that page’s PageRank. These snapshots occur 2-4 times a year, on an unpublished schedule. The last update occurred just a few weeks ago, on April 3^rd. This means if you have a newly created Wix website, your PageRank will be pretty low or nonexistent, as reported in the Google Toolbar. Yet, after a few weeks, you’ll likely have gained some internal PageRank as well as some more traffic to your site.  However, your old score will be shown, until Google takes its next snapshot.

Anchor Text as a Boost for Keywords

The anchor texts of your backlinks can be more important than the links themselves and whether they come from pages with high PageRanks.  This is because links pointing at your website that contain relevant keywords will help you rank better for those words. Links pointing at your website that mention you by name, will cause you to rank higher when a search is performed for your name.

For example, suppose your Wix website is for a bakery, “Granny’s Pies”.  Getting backlinks from high PR websites with anchortext “Granny’s Pie’s” will cause some of the PageRank importance to trickle over onto your site.  However, backlinks from lower PR websites that include one of your keywords in the anchortext can help you get ranked better for those keywords.  If a lower PR site links to “Granny’s Bakery”, it will help with your ranking for the keyword “bakery”.

It’s Not All About PR

Say you’re searching for “movies”.  Movies.com has a lower PageRank than Hulu.com, but the page with the lower PR actually comes up first in a search for “movies”. (Hulu actually ranks 7th in terms of relevance for the keyword “movies”, even though its PR is the highest!)

This data was found using the PageRank Search tool at SEO Chat. It proves that Google considers factors other than PR, when it delivers results for a search, like relevancy of keywords.

Scientific Proof!

A recent blog post at SEOmoz included results from a data-based study conducted on how well PageRank correlates to search engine rankings. Their study demonstrated that although the PageRank of a website is in fact correlated with that site’s listing in Google (as well as other search engines), other site metrics are much better indicators of a website’s ranking (i.e. the Yahoo! Site Explorer tool we outlined in last week’s SEOmywix post about gaining backlinks).

Key Points:

•    Older sites are favored by PageRank, since it is not regularly updated
•    PageRank is only one of 200 factors that determine your website’s SERP rank (listing on a web page).
•    The anchor text of your backlinks can be much more important than the providing page’s PageRank
•    To find good linking sources, don’t focus on PageRank, but rather search rank.  See which pages come up when you search for words you’d like your site to rank for.  The pages that come up are the ones you should seek links from.

Better Ways to Use Your Time:

•    Work on your keyword analysis
•    Add fresh content
•    Consider new “hooks” or ways to attract new visitors to your site
•    Focus on ways to improve conversion once visitors are in your site

Good Luck!

This is the most popular question that we get asked by you, in our Wix Forum and our Wixpedia Help Center.  Creating an attractive website is great, but it doesn’t matter if no one finds out about it.  For those of you who want your Wix website to do its work FOR you, there are a few things you’ll need to do on your end first.  The indexing process can be a tricky one to master, but our Wix team is here to help.

It is also worth noting, that while the debate continues over the SEO compatibility of Flash websites, Flash websites created with Wix are SEO searchable.  This is what makes Wix stand out.  Wix is the only website builder that enables search engines such as Google and Yahoo to read Flash websites.  Want proof?  Wix.com was created using Wix.  Do a search in Google for “free website design.”  Look who it is!  Wix.com – a Flash website created using Wix – proudly pops up as the #1 result according to Google.

As long as you do your part, and make sure your ducks are in order, your Wix Flash website can and will be indexed by Google.  Here’s how.

Tip #1    Check Your Settings

You know the feeling when you think your internet is messed up, but then you realize that the cable was not plugged in?  You should feel exactly this way if you have not made sure your Wix website has its “List in Search Engines” box ticked.  Without this step, all the rest is pointless.  Click on the Settings button at the top of your Wix editor menu, and make sure that box is checked.

Tip # 2   Take Advantage of Metadata

Metadata is text that describes what is on your website.  It is extremely important to search engine crawlers when they are indexing a new or updated site.  There are two types of metadata:  Title and Description.  Both are easily added through the Wix editor’s Settings menu.

Title: Include the name of your website/company/self.  Use no more than 70 characters, spaces included.
Description: Include relevant keywords. Do not exceed 190 characters, spaces included.

The keyword settings box is also provided, and you may enter 5-7 keywords here.  However, keyword metadata no longer carries the SEO juice it used to.  Still, it doesn’t hurt to use this feature.  Just make sure that your keywords actually appear in your website’s text.

There are a few other places you can insert content, and relevant keywords, in your Wix website.  Alt Text is text that describes images.  This text won’t appear on your website, but it is crawled by Google.  Add alt text to a photograph by clicking on the image and selecting Manage Photos.  You can also add page titles to your website’s pages by clicking Manage in the upper right-hand corner of your editor.  (Mini-page titles are the labels you used for your menu.)

Tip # 3    Build Solid Content

Search engine crawlers crawl on words – not images, music or intentions.  Include thoughtful, relevant and useful content.  There should be at least 400 words on your website’s homepage, and at least 250 words on every other page.  Where appropriate, use your keywords.  Google knows what spam is, so make sure your keywords fit organically into your text.
Headers hold more SEO juice than general text. In Wix, headers are known as Titles, and can be added from the Text button in your Wix editor.  Use Titles to introduce sections of text.  Your readers will digest your information much better, and Google will take note of your Titles.

Tip # 4    Link Up

Your Google ranking is partially determined by how many other sites contain links to your site.  The first rule of thumb for gaining another site’s vote of confidence in you by linking to your site is to create quality content.  Make your site a place where original and valuable information can be discovered.   The goal is to have someone visit your website, and appreciate your content so much that they want to share it with others, through a link. Blogs can be a fruitful source of back-linking.  Participate in discussions on blogs, earn the trust of others, and eventually work your way into a mention in that blog’s content.  Posting links to your website in comments on blogs is usually detected as spam, and will be deleted by that blog’s webmaster.

Filling your site with relevant content, and taking advantage of metadata and linking possibilities should secure you a ranking in Google.  But patience is required as well.  Google crawls sites according to an algorithm that is purposely unreleased to the public.  This protects the internet from becoming flooded with low-quality content manipulated by crafty webmasters.  So it may take anywhere between 1 and 3 months for Google to index a new website.
When those spiders come crawling, have your Wix website ready and waiting for them!

Seo Bookmarking

Bookmarking occurs when you want to remember or save a specific link to a site or blog post and you save it on your computer’s memory. Most of you do this regularly with your browser. If you’re using internet explorer, you’re saving web pages to your ‘favorites’ list, and if you’re firefox fans you have a bookmark list.

Social bookmarking allows you to “share, organize and search through bookmarks of web resources” – to quote Wikipedia’s definition of the term. You’re not sharing entire files, you’re sharing references to them, or links. You can usually add a short description and tags to your bookmark to describe what the bookmark’s content is about. Tags are a method that has been developed on the net to inform users of the subject and content of a specific entry, bookmark, post etc.

For example, if I were to bookmark this post on Digg.com, I’d add the following tags, SEO, Wix, social bookmarks, optimizing Wix websites etc.

Different bookmarking websites provide different features. Most of them let you add comments and many provide RSS feeds to their list of bookmarks drawing attention to the different bookmarks, or links, available on their site. Social bookmarking sites are a great place to come across interesting content and it also a great way to get noticed online and get traffic to your website.

How does it work?

You create an account in a social bookmarking site. There are lots and lots of bookmarking sites out there and I will also provide a short list of ones that have been getting lots of great feedback from users at the end of this post. Don’t try to sign up for all of them but choose a couple you are comfortable with and which you think will be useful for you.

You can browse through the different bookmarks already available, also in categories and subjects that are relevant to you and add comments to it. Usually the bookmarking site will have the option of marking a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Participating in the site is actually important so you distinguish yourself as a legitimate user, as opposed to a spammer.

Posting on your own

Once you’ve got your bearings, it’s time to post your own bookmark. Add a description in the same way you add a description to your Wix website. This is important for both the users and also for the search engine – which will crawl the site and see your link. Add tags to your entry and when adding links, place them in anchored text – if possible. Different social bookmarking websites provide different features and capabilities. Not all of them will allow for anchor texts – but I recommend you use those who do. Why not give yourself a bump.

Will this help my website in the search engine results?

The question actually is: will this improve my page rank (PR)? The answer to this is basically a derivative of the answer to – will these links give me link juice from the mother site? The answer is, depending on the popularity of your bookmark. Digg adds a nofollow tag to each outgoing link until that bookmark surpasses a certain level of popularity – determined by the amount of diggs to that site.

Also, the idea behind this system is that people who like your bookmark will bookmark it themselves on their own pages, doubling, tripling and quadrupling the amount of FREE back links to your site, sometimes in a matter of hours.

Also, because SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) are so closely knit together, you’re benefitting one by improving the other and vice versa. In the worst case scenario you are improving traffic to your site thanks to all the people who are discovering it through the highly digged, voted for and ranked bookmark which you posted. In this case, it’s a win-win situation.

At some point you’ll find the traffic from your bookmark slowing down, but that’s okay too. At this point, this old link will have been cached by Google (and the other search engines, let’s not forget them completely). You can enjoy this link just like any other back link to your website – and in particular from a reputable link-juicy website, which affects your PR, which in turn affects your ranking in the search results.

The Keys

Social bookmarking isn’t a new toy in the SEO playground and search engines are very aware of the spamming attempts made on them from this direction and have already been acting to minimize the advantages of spamming techniques. So don’t spam –

• Think quality and take the time to create something that will really draw people to your site.
• Adding an endless stream of links will simply diminish the effectiveness of each of the links and will flag you as a possible threat and spammer.
• Don’t bookmark every page of your website but consider the pages that are useful and bookmark them from time to time.
• This shouldn’t be your single strategy to SEO, but rather viewed as another tool in your toolbox.

Lists:

As promised, a short list of popular bookmarking sites. You can always check their popularity on Alexa and even by reading some feedbacks in different forums that deal with it. A short search in Google on the subject of bookmarking can keep you busy for a while – trust me.

• Digg.com – Google’s own.
• Del.icio.us – one of the very first bookmark sites, launched in 2004.
• Stumbleupon – recommended by many for its stable traffic
• Reddit

Furthermore, you can always take a peek at Wikipedia’s list of social bookmarking sites

Have Fun!

www.wix.com
wix.com
www.wix.com/index.html
www.wix.com/home.asp

To many these urls are all the same url, but in fact they aren’t. Also, perhaps you’ve noticed that when you type your website’s URL you can add any text you want after the slash and the same page will still show up. Well, what happens when someone somewhere puts a link to your website, and that link isn’t the same one as the basic url you’ve been using.
This creates the risk that Google will index the same page twice, under different urls. So what can you do?
Well, one option is to make sure that you use the same link consistently throughout your website and your link campaign.
Aside from that, Wix is now incorporating a new feature called a Canonical URL.
The canonical url is a tag that appears in your source. (Quick reminder: to see your source right click over your website and choose the “view source” command). Canonicalization is the process of choosing the best url, or rather, the one you want to use and identify with your website. That way, no matter what url gets indexed or what url the user is using, the search engine is told which url is the main one and which urls to disregard.
This is a great way to avoid unnecessary redirects and other techniques whose entire purpose is to avoid duplicate content. Mattcutts expands on the subject in his blog if you want to read more about it in a more general context.
Also, if you have any suggestions about new developments you’d like to see in Wix, whether from an SEO point of view or from a product point of view, you’re welcome to join the Wix forum and add your suggestion to our Wish list.
More updates to come!