Did you ever Google for “search engine”?

Where did you find Google?

Did you ever analyze back link anchor texts for google.com?

How many anchor texts did you find as “Search Engine”?

Now do you think you would have seen the same page as Google have now if it had to fight for organic ranking in Google? [Brand value matters - people go straight to Google]

And now search for search engine at Yahoo.

Where do you see Google?

Do you think Yahoo is a better search engine than Google?

[NB, Even if Google does SEO on its homepage, it should not look like this.]

So, do you depend on organic traffic? Do you need SEO?

NB. This post was first titled “Amazing finding at Google SERP - mark a New Era” - I was very excited while making the post and did not know  about noodp tag.  Thanks to Rishil and Frank (Gimmster). So I changed the title of the post. Here is the post:

I just couldn’t hold my breath when I discovered it:

I was doing some Google search for SEO content writer and found my other blog at the 7^th place. I was excited as I never tried to go up for that key phrase. That was fun.

But it did not amaze me as much as the next one:

Just look at the description Google is showing under the link:

It says “SEO and related subjects from a skeptical, contrarian viewpoint.” And the most interesting thing is that, this line is not written anywhere in my blog.

This line is actually written by one of the DMOZ editors while accepting my listing at DMOZ. And just note another important thing - the anchor text of my link at DMOZ is “I have some doubts” - and the word “SEO content writer” is nowhere in that page. And still Google is taking that sentence.

So what does this mean?

1. Google is smart enough to fetch content from anywhere! If Google starts doing this for everything, we got problems.
2. Should we stop working on Meta Documents as Google no longer needs it (lol)!
3. Remarks from human edited and authoritative websites are as important (something like comment from another webmaster is more important rather than what you are saying about yourself) as the links!

What say you guys? I will keep watching this and I will update the post if I find anything new.

The one, in the real estate classified sector had been live for quite a few years. We knew the potential of this service but as we are mainly a SEO and Web Development Company, we could not manage enough time to concentrate on that.

But now when we are fully into it, we are facing some basic problems.

We do not have any keyword research tool for Indian market. This is a big problem not for Indian market alone. We do not have enough data for a lot of countries. What can you do if you do not have proper set of keywords! It seems like we are working in some prehistoric era where we need to depend on stars to navigate thorough the sea - and the mapping process is still in the primary stage.

I would really like to know how other webmasters are working to develop websites for Indian market.

What we did:

1. Brainstorming: Yuppp, we did that a lot to create a big list of key phrases (the list was huge and our primary source was keywords used for UK market).
2. Grouping: We created different sets of key phrases for each page.
3. Market Research: I talked to around 50 people in our target market to understand their habit.
4. Back link and content study: We did some extensive studies on our competitors to find out which key words they are using.
5. The plan: we are developing and twigging the content around these different key phrases to see the result. Soon we can grow a genuine list of key phrases to run the website smoothly with better ROI.

What alternatives did we have?

1. Extensive advertisement in other offline media like TV, newspaper etc. so that people can directly get into our website. But this would be too expensive although less time consuming to grow business. But this would not solve our problem in the long run as this would not help us to build a key phrases list.
2. Go for AdWords to find out which keywords are giving us better ROI and optimize our website around them.

Anyways, we tried to do it the harder way and this is going to be a big experience for us.

But, is there anyone, who would come forward to build a keyword research tool for Indian Market (a million dollar business idea for free - consider a link back…lol)? Would Google come forward and share their data on the growing Indian market?

Just imagine the number of Indian web users that we are going to have very soon!

What percentage of Indian people are getting into web?

What is the ratio between the buyers and information seekers (those who come to know about product features but ultimately makes a purchase from an offline shop)?

Oops we have no data on Indian web users.

The number of real business that is happening online (not talking about income from advertisement) may be almost negligible in respect to other countries like USA or UK or even in respect to the number of Indian web surfers.

One of the main reason may be we do not use plastic money as they have in UK or USA. And another big reason may be that we are not well aware of the advantages (negative points like scam, fraud spreads faster) that internet may offer.

You can also think about the mindset of people!

Say for example, I have a credit card and I spend more than 14 hours everyday on the net (the reason may be different from occasional visitors as I am a Web Worker). I have the idea about which site is secured and which is not or at least, I know which site calls itself hacker safe or secured. But what did I buy online so long?

Nothing but a few domain names, hosting space and some books!

It is not that I do not have a need and I do not buy. But still, I preferred going offline to make a purchase. This is not only about me. It is also about a lot of people like me.

But things are changing very fast - just like when an ice ball starts rolling it gathers mass and grows bigger in size. If you take a look at latest advertisement, companies are showing their web address in the advertisement and asking them to join in; for example, makemytrip.com or shadi.com or monster.com or naukri.com - they are running regular advertisement on TV Networks and Newspapers and they are primarily a web based company. Other offline companies to showing web address in their advertisement.

And among all these, Naukri and Monster, are doing a great job in bringing people online in India. A big portion of Indian new generation (age group 24+) is becoming web savvy while holding their fingers. I do not have any data to prove my point but take a look around you for people who are new to web and are within that age bracket.

In fact I would also say about Orkut.com. They have influenced a big section of Indian youth to go online. And I see people dating via Orkut.

At the same time take a look at tech2.com - a huge hit - their presence is a combination of TV and internet.

It is all about initiating a habit - once you bring someone to a single website, he will (chances are higher, if you bring someone to sites like Orkut) move to other spaces. And in time (I can see that), it would bring a huge change in mindset as well as work culture. Things should become more open and speedy.

Just to add, internet connection and usage charges are going down. Wait for a golden future.

Aji Says (said twice to me and so Aji says), “Content writers will die off soon, they don’t have a future“.

But Aji, you did not clarify few things here:

Whom do you categorize as a content writer? Do you mean - whoever writes content by profession is a content writer?

What do you mean by the word “future”! Does it mean a regular and sustainable income - job or business?

Anyways, here is how I look at the situation:

There are basically two types of content writers.

One set of writers are meant to produce or generate content as fast as possible. There are hundreds of so called SEO companies that do so and there are hundreds of content writers who do not know that they are doing nothing. Just take a look at Get a Freelancer - how much the clients are paying for 500 words! Do you think any great job is possible within that budget and timeline? And there are at least 2 to 3 middle-man taking their shares.

As long as we are in the HTTP protocol, commercial websites would need links and content. And as long as there would be a need of content - I see a future for everyone. And at the end of the day future is how you define it - how do you set you goal!

There is another set of content writers - those who do not write but make the content presentable. You can also think about the copywriters in an advertising agency - what do they do? They have a brief from the client to prepare an advertisement. Do they have huge knowledge on the subject? But they have the expertise in “The art of Presentation”.

For example, I would prefer a job where the client would provide me the primary content and I would work to develop it according to the target market. I would work on the presentation of the content which may take months to complete. I would take care of the minute details like “come or go”, “Buy it or Get it” etc. I would look to make things easier for the visitor depending on analytics data and conversion rate etc.

Do I have a future? Yes I have.

Now when you say, subject specific knowledge is important, can you say that, a great knowledge over the subject would be enough to communicate? A good educationist is not always a good teacher - but a good teacher is inevitably a good communicator. If you are not a good communicator (a great sales man), you cannot be a good content writer (content that sells). It is not just the simplicity of presentation - there are more elements in it.

The future of content writers / writers / copy writers:

As long as there is business, you would need content to express it. Don’t you need a content writer to do that? Or do you think the business owner is good enough to write the business literature / ad copy / brochure / webpage content? Or do you think that every business niche can generate a great writer - who would be reachable to everyone!

SEO and Content Writing:

As far as SEO and content writing goes - they work hand in hand. Knowledge is bad only when it is misused - and if you misuse it, you will not last long.

Content of a page would help people if and only if the target group can reach your page. And you need SEO to get people to your website unless you have 1 million members in your site and they are your target readers alone. You must know how your target readers are reaching your page and why they are here.

Please let me know if I am wrong somewhere:

Ok, the first thing first. Why I selected such a domain name?

There are a lot of tips on how to select a good domain name. I followed this theory by AjiNIMC on how to select a good domain name.

[Video: How to select a good domain name by AjiNIMC]

I was brainstorming to find a good domain name for over a month. The primary criterion was that, it should be simple, short and catchy. It must have the word SEO (Primary keyword in the domain name) in it.

In the process, I selected 5 domain names. I created teasers (like real advertisement) for each domain name and pasted each of them in my office cube for seven days one by one. And the first impression everyone took about Odd SEO is ‘What the hell is that!!’ I just liked the shock factor in their eyes and voice and felt great. It passed the billboard test.

I called up some of my friends (one by one) over phone and said that I have found a good blog - oddseo.com. After a few days I rang them back and asked ‘do you remember that I was talking about a good blog a few days back? Do you remember the name - I forgot to bookmark it’. Most of them (80%) remembered the name and some of them even tried to visit the site. It passed the voice test.

And I am done. I booked the domain name.

As I am in the SEO field for a long time, some things always play at the back of my mind that a newcomer would definitely miss. So for everyone, these are the things you should also follow to select a good domain name:

1. It must be short, catchy and rhythmic. (less than 12 characters - the smaller - the better)

2. It should sound well (positively or negatively)

3. If you are not going for generic name, make sure that you have enough advertisement budgets and time to promote a meaningless word like Google. And if you go for a generic name, do not stuff it with keywords. Have mercy on real visitors. If the visitors are happy, search engines would be happy too.

4. Make sure that people can remember the name and spelling easily. Try to misspell it, if misspelling is possible, be sure that people will do that.

5. A good domain name can help you a lot in supporting a brand image that you are going to create. [This was a primary reason for selecting oddseo.com]. A good domain name also helps a lot in establishing a character. Pick one that says about you clear and loud.

6. If you are thinking about international market - go for .com domain.

7. No hyphen please.

8. The domain name must be the one that you can or you would be using as the brand name or the company name. There is no meaning in using oddseo.com as the domain name for Roy’s Blog. Visitors’ attention and association may get diverted.

9. Brainstorm - do not always use tools.

But my blogging experience says that these things do not pay for a start up blog.

The worth of a blog is:

Worth of blogger [overall web presence (+ presence in other existing niche blogs) + Reference] X Worth of content (Timeliness + Catch + Market Need) X Time (How long you are here!!)

And for a start up lonely blog (if you do not want to make it a part of your previous blogging experience) you must consider another aspect - who is visiting your blog and the source.

Ok, I have written enough. In the next post I would share my experience of starting up this blog from scratch and at the same time I would try to document every aspect of how I am developing and promoting it.

My experience is what I have; stay tuned if you are interested in real life story.