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Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft all announce a new tag that will get rid of your duplicate content problems.

In the past, SEO’s have had to worry things such as session ID’s, tracking ID’s, source strings, link parameters, and other variables in URL’s. Not anymore. Now, you will have more control over the URL returned in search results. The new tag goes in the “head” section of your web pages.

You can find an example of the new tag on the Webmaster Central blog. The article also contains a short Q and A at the bottom that might help answer some of your lingering questions.

Google says they will “take your preference into account, in conjunction with other signals, when calculating the most relevant page to display in search results.”

WebProNews did an interview with Matt Cutts about the new canonical tag. Matt says watching the video is the easiest way to learn about the new tag quickly.

Also, you can check out Matt’s blog, where he further explains the canonical link tag here.

Over at Blogsessive, Alex Cristache, takes a look at SEO-friendly content. Alex explains what SEO friendly content is and also offers a couple techniques for effective optimization.

His techniques are all about keywords. He says when it comes to keywords, to think “natural”. In other words, what would the common user search for? It’s also good to avoid unnecessary repetitions and stuffing.

The next tip is to spread those keywords you came up with throughout your article. His advice is to start from the beginning by using your main phrase in the first sentence or paragraph. Depending on the length of your post, you can try repeating a few times, as long as it does not sound bad for a reader.

Alex adds, “Regardless to what some people think, there’s nothing wrong with helping out good content find its way to interested search engine users, as long as you don’t go overboard and turn into search engine spam. The line is thin.”

Read Alex Cristache’s article here.

In today’s post I wanted to share some content articles from Pubcon, a recent marketing conference. Navneet Kaushal has published a few articles with some great tips. Some of those include:

There was also some mobile tips in Navneets notes:

Another thing he mentions is to remember that good content will cost some money and getting it could be the most expensive part of SEO campaign. He says for in house content creation, it will take a lot of training.

Read Navneet’s notes from the conference on his site:

Real-World Winning Tactics for Content Creation

Ground-Up
SEO Content Development as Pure Business Strategy

He also covered a session on duplicate content. You can read about it here.

In a recent post, Lee Odden ask the question, “Why would you want your “members access only” content available to search engines?”

Some sites have most of their content behind a login. Usually, search engine spiders can’t find the content behind the login to index and include in the search results.

You may want to rethink the decision to have your content hidden behind a login. Lee says, “The more web pages a search engine can find, index and include in the search results, the more entry points there are for new customers to find your web site content.” Of course, you want as many customers as possible to visit your site right?

There are reasons to hide your content however. An exception would be if the content were time sensitive. He points out that if the content were time sensitive, it wouldn’t make sense to allow search engines to index it, because obviously outdated content is no good to customers.

Lee wants to know if you made any of your content available to search engines that were previously hidden behind a login. What were the hurdles and how did it turn out?

Read the article and comment here.

Today I just wanted to share a website that I think is very useful for anyone looking for content tips. The site is Darren Rowse’s www.ProBlogger.net. The site has a lot of great information. He talks mostly about how to make your blog better, but here is the archive of his posts that focuses on content.

Darren has some “out-of-the-box” suggestions that you don’t normally see discussed too often. Punctuation, reader engagement, creativity, repeating content, and if your post matters, are just a few of the things he talks about.

Also, while you’re there, don’t forget to browse around the rest of his site to check out his blogging tips.

Bill Hartzer has an ongoing series on the topic of search engine optimization and the latest one is about all content. He points out that the pages you see at the top of search results are pages that are updated regularly and have quality content. Bill says, “You cannot expect to create a few web pages and expect that web site to rank well in the search engines (especially Google).”

You want to prove you should be at the top of those search results.

So, how do you go about getting new, quality content on your site? Bill gives a few simple ways:

• Doing it yourself
• Hiring a writer
• Adding content regularly

You can read Bill Hartzer’s excellent post here, where he explains these three ways to get content and gives a couple more tips on how to make yours better.

And remember, the more content the better rankings.

Today, I’m bringing you an article from Lee Odden, a top SEO and online marketing expert. Lee’s post is titled, Optimizing the Right Content for the Right Audience. Lee talks about optimizing content for audiences outside of the normal prospects and customers.

Lee says many companies focus on content that converts to revenue, but there are other audiences that should be getting attention too. He has been talking lately about how SEO can be used specifically for news content, the audience being journalists and bloggers, not just consumers.

The article also says how you can form relationships and not just make sales. Relationships with journalists and bloggers can potentially get your website to a wider audience. A larger audience will probably include customers, which of course can potentially lead to profits.

Lee mentions some additional audience opportunities too:

Careers and jobs

Customer service

Investor relations

Corporate charitable programs

For more information and details, read Lee Odden’s article here.

Andrew Wee recently published an article about writing content that people want to read. He points out that to be successful, you need to build loyalty and a large readership. Andrew discusses three simple, but important tips to help you do just that.

Those three tips are:

-Pay It Forward
-Positioning And Incremental Marketing
-Think Outside Of the Box

In the first tip, Pay It Forward, Andrew says to go beyond the popular keywords and help people solve a problem.

The second tip, Positioning and Incremental Marketing, Andrew says if you are going to publish an update about a new blog post you made, like many bloggers do on Twitter, don’t just say… “New Blog Post” and post the URL. Instead, Come up with a catchy headline that will get readers attention, and then include the URL.

The third is one I’m sure you have heard of many times, Think Outside The Box. Think of how you can improve what you are doing, or how you can do it different. Don’t just do what everyone else does.

Read Andrew’s tips in more detail at his blog here.

Stoney deGeyter has a recent article titled “How to Create Effective Site Navigation that Leads Visitors to Your Most Important Content“. He covers things that will help search engines spider your website along with visitors being able to find information they need quickly.

Stoney says one of the first things he looks at is the site’s main navigation elements, these being the top, side, and footer navigation.

He has some great tips for your website’s navigation.

Just a few of the things he points out are:

• Your top navigation should always display your logo and tagline

• Your logo should always link to your site’s home page

• Primary navigation should be located at the top or side of the page

• Footer is a great place to provide additional links

You can read these tips in more detail (and find out Stoney’s other tips) here.

These all seem so simple, they are very important steps to consider when designing your website.

While on Stoney’s blog, I ran across this questions and answers series of articles that can also help improve the architecture of your site. There are five parts and I encourage you to read through them all to better benefit your site.

Website Architecture Questions Answered:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

No go work on your website architecture!

Matt Bailey has a great article out called “Make Your Website Content Explode.” He brings up some great points on your content needing to be exciting and interesting.

Matt gives two examples of companies that changed their website to better engage readers and customers:

The first is John Deere. Obviously, someone in the market for a tractor wants to know exactly what the tractor is capable of before making a purchase. The John Deere site went from having a boring description of tractors to telling exactly what it does; how many attachments and how much it can lift, and so on. Their headline on the old site started off with, “Underneath their familiar green and yellow exterior isn’t just a redesign of the compact tractor, but a transformation”. This isn’t very exciting to read. The new headline is simple and to the point, “Get More Done.” Which one would stand out to you if you were viewing that site?

The other company is petsafe.net. Matt explains how their site used to be generic and didn’t really draw in visitors. Once again, the first thing you see on old the site is a generic headline, “Deluxe Little Dog Bark Control”. The new site reads, “Safe pets. Happy Owners.” As a pet owner, this new site has more appeal to me. It has an inviting message. This one is also simple and to the point.

It doesn’t take much to take your content to the next level. A few simple changes and you will be on your way to a better site.

Check out Matt’s article where he goes into a more detailed description of these sites and to get some ideas on how to improve your content!