One thing that is not commonly done during the course of auditing is checking how a site looks in the SERP’s and looking a the SERP result for your page and for your  competitors for a given phrase. Doing so, can show an unlikely area of opportunity, the meta description. Now, relax. I know that in and of itself meta descriptions are not a ranking factor but consider this:

• Why does Google Webmaster Tools insist on alerting you when meta descriptions are not unique if meta descriptions truly don’t matter?
• Do you overall rank highly for given phrases but traffic from that phrase is not what you expected?

Meta Descriptions & CTR

It is common knowledge that for most queries that the Top 10 results get 90% of all clicks, that a  #1 ranking in Google on average yields a 20-35% CTR while a #2 ranking averages a 10-13% CTR. After that, the CTR dwindles down to single digits, with a #10 ranking averaging a paltry 1-2% CTR.

So how do meta descriptions factor into this equation? Meta descriptions most likely affect organic search rankings when they either exceed or fail to meet expected CTRs, especially on the first page of SERPs. This is similar to adwords, where CTR is at least somewhat  tied to ad quality. Therefore, meta descriptions present an opportunity to attract a couple more clicks with a lower placement. Another important thing to note is that that CTR itself is a ranking factor, so there is an opportunity for a page in a lower position with a higher CTR to move up in position, which indirectly ties meta descriptions, at least partially, to rankings.

In this sense, the relationship between meta descriptions and performance in the SERPs is kind of like the air pressure in your tires and your engine’s gas mileage. The former doesn’t directly affect the latter until it’s dropped below expected levels. Only then is there is an observable correlation between the two. Then, once you improve what’s been literally dragging you down, there’s a noticeable “bump” in performance. That’s a site (or car) realizing its true potential in the SERPs.

Maximizing Meta Descriptions

 So how do you get the most out of your meta descriptions to see the most benefit from your other SEO efforts? Here are a few quick tips:

Be specific to the page: Sometimes scale requires efficiency. Sadly, meta descriptions often are the victims of automation. Ideally, however, each meta description would be unique and specific to a page. You’d be surprised how often meta descriptions are just duplicates of one another or mention items/products/services/information not relevant to a page.

Include Calls to Action: If you want a user to engage in a certain behavior, whether it’s downloading a PDF, filling out a contact form or completing a purchase, the first step is compelling them to do so. The importance of calls to action is well known in usability and conversion circles, but is often forgotten when it comes to meta descriptions. Think of what you want a user to do when they reach a certain landing page – buy, shop, purchase, select, compare, find, browse, download, sign up, etc. Include and highlight that verb in the meta description and you’ll be on the right track.

Include Purple Cows: Don’t forget to include your unique value propositions – things that set your site apart from the competitors. Whether it’s your customer service, low prices or free shipping, highlight what makes your site unique and special compared to the others. Users have multiple options on page 1 of the SERPS – it takes something special to attract their clicks.

Takeaway

 Although they’re not an immediate ranking factor, meta description influence SERPs not by causation but by correlation. Meta descriptions affect CTRs and hence can reward or penalize a site independent of other SEO factors. Acknowledging their importance will help you begin reclaiming the clicks that should be rightfully yours.

But what these people are failing to realize is that there are some serious advantages being ignored when they do this. Namely, a chance to draw in more traffic through images.

I mean it, pictures often draw readers more than the content of the post. At least in the beginning. It also provides the blogger with a quick way to create context, offer descriptions or just break up text to make it easier on the reader.

Note: To make the most of your blog images, make sure to read this article on image optimization as well as print out these cheatsheets for optimizing images.

While there are many reasons that photos are more beneficial in attracting blog readers, there are three primary reasons.

Reason #1 – They Want Something To Attract The Eye

There is a reason ads use flashing images and colored letters, with plenty of movement. Or eye catching photos that they can’t help but look at the moment it comes into focus. People are designed to be engaged by visual stimuli more than perhaps anything else.

A never ending block of text, even if it is following the rule of internet writing that states you should break it up into smaller lines, will still lead to plenty of skimmers. Unless you have something else that ads a bit of spice to the post.

It is sad to think of human beings as having the average attention span of a gnat, but it’s true. Especially now that we have grown accustomed to lightning fast information at the click of a button. Why do you think lists like this one bring in so many readers?

Reason #2 – They Want Context

Whether you are putting up a direct image of the topic at hand, or a metaphorically relevant photo, a picture is worth a thousand years. More than that, it provides an immediate form of context that can clarify a title or the content within a post.

I don’t know how many times I have seen a photos on blogs that showed me whether or not the content was what I was looking for. Which saved me time and led me to several posts that helped me that I thought initially were about something else.

While you might think this could be solved with a more specific title, that isn’t always the case. A number of posts could seem straight forward enough but be about something entirely different with similar descriptive language.

Reason #3 – They Want Personality

That’s right, personality. Something to show you aren’t just another faceless blog with the same boring content. A photo shows a touch of your creative side, and a good one might give them hope for what you have to offer. A good picture = a good post.

Of course, this is dependent on the photo chosen. Even if you use stock photos, how you use or edit them can make all the difference. Especially if you inject a bit of your own personality into the photo itself. Which can become immediately apparent, unlike a post that takes time for them to pick up while reading.

Conclusion

You don’t have to spam your blog with nothing but photos. But having one or two in each post is a great way to draw attention and give the reader what they want. Plus, it is more attractive. Even though that isn’t the primary reason, it is still one to keep in mind.

Image Credits: 1, 2, 3.

Not only does every program have these, but so do many websites. Each social media site has their own set of shortcuts, which can be found on their FAQ pages. Or, you can check them out here for the three main social media sites.

Twitter Keyboard Shortcuts

You should start by knowing how to bring up a list of all the keywords. You don’t have to go searching for them. If you use the ? meta key, it will bring up a list of all of the other shortcuts, so you always have them on hand. It is a handy little way of providing it.

The Full List

Basic Navigation:

Tweeting and Features:

‘G’ Timeline Navigation:

Print out the cheatsheet: Twitter keyboard shortcuts

Facebook Keyboard Shortcuts

Unlike Twitter, Facebook bases their shortcuts (which are very basic) on the type of browser you are using. So Chrome users will have different main shortcuts than those using Firefox or Internet Explorer. But the map keys are the same for all of them, as are the basic navigation keys for your account rather than the main page.

Map:

Profile and Account Navigation:

Print out the cheatsheet: Facebook keyboard shortcuts

Google Plus Keyboard Shortcuts

Google’s social networking site uses many of the same navigation shortcuts that their other services do. But they also sometimes change, so if something isn’t working, check their FAQ’s to see if it has been updated.

Print out the cheatsheet: Google Plus keyboard shortcuts

Conclusion

As you can see, it isn’t that difficult to use these shortcuts, and not even to memorize them. So if you want to cut down on the time spent navigating different pages and just give it all a kind of flow, take some time to get used to these shortcuts.

Working here at Internet Marketing Ninjas, I know the importance of having a clear understanding of clients’ overall business objectives and the metrics by which they measure SEO success as well as their measure of link quality. One of the things I often hear about is toolbar Pagerank as being a primary link value indicator for many website owners.

One of the problems with toolbar Pagerank is that it is often between 3 and 6 months out of date, and tells only a tiny fraction of the story behind a given link. There is actually a multiplicity of factors that go into Google’s calculations of link value, and so when I hear that someone is looking only for PR 4 sites to link into their site, my common response, which I admit I stole from a colleague here at IMN, is “Would you like a high PageRank or a high rankings?” In a word, toolbar Pagerank does not equal to higher rankings or more revenue.

So why does toolbar PageRank remain such an important factor in determining the quality of a link when the fact is, excluding a possibly faster indexing in Google, toolbar PageRank hasn’t been vitally important for more than a decade? Why does the myth of that green bar being the sole determining metric of quality remain?  Part of the reason is that SEO is difficult to get a grasp on because of its ever-changing nature, and so it is not uncommon for certain concepts to be undeniable truths one second and outdated myths the next.  If there’s one thing I have learned about SEO, it’s that the second I turn my back to check my email, make a phone call, or feed the dog, a bunch of the rules of the game will change while certain principles still remain constant.  It’s what makes SEO infinitely interesting to me and infinitely frustrating to others.

Here are a couple other factors to consider when you’re measuring link value:

• How many backlinks are going to it?  Are they mostly organic or are they paid?  How is the content?
• How old is the domain?
• Do you want this site associating itself with you? Otherwise stated, do you want this site in the same ‘link neighborhood’ as yours?

Anyone who has had a prolonged interest in SEO knows I’m not saying anything new here, and I won’t pretend to know more about SEO than some of the most knowledgeable people in the industry, such as Todd Malicoat, Aaron Wall, and of course, our CEO Jim Boykin . So here are some of the more memorable discussions on toolbar Pagerank by these experts and others:

Jim Boykin – 2007 (CEO at Internet Marketing Ninjas)

“Pagerank updates about every 3-6 months…and are based on a score calculated 3-6 months prior to the updating day….saying that Pagerank is Stale is an understatement….also saying that pagerank effects rankings is a lie.” (read more here)

Todd Malicoat – 2008 (Stuntdubl.com)

“You can be a TBPR [Toolbar PageRank] 7 and not actually pass authority to others or rank for things of much importance. I’ll take rankings over pretty green pixels any day of the week.” (read more here)

Rand Fishkin – 2008 (SEOMoz.com)

“While the underlying concept of PageRank is still very much alive (links as votes, metrics for establishing more important vs. less important pages, etc.), the green pixels in the Google toolbar are a very rough estimation that’s often massively out of date (since it’s only updated once every 3-6 months) and occasionally deliberately misleading.” (read more here)

Aaron Wall (SEOBook.com)

When I first got in SEO it was crucially important, but over the years other pieces of the relevancy algorithms (like domain age, domain name, domain trust, domain extension, link anchor text, searcher location, search query chains, word relationships, search personalization, other user data, result re-ranking based on local inter-connectivity, input from 10,000+ remote quality raters, and even a wide array of penalties & filters) have been layered over the top of the core relevancy algorithm. (read more here)

Matt Cutts – April 23^rd, 2012 (Google)

Check out how Matt says Google uses PageRank.  (Hint: it is 1 of 200 factors they look at)

At the end of the day, if you want to think about numbers 1-4, think about how to get your site ranking there.  The rest will take care of itself.
cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo shared by Magnus the Great

Jim and his team were so generously welcoming – I felt like visiting royalty, even though I was sure I didn’t deserve it. Despite how busy he was, Jim and I sat down and had long talks every day about his plans for the business, what my contributions would be, and where I fit in to the scheme. We all dreamt big, and it was an exciting time. And just a few days after that, I was back in my home office in Woodinville, WA, pounding on the keyboard, developing new blog posts and conducting mini site reviews for IMN clients. You see, I could not relocate, despite Jim’s request that I do so.

Remote employment

Unfortunately, the transient nature of my visit to Upstate New York was the Achilles Heel of our arrangement. I remember a series of tweets by Wil Reynolds early in my tenure with IMN in which Wil ranted about the impossibility of success with hiring remote workers. I remember that Ian Lurie chimed in with concurrence. I respect both of those guys enormously for who they are and what they’ve accomplished in this field, but I was personally offended by their statements. I wanted to say, “Hey, guys, what about me? I was a remote worker for Bing during my last two years there and was highly productive and professional! And better yet, I now work for Jim Boykin, who’s willing to take a chance on me as a remote worker!”

I never sent those reply tweets, of course. I realized that when I was young in my immediate post-collegiate career, I probably would not have been the productive and disciplined remote worker that I am today (and it seems that many SEO agencies are quite heavily dependent upon youthful talent, although that may just be the emerging curmudgeon in me speaking). Make no mistake, I still bristle at the generalizations made by Wil. At a minimum, I would have corrected him by saying he’d not YET worked with anyone who could be successful working remotely. After all, he’d never hired me! Same goes for Ian!

But I soon came to realize that establishing a successful, remote work relationship is a two-way street. It’s not solely the responsibility of the remote worker to make it work (although I do believe the lion’s share of the responsibility does fall on the remote worker). To truly make the situation work, the company office also has to actively accommodate the relationship, keeping the remote worker informed of office doings, maintaining regular communications and conveying the wishes and needs of top management across a variety of channels on a constant, ongoing basis. That’s a big commitment on the part of management (perhaps that challenge is the problem Wil & Ian were alluding to).

Logistics, logistics, logistics

Some company cultures work just fine across digital communication mediums (especially email and conference call meetings), whereas others really only thrive with interpersonal, verbal, face-to-face communications (such as hallway conversations and impromptu meetings). Ultimately, while I loved the arrangement, my remote work status with IMN didn’t meet the needs of their top management. There were no performance problems, no professionalism or productivity issues, or anything of the like with regard to my work. And that’s not just me talking. That’s what I was told. What we had were challenges with logistics. Plain, old-fashioned logistics. Simply put, I wasn’t there to participate in the office activities, and that meant my remote role wasn’t a comfortable fit for the IMN team – that’s all.

And truth be told, I understand Jim’s position on the matter. It’s his business, and he is free to run it in whichever fashion is most advantageous for him and his team. Frankly, if I were Jim, I’m not sure I would have taken the chance to hire me, sight unseen, the way he did. I think he showed amazing courage and resolve in attempting to make this remote, cross-continent relationship work. He had never previously met me, and yet, on reputation alone (and an interesting interview), he was willing to give it a try. I simply can’t argue with Jim’s difficult decision for us to part ways. We definitely had something really good, but it wasn’t ultimately what he wanted or needed, so we both are moving on.

In the last six months, I have learned so much more about the business (especially from the agency perspective), met some incredibly smart and talented co-workers, been exposed to some fascinating client situations, heard about some amazing plans, and I am still enthralled with Jim and his amazing company. I consider myself more than lucky to have had this opportunity to meet, work with, and learn from so many brilliant people, starting with Jim himself and going down the line. He is a force to be reckoned with in this business, and I see big things for him and his dedicated team.

Note that I still am a true believer of remote working. I agree that it takes the right person to make it a successful opportunity, but it also takes commitment on the part of the team to integrate the remote people into the business. The Internet offers so much in the way of technology for advancing the cause of interactive communications. In fields where specialized, talented individuals are not easily found, businesses that embrace the Internet to find and work with remote talent will have an edge over their competition. Not everyone you need to hire lives close by!

Perhaps in 2012 we are still not ready to accept the challenges that remote workers entail, and I imagine that the challenges can be especially hard for smaller companies due to limited resources. But as we advance deeper in the 21^st century, with traffic choking our cities, the cost of living rising in urban areas, and the quality of life of workers fading as they face longer work days compounded with ever-longer commute times, something has to break. The companies who can figure out how to attract and retain key, qualified talent who are not local and are unable to relocate will have an edge. I remain hopeful that remote work is not dead, that in fact it is the true wave of the future. We just need a few more baby steps to get there.

Next steps

Don’t worry about me. I’ve already landed on my feet with a new role (my streak of very good luck continues!), with this one being MUCH closer to home (if you want to know more, start following my LinkedIn profile in the next month or so). I know I will be of much greater value to my new team thanks to the experiences I had with Internet Marketing Ninjas. Of course, I’ll continue blogging at Search Engine Land, resume my blogging for my own blog, The SEO Ace, and perhaps meet some of you SEOs local to me at the monthly Seattle SEO Network meet-ups.

So, I move forward with transitions and new opportunities. So does Jim and his team. It’s been a great ride, folks. I hope to see my Ninja colleagues at industry events. I’ll be speaking at SMX Advanced in Seattle in June, attending MozCon in Seattle in July, and speaking again at PubCon Las Vegas in October. Let’s keep in touch, OK? Thanks for everything!