I have blathered about keyword research a lot in previous posts, SO I’m going to use this post to illustrate how keyword research can help you to effectively develop your website information architecture (IA).
 

Yes, branding is important.
Yes, your users are more important, and the usability and logical structure of your site is vital.
Yes, [...]

SEO continues to be called a ‘waste of time’, ‘evil’, a ‘waste of money’ and worse all over the net, and by numerous different sites. I know I’m not the only SEO proponent banging my head against the proverbial wall.
 
Heck, if SEO is such a waste of time, perhaps the purveyors of these gems of [...]

There is so much misunderstanding of these two terms, how they relate to each other, and which to target. I’m going to try to diffuse that dichotomy. 
 
It’s not a case of the chicken-before-the-egg or vice versa. They are two completely different disciplines, though each can benefit from the other much as SEO and paid search [...]

I realize that spying on the competition may not seem to be of great importance when taken as a stand-alone SEO concept without understanding what you can actually glean from doing so, or knowing what insights the available tools can offer.
 
This post will try to demystify the issue.
 
Why Spying on the Online Competition Can Benefit [...]

Google apparently started blocking ranking software like WebCEO and WPB a few days ago. The subsequent horrified outcry followed by hard-line rebuttals of ‘sooo old hat’ and worse was really interesting to watch and read.
 
At the risk of putting myself in the firing line, I’m going to try to put my point across in defense of [...]

I hear a lot of questions that make me want to bang my head against a wall. This is one of them.
 
Make no mistake, this is a legitimate question. It is a good question. It is simply that I have had to field it so often, I am now going to write this post [...]

There are few things worse than hiring someone to fill a position based on false credentials. One thing that is worse is attempting to hire someone to fill a role that no-one else on your company understands, or has even heard of.
 
If you are planning on hiring a search consultant, here is a mini-glossary along [...]

Today Canada announced their equivalent of the US ‘Do Not Call’ program.
 
In the US the program has not only been a huge success, but has resulted in $26million in fines. In Canada there is a  $15,000 violation fee for unsolicited calls; effective September 30th 2008.
 
The Canadian government passed legislation in 2005 mandating the creation of [...]

Gaining backlinks… Not my favorite pass-time. BUT…
Google’s ranking algorithm places an enormous amount of importance on how a web page is linked to from other topically related pages on the internet. Factors of importance that prompt Google to attribute ‘authority’ to a web page as a relevant, usable and topical resource for inclusion to their [...]

I would first like to point you wonderful readers to two introductory posts on this topic:
1: Selling SEO to the Uninitiated – which also serves as a basic intro course on what is important an what is not; and
2. SEO Keyword Research – which speaks for itself
This post is actually going to focus on a [...]