hello again...

[hope this is the correct form...if not...please move me mr. administrator, thanks]:

was wondering:

I have a site designed for my recording studio; & many of my keywords are plural-based (ending in 's')...keyword combos such as 'recording studios', 'mastering studios', etc.

is the plural approach better...or should they just read as 'studio', w/ no 's' on the end ???

[reason I ask is...whenever I search, I automatically place an 's' on the end...out oif habit...thinking it brings in multiple responses. maybe old-fashioned...I don't know.]

so...1) which works better...plural or singular ???

2) My site comes up in a search for 'recording studios, nj'...pretty high on a Google list entitled: 'local bussiness results for recording studios near new jersey'...yet my location is listed about 3 pages deep into the site. aamof...until yesterday, it was a set of pages not even under it's own domain. one would have to go to my main site (an indie music site); & click on a link to get to the studio pages.

so...2) how do the search engines determine regionality, if you're city & state aren't prominent on your site...telephone # ???

3) what is the best method FOR optimizing regional search results ???

thanks,


mark4man
MoonMix Studios

Better you must do SEO method ...
On Page Optimization : improve and modification a keyword in URL, Title, Content, and Keyword Tags..
Off Page Optimization : social bookmarking / social networking, forum submission, article submission, press release, ect

But, the first time you must choose a right and relevant keyword with your 'e business / website ...


Thanks and hoping can help you

I'm not sure about the plural vs. singular question and would be interested to know the answer.

If you're talking about keywords, I think the more the better. If you're talking about adwords, I've found being specific to be much more productive and financially feasible. For example: New York Gaming Servers is very specific so it has a very low cost per click. However, someone searching for it will be a highly targeted customer who will be much more likely to actually purchase a product. This works well for regional searches too.

An example for us would be St. Louis Web Hosting - definitely fits for regional searches. Anneke is right - the more specific your extended keyword phrase is, the more likely your targeted customer will be to purchase.

Hi Mark,

When it comes to your keywords and key phrases feel free to use the plural version (if all it's doing is adding an "S") - this will allow google to rank for both "studio" and "studios". Just like "Recording studios" will rank for Record Studio also.

Where it gets tricky is if you're putting in words taht the plural version changes to "ies" and it drops a letter from the main word. This can then create "exact phrase" match issues. (technology versus technologies)

The "local business results" on the google page are tied through lots of other things - city hall for business information, InfoUSA for business listings, phone books etc etc. So this is more for a business listing (with address and phone number) rather than anything else. You can ADD your name ot that list, and also modify any information that shows up.

When it comes to regional, you need to consider your target market and then not only use the phrases that they'll use, but also enter your state and/or region.

Using phrases like "new jersey's best recording studio" likely won't win too many hearts, it's not something that people usually search for. My top phrases when I was looking for recording studio information had to do with mixing equipment, hours of operation (our guys could only get together between 9pm-3am) and things of that nature. So "late night recording studio in jersey" would be a phrase I'd personally search for if I was in your area.

Recording Studios usually have Rehearsal Studios also (most places I've been to have 5 -10 rooms for rehearsal, then one main room for recording, so be sure to include those keywords too. Depending where you are in New Jersey, you'll probably also want to enter a few parts about being able to service New York too.

One other thing - I don't know about the rest of the masses, but "rehearsal" I've always had problems spelling and usually ends up with "rehersal" - so be aware of the spelling errors and you may be able to target a few pages with intentional spelling errors to attract clients also.

wow...!!!

[have been busy setting up recording equipment & forgot to come back...thanks a million...everybody...!!!] will digest & put the info recieved to work.

but...I have some additional questions...(sorry, but I'm still a neophyte at this)...& I'll number them for easier response:

so...my new site (MoonMix Studios) is up & running...& submitted to Yahoo, Google, Bing & Ask...3 of which required an authorization meta tag, which I complied with.

1) would they have found me anyway...without the meta tags ? (not an important question, here...just curious).

my old site was a set of pages on another domain (MoonJams). as of right now...that old url keeps coming up in test searches I perform. so what I did was to rearrange that page w/ redirection info & a link to the new domian: http://www.moonjams.com/moonmix_studio.biz.htm.

now...I obviously want the major search engines to quit showing that address...& display the new domain (& I only left that page up for those surfers who have, or who find, the old link). On the old site (MoonJams)...there are NO physical links left to that page. so...

2) what is the best way to get rid of that old address in the major search engines...??? [2A) will resubmitting MoonJams to the search engines do the trick...now that any physical links are gone from that domain...???]

3) Is my 'redirection page' the best way to go about redirection...or should it be accomplished automatically somehow...in the code...?

4) are there other search engines out there I haven't covered...??? (I've covered Ask, Bing, Google & Yahoo).

thanks very much...& again...thanks for all the useful info already given...by all,


mark4man
MoonMix Studios

The fact is that if you begin with very highly competitive terms, you would need to wait for a rather long time before your website begins having traffic over the net but using several keywords, especially the long trail ones, some better traffic building chances could be obtained. No wonder the larger companies websites are found among the top Google positions even when you search for tens of terms.