An SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Neighborhood is a group of similar sites that “live” close to each other within a search engine index. These neighborhoods are not only the competitive niches that exist within different online search markets, but also the sites that search engines categorize as related to the content on a particular site. A neighborhood, traditionally, is a group of residences that share a close proximity to one another. Neighborhoods range from low-end to upscale and can be cookie-cutter in form and appearance to extremely unique and diverse. The same commonalities exist within SEO Neighborhoods. An SEO neighborhood is essentially a website link network or a group of related sites.

SEO Neighborhoods can be used to gauge two things:

1. The link profile of a website: the composition of a websites in-bound and out-bound links
2. The search  index profile of a website: how a website is categorized by a search index (for the purposes of this post I am speaking exclusively about Google)

An Example of a Search Index Profile

Google has developed some helpful search query extensions to assist users in finding index information specific to URL’s and websites. One of these tools is the “related:” prefix. By adding “related:” directly before a website URL in Google (i.e. “related:www.yourwebsite.com”) provides you with a set of results that Google has identified as “related” to the domain being searched. See below for an example of websites related to www.DocuSense.com

Notice in the above example the types of websites that Google is relating to DocuSense. The first (www.laser-supply.com) is a geographically targeted landing page developed for a specific local campaign. I know this because we made it. But continue further down the SERP:

1. Xerox
2. FixYourOwnPrinter.com is a reputable printer repair information resource
3. A site for high quality printer inks for less money
4. An HP Printer repair and service provider
5. StreetDirectory.com ß this is what I wanted to get to. Street Directory sounds like a paid directory website (think yellowpages.com, superpages.com, etc.) but if you take a closer look… you will see this particular instance is an article about laser printer service contracts – definitely a good site to be related to if you are in the laser printer service industry.

Now let’s take a look at another search index profile, this time for the domain www.printersrepair.com:

So if you’re looking over the search results above here is what I would like for you to notice:

1. The very first page is superpages.com (as I mentioned above – a paid directory site) Also notice that the links being created from this paid traffic are localizing the search results for both Ann Arbor and Michigan.
2. FixYourOwnPrinter.com again – this is a good thing
3. Solaronics USA – Manufacturing infra-red heating products – not related
4. OnTech Force – IT Repair, ok makes sense – printer repair and IT repair could be considered related
5. Fixya.com – Audio and Video Equipment Repair – repair service yes, but audio and video – Not exactly services you want your printer repair site associated with (Again, this is in Michigan)
6. Ferndale, MI Yellow pages (again, paid directory for local listing in Michigan)
7. DGE Inc. – Electronic hardware and software in Michigan – not directly related
8. Aamtech – Digital copiers and faxes – good.
9. The Pod Drop – IPod repair – Not related.
10. Laseronela.com – Here is a culprit. If you click through to this site you will be dropped into an content network landing page with a handful of sponsored links and no value.

Ok, so I want you to notice a few things:

• Almost all related sites (even the sites that are not necessarily “related” like: Solartronics, Fixya.com, DGE, etc.) are coming from Michigan based sites or paid networks.
• 50% of the search results are not directly related to printer repair or service
• 50% of the search results are paid directories or listings
• 20% of the search results are for spam websites (ThePodDrop.com is an affiliate sales site and Laseronela.com is a parked domain hosting sponsored links)

What does this mean?

Well for starters we know they are not an organically grown website but rather mostly supported through purchased directory listings and sponsored ads. This is not a big deal if they plan to grow out their organic presence, if not this could mean search engine penalties in the future. The search engines are trying to provide authoritative content to their users’ not just display those with the biggest budgets (at least not in the organic results)

This also means that if you have a local business it is a good idea to spend some money on some paid links (as they will provide you with display and affiliation on local network sites). But be careful not to go all paid, you must diversify your search marketing for both the short-term (paid) and long-term (seo). This brings me to my next point…

A Website’s Link Profile

This is rapidly becoming one of the key performance drivers for organic search engine optimization and growth. Your websites link profile consists of the composition of inbound links (places linking to your website) and out-bound links (places your website is linking to). It is a pretty well known fact that search engines (Google specifically) places a lot of weight on the number of links to a particular website. If a website has the most links for a particular keyword, from the most authoritative and reputable websites in that online industry, then that site will most likely rank #1.

This means you need to pay attention not only who you link to (be sure to provide reference to accurate, timely, and relevant information) but be mindful of who is linking to you.  So let’s take printersrepair.com again as our example:

In this example printersrepair.com has 33% of their inbound links coming from a spammy link-farm. This is damaging the overall value of their link profile, and could cause penalty.

In your Google webmaster tools dashboard be sure to check out your “Diagnostics > Web/mobile crawl > Crawl error sources” so you can not only correct links that may be broken, but also to pursue relationships with other site owners/webmasters who have an interest in your site. (And while engaged, see if they’ll fix the broken link. This is an important way of correcting broken links and building reputable link juice.

In addition to correcting these crawl errors; you should probably also use 301 redirects to direct incoming traffic pointed toward outdated URL’s to their new current locations. Google will properly flow link juice through 301 (or “permanent”) redirects.