Facebook, YouTube and Google dominate in their categories. Canadians love our banks’ online banking websites, too! Meanwhile, MLS continues to dominate activity in Canada’s real estate industry.

The top 10 overall websites for traffic were: 1) Facebook (12.52 per cent of all traffic); 2) Google Canada (9.26 per cent) ; 3) Windows Live Mail (4.34 per cent); 4) YouTube (4.21 per cent); 5) MSN Canada (2.17 per cent); 6) Google (1.72 per cent); 7) Yahoo! Canada (1.30 per cent); Bing (1.27 per cent); 9) Yahoo! Mail Canada (1.16 per cent); 10) Sympatico.ca (0.96 per cent).

The top five search engines: 1) Google Canada (65.68 per cent); 2) Google (12.18 per cent); 3) Bing (9.03 per cent); 4) Ask (3.60 per cent); 5) Yahoo! Canada Search (2.79 per cent). It’s pretty clear that Google continues to dominate the Canadian search engine landscape, leaving all others in the dust. You know you’ve arrived when your brand name has become a verb.

The top five social media websites: 1) Facebook (64.52 per cent); 2) YouTube (21.72 per cent); 3) Twitter (0.98 per cent); 4) Meebo (0.79 per cent); 5) Badoo (0.78 per cent). Of the 15 other websites showing up on the Top 20 list, Google Plus is nowhere to be found. Note the complete dominance of Facebook and YouTube. Together, they account for a phenomenal 86.24 per cent of all social media website traffic in the country. Incredible!

Hitwise also ranks sites in banking, travel, real estate and entertainment.

The top five banking websites: 1) TD Canada Trust Online Banking (12.36 per cent); 2) Royal Bank of Canada Online Banking (11.30 per cent); 3) Desjardins Online Banking (8.52 per cent); 4) TD Canada Trust (7.50 per cent); 5) Royal Bank of Canada.

The top five travel websites: 1) Google Maps Canada (16.98 per cent); 2) Google Maps (4.46 per cent); 3) Take Off Eh! (3.99 per cent); 4) Expedia Canada (3.22 per cent); 5) Air Canada (2.20 per cent).

The top five real estate websites: 1) Realtor Canada – also known as MLS (25.81 per cent); 2) RE/MAX Quebec (5.31 per cent); 3) Duproprio.com (4.42 per cent); 4) ComFree.com (2.89 per cent); 5) Century 21 Canada Real Estate (2.49 per cent). Moncton-based Property Guys is in ninth place with 1.79 per cent of total visits.

The top five websites featuring entertainment personalities: 1) People Magazine (14.00 per cent); 2) TMZ.com (9.15 per cent); 3) PerezHilton.com (5.98 per cent); 4) Zimbio (5.79 per cent); 5) CelebEdge – Canada (3.51 per cent).

And finally, here are the top 10 search terms (written exactly as they are being searched for) for the week ending August 6: 1) facebook (5.42 per cent); 2) youtube (1.91 per cent); 3) facebook login (1.64 per cent); 4) kijiji (0.39 per cent); 5) www.facebook.com (0.31 per cent); 6) facebook.com (0.26 per cent); 7) plenty of fish (0.25 per cent); 8) google (0.25 per cent); 9) you tube (0.23 per cent); 10) fb (0.17 per cent).

Of all the terms searched for in Canadian cyberspace, Facebook-related searches account for five, while YouTube accounts for two – meaning that seven of the Top 10 searches only involve two websites. That’s pretty impressive, if you ask me! And again, Google Plus isn’t even on the radar.

° Brian Cormier is a writer, blogger and communications consultant. Social Media Matters appears every Friday. E-mail:brian@briancormier.com. Website: www.briancormier.com. Twitter: @BrianCormier. Facebook: facebook.com/briancormierreaders

Infographic by SEO Book

So when Matt Cutt’s took the time to review a Realtor’s website, and point out tips to make the site better, and perform better on Google I started to listen.

Most of what he states in the video is good advice for any site, and particularly good for real estate agents.

Here’s a really good example, it’s called the Google Wonder Wheel, and it’s magic when it comes to finding long tail search terms for your local market. So come on everyone, let’s ride the wheel!

In this video we continue to discuss how to use search engines to drive traffic, what it takes to rank well and how to use PPC advertising effectively.

I hope you enjoy it, and please leave your comments and questions.

Don’t forget to join me on Facebook at: http://www.youhavetom.com

or on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/tlyons

In this video we discuss how to use search engines to drive traffic, what it takes to rank well and how to use PPC advertising effectively.

I hope you enjoy it, and please leave your comments and questions.

Don’t forget to join me on Facebook at: http://www.youhavetom.com

or on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/tlyons

Not sure what a title tag is?  You’re not the only one.  Title tags is a small HTML Tag and it looks like this.  <title>This is my title tag</title>.  It is perhaps the most imprtant part of your site when it comes to telling Google what you want to rank for.

If yor Title Tag says <title>Tom Lyons Realtor</title> what do you think Google will think my site is about?  Yep, that’s right, Tom Lyons Realtor.

So if I want to rank “Belleville Homes for Sale” what do you think my title tag should be?  Right again, <title>Belleville Homes for Sale</title>.  See how easy this is!

So how do you change your title tag?  Well that really depends on what you have for a website.  But I would talk to your web person and have them change it to what you really want it to say.

2.  Create Squidoo Page

Squidoo.com is the brainchild of marketer/writer/blogger/bald guy Seth Godin.  Anyway the point of Squidoo is to allow people to build niche specfic expert pages.   The upside is Squidoo holds petty good authority with the Search Engines and can often get a good placement for the keywords you target, plus create traffic and visitors to your site.

The key is to write a really good squidoo page and then link it to your site with a strong call to action.

3. Submit your site to directories.

Dmoz.org and Yahoo.com or two of the biggest directories out there and worth doing a submission to but there are also 1000′s of smaller lesser known directories that you can submit to.  Having your site added to those directories will create targeted inbound links.  Although most of these links only provide a small amount of link juice to your site they can add up.  In many real estate markets these action alone can be enough to push your site to first page rankings and they will always give you a base line amount of links to your site.

Jump in and do the above items.  You’ll be on your way to higher rankings and more traffic.  By all means this is not a complete guide, but everyone needs to start somewhere.  The important thing is to start.

Everyday I get questions about how to get more search traffic. Some about main keywords such as “Las Vegas real estate” or “Belleville homes for sale”, but main keywords are just the start.

Did you know that Roost.com, which is a home search engine, recently posted the top ten terms home buyers use when searching for a property. More importantly they posted the add-on terms people use to refine the search.

So everyone knows that when creating a new listing title you should be using keywords related to the home. Such as the address, or type of home right?

But understanding the terms searchers actually use to refine the homes they want to see is priceless. Here’s an example:

Ok title: 85 Progress Ave, Belleville, Condo

That title will allow searche engines to index the address and that it’s a condo in Belleville

Better Title: 85 Progress Ave, Spacious Belleville Condo with Pool

The difference is slight, but by adding pool and spacious we grab a couple extra keywords to help the home show up when someone is looking for a home with pools or a roomy condo.

Here’s the list of Keywords from Roost.com, ask yourself if you use these words in your titles and descriptions. Both on the web and in other forms of advertising.

1. Pool

2. Garage

3. Hardwood

4. Waterfront

5. View

6. Basement

7. Tile

8. Deck

9. Condo

10. Shop

Happy Posting!

Well for your website it’s starts with a game plan and we thought you could use this little diagram to get you started.

Is there something we missed? Add your comment below we loved to hear from you! Click the thumbnail for the full size image.