"'How people search is how they think.' "
DMNews.com | News | Article: "First, expect the search audience to flatten out over time, which means the engines will have to do better at providing more searches per person.
Second, search keyword pricing will rise without growth in the supply of people performing searches.
Third, the increase in search pricing puts pressure on advertisers to get smarter about their search investments.
The final one was for Google's ears.
"The fact that so few searchers are loyal to a single search engine implies that Google's dominance should not be taken for granted," Cassar said.
Yahoo search update gets mixed reviews
CNET News.com: "Yahoo search update gets mixed reviews By Alorie Gilbert
Staff Writer, CNET News.com Webmasters flood chat boards with complaints as Yahoo tweaks search index, algorithm.
"
Don't Panic! The number one rule in SEO:
SiteProNews Back to Basics in SEO By Shawn Campbell
Always be sure to
research keyphrases
Research your competition
Optimize your site: Above all else the single most important factor - write good quality content that focuses on your keyphrases
Use other on-site factors :
Getting the keyphrase into the title (this is the second most important factor)
Getting the keyphrase into the Meta description tag, the Meta keyword tag, the headers and sub headers, the alt tags, and into some link text (some of these factors are VERY minor)
Having a good site map so that the search engine spiders can easily navigate your site
Having a robots.txt to include the pages that you want the search engines to include
Don't use frames
Use flash wisely (not the WHOLE site in flash)
Use external files for your java-scripts
Use cascading style sheets (a .css file)
Use dynamic URL's wisely (Avoid using URL's with ? or & in them)
Content is king: Oh...and did I mention that you need to write good quality content that focuses on your keyphrases? All of the points above are superfluous if you don't have good content.
Get people in your industry to link to you
Submit to all the directories you can find, so long as they are related
Conclusion
Build your web site for your customers, within the guidelines that the search engines set out.
Don't make the site awkward by over-conforming.
The site's first focus should be on what your clients want.
Create good content. Good, quality content that reads well and flows seamlessly.
Update it regularly. An active, living site is healthier than a stagnant, dead one (the search engines spiders like their food alive and full of life).
And remember: Content is King!
Yahoo Update & Algo Change
Yahoo! Search blog: Third Weather Report: Yahoo! Launched New Search Index Last Night: "Yahoo! Launched New Search Index Last Night
We made changes to the index last night so you should be seeing more of your pages in the index as well as some fluctuations in the rankings of results from previous searches. The changes will be a little more intense than the second weather report and changes will continue over the next week or two.
If you have any feedback for us about the new index please email: ystfeedback@yahoo.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Tim Mayer Yahoo! Search"
July 2005 Yahoo Update & Algo Change: "July 2005 Yahoo Update & Algo Change
Looks like some big changes out there, and I almost hate to say this, but the balance seems to be shifting with on-page scoring and the value of inbound links...."
How to Drive Your SEO Insane in Six Easy Steps
How to Drive Your SEO Insane in Six Easy Steps by Diane Aull - NineYards.com :
"1. Go out and register a bunch of 'keyword-rich' domain names. Duplicate the content from your main domain to each of these and link them all back to the main domain to 'help' the main site's popularity. 'Forget' to tell your SEO....
the benefit from a "keyword-rich" domain name is negligible, if it exists at all. You're much better off optimizing your actual site and getting genuine links from real web sites.
2. Hire a web designer who knows nothing about SEO to produce a site for you. Bring the SEO in at the end of the process, after the site is already completed. Forbid your SEO from making any changes to the on-page display of your site.
3. Neglect to tell your SEO about previous attempts at optimization, particularly if they involved questionable practices. After all, there's no sense in dredging up ancient history.
4. Start calling your SEO approximately two days after they've first started work on your site, asking when you're going to see your rankings go up for your favorite key phrase. Call back at approximately two or three day intervals from then on out until you rank number one for your chosen phrase, or the SEO jumps off a bridge, whichever comes first.
5. Focus all your energies one a single phrase. No matter how much your SEO tries to convince you to diversify, or tells you this phrase isn't going to be all that useful to you, insist on single-minded concentration on this one phrase. After all, your competition's site ranks at number one for this phrase, and you have to beat them to get bragging rights.
6. Check your rankings on a daily basis. Call your SEO to report (and, if needed, complain) about every fluctuation... number one rankings are cool for bragging rights, but rankings alone don't put food on the table."
Concludes: "The true measure of the success of an optimization campaign should not be rankings, or even traffic. It should be conversions... A good SEO will focus on this metric and will try to help you do the same. Well, there you have it. Six easy ways to drive any good SEO insane. Now, of course, if you'd rather have a profitable web site, you might want to consider not doing any of these things. The choice is yours."
The SEM Scam Sales Pitch
www.clickz.com: "The SEM Scam Sales Pitch
Search Engine Marketing BY P.J. Fusco
Reviews a new SEM outfit and concludes: "their new, "time-tested" system of "domain-name funneling." Basically, his company would build several hundred pages on as series of domains, owned and managed by them, to "drive phenomenal volumes" of search engine traffic to different pages on our site by way of redirects that were "completely invisible" to the search engines. That's how he could "guarantee" more search engine traffic for the site.
I asked if the guarantee included a money-back option.
The SEM group was offering to create a bunch of sub-domains on its "page-rank-worthy domains," with our trademarked brand names in part of the file structure. Unwitting search engine users would be funneled to irrelevant pages that appear to be relevant for popular search queries. Of course, the SEM group would do this in such a way the search engines wouldn't de-index our site for spam penalties.
This is one of the more common SEM scams of late. It will eventually bury a legitimate business on the Web. Google calls it "shadow domains"; I call it "poor man's cloaking." No matter what you call it, building doorway pages to misdirect unqualified search engine traffic to a site is never a good idea -- unless your primary business line is ad scraping.
The moral of this story is threefold: First, be very wary of signing on with an SEM group that won't help you speak with its clients because they want to "protect their privacy." Second, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. Don't fall for "guarantees" that deliver irrelevant search traffic by spamming the search engines. Finally, whenever possible, schedule your vacation in tandem with your boss so you're not stuck with his drudge work."
Web content versus print content: Recall ability
Recall ability: Web content versus print content: July 18, 2005: New Thinking by Gerry McGovern: "
By Gerry McGovern
People are extremely task-focused on the Web. That means they are much less open to content that is not directly related to the task at hand.
I’ve just read a very interesting study entitled “Memory for advertising and information content: Comparing the printed page to the computer screen.” A key finding of the study is that, “print is consistently better for recall than screen … The central theme to emerge from this study is that individuals have a better ability to recall after viewing materials in print rather than on screen.”
This is not surprising. Various studies have found that it can be 20-30 percent more difficult to read from a screen than it is from print. The Web has thus become a very functional place. People get on the Web, not to vacation, but to find cheap flights and hotels for their vacation.
“Brand-name recall was substantially lower for screen respondents,” according to the study. Again, this is not surprising. Google has built a major business by selling advertising that relates directly to what people are searching for. There is not a single banner ad on Google, not a single graphic trying to enhance brand recognition. Google knows its audience. It knows what works and doesn’t work on the Web.
“Information content viewed on a screen is nearly as likely to be remembered correctly as the same content in print form,” the study finds. By “information content” the study means content that is genuinely useful to the reader; content that supports the task at hand.
The study goes on to state that, “It seems entirely reasonable to believe that the Internet will do a good job disseminating time-dependent or other important factual information about products and services.”
The Web is not a great place to win hearts and minds. It is not a great place to convince people to do something they did not come to the Web already intending to do. Traditional marketing techniques, such as brand name repetition and the use of images to communicate brand attributes, don’t work as well on the Web.
What works well on the Web is a useful website that wastes no time and gets straight to the point. Vague, meaningless marketing fluff such as “solve tomorrow’s challenges, today” are either ignored or else annoy. They just get in the way of people who want to do things.
The Web is changing the nature of memory and recall. The Web is becoming an extension of our memory. We no longer need to remember as much when we have search engines that can ‘remember’ for us.
That changes the nature of communication. Instead of drilling a message home, hoping that it will stick in memory, communicators now need to be ready to be found when people search. Web communications becomes more about responding to the information needs of people, rather than seeking to influence and shape those needs.
The Web is about empowered information consumers who know what they want, or at least know that they want to find out more. Do you know what your customers want when they come to your website?
Gerry McGovern
“Memory for advertising and information content: Comparing the printed page to the computer screen”, Psychology & Marketing (August 2005)
www.interscience.wiley.comGerry McGovern provides website content management solutions"
Five Ways to Determine Whether You Should Bring Search Marketing In-House
Five Ways to Determine Whether You Should Bring Search Marketing In-House: "Heather Lloyd-Martin Think your company can master search marketing and conduct your SEO/SEM campaigns in-house? If so, you're in the majority.
Your company should consider bringing (or keeping) your search marketing in-house if...
1. You have experienced online marketers and copywriters on staff who can conduct keyphrase research, write stellar copy and manage your existing PPC campaign
2. You have a dedicated IT team that can make any necessary technical modifications and upload new content quickly
It's important to note that some technical teams are misinformed about SEO best practices. In an effort to gain higher positions, they may promote invisible text, mirror domains and overzealous linking strategies.
3. You have an SEO director who can be a liaison between marketing and technical, create success metrics and strategize for short and long-term SEO
4. Your marketing and technical teams actually have time to implement your company's SEO plan
5. Your company can provide ongoing training for both your marketing and your technical teams
Lloyd-Martin concludes:
Creating a search-savvy in-house search marketing team gives you the power of managing your search initiatives in-house. Start by evaluating each team's skill set and time commitments, determining how much time and training will be needed for an in-house SEO campaign.
Once an evaluation takes place, training will help the marketing and technical teams master best practice SEO/SEM techniques and understand the important role each department plays in your search marketing campaign.
Soon, your company will see targeted clicks flying and ROI increasing—and your SEO initiative will realize stellar search engine success.
Hitwise new keyword tool aimed at SMes
Hitwise Offers Online Intelligence for the Small Business: "small to mid-size businesses could also benefit from their services, Hitwise has announced the launch of Keyword Intelligence, an online tool designed to help marketers discover the best keywords and keyword phrases to use in their search marketing campaigns....
Keyword Intelligence has several benefits over traditional keyword research tools:
Industry Search Terms - an overview of the most popular search terms in over 160 different industries
Search Term Suggestions - an overview of the most searched for variations for a particular keyword
Search Term Portfolios - an integrated tool designed to manage keyword lists
Market Data - an analysis of search terms used by searchers in the US, UK, New Zealand, Singapore and Australia in order to show the differences in spelling and terminology in different geographic regions.
Access to Keyword Intelligence starts at just under $90 a month, quite a bit more than Wordtracker, which runs less than $250 for an entire year. Add to the fact that the lowest level of service includes data for just three industries and you're not looking at an affordable alternative to Wordtracker. That said, marketers looking to promote their site in a competitive industry, or small firms that specialize in a particular vertical may find the information well worth the investment... "
Hitwise Products � Hitwise
Black Hat SEO
iMedia Connection: SearchTHIS: The SEO Color Palette: "Search Editor Kevin Ryan takes us on a tour of the dark side of Search Engine Optimization."
OK for resource...
What Price PageRank?
What Price PageRank?: "I get asked often how to improve PR. It happened many times last week. My stock answer, 'PageRank isn't so important, so just forget about it,' draws some very confused looks from people who somehow are convinced it's vital for ranking.
What's more, one question I was asked last week had me slightly dumbfounded for a moment: 'If you're saying I can't value links that I buy based on PageRank, how do I value how much I'd be prepared to pay for them?'
This is the stark reality: People still actually buy and sell links valued against Google's PR score. Which is ridiculous. It's just buying into the myth.
Once I realized the guy was serious, my answer was simple. 'A link from a popular and well visited Web site can be invaluable if it sends you qualified traffic that converts. The true value of a link has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with PageRank....
Boykin pointed me to an example of where he'd used the ad-space method, but he didn't want me to publish the URL. The most interesting thing I discovered about his page choice was he'd done his homework. It has 125 .edu domains and two .gov domains among those linking back to it.
I've long said Google very much approves of links from .edu and .gov sites due to their "authority." Boykin's heard me say it many times before.
As he himself says: "To me, that was the selling point. Personally, I could care less about PageRank."
"It's the neighborhood, which means the most to me," he continued. "I'll normally try to find the authority sites in an industry and approach them to see what they're offering. I'll try to bargain anything, from buying their office pizza to giving them free products from the site I'm seeking advertising for, or will outright pay them...
Apostolis Gerouslis, one of the foremost scientists in information retrieval on the Web and founder of Teoma. He was quite happy to go further than anyone on this side of the SEM fence by openly stating he doesn't believe Google had ever actually implemented PR as a ranking mechanism...
What price PageRank? The price is actually based more on your own wasted time and effort if you honestly believe that little green meter on the Google toolbar counts for anything more than novelty value."
Travel decisions My Way or the Web Way
My Way or the Web Way: "Internet searches are overtaking personal recommendations as the preferred means of obtaining travel information...
According to GMI, consumers all around the world are turning to the Internet first for travel information. In Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the UK and US, more people did Web searches than sought personal recommendations from friends and acquaintances. "
Internet searches are overtaking personal recommendations as the preferred means of obtaining travel information.
A New Form of Local Search Optimization, Part 1
www.clickz.com article addresses "strategies underlying a new form of local SEO.
This new form of local SEO was born as a result of major search engines Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and others segmenting their local search properties to create distinct local search engines.
Major search engines decision to create distinct local search properties came as a result of an increased understanding of user intent. Combining their knowledge of user intent with a basic knowledge of local consumption patterns, the engines created unique local search results based on algorithms tailored for local search.
Local search engines promote a business location and proximity to the searcher, as well as its reputation and core details. These factors come together in the local search arena to create a new canvas for search engine optimizers. This canvas, which is currently blank for most businesses, takes the form of structured business profile pages, user reviews, and business ratings. These factors will soon become a key concentration point for search marketers and small businesses alike.
One of the most distinctive local search engine characteristics is a reliance on user-generated content. User-generated content is provided to search engines directly by the public. User-generated content is, by nature, biased...
From an SEO perspective, user-generated content provides a unique opportunity for businesses to manage and monitor the distribution of their core business data as well as published opinions regarding their businesses.
In local search, user-generated content is king. It creates a unique opportunity for those with the foresight to formulate local SEO strategies.
Yet, user-generated content will soon create a disquieting quality-control problem for local search engines, much as spam and over-optimization affected traditional search engines.
In part two of this series, we'll look deeper into the emerging field of local SEO and the role of user-generated content. In doing so, we'll take a closer look at a new breed of user-generated business content providers that help shape the local search marketplace."
search marketing spend to reach €3 billion by 2010
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "A recent report has projected that European marketers will spend around €3 billion on search marketing by 2010, increasing from €856 million in 2004
Forrester, the technology research company estimated that search engine marketing — commercial search that includes paid listings, contextual search, site optimisation, and paid inclusions — will generate €1.4 billion of spending in Europe in 2005, a 65% increase compared with 2004. "
Yahoo searches Web for job listings
CNET News.com: "Yahoo is quietly testing a new job search engine that finds not just job listings from paid partners and advertisers but also from across the Web.
'Wouldn't job search be a lot easier and faster if you could search jobs from across the Web through one easy-to-use Web site?' the site's 'learn more' page asks. 'Well now you can with the new Job Engine from Yahoo HotJobs...We've searched the Web, so you don't have to.'
The new HotJobs site lists sponsored postings, featured results from paid listings, followed by job results from the Web. Yahoo's HotJobs site previously got its listings directly from employers and staffing agencies. "
Yahoo Expands Mobile Search Features
Yahoo Expanding Its Mobile Search - Forbes.com: "Yahoo Inc., continuing efforts to extend its reach beyond the desktop, is launching new features Thursday to help mobile phone users plumb its online search engine.
One is a text-messaging feature. Users send a message to '92466' - the numerals used to spell Yahoo on a telephone keypad - and get back direct responses to requests about local businesses, weather and stock quotes. Yahoo also promises to deliver a Web link to get more information about the results.
The feature is initially available to Cingular, Sprint and Verizon subscribers.
In another upgrade, Yahoo is introducing technology that will open up its search engine to mobile handsets equipped with wireless application protocol, or WAP. The ability to call up Web sites found through Yahoo's mobile search previously had been limited unless a handset could read hypertext markup language, or HTML, the format used by Web browsers.
The WAP searches initially are available to Cingular, Sprint and T-Mobile subscribers. "
Google Inc mapping service available to developers
Portsmouth Herald National Business News: Today's Tech Bits: " Google Inc. is throwing the doors open on the technology used to power the search engines mapping service, allowing developers to create Web sites and software applications that merge Googles mapping information with data elsewhere.
The decision comes as a growing number of programmers are hacking into Googles mapping technology to graphically illustrate vital information that might otherwise be ignored or not perceived as clearly. Until Wednesday, these hackers were officially violating Googles service agreement.
Web sites built by these hackers include Chicagocrime.org, which overlays Chicago Police Department crime statistics on a Google map. The site enables house-hunters to pinpoint specific crimes in any of the citys districts.
Housingmaps.com melds the technologies of Craigslist and Google to spot available housing in 29 U.S. cities. At Dynamite.co.uk/local, commuters in the United Kingdom can see countrys traffic conditions.
All the maps feature pushpin symbols that reveal text information when a user clicks on one.
Google is offering the technology free to any Web site that uses it to make applications that are distributed free of charge.
Yahoo also plans to make similar information available about its mapping service, though details have yet to be announced.
-The Associated Press"
