SEO Consultant TO BE Martha Stewart's Future Apprentice?
Will Martha Stewart's Future Apprentice Be An SEO Consultant?: " Martha Stewart signed a deal with NBC for a reality show, shortly after her release from prison... a contestant on the ex-con superstar homemaker's new reality hit is: An SEO Consultant!
My sister recognized contestant David Karandash from a search conference a few months back. The official show's web site lists David's occupation as an owner of an 'internet ad agency'. Karandash's website confirms that he is in the business of SEO Consulting!
Share your thoughts. Do you think Martha could use a good SEO to reinvent her image on the web?"
Danny Sullivan writes about it on Search Engine Watch blog.
Search Marketer A Candidate On The Apprentice: "The contestant is David Karandish, who is described on The Apprentice site as 'owner and creator of an internet advertising company.' His company is over here, where SEO is the first solution listed. Aaron at SEO Book jokes 'please take note to how & when he spams the show with product placement, keyword density, and the like.'"
Inverse searches and User Annotations - Yahoo! - patents
United States Patent Application: 0050216454: "Yahoo Inverse search systems and methods United States Patent Application: 0050216454"
Inverse searches and User Annotations - Yahoo! - Search Engine Optimization: New patent applications from Yahoo! cover Inverse searches and User Annotations meaning being able to enter a URL, and find out information about the site, collected over time including which other sites link to it, other peoples opinions, and more
Abstracts:
"
Inverse search systems and methods operate on identifiers of content items in a corpus such as the World Wide Web In an inverse search, the user submits a query that includes an identifier of a target content item in the corpus and receives information (metadata) about the target content item being returned to the user. Many types of metadata can be returned, including ratings or other metadata related to the target content item obtained from users, popularity data specific to the target content item, information about previously submitted forward search queries that led to the target content item being identified as a hit, and metadata extracted from the target content item. "
The second is touted as a sort of bookmark manager but might be a way to collect some of the above data:
Yahoo United States Patent Application: 0050216457: "Systems and methods for collecting user annotations "
"Computer systems and methods allow users to annotate content items found in a corpus such as the World Wide Web. Annotations, which can include any descriptive and/or evaluative metadata related to a document, are collected from a user and stored in association with that user. Users are able to annotate and view their annotations for any document they encounter while interacting with the corpus, including hits returned in a search of the corpus. Users are also able to search their annotations or to limit searches to documents they have annotated. Metadata from annotations can also be aggregated across users and aggregated metadata applied in generating search results.
Neither increase Yahoo!'s reach of pages to return, but look at, collect, and share, additional information about pages already indexed.
SEO book: Free search engine optimisation ebook.
SEO book: Free search engine optimization ebook.: "Free search engine optimization eBook
If you have a question about search engine marketing, it is probably answered in this eBook. It covers everything from an introduction to search engine marketing to tips and tricks on how to improve your order page...The free eBook covers all important aspects of search engine optimization "
Also provide a newsletter..."Get the latest tips and facts about search engine rankings for free..."
Search Engine Ranking Factors
SEOmoz | Search Engine Ranking Factors lists 93 factors that mayhave influence search engine rankings. Some are widely accepted...eg title tags as one of the most important elements. Others are more speculative...eg. use of header tags (H1), bold and other visual tags while others seem to change constantly...eg. the value of links. The list of ranking factors is split into five sections:
"Introduction to Ranking Factors lists the factors that can influence a web document's rank at the major search engines (Yahoo!, MSN, Google & AskJeeves) for a particular term or phrase
In-Document Factors Affecting Ranking (26) on-page items that affect the ranking directly by virtue of being a part of the indexed and retrieved document:
Title Tag
Keyword Use in Document Text
Related Term Use in Document Text
External Links in Document
Links to Document from Site-Internal Pages
Uniqueness of Document Text
Age of Document
High Level Authorship Marks
Document Language
Stemming & Plurality Evaluation
Paragraph Headings
Citation Links or Sources
Depth of Document in Site
Rate of Updates to Document
Variety & % of Content Changes
Organization of Document Text
Internal Links in Document
Meta Keywords Tag
Keyword Use in URL
Meta Description Tag
Use of H1, Bold & Other Visual Tags
Grammar Use in Document Text
Spelling Accuracy in Document Text
Stopword Frequency
Reading Level of Document Text
Quality of Document Text
Text in Alt/Img Title Tags
Document Length
Use of In-Document Links & Anchors
Document Type
W3C Validation
Site Factors Affecting the Value of Hosted Documents (21) factors affect all documents hosted at a particular website. These factors influence the overall strength and focus of the site where documents are hosted, thereby affecting any page at the site:
Global Link Popularity of Site
Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community
Primary Subject Matter of Site
Anchor Text of Incoming Links to Site
Topical Relevance of Incoming Links to Site
Age of Site
Site Language
Rate of Document Additions/Change
Rate of New Incoming Links to Site
Rate of Expiring/ Removed Links to Site
Historical Rankings of Site in SERPs
Historical User-Action Metrics Related to Site
Keyword Use in Domain Name
Hyphens in Domain Name
Domain Extension
Internal Link Structure
Membership in Sitemaps/Paid Inclusion Programs
Semantic Connections of Hosted Documents
# of Hosted Documents
Size of Hosted Documents
Shifts in Rate of Change to Hosted Documents
Existence of Sitemap Page on Site
Use of re-direction directives
Factors Affecting the Value of a Link (25) factors influence the power, relevance and rank boosting effect a link carries with it when pointing to a particular document. Note that all links, in addition to being influenced by these factors, are affected by many of the site and page factors above:
Anchor Text of Link
Global Popularity of Site
Popularity of Site in Topical Community
External Links to Linking Page
Location of Linking Page in Site Structure
Text on Linking Page
Text Directly Surrounding the Link
Semantic Relationship of Linking Page
Age of Link
Affiliations of Linking Site with Target Site
Existence of Rel=Nofollow tag
Implicit Trust of Site
Shared IP Address or C-Block Address
Link Relationships Between Sites
Additional External or Internal Links on Page
Existence of Link on Other Pages of Site
Related Term Use in Linking Page
Rate of All External Links to Site/Document
Anchor Text of All Links to Site/Document
Domain Extension
Rate of Content Changes to Linking Page
Updates/Changes to Link
Link Title
Visual Tags Affecting Link Text
Location of Link on Page
URL, Technical, Hosting & Server Side Factors (11) factors affect a document's rankings by virtue of their affect on technical, spidering/indexing or trust areas of the search engines' rankings:
Accessibility of Document
Use of Web Page Frames
Dynamic Parameters in URL
Session ID Variables
Hosting Uptime
Use of Noarchive/NoIndex in Robots.txt
Domain Registration Information
Domain Registration Length
Geographic Hosting Location
URL Length
IP-Based Content Delivery
Domain Registration Date
Robots.txt Presence
Detrimental Ranking Factors (10) perceived to negatively affect rankings in the search engines. These include specifically prohibited activities and those that can damage reputation or ranking based on their lowering of trust, quality or relevance inputs:
Delivery Disparities
Duplicate Content
Canonical Issues
Link Spamming
Keyword Spamming
Invalid Code
Linking to "Bad Neighborhoods"
Unethical Practices
Illegal Content
Un-"safe" Content
URL Hijacking
Broken Links
"
7 Ways to Know that Search Engine Optimization Isn't for You
7 Ways to Know that Search Engine Optimization Isnt for You A tongue-in-cheek article by Michael Murray, Search Engine News asks if there may be "reasons for some companies to avoid search engine marketing"? I prefer to see the list as a guide to which Search Engine Optimisation jobs to avoid....
"Although some companies are excited about beginning an SEO campaign, they may not realize the work an SEO consultant performs means there must be changes on their website. Therefore, some companies may not actually be ready yet to accept SEO into their online strategies.
Regardless of the product or service and company size, SEO just may not be something you can handle - at least for now. If you fall into one of these areas, you may want to just skip the online marketing rage.
1. You don't want to edit your content
2. You love graphics - lots of graphics
3. Pages short on copy
4. You change your content a lot.
5. You want to wait on the redesign
6. You can't stand the thought of your page titles changing.
7. You're not willing to address other business problems.
SEO consultants can get you traffic, but they can't make your Web site more user friendly unless you let them"
Google and Yahoo Search Technology Compared
Search Engine Journal Google and Yahoo Search Engine Technology Comparison: "Google and Yahoo Search Engine Technology Comparison
Google Search
Google look at hundreds of factors – both on the page and off the page (such as inbound links). They use hundreds of algorithms to perform these calculations. Essentially there should be one algorithm per factor. The algorithms weight the pages, and assign their values. These values are then stored for later use.
When a user performs a query, yet another set of algorithms weigh the previously calculated values against one another to determine overall relevance. Results are then outputted to the users browser...
...the factors Google has used to rank pages has changed over time. They are placing less emphasis on PageRank, but it is still important. Its important to note that moving different factors around within the calculation can greatly impact a site’s rankings. For example, if the site has a high PageRank, but a low keyword density, it may rank #1 if PageRank affects the calculation later, however the site may disappear from the results if PageRank is considered earlier.
And this is probably what is happening now – Google has essentially moved the PageRank factor to somewhere else in the final calculation. Remember, there are likely hundreds of factors affecting rankings. By rearranging the order in which they are applied to the final rankings can have a dramatic impact on overall placement on the search results page.
Google also appears to have moved from a once per month update to a more perpetually updating index. We only rarely notice the changes happen, but they do happen on a more incremental level, with more major updates happening less frequently.
I guess one could view Google as a series of layers – each layer building on the work performed by the layer before. The uppermost layer is the only one we are exposed to via the browser, however that page that you see would not exist without the work performed by the lower layers.
Yahoo! Search
- While no one other than Yahoo!s engineers know for sure, we can speculate that Yahoo! search technology works very similar to Google’s...Yahoo! is so difficult to gauge is because they haven’t really built a search engine from the ground up like Google or MSN. Of course the Yahoo! search you see is unique unto itself, however Yahoo! has built its search on the backs of other technologies they have purchased in previous years...
Yahoo! built their own search, cobbling together features from all the technology they owned.
They had the super fast Inktomi and Altavista crawlers, as well as the surprisingly good Alltheweb and Altavista ranking algorithms. So they mashed that all together to get Yahoo! Search.
Yahoo! Search isn’t much different that Google. Their own website says that they analyze pages using many factors to determine relevance to a search query...over the past few months we’ve noticed a subtle shift from homepage only rankings to multiple site pages ranking where the home page once ranked.
In addition, they tend to rank inbound links differently than Google. When you perform a link check on Google and the same check on Yahoo! the Google results almost always tend to be lower. Google says this is because they only show a snapshot of the “relevant” links whereas Yahoo! shows them all regardless of relevance.
"
Ask Jeeves and MSN Search Engines Compared
Search Engine Journal Ask Jeeves and MSN Search Engine Technology Comparison: "Ask Jeeves and MSN Search Engine Technology Comparison
MSN Search
MSN takes advantage of a technology that no other search engine has tackled – neural networks. A neural network is a series of computers which are supposed to learn based on input provided.
Think about that for a second – a learning computer. One that just doesn’t follow rules assigned to it (which is what the more traditional algorithmic search engines like Google and Yahoo! do) but actually can learn from its results.
Essentially MSN search learns from input given to it. For example, if the search engine is told that Ebay is considered an authoritative site on online auctions, then when a person performs such a search they should see Ebay.com at the top of the search results...
The biggest advantage of such a platform is the engineers at MSN can “train” the system to understand what is considered relevant and important and what isn’t... because of its ability to learn, the system could quickly adapt to such spam content and readjust rankings “on the fly” to filter out these bogus results.
Another advantage to MSN is that the system should be infinitely scalable...Therefore, as new spam techniques are developed, its simply a matter of training the system to watch out for the new technique, flag it as potential spam and even potentially react to it by filtering all sites using the new technique...
Overall, as long as Microsoft can continue to support such a system, I would think that it could win out in the “search engine wars.” The system appears (at least on paper) to be superior to algorithmic based systems, and appears to be able to adapt more quickly to changes on the web because it doesn’t have to wait for an algorithm change to adapt, it only has to learn of the change and apply itself.
Ask Jeeves Search
Ask Jeeves also takes an interesting approach to the web. One that may also be superior to the more traditional algorithmic based engines. Ask Jeeves uses the idea that the web is a series of communities. Therefore they have structured their ranking systems around this idea of communities to determine relevance and authority on the web.
Because they consider the web to be comprised of multiple communities, pages or sites within a community should only related to each other, yet there could be some relation between communities.
A page or site with high inbound community links is considered “worth” more than a site with high inbound links that are not necessarily all community links....This structure takes the Bowtie theory of the web a step further. The Bowtie theory says there are a hub of largely concentrated authority sites with links pointing in and out of this hub to the bows.
Ask Jeeves says there are multiple bowties – each created of related sites and that between these bowties there are connecting tendrils – sites that may be considered relevant or authoritative that can provide linkage between the communities...
Search technology aside, Ask also has some cool features. One of the best I think is that you can ask it a question and almost always get the correct answer.
Unless Google and Yahoo! can continue to innovate and provide new solutions we could see the balance of power shift in the coming years. Because as I’ve illustrated in this article, regular algorithmic search seems to lack in some key areas, such as adaptability and scalability, and the ability to quickly adapt to the changing search landscape."
Integrated Search Planning - How Organic, Sponsored and Paid Search Optimize All Media Spends
MediaPost Publications - The Extreme Makeover of Integrated Search Planning - 09/28/2005 by Gord Hotchkiss: "Makeover of Integrated Search Planning
Hotchkiss reckons that "the line between our real world and our online world will have disappeared. The world's largest depository of information will be ours to have, whenever the mood strikes us. ...
Now comes search. There are billions of dots out there on the online landscape. Search is the quickest way to connect them...
So, if you're looking for the online intersection where you're most likely to intercept a prospective customer, it's search. I know you've heard that before, but really spend a couple of minutes thinking about it.
No matter what activity, what interest, what intention your target customers have, chances are very good that they're going to use a search engine today. It's like owning a billboard on the busiest intersection in the world.
So, let's get back to the riveting topic of integrated search planning. The rest of your marketing has one purpose: generate engaged interest. If it's successful, where does your prospect turn? Odds are very good that it will be a search engine. While they're there, you have about six-and-a-half seconds to catch their interest. If you're successful, you can then direct them to your site, where you have the opportunity to turn them into a lifetime customer."
He gives an example from the early days of sponsored search the company was a major sponsor of NASCAR racing spending millions ov their sponsored team. Online a separate site section was devoted to the team, with up-to-date standings, race stats and other information. But, for various reasons, the site had no search engine visibility. At the time the company could have owned the entire NASCAR bucket of keywords for a few thousand dollars a month. With a little site optimization, they could have also dominated the top organic search listings on the main search engines. They could have owned all online search traffic interested in NASCAR for less than 0.4% of their sponsorship budget, driving prospects to a heavily branded site, building loyalty and putting their prospective customers one click away from product information. Unfortunately, the company didn't get it; the executives passed on our proposal. My only hope is that somewhere, someone is still kicking himself for this decision."
Getting dynamic generated pages indexed and problems with session IDs
Jill Whalen on indexing dynamic generated pages and session IDs "High RankingsT Advisor - Issue No. 149
Today's search engines generally have no problem with dynamically generated pages. They don't scurry away as fast as they can when they
see a .php or an .asp or a .cfm extension in a URL. They don't even flee when they see parameters in the URLs. Question marks and equal
signs have no spider-repelling powers anymore. While I don't understand all the programming behind it, I do know for a fact that the search engines definitely index *most* dynamic-looking URLs just fine.
Notice that I said *most* -- not *all*.
Some believe that if you have more than 3 parameters in the URL, you may have less of a chance at getting those URLs indexed. I've seen some of those in the search engines' databases, however, so it's not a hard-and-fast rule.
Another problem for the search engines is when you require session IDs in your URL. The engines still try to avoid this type of URL because every spider visit to the site might create a completely different ID number and thus a new URL. The engines still prefer to keep hundreds of the same page out of their databases, so they have learned to look for the telltale signs of session-ID URLs in order to avoid indexing them. Because of this you should avoid using "SID=whatever" in your URLs if you want your pages indexed. Plus, Google has stated on their FAQ page for webmasters that they don't index URLs that have "&id" in them, so definitely stay away from those as well."
Google Ranking Factors : myths tips and tricks : Search Engine Optimization Forum
Search Engine Optimization Forum JILL WHALEN : Adivises newbies to search engine optimisation on how to "sift through good advice, tips and tricks in reply to a requests for clarification of "Google Ranking Factors " providing a link to
misconceptions, falsehoods and myths about SEOJill Whalen of
High Rankings is an internationally recognized search engine optimization consultant and host of the free weekly High Rankings Advisor
search engine marketing newsletter.
She specializes in search engine optimization, SEO consultations and seminars. Jill's handbook,
The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines by Jill Whalen
teaches business owners how and where to place relevant keyword phrases on their Web sites so that they make sense to users and gain high rankings in the major search engines
Yahoo Smart Search Features
DMNews.com: "By Christine Blank
Yahoo's new search features aim to give users a smarter search, predicting what they are searching for to provide better results. Yahoo introduced Quick Links this week, offering links such as Yahoo Maps, a company's address or products a retailer is selling based on technology that assumes what information the user needs when typing in search terms. Quick Links "tries to guess the most-used information about that page and promotes it into the summaries for search results," Kalpana Ravinarayanan, product manager at Yahoo Search, said in
Yahoo! Search blog: Fewer clicks, more answers...."
Yahoo's new search features
Boost Your Website Traffic - Forget Que Sera Sera
Boost Your Website Traffic - Forget Que Sera Sera: "Three steps are involved in a program to boost your website traffic.
Understand your present website traffic
Do what is necessary to grow your website traffic
Monitor your actual traffic and learn from that
....analyse the search engine positions for your own website versus the websites of the key competitors.
There's a number of questions it is handy to answer:
Have they more web pages being indexed?
Have they acquired any interesting new back links?
Are these back links ones that would be useful for your website?
How have the rankings for important keywords with the major search engines changed for your website and for the competitors?
Without such a review, the website owner will be completely in the dark on how the website is performing. In this tough, competitive world with global marketplaces, the chance of a laissez-faire policy producing satisfactory results are pretty slim. Singing Que Sera Sera is unlikely to make it all right."
Balanced SEM Campaign is Key to Success : Internet Search Engine News
Balanced SEM Campaign is Key to Success : Internet Search Engine News: "Some marketers will optimize their website for Google and forget the rest. Then we have those whose idea of an SEM campaign is paying their way to the top. Sure, Google is important; and yes, paid search is popular. But when it comes to planning a successful SEM campaign, I'd advise you to cast a wide net you must go deep and wide because you w d on't want to miss the opportunity to of reach ing the to generate the largest number of leads and conversions...
On the SEO side, you need to focus on gaining high rankings in the Google, Yahoo! and MSN SERPs. It wouldn't hurt to include Ask Jeeves as well. We've already pointed out that if you optimize for Google alone, you're missing access to at least 50 percent of your potential leads and sales audience .
When it comes to paid search campaigns, the obvious choice is Google and Yahoo!. But there are other PPC programs that can be viable, depending on your industry, site objectives and the nature of the products and/or services you offer.
The top search engines feed paid listings to a number of other search engines, giving you exposure on multiple search sites. For instance, Google feeds paid results to AOL, AskJeeves, HotBot, iWon, Lycos, Netscape and Teoma. Yahoo! feeds paid results to AlltheWeb, AltaVista and MSN (for more information, see the Bruce Clay, Inc. , Search Engine Relationship Chart pdf. ).
As a savvy marketer, it's wise to focus on both organic and paid listings for repeated exposure and . The frequency alone is reinforcing and contributes to credibility. With both natural and sponsored listings, credibility and brand awareness reinforcement will build s trust with users who skip around to multiple engines while searching for your strategic key word phrases. O rganically o ptimizing beyond the top three engines can further extend your exposure, elevate your brand and gain more effective effectual conversions. Balance is the key to your successful SEM campaign"
Start-up Local Matters debuts search service
Start-up Local Matters debuts search service | CNET News.com: "A start-up headed by the founder of Mapquest unveiled technology this week that will allow Internet users to easily narrow their local Internet searches, do comparison shopping and create itineraries and driving directions with integrated maps.
Local Matters, based in Denver, will sell its 'private label' technology to yellow pages providers, newspapers and local media companies that want to offer local search listing services on their online directory Web sites, said Chief Executive Perry Evans. The technology will appear on customer Web sites toward the end of the year, he said."
Top Three Search Marketing Trends to Watch in 2006
marketingsherpa.com "Top Three Search Marketing Trends to Watch in 2006
If search marketing is a significant portion of your budget (or you suspect it may be soon) this new MarketingSherpa Executive Summary is a quick and useful read.
Features two new data charts (including year-over-year changes in SEO versus PPC spending) plus a real-life example of optimized press releases in action:
Trend #1. Search Engines as TV Networks Jockeying for Audience
Trend #2. SEO Still a Tiny Portion of Total Search Marketing Spend
The one, undeniable truth of search marketing is that across all major engines organic results
(those that show up in natural "free" listings) are better noticed, read, and clicked on than the
paid listings. The search world has known this for more than five years.
Plus, organic clicks generally convert as well or even better than paid clicks. According to 3,217
marketers surveyed by MarketingSherpa in August 2005, this year's average organic clicks
converted at 4.2% compared to 3.6% for paid clicks. (A conversion can be any defined,
measurable action you want visitors to take.)
....we are appalled at the continuing disconnect between paid search spending
and SEO investment.
The disregard of SEO in popular marketing is so thorough that a study released May 2005
revealed only 13 of the Fortune 100 had "effective SEO." Plus, in our continuing interviews with
marketers, we've discovered many misusing the term "Search Engine Marketing" (SEM). Instead
of serving as an umbrella term for all types of search engine marketing (SEO, PPC, and paid
inclusion) most marketers we speak with use it to mean PPC-only.
Why don't more marketers invest in SEO? This year we asked them directly. The biggest reason
chosen: 28% said "Don't understand SEO, overall complexity."
It's true; buying a paid search ad seems on the surface to be far easier than optimizing a site for
search engine crawlers. Makes sense; the engines' profits rely on this. However, as PPC costs
continue to rise due to increased competition, successful PPC is quickly becoming as arcane an
art and science as SEO is considered to be. Search marketing in either form is not easy. But, it sure can be profitable.
Trend #3. Search Marketing — A New Application for Press Releases
As marketers and PR pros skilled in SEO have discovered in the past year, although releases may
not be response devices for reporters, they make great response devices for the search-using
public. For example, marketers for Southwest Airlines used four press releases deliberately
written with search engine optimization and consumer response in mind, to sell $1.5 million in
tickets in 90 days. Every ticket sale was directly traceable to links in the releases.
SEO firms, PR firms and marketers themselves have begun to seize on this low-cost tactic in
droves. Affiliate marketers, who were among the first to aggressively use SEO in general, are
also testing optimized press releases. Here's an example of an affiliate's $80 release that won
high ranks in both Yahoo News and Google News for the term 'Holiday Gift Idea' during
December 2004 when competing ecommerce site marketers were spending millions on PPC
campaigns to the same audience
To recap: top search engines dominance, underspending on SEO, and search engine optimized
PR releases are the three top trends we've identified in search marketing for 2006. Of course,
there are other trends you should be aware of: business-to-business search marketing trends,
keyword buying and price resistance, and the growth of local search marketing, just to name a
few. All of these areas and more are covered in Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2005-2006.
Want Branding With That?
Want Branding With That?: "In 2001, NPD Group examined the effectiveness of three types of search engine ads: search listings, banner ads, and the tile ads next to search listings. The search listings were read and clicked significantly more often than banners or tile ads, and they also produced more sales. Conclusion: Search listings provide more brand awareness than any other ads in a search environment...
Every time your listing shows prominently in the SERPs, branding takes place. You can achieve better branding when you ensure that all your ad elements encourage maximum awareness upon click-through to your landing page.
There are two major factors of importance in an SEM branding campaign: your branding message on the results page (Title/Description or Paid Text Ad) and your call to action on the landing page.
How do you measure the effects of branding in a search engine marketing campaign? A web analytics program can do more than simply report statistics. These systems for compiling data will analyze your web logs to effectively manage your SEM campaign and measure your brand effectiveness. Below are some of the data points that can be used to measure the brand impact of an SEM campaign.
Average Time On Site: The longer your visitors browse your site upon arrival from a search engine, the better chance you have for future conversions.
Page Views Per Visitor: The more pages your prospects visit and read, the greater the odds of communicating your marketing message. This contributes to branding awareness.
Path Views to Registration or Subscription Sign-Ups: This is the same as the visitor giving you permission to form a business relationship. It starts a dialog and allows you to continue building your brand, moving the visitor closer to conversion.
White Paper Downloads: The more interest is shown in your products/services, the more branding takes place, and the user moves closer to conversion.
Navigation Report: This shows where visitors go next, pointing prospects to distributor or retailer sites. When search listings result in a click to a seller site, there is likelihood of purchase and proof of branding...
Maximizing Branding Efforts
With such value in your search listings, it’s wise to extend your branding efforts through well planned SEM campaigns. The coordination of SEM and advertising expertise ensures that all critical ad elements work together for both conversions and the elevation of your brand."
Leverage the News for Search Engine Success
Leverage the News for Search Engine Success: "the news can be a search engine optimizers best friend. By keeping up with the latest news, trends, or buzz in your industry, you can bring more visitors to your website which ultimately will lead to repeat visitors or increased sales...
Press releases can bring a website or business media attention. When a website or company is mentioned in the news, people turn to search engines. The only drawback is that in order to issue a press release or get mentioned you really have to have some news to report. In any case, if you issue a press release make sure that you include links to your website as well as links to the most important pages on your site—many online media outlets will include those links in articles as long as they know about them. Qualified visitors are also a bonus, especially when someone reads an article about a product and the company’s website is mentioned. So, whenever you issue a press release, make sure that you’re ready for the extra surge in traffic your website will receive.
You don’t have to be a reporter or journalist. And you don’t necessarily need to update your website with all of your industry’s news—leave that up to the media or to industry trade journals. However, you should be aware of major events going on in your industry—and don’t be afraid to update your website with news or information about these industry events.
Having a blog is sometimes a good option for a website, although it’s not good to have a stale blog (one that’s not updated on a regular basis). So, if you’re not into blogging or don’t have someone who can update it at least a few times a week then blogging is probably not for you. But just because you don’t have a blog doesn’t mean that you can follow the industry trends—and create website content that’s timely, newsworthy, and “fresh”. "
A Rendezvous With Microsoft's Deep Throat
Online Extra: A Rendezvous With Microsoft's Deep Throat - Yahoo! News: "The proprietor of the Web log called Mini-Microsoft may be the most notorious blogger on corporate life. For more than a year, Mini has been a thorn in the side of the software giant, posting a stream of anonymous critiques of the company, Mini's employer. Mini pulls no punches, calling Microsoft a "passionless, process-ridden, lumbering idiot," in a Sept. 4 posting. Yet the blog is also chock full of humor, intelligence, and earnest suggestions for fixing Microsoft."
Increasing Quality Inbound Links
Increasing Quality Inbound Links: "Inbound links may increase your site’s popularity among web surfers as well as search engines. But how do you get them?
Paul Bruemmer gives some advice on link building in general and on the use of press releases in particular...
Benefits of an SEO Press Release
Top rankings in Google News, Yahoo News and MSN news for targeted search terms
New rankings in Google and Yahoo web search results, often first page results
Coverage on hundreds of relevant web sites subscribed to PR Web's RSS feed
Links from web sites that pick up your news release
Help in building link popularity for your web pages
Archived press releases to deliver long-term link value "
The value of competitor intelligence in search engine optimzation and text ad campaigns
The value of competitor intelligence in search engine optimzation and text ad campaigns: "If you do not optimize your search engine and text ad campaigns for the right keyword phrases, your competitors may win 'your' traffic.
Competitor research is an integral part of premium SEO services. It can help you beat the competition in the SERPs (search engine results pages), and it also works to protect your brand"
Yahoo! Instant Search
Yahoo! Search - Instant Search
searchenginewatch.com This is not great news for the lodging industry. In most cases, Yahoo Travel appears first in related searches - above the organic listings. That's what's being delivered in the Instant Search, as well. So, even if you are in the top position, Yahoo bumps you out and shows their own online travel agency's listing.
Home Page Redesign Issues
Home Page Redesign Issues "Before you start working on your next redesign, stop and give some thought to what you plan to change. Far too often, small businesses think they'll tackle search marketing after they get the redesign out of the way. Unfortunately, that may be a good way to ensure that you have to redesign AGAIN...."
Is DMOZ dead?
SiteProNews is a free newsletter and webmaster resource site: "DMOZ in 2005
(a.k.a. The Open Directory Project) By Phil Craven
So is there any value at all in the DMOZ directory? As a useful catalog of the Web, and when compared with the major search engines, the answer is no, although a few people do find it to be a useful research resource. For website owners, the links to their websites that a listing in DMOZ creates are useful for search engine ranking purposes, but even those are becoming less useful as search engines improve, and seek to block out unwanted duplicate content from their indexes.
It was a fine concept, and it looked promising for a while, but the idea of DMOZ becoming the definitive catalog of the Web is gone. Improvements in the search engines eclipsed its value, and the growth rate of the Web meant that it could never achieve its goal. It began with an excellent concept, and they gave it a good shot, but it didn't work. The continuing growth rate of the Web ensures that it can never work. It continues as a good directory of a large number of web sites, but that is all. And not many people use directories when the search engines produce such good results, and so quickly."
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In Search of Stuff: "Linking Secrets Of The Ultra-Rich
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Do you know someone who would buy this?
Just in case...had better point out that this is meant to be an amusing spoof.....
Yahoo set to unveil new search feature
Yahoo set to unveil new search feature | CNET News.com: "Yahoo is set to launch a new beta feature on its search Web site on Thursday. Called Instant Search, the feature interprets what a search is likely to be as the user is typing and automatically displays what it deems the most relevant result. In many cases, instant answers will be provided in the form of Yahoo Search Shortcut results. The optional feature automatically corrects spelling, as well"
5 Reasons Why SEO Is The Best Investment For Any CEO
5 Reasons Why SEO Is The Best Investment For Any CEO: "As an experienced management consultant to senior management of private and public companies, I have found that search engine optimization is the single most powerful marketing tool that every CEO should be aware of and eventually implement.
Below are 5 of the endless reasons why search engine optimization must be implemented into your marketing strategy before you are left in the dust of your competition.
Absence of risk
Reliability
Brand awareness
Targeted traffic
Affordability
These are
only 5 of the reasons which substantiate why SEO is the single best investment for all CEOs."
DMOZ in 2005
DMOZ in 2005: "So is there any value at all in the DMOZ directory? As a useful catalog of the Web, and when compared with the major search engines, the answer is no, although a few people do find it to be a useful research resource. For website owners, the links to their websites that a listing in DMOZ creates are useful for search engine ranking purposes, but even those are becoming less useful as search engines improve, and seek to block out unwanted duplicate content from their indexes.
It was a fine concept, and it looked promising for a while, but the idea of DMOZ becoming the definitive catalog of the Web is gone. Improvements in the search engines eclipsed its value, and the growth rate of the Web meant that it could never achieve its goal. It began with an excellent concept, and they gave it a good shot, but it didn't work. The continuing growth rate of the Web ensures that it can never work. It continues as a good directory of a large number of web sites, but that is all. And not many people use directories when the search engines produce such good results, and so quickly."
EBay shares pressured on report of bid for Skype
Internet Services - Internet Software - Internet - M&A - Markets/Exchanges - Market News: " EBay Inc., the world's largest online auction company, is reportedly in talks to buy Skype Technologies SA, a provider of Internet phone service, for at least $2 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reported eBay (EBAY: news, chart, profile) is in talks to acquire European-based Skype for between $2 billion and $3 billion, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The New York Post reported eBay's offer was as high as $5 billion. "
Microsoft to Release New Developers Tools
Update 1: Microsoft to Release New Developers Tools - Forbes.com: "Microsoft Corp. is releasing several new tools to help developers build software applications that work with its online search and communication products.
The hope is that such add-ons will draw more users to Microsoft products and help the company better compete with market leaders such as Google Inc. and America Online Inc. The tools will mostly be released at a Microsoft developer conference next week in Los Angeles.
Redmond-based Microsoft said Thursday the tools are for add-ons to its desktop, Internet and localized search technologies, as well as its MSN Messenger instant messaging program. "
Your Site Map: Spider Food or Just A Light Snack?
Your Site Map: Spider Food or Just A Light Snack?: "If you really want to fill the spiders' bellies, you'll want to take your site map page to the max with a descriptive site map (as I like to call them). Descriptive site maps go beyond the simple list of links to pages. These special versions of the traditional maps also include a short, keyword-rich description of each page. The text only needs to be a sentence or two in length...
Descriptive site maps work well in attracting and satisfying spiders because they include naturally occurring keywords. They also place keywords in the vicinity of a link that points to the associated page. Add these advantages to those that already exist, including:
having links in the body copy of the page
overcoming complex navigation such as DHTML or Java
lending quick access to pages located several layers deep within the site
assisting with usability for visitors (especially disabled visitors)
and others
and you have prepared a huge feast for the search engine spiders that is almost guaranteed to entice those hungry little critters to crawl through every available page of your site."
Top 20 SEO contradications
Top 20 SEO contradications: "We all deal with contradictory information each day with SEO. These are a few of my favorite debates that I have daily/ weekly/ monthly. What are your favorite contradictory debates in the SEO industry?"
: SEMs Grade Staff Based On Traffic, Rankings
MediaPost Publications - Study: SEMs Grade Staff Based On Traffic, Rankings - 09/07/2005: " JOINT STUDY BY IPROSPECT and Jupiter Research expected to be released today found that 81 percent of organizations use search marketing metrics, such as Web site traffic and search engine ranking, to evaluate the workers responsible for search engine marketing. According to the study--based on a survey of 636 search engine marketers and 224 search engine marketing agencies--four out of five search engine marketers have their performance evaluations tied to some search engine marketing metric, while half of search marketing employees are evaluated on Web site traffic volume. Performances are tied to total sales generated by search marketing for just four out of 10 employees, and only 7 percent have their performance tied to traffic to brick-and-mortar locations attributable to search marketing. --Shankar Gupta"
Does an Over-Optimization Penalty Exist?
Does an Over-Optimization Penalty Exist?: "Does an Over-Optimization Penalty Exist? By Bill Hartzer "
"If you have questions about whether or not the Over-Optimization Penalty (OOP) exists or not, then you obviously haven't pushed the limits enough with your own website optimization or organic SEO efforts to have experienced the joys of running into the OOP (Over-Optimization Penalty). ..
If you're a true "black hat" SEO then you definitely know that there's a difference between an over-optimization penalty and being a spammer. If you've never had a site banned in a search engine then you're not a true "black hat" SEO. And if you've experienced rankings that have suddenly vanished because of too much over-optimization then yes, you probably believe in the OOP, just like I do...
Whether or not you think the OOP (an over-optimization penalty) exists depends on what type of "hat" you wear.
If you're a true "white hat" SEO that won't dare test the limits then you're going to believe that the OOP doesn't exist. After all, you'll never experience any over-optimization penalties because you won't dare do anything that would possibly have a negative effect on search engine rankings.
If you're a true "grey hat" SEO then you've definitely experienced the OOP, just like I've described in a previous post. For example, you've gone a little too heavy on your anchor text so you have to "back off" on using your keywords in the anchor text. Or, you realize that your keyword density on a page is too high--OOPS! you've just experienced the over-optimization penalty (OOP).
There is a very big difference between over-optimization and spamming. Spamming will get your site banned. Over-optimization will not. The "penalty", if you will, is a loss of search engine rankings due to over-optimization. Thus, that's what gray hat and black hat SEOs call the OOP."
How to Use SEM and SEO
DMNews.com | News | Article: "Online Exclusive: How to Use SEM and SEO By: Bill Wise and Dave Pasternack
Want to get the most out of both search engine marketing and search engine optimization? You need to understand what both of them are best designed to do -- and what they're not designed to do, writes Did-it.com's Bill Wise and Dave Pasternack. If you figure that out, you can get the
most mileage out of your SEO and your SEM. If you don't figure it out, you can end up where every other major search mistake
leaves you: with a gaping hole in your advertising budget.
The basic point to keep in mind is this: Paid search is your best option for reaching people looking to make a purchase. SEO does its best work reaching out to people doing research."
Can You Get Good Rankings Following All the Rules?
High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum: Discuss...
Do You Have a Bad SEO Company, or Are You Just a Bad Client?
searchengineguide.com: "?
By Stoney deGeyter...
Nobody wants to think they are a bad client, but here are some signs:
Does not communicate concerns to their SEO firm
Does not listen to advice given
Refuses to change their site based on SEO recommendations
Demands optimization for poorly targeted keywords
Constantly overwrites optimization efforts with page changes
Expects rankings to appear overnight
Calls all the time to complain about lack of progress due to the above
The signs of a bad firm are pretty obvious, bad communication, spammy optimization, getting your site banned, etc. If you work with one of them then run away as soon and as fast as you can. It's usually pretty easy to tell a good one from a bad one. Communicate with (don’t harass) your SEO firm. A trustworthy and respectable firm will keep open lines of communication. Just be ready to listen to what they have to say and implement recommendations that they provide, even if those recommendations are to be patient.
Maybe it’s you. Maybe it’s them. Get the facts before you do anything. You definitely don’t want to be stuck with a firm that’s just sucking your money away and doing very little work for it. On the other hand, you don’t want to jump ship mid-way in what will turn out to be a substantially rewarding campaign just because things didn’t happen fast enough. Before you dump your SEO, make sure the problem isn’t you!"
Yahoo's new search features
