townsend.bunksite.com

Author: Search Influence Alumni

  • Top 10 for the Weekend- July 30

    We’re back with this week’s latest thrilling installment of Top 10 for the Weekend! What do we have in store this week?

    Google Testing New, More Integrated Local Search SERPs

    Looks like Google is busy experimenting with some new layouts to their main SERPs. Blumenthal’s shares the findings of Linda Buquet of Catalyst eMarketing, including such changes as making the Places listings bigger and more like organic results (the only difference being the inclusion of a Map pin) and having the map scroll down the page as you do. Not sure if this will be a permanent change, but what I am sure of is that this will no doubt lower traffic results to individual websites while increasing them to review sites. Not cool, Google.

    Google Takes More Real Estate For Business Name Search

    Ah, Google. Why are they doing this to us? Not only did they potentially make some pretty lame changes to their SERPs, they also started linking to the business’s Places page for these searches as opposed to the actual website. The article lists a few possible reasons they may be making this change, none of which are very appealing.

    Google brings a Facebook rival

    We’ve posted about Google’s latest social networking platform endeavor in the past, but the news was sparse. Here we get another hint at the tactics Google may be using to bring down the Goliath that is Facebook. Recently, they’ve been meeting with big name game developers for Google Me. What this means is anybody’s guess, but I hope it means less lame Farmville updates and decent games for a change!

    Is Google Watching You? New Plugin Will Let You Know!

    Boy, this Top 10 is a little Google heavy this week, eh? Don’t worry, there’s more! Here’s an article about an awesome new browser plugin that lets you see when your personal information is being sent to Google’s servers. Not only that, but it alerts you using a vuvuzela-like alarm.  How great is that?

    Why You Need to Monitor and Measure Your Brand on Social Media

    If you read these lists of ours often, you’d know we’re no strangers to the social media game. Once you make the leap, it’s imperative to keep your presence known. This article gives a couple of great tips to monitoring and measuring your brand to make sure you can use these great utilities to their utmost advantage.

    How to Get Top Search Engine Optimization and Placement Results with Google Caffeine

    In our last edition of Top 10 for the Weekend, we posted an article outlining the differences between Google’s Mayday and Caffeine. Well, here is a handy article on how to make Caffeine work for you to achieve results at the top of the ranks.

    Should I renew my yellow pages ad?

    Here is our most recent blog about whether or not remaining to advertise with Yellow Pages is beneficial to your site from an SEO standpoint. Want to know the answer? Read to find out!

    The Google Sewage Factory, In Action: The Chocomize Story

    A great article on how sites pollute Google’s news section by taking advantage of some specific editorial criteria, and their lack to police these actions. A very interesting read about Google contributing to the pollutants that make the internet a “cesspool,” according to one of their CEOs.

    Google Places Police

    We’re no strangers to the confusing and oft arbitrary guidelines Google seems to enforce on their Places accounts, and we’re not the only ones! This is a fantastic article highlighting the hair-pulling experience that Google can induce for businesses and SEO companies alike.

    8 New Link Types That Exist On The Web

    A hilarious article outlining some of the insane practices that SEO companies and many others use for link building. Check them out and see if you are guilty of any of them. I know I am!

  • Should I renew my yellow pages ad?

    Last week I was asked by one of my client’s about her yellow pages ad which was up for renewal.  Hmmm … my response was half-hearted and I waffled a little.

    Yes, the yellow pages industry is dying, some would argue it’s dead.

    Unused and unwanted.

    But a part of me hesitates at completely dropping out of the book.

    What I would love to say is “keep your ad or an ad because the yellow pages gives you a free backlink in their online product with any paid ad,” but this is not the case.  It is my personal experience in my local market and my observation in other markets that the yellow pages sales people are not offering a free backlink in the online product with the purchase of an ad in print book. One must pay to be in the print book and pay to be included in the online directory too.

    And even if you pay for it, how valuable is that backlink from deep within the yellow pages online directory?  Apparently, not very.  I checked a few different tools for the online directory page where my client would appear if she paid to be included in the online directory, and the page has a 0 (zero) value.

    Also, the backlinks are nofollowed. Wow.  Talk about about a waste of advertisers money and about a wasted opportunity by the teleco.

    So my suggestion to the client was half-hearted … decrease your big expensive display ad for a smaller in-column ad so you’re not totally out of the book just for the few people who are still using the print product.  She looked at some internal data, and came back with feedback saying she has gotten no patients from a yellow pages referral so she was dropping her yellow ages ad.  I have no data to advise her otherwise, and really, it’s probably a sound move.

    In LA too they throw the printed phonebook right away to the trash

    Yellow pages sales people have always offered call tracking, but on a limited basis – only to those clients who were waffling on renewing that giant display ad.  What they could be doing is dropping a call tracking number in the every ad over some benchmark value (say $1,500.00 because that would include some of the more elaborate in-column ads) and adding a tracking website URL into the ad.  Together, these tracking mechanisms would give some real data for advertisers to make this renewal decision.  But I know that the real data is probably more hurtful to the renewal rate than having no data.

    In comparison, at Search Influence (where a few of us grew up in yellow pages a few years ago),  we understand the need for tracking, for constant proof of our value.  We track form data.  We track phone calls from organic traffic and from paid traffic.  We track all kinds of stuff so we can give real ROIs.  We do this all of the time, and at least every month.  Proving our value every month, month after month, definitely keeps us on our toes, and we share the successes with our clients because of that accountability.

    Thanks to Sabrina Tang and lejoe for the great pictures!

  • SEO Optimization Tips for the Yahoo-Bing Merge

    While Google has reigned supreme when it comes to optimization, now may be the time to reassess your Bing strategy. As we mentioned in an earlier post, Yahoo anticipates that their organic search results will be fully powered by Microsoft sometime in August or September. However, Yahoo has already begun testing Microsoft’s organic and paid listings. Up to 25% of their current organic search results come from Bing, while up to 3.5% of paid listings can be from their AdCenter.

    While the results may be coming from Microsoft, Yahoo assures that they will retain their familiar format. They offer up the following image, where the boxed areas are those that come from Microsoft:

    They also offer up the following tips for SEO:

    • Compare your organic search rankings on Yahoo! Search and Bing for the keywords that drive your business, to help determine any potential impact to your traffic and sales
    • Decide if you’d like to modify your paid search campaigns to compensate for any changes in organic referrals that you anticipate
    • Review the Bing webmaster tools and optimize your website for the Bing crawler, as Bing results will be displayed for approximately 30%* of overall search query market share after this change

    These tips- along with many more- can be found here. Not much work will have to come from you, but it’s best to familiarize yourself with the changes now in order to be better prepared.

  • Fall 2010 Yahoo Will Show Bing Organic Results

    Yahoo!Last week, Yahoo sent out emails explaining how the merger with MSN/Bing would effect paid search advertiser.  The most interesting piece of information the email provided was about the transition to Bing search algorithm in early Fall.

    Organic Search Transition
    To date, we’ve focused most of our communications to you on the paid search transition to adCenter. However, another key aspect of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance is the transition of Yahoo! organic search results (those found on the main body of the page). Assuming our testing continues to yield high quality results, we anticipate that our organic search results will be powered by Bing beginning in the August/September timeframe.

    Frankly Yahoo’s effectiveness at generating leads has been on a slow decline for years.  I completely blame this fact on Yahoo’s refusal to evolve. They spent so many development hours creating Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Games, and Yahoo Groups, they forgot to focus on the quality of their search results. While I’m not thrilled by the merger, I am excited that SEOs will have one less search engine to optimize.

  • Top 10 for the Weekend – July 16, 2010

    We’re back with another installment of our “Top 10 for the Weekend” for you to pass your time! What do we have in store this week? Read on to find out!

    Translating Your Pricing Model To Legal Agreement

    Check out this short interview with Will Scott, President of Search Influence, before his SMX Advanced 2010 presentation on Opening The Contracts Kimono: Translating Your Pricing Model To Legal Agreement, as well as the first ever advertiser’s survey on Foursquare!

    Link Building with the Experts – 2010 Edition

    This is a great set of interviews on link building- one of the most important aspects of SEO.  It’s quite lengthy due to the number of experts interviewed, but it provides a great variety of opinions that are useful to any business looking to increase their exposure. Set aside a bit of time to read it. You’ll come out knowing much more than you did before!

    9 Expert SEO Tips for Small Businesses

    You may recognize some of the experts from the interview listed above. It’s a bit shorter and focuses on a higher volume of subjects, but each of the tips are pointed and extremely helpful for anyone wanting to learn more about the complicated world of SEO. Some businesses think it a mistake to let the customer’s in on their secrets, but I’ve said it before- and these guys agree- that the more you know about a subject, the better you are able to ask informed questions. Ask away!

    Social Media Mythbusting For The C-Suite

    In one of our previous Top 10s, we linked to an article titled How To Turn Your Social Media Averse Boss Into Your Champion. The SEO version of Adam Savage expands on this idea by busting some social media myths that may keep your boss from even discussing the idea with you.  Be prepared with the weapon of knowledge before approaching them with what should be common sense by now: Social media is here to stay!

    10 Cool Facebook Status Tips and Tricks

    Do you find some Facebook status updates to be absolutely unbearable? I can’t tell you how many people I’ve had to de-friend because the only thing I was seeing from them were Farmville updates… I DON’T CARE IF YOU GOT A NEW PUMPKIN PATCH! Well, this is a great article full of tips and tricks to keep your Facebook status updates bearable and even interesting to others! My favorite? The addition of a DISLIKE button!

    Coca-Cola Scam Hits Facebook [WARNING]

    This is less about SEO and more about personal safety! Apparently, there is a scam going around Facebook about the evils of the Coca-Cola Company. At the end is a survey asking you for some personal information. Now, it should be common sense to not give out ANY personal info on the Internet, but in my experience common sense isn’t so common anymore… Head’s up!

    Google Caffeine vs. Google Mayday — SEM Synergy Extras

    If you were one of the many people confused by the recent Google updates- Caffeine and Mayday- this article is for you. It breaks down the updates into an easy to read and easy to understand format without using too much confusing technical jargon. Plus, it makes reference to “Double Rainbow Man,” which instantly gets this link in my top 10!

    Barbie Joins Foursquare

    The great marketers at Mattel have started a campaign to promote their new Video Girl Barbie, which will utilize a scavenger hunt-like format to get participants to complete tasks, such as checking into Foursquare. You know you’ve made it when your product is user-friendly enough for Barbie- a 51 year old woman- to use it!

    Utilizing Twitter for SEO – A Very Effective Link Building Tactic for Tough Industries

    For a long time, most SEOs agreed that Twitter was not an effective tool for link building and other strategies. However, DanielaL has written a blog post to show that Twitter very well CAN be effective by utilizing reciprocal tactics to build strength and gain visits!

    The Old Spice Social Media Campaign by the Numbers

    One of the most entertaining and popular viral marketing campaigns in recent memory- and possibly ever- have come from, of all places, a deodorant company. It’s surpassed so many other historic viral videos, such as George W. Bush’s sweet dodge out of the way of those smelly shoes. If you haven’t seen this campaign yet, check out the article and head to YouTube immediately. I’ll wait…

  • White, Gray, and Black Hats of SEO

    What’s the Difference Between White, Gray, and Black SEO Hats?

    When I was starting out in SEO, I was so confused by what the best practices were and I remember at my first search conference a speaker (I want to say it was Matt Cutts but it probably wasn’t) started explaining the “hats”. There are three different hats a SEO can wear and each color represents how clean they are with their  search engine tactics.

    Nice Hat.

    White Hat SEO

    A simple way to explain white hat SEO is making content for people, not search engines. Instead of worrying about keyword density and h1 tags, you worry about visual appeal and readability. When I think of white hat SEO I usually visualize my mother trying to start a website that is highly revelant to her demographic (middle-aged women who like enjoy natural food receipes, spiritual sessions with lightly muscled tan men, and designer leather handbags). She’s not worried about the order of keywords or what the h1 tags should say – she just wants to make a site that people like her will love. In fact, most professional SEOs aren’t white hat. If a SEO firm promises you page one listing and they say they strictly adhere to search engine guidelines, don’t believe it.

    To be effective at optimizing a site, you have to be conscious of how search algorithms work and how you can manipulate them to give your client the best results. In today’s search hustle, there is no way achieve first position in Google (because frankly it is the only search engine anyone cares about) simply by creating great content and having well designed site.

    Black Hat SEO

    What is exactly is black hat seo? “Black hat SEO attempts to improve rankings in ways that are disapproved of by the search engines, or involve deception,” according to Wikipedia.

    At the beginning of my search marketing career, I always believed black hat SEO was the most effective way to rank well. It’s fast and highly effective. However I soon realized that cloaking content on the page and creating link-spamming bots got me to the top, but I always fell further than I had previously and would get flagged.

    Search engines are smarter now and most legitimate businesses stay clear of these tactics. So if a search firm is suggesting you “hide” the h1 or use deceptive redirects, they likely have dealings with overseas internet pornsites or contact form spam for clients.

    Wearing a black hat isn’t a good look for any professional SEO.

    Gray Hat SEO

    Those who wear gray SEO hat, largerly obey search engine rules but know that in order to beat a competitor, you have to bend the rules. You can think of gray hats SEOs as risk takers who were once white hats but decided getting a little dirty never hurt anyone. They practice the necessary precaution, they develop highly relevant content and webpages, but they use some darker methods to ensure the highest possible ranking.

    Whether the SEOs uses link schemes or aggressive keyword stuffing, most search internet marketers are gray hats. It’s just the nature of the beast. Being a white hat only gets you so far and once you’ve put on the black hat you might as well start all over again because you’re going to be banned.

    Bottom line, you have to be successful but be aware of the repercussions, you have to take risks… and that’s why gray hats exist.

    Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/

  • Yahoo! is an Entertainment News Site…Wha?

    Yahoo Fails At Search, Tries Its Hand At Being A “Pretty Woman”

    "Your Yahoo! May Look Different Today!"

    It is a sad day when search engines are reduced to stalking celebrities to keep themselves relevant.

    That is the thought I had when I saw the latest Yahoo TV commercial. Since their merger with Microsoft was announced, Yahoo has been trying to carve out a niche for itself as a entertainment news site (seriously how many E!s, TMZs, OhNoTheyDidnts, and Superficials must we have! How are all the celebrity bloggers going to eat and stay in white MSpaint to draw on photos?). They are even going as far as to declared themselves THE NUMBER ONE visited site for such frivolous news  – when in all honesty, they are including Yahoo Search,Yahoo Mail, and Yahoo Games (noticed I didn’t include the “!” because there just isn’t anything exciting about Yahoo anymore) into this data.

    Is it misleading? Hell, yes.

    It would be like Kanye West running into a social media award ceremony and shouting  “Yo Facebook, I’m really happy for you…I’ll let you finish. But Google had the most users of all time!”

    For Yahoo to not only call it quits with search but to instantaneously declare themselves the number one at something is delusional. Yahoo has never been first at anything, not even being absorbed in a significantly more successful search engine *cough*…AOL…*cough*.

    Oh and speaking of Kanye West, what’s the deal with Yahoo using “Flash Lights” in the commercial? That song is about pure narcissism (which is such a stretch for Mr. West to rap about *eye roll*)!  What does Yahoo have to be narcissistic about? It certainly didn’t live up to the promise of all those awesome 00’s commercials with the cowboy cry “yahoo!” at the end. In fact the only thing Yahoo should be proud of is knowing how to make money even in rough times. Yahoo is like a 80’s film star that got downgraded to tv dad in the 90’s and is now doing guest spots as the murder victim on cop dramas between infomercial and night manager gigs. Yahoo is a shining example of just because you’re well known at something, doesn’t mean it will make you rich.

    Am I mad at Yahoo? No, but I am upset at internet companies allowing Google to swallow more and more of the search engine pie chart. This merger is not going to increase Yahoo/MSN slice of the pie, it’s just going to make search professionals realize we are practically on Google’s payroll.  :/

    Thanks to Thomas Hawk for the image!

  • Google Me: The Newest Social Networking Platform

    It seems like every other blog post I write has something to do with Google’s latest attempt to takeover the information superhighway. I guess it’s a testament to their ability to always evolve and never stagnate. The latest news from the Internet gossip train is here and it’s a pretty big undertaking on Google’s part. This time they’re setting their sights on Facebook with their own social marketing project tentatively titled Google Me.

    There hasn’t been an official announcement from Google yet, but according to Facebook former CTO, Adam D’Angelo, it’s a top priority and it’s definitely coming. The news was first leaked by Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, in a tweet that Google immediately requested he take down. Scandalous…

    The only news regarding the design is that it’ll be a combination of Google Profiles and Buzz, their failed attempt to compete with Twitter. The project may have gotten it’s start back in 2007 when Facebook snubbed Google’s hefty offer to purchase them and unexpectedly went with Microsoft.

    Personally, I don’t see much of anything competing with Facebook for quite some time and if Buzz is any indication, Google won’t be the one to do it. They do have a few things going for them, though. Facebook has been taking a lot of heat recently for their privacy issues. Google needs to keep this issue fresh in the minds of their users while not falling into the same trap. Buzz had many of the same privacy issues that Facebook had, so I’m not sure whether or not this will happen. They did recently add an alternate homepage that supports SSL encryption, so I’m still hopeful.

    The biggest thing Google Me will have going for it will be its inevitable ability to integrate all of the other products Google has under its belt. The prospect of having Gmail, Maps, Profiles, and a (hopefully) great social networking site rolled into one makes me absolutely giddy. This could potentially boost Google’s entertainment value to more than simply Googling yourself or knowing when the street view camera will be passing your house…

  • Facebook Local Search: Facebook Declares War on Google’s Empire

    Is Facebook the next evolution of Local Search?

    We all knew it was a matter of time before Facebook started expanding into web search and they’ve finally done it by unveiling their own Facebook local search option: Open Graph search engine. What is Open Graph, you might ask, here’s what Facebook reps are saying, according to an allfacebook.com story:

    “all Open Graph enabled web pages will show up in search when a user likes them”

    Why is this important? Imagine a more personalized web experience where community feedback drives interaction and search position. You can search for a cosmetic surgeon or dentist and immediately be able to contact his patients for real feedback. This is huge! No longer will you type in “Atlanta dentist” and dozens of sleek websites – you’ll be able to find information on the dentist, his office location, and talk with his clients. As Facebook continues to develop this open graph search, you will see Facebook profiles and page results as well as websites being ranked by user feedback from REAL people.

    If this catches on, not only will the face of SEO change, how people think about searching will change as well. It’s like Facebook is developing Deathstars and photon rifles, while Google is reloading the Spaniard cannons.

    Do I think this is the end of Google local search? No, but I do think that Facebook is moving in the right direction. Users having control over results and ranking seems like a no-brain. My only concern is potential spammers hindering the evolution of search.

  • Link Building Strategies Compared to Body Building Strategies: Strangely Similar

    One of the most important and oft-overlooked aspect of SEO is link building. Link building strategies are one of the simplest concepts, but most make it more difficult than it needs to be. For instance, Sage Lewis defines link building as, “The integration of useful elements into a whole Web site to allow for the accretion of links through natural means.” Sage obviously doesn’t follow one of the mottos I live my life by: Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.

    Basically, what he’s saying is link building is the process of creating inbound links to your site from other sources. There are a variety of  link building strategies one can use to accomplish this, some of which include article submissions, directories, newsletters, and back links. In fact, just look above for an example! By linking to Mr. Lewis’ article, we’ve just strengthened his site and maybe even drove a little traffic there as well.

    For those of you reading who may not be familiar with the SEO process, I may have just confused you more than I helped. So let me put it this way: Link building is incredibly similar to body building. Don’t believe me? Through following these exercises, you add strength to your website and bulk up your legitimacy and visibility.  Didn’t think I could do it, did you? Yay puns!

    Just as focusing your workout to target specific muscles will increase body mass, focusing link building from relative sources will increase your site’s exposure and visits. The submission of articles to outside sources is one of the easiest ways of doing this. Make it relative to your site, throw in a few keywords that link to specific pages, and you’re on the fast track to becoming one of the strongest sites on Google!

    Another way link building is beneficial is that it makes your site seem like a valuable resource. With enough links, your site could be the first to appear in search engines, just like a body builder is the first person people ask to help them move furniture.

    …or be their state's governor.

    The more your pages appear in places other than your own site, the more exposure it’ll receive, which makes it appear more legitimate. It turns your site from just another pale, puny face in the endless crowd to a bronzed, powerful, incredibly hard to miss shaven gorilla.

    Don’t think you can do it all on your lonesome, though. Body builders need spotters to make sure they don’t drop dumbbells on their dumb bell, and reciprocal links serve the same purpose for you. These are basically agreements between two sites to link back to each other, like a partnership of sorts. This will not only add legitimacy, but you’ll surely get a few views directly from the other site.

    So that’s link building in a nutshell!

    **Note to body builders** Please don’t take my insults seriously. No harm intended. Please don’t beat me up! Seriously, it wouldn’t be any fun. I look like this guy:

    Thanks to d_vdm and Marcus Q for the great pics!