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« December 2006 |
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| February 2007 »
Have you noticed any changes in the way Google search engine results pages look when searching for local businesses? They just announced today the closer integration of maps, address and contact info and even reviews of local business when they detect a local search query. In fact, Google states that we will see this kind of information every time we search for a place, business, or other local information. In addition to providing the basic contact information and map locations for several choices at the top of the page, they will also show ratings and provide one-click access to reviews.
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Jeff Behrendt of Aviva Directory has conducted an in-depth interview with Greg Hartnett, president of best of the Web, one of the oldest and most trusted directories on the Internet. In the interview, Greg talks about Best of the Web's past, present and future. Read on for a few excerpts as well as link to entire interview.
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A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including Wikipedia adds NOFOLLOW attribute to all outbound links, SEMPO launches a series of online training courses, Google releases new version of Google Groups, Google announces future plans for recently acquired YouTube, and finally if there was not enough Google items already, they announce an algorithm change designed to combat Googlebombing.
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Michael Gray (Graywolf) writes an excellent post highlighting two areas of hypocrisy currently practiced by Google - the nofollow tag and paid reviews by bloggers. He points out that Google is using fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) to corral web publishers to their way of thinking. No doubt that when Google is responsible for 50% or more of your web traffic they can easily bully webmasters into submission.
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Threadwatch is sponsoring a contest to see who can rank # 1 for the name "Dave Pasternack" by March 1st, 2007. Why? Because SEOs are tired of hearing this man continue to beat a dead horse. I wrote about his latest ramblings yesterday where he compared SEO to baking a cake.
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Mark your calendars - as promised, February 5th is the date set that Yahoo! will switch over to a new ranking algorithm for their PPC ad platform. In the same way that Google's AdWords works, Yahoo! will now factor in the ad's quality as well as the bid amount. The old system awarded the highest position to whomever spent the most. Now they will consider how well the ad actually performs along with actual bid amount for each ad. This has been expected since Yahoo! started converting advertisers to their new platform but now has an actual date attached to it.
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At least that is what Dave Pasternack of Did-it.com is saying. Yes he has stuck his foot in his mouth once again. Are you tired yet of hearing from this guy? I know I am. In this latest DM News article, he answers a series of questions, one of which he compares SEO to baking a cake. Sound foolish? Wait, there's more.
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A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including Pandia looks into the future, predicting what search might look like in 2015, a new Wikipedia search engine is launched called WikiSeek, Google and Yahoo! gain market share while Microsoft loses ground, phishing scammer could get 101 years in prison, Nick Wilson gives us his 2007 linkbaiting guide, MySpace hit with online predator suits, and finally a funny video that proves that cars are not good at ice skating.
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Google has made some changes to its AdSense policy, some minor but another that may have a major impact on many publishers. The minor changes deal with their referral program, using images next to ad units, AdSense for search, and copyright material. The bigger change that will impact publishers deals with their Competitive Ads and Services Policy. Read on for run-down of the changes as well as link to Jennifer Slegg's thorough analysis of how this may affect publishers.
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Chris Logan in conjunction with Small Business Brief has launched a new site called Free Links which offers a venue for individuals to share their experiences with free advertising and marketing opportunities. Free Links provides ways to advertise and promote a website or business. Currently there are over a hundred opportunities listed including gaining inclusion in web directories to promoting podcasts.
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Fred Vogelstein from Wired News has put together a lengthy article on how Yahoo! has blown it over the years in trying to position itself as the leader in search. The article looks at the many mistakes Yahoo!'s CEO, Terry Semel, has made along the way which to this day still has them playing catch up to their biggest rival, Google. It all began with their failure to buy the search giant back in 2002 and the cycle has continued up to today. read on for summary as well as link to entire article.
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After speculation as to the future of DMOZ (Open Directory Project), it seems that they are accepting submissions once again. However will we see any change in the degree of difficulty many have experienced over the last few years of actually getting a site listed? Its quite possible, at least for the time being. Search Engine Journal reports that old submissions in the queue were lost during the recent crash in October. That means there are no longer thousands of old submissions sitting in a queue waiting to be reviewed. Therefore if you have been trying to get a site listed with no success, now may be the ideal time to re-submit not only because your prior submission is gone, but to also get in before DMOZ gets backlogged once again.
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First there was PayPerPost which was followed by ReviewMe, both of which are relatively new services that pay bloggers to write about web sites, products, services, and even companies. Now Text Link Brokers will soon launch SponsoredReviews.com to compete with the other two. How will this new service differentiate themselves from the other two? For starters they claim to offer lower transaction fees and a bidding system. Read on for a list of key points the service will offer.
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A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including Yahoo! announces oneSearch mobile search product, Jennifer Slegg provides 25 tips on how to optimize your blog for readers and search engines, Apple announces new mobile phone offering - iPhone, Cisco is upset with Apple using its trademark for iPhone and sues them, another Google PageRank update is underway but what does it really mean, and finally, Yahoo! may be using dirty tactics to switch Google & Firefox users.
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The BBBOnLine Reliability Program has bugged me for some time now. This is a program the Better Business Bureau (BBB) offers its members in which they can place a seal on their web site indicating they are a BBB member which then links to the company's online profile. It requires its own fees in addition to what a company pays to be a BBB member. The program discriminates against businesses who solely conduct business online. This bothers me to no end. Read on to find out why.
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Keyword Discovery is definitely our keyword research tool of choice here at SearchRank. Not only does it give its users access to one of the largest databases of keyword data on the planet, it is loaded with features. Trellian, announces today enhancements and new features to what is becoming the most popular keyword research tool on the market. This includes keyword database update, plural search feature release, import to any Keyword Discovery keyword database, and a Dutch keyword database is now available.
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I had the opportunity to speak at the Business Network of Anthem's weekly meeting on the subject of what else - search engine marketing. A small group of around twenty people gathered, all who own small businesses in the Anthem, Arizona area where I also live. The group consisted of bankers, financial advisors, insurance brokers, home improvement service providers, an auto repair facility owner, a flooring company, a swimming pool service provider and the list goes on. What was interesting is how few out of the group are actually doing any search marketing at all.
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It was first rumored in November but never confirmed. Today it is a reality. Yahoo! has acquired MyBlogLog, a social network for bloggers and blog readers. MyBlogLog will be part of the Yahoo Developer Network. The size of the deal is not being confirmed, although rumors put it at around $10 - $12 million. I have only recently heard about MyBlogLog when Andy Beal introduced me to it. In fact, I have barely set up my own personal profile little alone started to build any kind of community before news of this acquisition hit today.
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Remember ChaCha.com? They created a lot of buzz in September of last year when they officially announced their human-powered search engine. I had blogged about it and after doing so, received a flood of inquiries from people who wanted to work for us, thinking we were ChaCha itself. Not only did I find this amusing, I had also voiced my opinion that their concept may have been useful before we had search engines that can retrieve results in nano seconds. But why now? Well, they are still operating and picking up speed at that. They just received 6 million dollars in private finding from the likes of Jeff Bezos, Rod Canion, Jack Gill and others.
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With all the social networking sites popping up everywhere, the idea of branding comes to mind. Sure there is the thought of how web sites can draw traffic from social networking sites, even sell product or services but in addition to that, what about protecting your brand before someone else beats you to it? This is especially important with respect to user names and unique URLs. Read on to discover why it may become more important to seek out these kinds of site and if nothing else, at least secure your brand before someone else does.
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A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including a great post defining the difference between social media optimization and social media marketing, Yahoo and Dash team up to provide Yahoo Local content via in-car navigation systems, Lee Odden compiles a list of 250 plus search marketing blogs, Search Engine Journal Blog Award results are in, Google Tips which promoted Google's own products and appeared above organic listings have been pulled after stirring up controversy, and finally, Yahoo! Local adds new features for listing and editing local business listings.
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Is this a sign of trends to come? Large companies setting up MySpace types of sites? Disney has now jumped on the social media bandwagon and will launch a new site next week focused on social networking for kids. The site will be similar to MySpace.com but will have parental controls and feature chat and video clips. WebProNews goes on to say that analysts are skeptical about the success of the site despite the strong brand behind it. CEO Robert Iger in Las Vegas will officially introduce the site on January 8 at the Consumer Electronics Show.
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We very frequently receive RFPs (requests for proposal) from e-commerce sites. The application behind the e-commerce store, often referred to as a shopping cart application or product database, can be an off the shelf product such as osCommerce, MonsterCommerce or X-Cart to name a few. Or it can even be proprietary, custom developed by a web programmer. No matter how the e-commerce site is powered, there are specific features that we look for in order to know if we will have full liberty to optimize the site so that it has the best opportunity to position well in the organic search results. Some applications already have SEO friendly features built in but many do not. Therefore if you own or are getting ready to set up an e-shop, make sure your product database has the following SEO friendly features.
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I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions as I tend to be the type of person that really doesn't differentiate one day from the next. Of course there are the really important ones that are special - my wedding anniversary, birthdays of family and friends, tax due dates and of course trash days. Other than these, every day is pretty much the same for me. Therefore why put together a list of resolutions that I may or may not keep? I find myself doing that naturally throughout the year anyway.
However, when the new year does arrive, I like to reflect on the past by recalling good times, bad times, goals that were accomplished, ones that were not, etc, etc. So with that, I give you my list or "retro" resolutions - some of things I accomplished as well as experienced in 2006.
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