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.
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.
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.
Google has made some changes to its AdSense policy, some minor but another that may have a major impact on many publishers. Jennifer Slegg provides a detailed run-down of the changes at JenSense. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 (as shown to the left) 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.
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.
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.
