I put it out to the people, and here’s what I got:

What people like

• “I love the Travel Search feature Bing has.  It has a cool Price Predictor which tells you whether to buy now or wait for a better price. Imports prices from all over :)” - @ccmaine
• “Love how Bing lists its videos.” - @sarah_wallace
• “I’ve had really good luck with it when search for something in the form of a question or multiple word descriptions.” - @MeRAbiz

What people don’t like

• “Nothing special (I’m kind of partial to Google though)” - @musicsGF
• “Like Chrome, adequate, but no compelling reason to switch” - @JMunk
• “I don’t think the search itself offers much new; some of the media type searches (images, for example) are good alternatives” - @justinrussell
• “Like the Cashback and Live ID integration…not a huge fan of the results or auto-suggestions really” - Justin Cox
• “To be honest I haven’t even compared it’s functionality to ever awesome Google, I’m too distracted by the pretty background pictures!” - @kwallace2

There you have it, folks. There are of course the negative reviews and (somewhat) positive ones. But what it really comes down to is…what do you like the best? It looks like that Google is still king.

Nicki Hicks
I guess I can’t complain I rank #1 on bing

While Energy Services Group participates in one of the most complex business models I’ve encountered, that simply makes them better at what they do. In other words, they’re the experts. What’s more is they are willing to share their expertise.

Like so many companies embracing Web 2.0, ESG is helping the energy industry with their new blog. I’ve talked a lot about the SEO power of blogging before, but here’s proof as to how much it can really help. If you Google “Is there growth in retail energy markets?” you’ll see a blogpost ESG did on the topic not too long ago, which is ranked #6 on the SERP. (Granted, I cheated a little by Googling the name of the post; but you’ll notice they are in such company with the likes of the Wall Street Journal and Newswire!)

If you (or someone you know) needs help with the transaction management for their energy company, head over to Energy Services Group. If you need help with your blog, head over to flyte.

Nicki Hicks
Maine SEO

While I didn’t encounter this after my week staycation (spent entirely of stripping wallpaper, painting, and laying tile at my new house) with projects and the like; I did feel like I was completely out of touch with search news.

In retrospect and subconciously, I did some things that I think helped (somewhat) seamlessly get my working head back on straight. So, here are some thoughts about how to best prepare (before and after) your vacation:

1. Get things done and schedule accordingly.

This may be an obvious step to all those who also suffer from delight in OCD compulsions. But here’s one thing perhaps not everyone has thought of. Finish those projects you’d rather leave until after you relax right now. The problem is, not all of us can leave our work at work. You’ll have a much better chance of relaxing if you’re not stressing about things that have to be done when you return.

2. Let everyone know.

Let customers/clients/coworkers know you’ll be gone; then set your voicemail and email responder to let those trying to contact you that you’ll be gone and for how long. Shout it from the rooftops!

3. Choose whether you still want to be accessible.

If you’re like me and crave the ability to constantly be electronically accessible, make sure you bring your computer home or are able to access your email via your home computer or phone.

Then again, there’s something to be said for having the self control to turn everything off and enjoy yourself. Either way…know yourself well enough to choose.

4. Spend the time to catch up.

You’ve just spent an extended period out of the office and (hopefully) in the sunshine. That Vitamin D has gone to your head, spend the time catching up…most likely in your inbox.

5. Know where to look for news in your industry.

Bright and early Monday morning, I spent a solid hour catching up on the latest search news. Where at? Why Search Engine Roundtable, of course. There is a similar site for every industry - articles that give you a quick glimpse of your world..on a need-to-know basis.

Well, there you have it folks. I hope this helps you relax a little bit more on your well deserved time out of the office. Happy summer!

Nicki Hicks
Back from Staycation and slightly off topic

Photo credit

As far as the SEO portion was concerned, I had my first experience with internationally optimizing. It soon became clear that folks who want to learn English as a foreign language aren’t altogether familiar with Maine. How bizarre.

What did we do? We quickly found out that international searchers look for things like “english courses USA” or “learn english united states”. At the same time, it was important to not forget local search, as some students do come from the New England area.

So, if you’re in need of English lessons - be it to master English as a second language or simply to remaster it as a first language - look no further than Acadia Center for English Immersion! Check out Acadia Center on Twitter and Facebook too. And if you need help optimizing on an international level, look no further than flyte.

Nicki Hicks
Maine SEO

PageRank has always flowed like this to pages from links that are not nofollowed (affectionately known as dofollow).

When you add a nofollow tag to a link, you stop PageRank from flowing. This result remains unchanged; but now, you’re not adding any benefit to the other (dofollow) links on the page. They still pass the same percentage of PageRank, as if all the links were dofollow:

What does this mean? Nofollow isn’t as strong as it once was. You can’t use it to PageRank sculpt.

Should you stop nofollowing? No, I don’t think so. To those pages like your Search page, Contact page, and perhaps Privacy Policy, I think nofollows are still a great idea. They are pages where you wouldn’t necessarily need PageRank to flow.

There’s a lesson to learn here. If you don’t trust a website enough (or just don’t want to pass the PageRank) to dofollow a link, you probably shouldn’t be linking in the first place.

The right way to PageRank sculpt? An intuitive site architecture - for both searchers and search engines.

Nicki Hicks
Sculpting is an art