SEO Rants and Resources

2010-02-05T18:23:24-07:00

Bing recently published a document about link building. Although it focuses on how Bing deals with inbound links, it can also help you to get better links for Google, Yahoo and other search engines. The most important points of Bing's document can be found in this article.

The importance of link building

The Bing engineers know that link building is important and they describe link building as follows:

"Link building is a very important form of self-promotion on the Web. You contact webmasters of other, related websites and let them know your site exists. If the value that you have worked so hard to instill in your site is evident to them, they will assist their own customers by linking back to your site. That, my friend, is the essence of link building."

In other words, reciprocal linking is fine. They also remind webmasters that link building is an ongoing process:

"Think of link building as your chance to build your reputation on the Web. As your website is likely one of your business' most valuable assets, consider link building to be a primary business-building exercise. Just don't make the mistake of believing it will result in instant gratification. Successful link building efforts require a long-term commitment, not an overnight or turnkey solution. You need to continually invest in link building efforts with creativity and time. Good things come to those who wait (and work smartly!)."

Things that you can do to get good links to your website

Here are the things that Bing recommends:

You should develop your website as a brand and brand it consistently. People like to link to high quality websites.

You should find relevant bloggers, industry websites and product reviewers and make them aware of your website.

You can publish concise and informative press releases online.

You can publish expert articles in article directories.

You can participate in relevant conversations on blogs and forums and add a link to your website when applicable.

You can use social networks to connect to industry influencers. Your profiles should contain links to your website.

You can use email newsletters to notify people about new content on your website.

You can launch a blog or a forum on your website.

You can participate in relevant industry associations and their online forums.

You should strive to become a trusted expert voice for your industry while promoting your website.

Warning: the following things will get your website in trouble

Just like Google and other major search engines, Bing doesn't like to be cheated. If they detect unnatural linking patterns, your website might be penalized. The following things can trigger search engine filters:

Your website get a lot of additional inbound links a very short time.

Many links that point to your website are from unrelated websites or blog comments.

Your web pages contain hidden links.

You get links from links farms or automated link exchange systems.

Paid links point to your website.

Known spammers link to your website.

Your website links to known spammers.

Here's what Bing does when they find suspicious data that is related to your website:

"When probable manipulation is detected, a spam rank factor is applied to a site, depending upon the type and severity of the infraction. If the spam rating is high, a site can be penalized with a lowered rank. If the violations are egregious, a site can be temporarily or even permanently purged from the index."

Getting inbound links requires some work. The Bing engineers are very clear about this fact: "Make no mistake: getting legitimate and highly valuable, inbound links is not a couch-potato task."

Fortunately, there is a product available called IBP that will help you get links and optimize your site. You can Download it here.

comScore Reports Global Search Market Growth of 46 Percent in 2009

2010-02-05T18:16:00-07:00

Google Sites Accounts for Two-Thirds of 131 Billion Searches Conducted Worldwide in December while Introduction of Bing Helps Microsoft Post Significant Gains During the Year

Reston, VA, January 22, 2010 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study on growth in the global search market in 2009. The study revealed that the U.S. remains the largest search market worldwide, while Google Sites retains a commanding position in the global search market.

“The global search market continues to grow at an extraordinary rate, with both highly developed and emerging markets contributing to the strong growth worldwide,” said Jack Flanagan, comScore executive vice president. “Search is clearly becoming a more ubiquitous behavior among Internet users that drives navigation not only directly from search engines but also within sites and across networks. If you equate the advancement of search with the ability of humans to cultivate information, then the world is rapidly becoming a more knowledgeable ecosystem.”

Top Search Markets Worldwide

The total worldwide search market boasted more than 131 billion searches conducted by people age 15 or older from home and work locations in December 2009, representing a 46-percent increase in the past year. This number represents more than 4 billion searches per day, 175 million per hour, and 2.9 million per minute. The U.S. represented the largest individual search market in the world with 22.7 billion searches, or approximately 17 percent of searches conducted globally. China ranked second with 13.3 billion searches, followed by Japan with 9.2 billion and the U.K. with 6.2 billion. Among the top ten global search markets, Russia posted the highest gains in 2009, growing 92 percent to 3.3 billion, followed by France (up 61 percent to 5.4 billion) and Brazil (up 53 percent to 3.8 billion).

Top 10 Countries by Number of Searches Conducted* December 2009 vs. December 2008 Total Worldwide, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations Source: comScore qSearch
	Searches (MM)
	Dec-2008	Dec-2009	Percent Change
Worldwide	89,708	131,354	46%
United States	18,688	22,741	22%
China	11,778	13,278	13%
Japan	6,213	9,170	48%
United Kingdom	4,623	6,245	35%
Germany	4,079	5,609	38%
France	3,362	5,425	61%
South Korea	2,796	4,039	44%
Brazil	2,454	3,763	53%
Canada	2,900	3,710	28%
Russian Federation	1,735	3,333	92%

*Searches based on “expanded search” definition, which includes searches at the top properties where search activity is observed, not only the core search engines.

Top Search Properties Worldwide

Google Sites ranked as the top search property worldwide with 87.8 billion searches in December, or 66.8 percent of the global search market. Google Sites achieved a 58-percent increase in search query volume over the past year. Yahoo! Sites ranked second globally with 9.4 billion searches (up 13 percent), followed by Chinese search engine Baidu with 8.5 billion searches (up 7 percent). Microsoft Sites saw the greatest gains among the top five properties, growing 70 percent to 4.1 billion searches, on the strength of its successful introduction of new search engine Bing. Russian search engine Yandex also achieved considerable gains, growing 91 percent to 1.9 billion searches.

Top 10 Search Properties by Searches Conducted December 2009 vs. December 2008 Total Worldwide, Age 15+ - Home & Work Locations Source: comScore qSearch
	Searches (MM)
	Dec-2008	Dec-2009	Percent Change
Worldwide	89,708	131,354	46%
Google Sites	55,638	87,809	58%
Yahoo! Sites	8,389	9,444	13%
Baidu.com Inc.	7,963	8,534	7%
Microsoft Sites	2,403	4,094	70%
eBay	1,327	2,102	58%
NHN Corporation	1,892	2,069	9%
Yandex	992	1,892	91%
Facebook.com	1,023	1,572	54%
Ask Network	1,053	1,507	43%
Alibaba.com Corporation	1,118	1,102	-1%

*Searches based on “expanded search” definition, which includes searches at the top properties where search activity is observed, not only the core search engines.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Contact:
Andrew Lipsman
Director, Marketing Communications
comScore, Inc.
+1 312 775 6510
press@comscore.com

Are Oracle Service Fees Still Worth It?

2010-02-02T22:34:25-07:00

"Software as a Service" biggies Oracle and SAP make billions selling businesses maintenance and support contracts guaranteeing access to the latest updates and to the helpdesks for these all-in-one business-management software systems. But in these penny-pinching times, the Wall Street Journal reports, some Oracle customers are switching their service contracts to lower-cost providers. Salesforce.com says it's been poaching Oracle customers for its CRM service. The Journal cites Rimini Street as another beneficiary; the company's site promises a 50% cut in service fees for SAP customers. If you're wondering whether to stay or go, you might seek guidance from the Independent Oracle Users Group. -- Jeff B. Copeland, Content Product Manager

Phoenix Charter School - Phoenix Charter Schools - AmeriSchools

2009-12-15T20:54:36-07:00

Phoenix Charter Schools Spotlight on Leadership

DeeAnn Chan is an AmeriSchools success story. DeeAnn started with AmeriSchools as a novice teacher in 1998. Her knowledge of curriculum and classroom skills made her a logical choice for leadership. Over the past years, DeeAnn was selected as Principal, earned her Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from NAU, became a mother to Alex (3 years old) and led AmeriSchools to reach improved academic goals each year. DeeAnn has introduced the World Famous FISH! Philosophy, expanded implementation of Spalding Language Arts, supported school-wide music and physical education programs and created a family friendly learning community. DeeAnn leads by example and demonstrates daily how we each make a difference in the lives of children.

via Phoenix Charter School

The effect of your URL structure on your Google rankings

2009-09-25T08:38:00-07:00

Does Google care about the position of a web page on your server? Does it make a difference if a web page is in the root directory of your website or in a sub directory? How does your URL structure influence the position of your web pages in Google's search results?

Trailing slashes and sub directories

A popular assumption is that Google prefers pages that are in the root directory of a website.

If an URL contains many trailing slashes (meaning the page is placed in a sub-sub-directory) then Google might not think that the page is important in relation to the other pages.

Although this statement is often repeated in SEO forums, it is probably not true.

The visibility of a web page counts, not its position

If a web page is linked throughout your website and if the page has inbound links then the web page will be indexed and ranked by Google without any problems.

Most web pages on today's websites are created dynamically and the URL that is displayed in a web browser presents only a virtual site structure that is not really available on the server.

As there are no real folders on the server, search engines won't find a valuable ranking signal if they look at things like presence or absence of directories.

What does this mean for your website?

If you want to show search engines that a page on your website is important, link to it from many other pages of your website so that it can easily be found.

A page that gets many links (both from your own website and from other websites) will get the attention that it deserves from Google's indexing robot.

When you should care about the structure of your URLs

1. URL stripping can cause problems

Rumor has it that Google uses URL stripping to index web pages. That means that Google shortens the path to an URL to find new pages on a site. For example, "www.example.com/folder/keyword.htm" would be shortened to "www.example.com/folder/".

If you use dynamically created URLs then you should make sure that all virtual folders return real web pages a "404 not found" pages. Otherwise, Google might think that you have many faulty pages and/or that your website has a low quality.

2. Shorter URLs can be better for your website visitors

Although most web surfers don't pay attention to the URL in the browser address bar, shorter URLs can enhance the user experience. Shorter URLs are easier to remember and they can improve the direct type-in traffic.

3. Short URLs get more clicks

A search marketing study found out that web surfers clicked short URLs twice as often as long URLs in Google's search results. Long URLs are cut off in Google search engine result pages. Web surfers cannot see where they are going to go and this can decrease the click-through rate.

4. The URLs of your web pages can contain your keywords

The words that appear in the URL of a web page can influence the position of the web page for these words. For that reason, it can make sense to rewrite your URLs so that they include the keywords for which you want to have high rankings.
Article from the weekly newsletter of IBusiness Promoter. Download a free copy here.

What do search engine marketers think about reciprocal links?

2009-09-23T08:47:51-07:00

There are three main factions:

Group 1: reciprocal links have no effect at all on the position of a website in the search results on Google.

Group 2: reciprocal links work just like any other inbound links.

Group 3: there's a threshold value. For example, you shouldn't have more than 33% reciprocal inbound links.

Which group is right and should you use reciprocal links with your website or not?

Is there a threshold value for reciprocal links?

Webmasters in group 3 think that a high number of reciprocal links is a red flag for search engines. The idea behind this is that links should not be trusted if (for example) 100% of a site's inbound links are reciprocal.

However, this is not really a good indicator. If high quality websites do link to each other, they won't harm their rankings in any way.

For some sites, it is normal to have a high reciprocity percentage

Link building expert Eric Ward recently did a test. He found out that there are websites for which it is perfectly normal that they have almost 100% reciprocal links.

The more specific the topic of a website is, the more likely it is that it will have a high reciprocity percentage. As an example, Eric Ward used the website of "The Southeastern Bat Diversity Network", an organization with a goal to "conserve bats and their habitats in southeastern North America through collaborative research, education, and management."

The top sites in that subject are all linked back and forth to all other websites that write about bats. This is not surprising and it shows that a high number of reciprocal links can also be a sign of high quality. It depends on the topic of the website.

If the websites were about different topics, then the reciprocal links would look suspicious.

Should you use reciprocal links for your website or not?

You don't have to worry if a link is a reciprocal link or not. That does not matter. Reciprocal links are neither good nor bad. They are just links and it always depends on the individual link whether it is a good link or a bad link.

If a link comes from a website that is related to your website then it is a good link. If the other website is related to yours then you can link back and this won't cause any problems. As long as you make sure that the links make sense to your website visitors then everything is okay.

You can use IBP's link building tool to get links to your website. IBP can help you with one-way links, reciprocal links, links from blogs, links from related websites, links from Internet directories and much more. It is a spam-free link building tool that helps you to get high quality links.

The effect of your URL structure on your Google rankings

2009-09-08T19:19:00-07:00

Trailing slashes and sub directories

A popular assumption is that Google prefers pages that are in the root directory of a website.

If an URL contains many trailing slashes (meaning the page is placed in a sub-sub-directory) then Google might not think that the page is important in relation to the other pages.

Although this statement is often repeated in SEO forums, it is probably not true.

The visibility of a web page counts, not its position

If a web page is linked throughout your website and if the page has inbound links then the web page will be indexed and ranked by Google without any problems.

Most web pages on today's websites are created dynamically and the URL that is displayed in a web browser presents only a virtual site structure that is not really available on the server.

As there are no real folders on the server, search engines won't find a valuable ranking signal if they look at things like presence or absence of directories.

What does this mean for your website?

If you want to show search engines that a page on your website is important, link to it from many other pages of your website so that it can easily be found.

A page that gets many links (both from your own website and from other websites) will get the attention that it deserves from Google's indexing robot.

When you should care about the structure of your URLs

1. URL stripping can cause problems

Rumor has it that Google uses URL stripping to index web pages. That means that Google shortens the path to an URL to find new pages on a site. For example, "www.example.com/folder/keyword.htm" would be shortened to "www.example.com/folder/".

If you use dynamically created URLs then you should make sure that all virtual folders return real web pages a "404 not found" pages. Otherwise, Google might think that you have many faulty pages and/or that your website has a low quality.

2. Shorter URLs can be better for your website visitors

Although most web surfers don't pay attention to the URL in the browser address bar, shorter URLs can enhance the user experience. Shorter URLs are easier to remember and they can improve the direct type-in traffic.

3. Short URLs get more clicks

A search marketing study found out that web surfers clicked short URLs twice as often as long URLs in Google's search results. Long URLs are cut off in Google search engine result pages. Web surfers cannot see where they are going to go and this can decrease the click-through rate.

4. The URLs of your web pages can contain your keywords

The words that appear in the URL of a web page can influence the position of the web page for these words. For that reason, it can make sense to rewrite your URLs so that they include the keywords for which you want to have high rankings.
Article from the weekly newsletter of IBusiness Promoter. Download a free copy here.

Applying Resources: Arizona SEO

2009-07-15T08:12:21-07:00

Despite popular belief, search engine optimization can not help in making an internet based business successful all by itself. Though there are many successful internet millionaires, the vast majority web-based businesses fail and this illustrates the point that much more planning and strategy goes into their success than the media portrays. Search engine optimization is a massive time consuming and energy consuming effort and Arizona SEO exemplifies this. Most start up companies lack the resources to do SEO in house and for a company just starting out, it would not be wise to dedicate this much when there are other problems to tackle.

Safe and Simple Solution: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

2009-06-25T16:32:57-07:00

There is a safe and simple solution to the common problem of benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostate). There is an innovative treatment option that can relieve benign prostatic hyperplasia symptoms in a single office visit. Yes, I said a single office visit and it’s a non-surgical treatment option. Check with your urologist and see if Cooled ThermoTherapy from Urologix is right for you. Not all treatment options are right for everyone. That is why you need to check with your urologist to check if this one is right for you. Over 225,000¹ (and growing) men have opted for this treatment method for their enlarged prostate.

Cooled ThermoTherapyTM is available by prescription only. This therapy is not for everyone. Talk to your physician to see if Cooled ThermoTherapy is right for you.

Most medical procedures may have side effects. Possible side effects for Cooled ThermoTherapy include blood in urine, clots in urine, painful or difficult urination, thickened bladder muscle, rectal irritation, temporary inability to control urination, brief inability to achieve or maintain an erection and the inability to discharge semen in orgasm thus should be considered by men who wish to have further offspring. A small risk of urethral stricture may result requiring further intervention. Patients may experience discomfort during the procedure that may require the use of analgesics or sedatives. Patients may be catheterized for a 2 to 5 day period following the treatment².

For more complete information about the benefits and risks associated with Cooled ThermoTherapy please refer to the Instructions for Use found on our website at www.cooledthermotherapy.com or call us at 1.800.475.1403.

1 Data on file at Urologix. www.urologix.com
2 Data taken from the CTC Advance® Instructions for Use, 250348 Rev B 12/08.

7 steps to quickly generating traffic to your site

2009-06-10T17:42:07-07:00

What is more important to your Business?

Long term relationships or long term traffic?

In marketing online there is a difference. Social media marketing is about being in a conversation. You have to engage your customers. This is a long term commitment that will pay off long term dividends as you establish yourself as an expert in the field and network yourself into relationships. Stop working it and you are quickly forgotten.

Search engine optimization builds Long term traffic but it takes time to get established and work to get good rankings.

With this article I will try to give you a jump start to the types of activities you can do to increase traffic and to increase your rankings in the SERP’s.

SEO is based on 3 principals.

1. TOPIC: Every page must have a singular topic with copy that supports the topic. This includes related keywords being used on the page. The title of the page is what establishes the topic.
2. REPUTATION: Each link from within your site must use the keyword that defines your topic when it links to the page. If you link using the wrong word you confuse the engines.
3. CONFIRMATION: Links from 3rd party sites must use the same keyword topic when linking to a page. This confirms for the search engines what the page is about.

Spend the time needed to get the right keywords. Write titles, descriptions and related keywords for each page.
Install a text link at the bottom of each page linking to a site map. On the site map link every page topic to the appropriate page.
On all links that go to password protected pages or pages that don't need to be found: IE contact us, search and terms and conditions, put a <nofollow> tag from every page. This stops the engines from giving the Google juice to them.

Now the work begins.

1. Set up and make a commitment to blog. Something like blog.yourdomain.com Add at least 2-3 posts per week. Here are the minimum requirements for writing a blog post.

Match the SEO plan pages/keywords to the topic of the post.

The post must have a title that includes but does not start with the keyword phrase.
The post must be at least 100 words.
The keyword Phrase must be included in the post.
The keyword phrase can not start or end any paragraph.
Must be conversational.

2. Set up a linked in account. Use the links in it to link back to your site. Use a keyword, not just the default my website. Here is a sample - mine. http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrylmickelson Download the toolbar. Search your contacts from the tool bar and invite everyone. In a week or 2 you will have a decent size network. Start searching for people in the businesses you want to connect to. Want to reach the CEO of ReMax or Intel? Search and ask.

3. Create a Facebook page and invite friends/family to be your friend. Add your blog's rss feed so that every time you post to it, it appears on Facebook. Makes it "in your face" book.

4. Search for blogs at http://blogsearch.google.com/ Make a comment on related blogs. Where it asks for your name, use a keyword and link back to your site. If you make good intelligent comments that get you in the conversation webmasters have no problem with this. Spam them and you are wasting your time.

5. Sign up for twitter. Put your twitter address in every email sig file. Search for others in the industry. Follow them. Tweet frequently letting your personality come out. Don't try sell anything or put links to your site in all of your messages. Set this up on your phone and tweet a couple times per day. This is about building relationships 140 characters at a time. http://twitter.com/pageviews

6. Post to Craigs List http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites Pick a county, pick a city write an ad. Make it fun. Tell people about what you have to offer. Post in the appropriate section(s). Make each ad unique or they get flagged and you get banned.

7. Rinse and repeat. Depending on how fast you write, you should be able to start driving a bunch of traffic and links to your site within a couple of weeks at no cost other than 10+ hours per week.

These instructions are not meant to be all inclusive of every site and were originally written for a company that is in the business of Real Estate Auctions.