I thought it somewhat comical the likely obsession for BlueGlass is reading (book), while it displayed a teddy bear for SEOmoz (?).

This deck from Rand is a good read for startups and businesses new to the concept of inbound marketing.

What I liked about it: Rand clearly denotes that SEO is not inbound marketing, but a tactic utilized for inbound marketing.

Inbound Marketing – any tactic that earns visitor interest, instead of buying it.

The Rapportive add-on for gmail helps connect you with your contacts on other social networks.

Once installed for either Chrome, Firefox, Mailplane and/or Safari (sorry IE users), Rapportive will sniff out your contacts on other networks; giving you the option to connect with them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more.

Additionally, once connected you can view their status updates within the Gmail interface.

I’ve been using Rapportive a few months now, and have been able to quickly connect with people on other networks without leaving Gmail. Hence, increasing connectability with clients, associates, friends and family.

Rapportive’s functionality can be expanded by use of Raplets; which deliver added functionality from sources like MailChimp and CrunchBase.

Install Rapportive for Chrome, Firefox, MailPlane and Safari

Author Information: Jtree is a SEO Company Based in Boise, Idaho

When performing a branded search for a company in Google you may have noticed something like the following display at the top of search engine results:

Optimized Site Links Example

Google will attempt to display an expanded business listing like the one above when someone is searching for a specific business (branded search).

Expanded business listings, or Site Links, provide additional information about the business being searched for.

Pay close attention to the few words below each Site Link. Notice how the words are descriptive in regard to each specific Site Link.

Optimized Site Links

In most cases, those few words below each Site Link are typically pulled from the Meta Description of each corresponding page. So, if you’ve been optimizing your Meta Descriptions all along, you are most likely in good shape or off to a good start. If you have duplicate Meta Descriptions in place this is where things could get a little sloppy (see below example).

Everything but those few words below each Site Link is determined by Google, which attempts to utilize popular or high ranking pages or posts as Site Links. Site Links seem to be changing on a semi-frequent basis, which means it would be a good idea to optimize all Meta Descriptions for use in Site Links.

Non-Optimized Site Links Example

Ignoring that the above example is actually a Boise SEO company (tisk tisk), pay close attention to the duplicate Site Link descriptions. Also, ignore the excessively long title tag for the homepage which obviously goes beyond 60 characters (sheesh). I’m picking on Tribute a little because they ‘tried’ to emulate the page title of Jtree.net. All things considered, if they ever read this it’s free SEO consulting. You’re welcome!

How to Optimize Your Website for Site Links

Since you don’t have control over what pages are selected as Site Links by Google, you might as well optimize Meta Descriptions site-wide, or for at least your top 20 pages.

• Optimize Site Links by optimizing Meta Descriptions for each page (yes, old skool SEO)
• Optimize Meta-Descriptions by focusing on the use of descriptive words at the start of each description (see Jtree example above)
• Check on Your Site Links on a semi-frequent basis as they are subject to change

Caveat

In some instances, Google may use actual text from your page instead of text from the page’s Meta Description. If this occurs, it will be up to you to locate the on-page text and optimze it for Site Links.

If you have any questions about Site Link optimization, SEO and/or Internet Marketing please contact Jtree.

About the Author

Josh has been in the search engine marketing and optimization field since the late 90s, spent time in San Francisco with one of the few Y2K .com survivors and is the founder of Jtree.net – Provider of SEO, PPC and Internet Marketing Consulting Services. He has over a decade’s worth of experience blending code and content for over 100 companies and agencies. Learn More…

• Facebook Event Page (please RSVP)
• SEOinBOI Facebook Fan Page
• Event Information on Jtree

Google +1 Buttons for Web Publishers (and SEOs)

Google has released a variety of Google +1 buttons, similar to those currently in use by Facebook and Twitter. The +1 buttons provide a way for visitors to endorse and share web pages, blog posts and articles. Use of +1 buttons currently does not effect search engine rankings.

Get the Google +1 Button Code!

Where we rank companies that offer SEO as a service in the Boise, Idaho area based-on their ability to achieve top search engine rankings  for the keyphrase “boise seo” in Google.

If you are trying to find a reputable SEO to help improve the keyphrase rankings of your website(s), identifying one that has achieved good rankings for their own website is your first step. If an SEO can’t get their own website to rank, chances are they won’t be able to get your website to rank either.

Learn more about how to hire a credible SEO with the SEO Hiring Guide.

9th Edition Boise SEO Rankings

Instead of attempting to display ranking information for all of the SEO companies we track (and we track ALL of them), the format of the Boise SEO Ranking Updates features the top 5 SEOs that rank for the keyphrase “boise seo” in Google.

The Top 5 SEOs listing below identifies the SEOs in Boise that have the best keyphrase rankings in Google for the keyphrase “boise seo”. We selected “boise seo” because it is a top keyphrase for Boise’s local SEO market industry, and we wanted the results verifiable.

Top 7 SEOs Graph

The Top 5 SEOs in Google for “boise seo”

1. Jtree.net [previously #2]
2. BoiseSEO.com (not to be confused with this website – which was acquired and in-use years before Boise Online Mall launched BoiseSEO.com) [previously not ranked]
3. SEOBoise.com (this website) [previously #1]
4. Cendesic [previously #5]
5. Valitics [previously not ranked]

Honorable Mention

• Tsuvo (#6)
• Nerdy Dragon (#7)

Note: Scores are a measure of visibility – where larger scores represent top keyphrase rankings. Ranking data for score assignment is queried directly from Google and is freely available to the general public.

SEO Boise (.com) is operated by Jtree.net, a Boise, Idaho based SEO, PPC and Social Internet Marketing consulting firm that has provided services to over 80 companies and agencies over the last 10 years.

• Google Talks Local Search Relevance Factors – Key factors are relevance, prominence and distance
• Google Reveals New Social Site Links – Your social media friends as Google Site Links in search resutls; further integration of Social Media into Search
• New Ranking Signal to Consider – Essentially due to a recent story circulating about a business claiming to utilize negative reviews to boost their ranking in Google
• US Online Advertising Expected to Continue Growing
• New Google Keyword Tool Filtering and Refinement Options
• Embeddable Music, TV Shows, Slides and More Now on Twitter
• Who Needs a Website These Days Anyway?
• Google + Bing Confirm that Twitter/Facebook Influence SEO

In order to increase your earnings with Google’s advertising network, AdSense, you first need to understand how the Google AdSense Ad Auction works.

Watch the video below to learn more about the AdSense Ad Auction from Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist.

This video makes it easier to understand just how volatile something like landing page quality is. I run a website that receives approximately 15-25K unique visitors during the warmer months and 7-12K/month the rest of the year. Just recently, I focused on improving the quality of all landing pages that contain AdSense ads and nearly doubled my earnings.

Also note the similarities to the Google AdWords PPC Ad Auction:

1. Quality Score
   A. Ad’s past performance
   B. Ad relevancy between ad keywords and landing page keywords
   C. Landing page quality
2. Ad Rank
   Ad Rank = MAX CPC X Quality Score

I like how (just like in the AdWords Ad Auction) a lower bidding ad can show above a higher bidding ad by utilizing quality landing pages and focusing on keyphrase relevancy. This means you don’t have to necessarily outbid your competitors to get the top spot; just run a quality campaign (don’t be evil).

Optimize AdSense

Your best bet for improving your AdSense earnings is to optimize your landing pages that contain AdSense ads.

Aside from focusing on key SEO metrics to improve the quality of your page, you may need to investigate usability testing (start with a Google Analytics heat map), ad placement testing (to determine optimal ad placement) and more. Lower those bounce rates and boost time on site!