So here I’ve compiled a list of some of the biggest and brightest minds and names in the industry. I tried to compile a list of SEOs on Google+ and beyond who are the best possible mix of activity, authority and social skills.

Top SEOs on Google Plus

In no particular order, here’s my list of the best SEOs on Google+

	Rand Fishkin – Google+ Profile
	Justin Briggs – Google+ Profile
	John Doherty – Google+ Profile
	Michael King – Google+ Profile
	Avinash Kaushik – Google+ Profile
	Will Critchlow – Google+ Profile
	Tom Critchlow – Google+ Profile
	Jon Cooper – Google+ Profile
	Dan Shure – Google+ Profile
	Neil Patel – Google+ Profile

Google+ is already adding a new element to sharing online, and offers another way of accessing content, influence other users and use the Google+ Platform in your SEO campaigns. You can’t do these by lurking in the background, you’ll need to add those who are both authorities and active themselves to your circles, and get interacting.

I know it’s hard adding new people one by one, so I’ve created a premade SEO Google + Circle (https://plus.google.com/113460065390054689377/posts/9XF8HX2zrok) that holds all of the guys above and a few more SEOs on Google+ that create great content and provide some amazing insights to inbound marketing.

While you’re there why not add my profile +Andrew Isidoro? Though I only post on SEOfosho a few times a week, I’m a big social media user and love a good +1 share.

If you think I’ve left anyone off the top 10 SEOs on Google+ list, feel free to leave me a comment below.

10 Must Follow SEOs on Google+ written by SEOfosho - Natural Search

In comparison to the iPhone, the Android market has been lacking in SEO applications. It doesn’t really have the same calibre of SEO apps, but at least with these Android SEO tools you can spend your time playing with your new Christmas tablet more wisely.

Now with your Android smart phone you can monitor campaign progress, check up on your competitors and analyse websites with these Android SEO apps available from the marketplace.

SiteRank

This app is useful in retrieving Google Page Rank as well as the Alexa Page Rank of a particular website and even keeps a historical view of your searches. The paid pro version has a range of extra features including the internal and external links of the website and option to do a whois on the domain. Not a bad little app for £4.99.

Keyword Checker

This handy Android SEO tool allows you to enter a website, and then proceeds to scan it looking for keywords – once it completes the scan, it returns the top one, two, and three phrase keywords on the site searched.
The information can be quite though it can be quite hard to read, as it’s basically just a wall of text.

SEO Automatic

If you’re looking for professional level SEO tools for Android, the SEO Automatic app isn’t a bad addition to your kit. The app scans the source code of a website, and lets you know if you have certain tags in place, such as the h1 tag, or if you have titles set up for images. Though the data it provides is quite basic, as it doesn’t show any raw data.

SEO SERP Tracker

A simple SERP tracker app, this handy Android SEO app allows you to check your website rank in search engine. It took a little time for the process to finish but it’s an easy way to get rankings on the move.

SEMTab SEO Pro

Probably my favourite SEO app for Android, this is an all-in-one tool in determining domain rankings as it provides Google page ranks (PR), Alexa rank, inbound links, back links plus social media metrics and information from Facebook, Twitter and Delicious. Even though it’s a paid app, it’s $1.99 worth spending.

SEO Tools for Android

It gives you the Google Pagerank, number of pages indexed by Google, Yahoo and Bing,the number of backlinks according to these search engines and the Alexa rank. One feature of this app is clicking on any of the metrics will send you to the page it found it from, for example click Yahoo links will sent you to the Yahoo Site Explorer (This needs to be changed to a Yahoo Site Explorer Alternative now though).

PhoneMyPC

Not technically an SEO app, but it’s so useful I’m going to add it in anyway. With this great application you can access your PC from anywhere and use all the SEO software you wouldn’t normally have access to while on the move. One of the must have SEO tools for Android and probably the best $9.99 I’ve spent in my life.

The above Android SEO tools are a great addition to the marketplace, though they are still limited. Hopefully some of the bigger SEO players will enter the Android market as well (I’m looking at you SEOMoz).

Android SEO Apps and Tools to Supercharge Your Tablet written by SEOfosho - Natural Search

Of course, the influence measurement is guided by the company’s own definitions and interpretations. Currently, Klout scores are determined by the secret Klout algorithm in terms of a user’s “ability to drive action”.

Here lies my problem with using Klout as a measurement of social media influence .

Imagine if you will a new company, We’ll call it Business X, offering a similar service claiming to be the ultimate benchmark for your influence online. Business X has an algorithm that adds your number of Twitter followers to your number of Facebook friends, multiplied by the number of social interactions and add six to give you your Business X Score to measure your social media influence.

Compare this scenario to what we have from Klout, does it offer any more insight to how influential you are on social media than your Klout score? – As far as you know, no.

Without knowing what exactly the algorithm tracks and how, the whole process is useless. In fact as far as any of us know, Klout use the same bullshit algorithm that Business X does with new number replacing six each day to give the appearance that something scientific is going on.

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However, even if we did know more about their algorithm and the process that Klout uses to determine social media influence, there are still factors that make me question it’s usefulness.

Firstly, as an SEO, I’ve interacted with many new people on Twitter, Facebook and other networks. Some are even friendly enough to dispense with the public forum of a social network and drop me a private message or an email from time to time. Now surely that level of engagement is likely to carry many times more weight than conversations happening publicly on a social network.

Secondly, Klout tells us that they “believe” that online influence is seen via the profile’s ability to drive action but what we continue to see is greater importance put on the network size of an individual and the low engagement interactions that come with such numbers. The quality of  content should not be the goal for online interactivity but according to Klout the content created by spam profiles (such as the one below) is among one that drives the most action.

The whole raison d’etre of social media influence is the ability of one person to affect the thoughts and choices made by their community, and the ability to grow that community organically, not just to be measured by the ability of one to obtain followers without any engagement at all.

I personally do believe Social Media is in need for a tool that would measure online influence but I feel that Klout is not it. For me, the whole package lacks too much and Klout themselves share much too little. The people on social web and the relationships that connect them are much too complex to be broken down to a single score. (If you have another opinion, feel free to let me know).

You are not a number. You are as unique online as you are in the real world. You are intricate and complex, and until there is something more complete, step away from your Klout Score and get on with the job of building real social media influence within your networks.

Social Media Influence and Klout: You Are Not A Number written by SEOfosho - Natural Search

As of 21 November 2011, Yahoo! Site Explorer is no more. This means webmasters and SEOs will not have what has been the go-to place for free competitive link data since it began in 2005.

So it seems that you will need to turn elsewhere for link intelligence data from now on, but the big question is: What Yahoo Site Explorer Alternatives are out there?

Luckily, there are still a number of excellent Yahoo Site Explorer alternatives available. Here are the three tools that I use on a daily basis and highly recommend.

If you are serious about SEO and backlink analysis, then you’ll need to have the right tools under your belt and these premium SEO and Link Analysis tools are some of the best:

Raven SEO Tools

Raven Tools

Raven Tools provides a collection of SEO tools that will help you analyze, create, manage and generally run your SEO campaigns. The link research and analysis tool combines the power of SEMRush and SEOmoz link data into one  epic tool, making it one of the most formidable tools available for Link Analysis. Prices start at $99 a month but try them out and see what you think.

It’s well worth signing up for their free 30 day trial regardless - http://www.raventools.com

Open Site Explorer

Open Site Explorer (SEOmoz Premium)

If you have never heard of SEOMoz and Open Site Explorer, you have surely been living under a rock. These guys really are the balls when it comes to SEO Tools. The whole package gives you a great overall seo toolkit but Open Site Explorer is surely the jewel in the crown. Offering vital statistics such as Domain Authority and their very own Moz Rank, you can really drum up some serious backlink analysis.

If you don’t believe me, sign-up for their free 30 day trial, and have a go yourself – http://www.seomoz.org

Majestic SEO

MajesticSEO

Over the past year or so, I have been using Majestic SEO more aand more. It has quickly become one of my favourite SEO tools that can help you conduct any number of research/analysis campaigns. I’m especially impressed with the amount of data it can pull in compared to other tools.

It’s well worth signing up for their free version, just to try out what they have to offer – http://www.majesticseo.com

Now that YSE is no more, I would highly recommend looking into one of these Yahoo Site Explorer alternatives. Whether you are a novice SEO just starting out or are more advanced make sure you grab one (or better a mixture) of these great tools to make your analysis that bit better!

I am curious to see what SEO Tools you guys use or are going to be using? Let me know your tips below.

What Yahoo Site Explorer Alternatives are there? written by SEOfosho - Natural Search

Guest blogging offers a great means of building up your SEO with quality links and offers both parties a win-win situation. The blogger gets great content that can be monetised and you get those all important links for your post panda SEO campaign. What’s more, by building long-term lasting relationships through a good blogger outreach plan, you can even generate further link building opportunities in the future.

While blogger outreach is a great source of links, scouring the web for opportunities can be quite the daunting task if you don’t have a good plan to back it up. So here in this blog post, I’ve laid out my guide to putting your blogger outreach plan into action. Blogger outreach is hard work, it will take countless hours and you’ll send a mind-numbing amount of emails in the process but keep in mind the ideas below, and you’ll get those positive responses in your inbox in no time!

• Prospecting relevant blogs

No-one understands your target audience as well as you do (if this isn’t the case, you have bigger worries than blogger outreach techniques) and you should be able to create useful content fairly easily.

The prospective websites you are looking for are relevant bloggers who have a history of accepting guest posts previously. Quality and relevance are what we’re looking for here. after all, if you’re going to spend the time to create some killer content, you want some decent link juice for it right?

Short-list a small number of relevant blogs who have previously accepted guest posts, about twenty should work, and spend the time personalising each and every email you send them. Personalised engagement and communication is the silver bullet to a high response and adoption rate.

• Engaging the blogger
  

Most bloggers have their name and email address loud and clear on their blog. For those more, anonymous bloggers, make sure to first check their social media accounts (especially Twitter and Facebook) for their names and emails. You’d be surprised by the number of times I found the info I needed in their Twitter bio or Facebook info section, rather than on their blog.  Marcus Taylor at SEOptimise, identified that some bloggers will openly state on their blogs how they like to be contacted, and may push you towards their preferred channel of communication.

The search for a blogger’s name and/or email should only last about a minute but it’s a minute that’s well worth taking. No-one likes an impersonal email, and in the age of social media accounts, WHOis and other quick identifiers, you should be able to find a name for a good portion of your shortlist.

Another thing to keep in mind is the trusted ego boost. As an SEO, the art of schmoozing should be front and centre in  your messages, and when you think about it, which of these messages would you respond to?

1. “Dear Webmaster, I love your SEO blog.”
2. “Hello Andrew, I’ve been reading one of your awesome blog posts on Google punishing the SEO of AdSense users and I loved it!”

If you didn’t choose the second option, I’d seriously recommend a trip to the doctors as you may have a severe mental illness that’s going to need medical attention.

• Keep in touch

Once you have managed to knock out a quality guest post on a shortlisted blog, try and keep up the relationship with the owner so as to make the job easier next time. After all, who knows when you might have another opportunity to create content that would be perfect for the targeted blog.

• Dealing with rejection

A great tip from a previous Distilled blogpost, outlined that receiving an objection to your proposal is not the end of the conversation. It is just the beginning. They have just offered you the perfect excuse to contact the blogger again but this time addressing their issues with your idea gives you something solid and personal to base the conversation on.

At the end of the day, your blogger outreach plan needs to keep in mind that you’re dealing with people here, and unlike 90% of others on the web, these guys are getting crappy link building emails hundreds of times a day. Don’t be just another spam email. Be yourself and stand out from the pack by being honest and succinct in your emails. Effective blogger outreach isn’t always easy, but realising that there is more to securing a guest post than spraying and praying is the first step in building effective outreach campaigns.

For further tips on constructing an outreach email, have a look at Hubspots’s great “How to Use Guest Blogging for Effective Link Building” post.

Tell me all about your own blogger outreach successes and failures below or drop me a message via my Twitter at @andrew_isidoro!

Blogger Outreach: A Guide to Guest Posting written by SEOfosho - Natural Search

Is this true? Apparently not.

Does this surprise me? Nope.

Since the sledgehammer that was the Google Panda update, we’ve been told time and time again that good content and user experience is the key to good rankings, and AdSense is certainly does not shout good user experience to me.

I mean, what possible positive does a user get from crappy looking ads and equally shit graphics clogging up their view of the content?

They get in the way, they are often either animated to distract you from the content or worse mistaken for useful navigation links. All in all, they suck big time.

Evidence suggests that for onsite SEO, AdSense is a negative ranking factor.

Google keep a close eye on sites with AdSense, and SEOMoz have even found that web pages that are filled with AdSense Adverts tend to not rank as well as pages with fewer AdSense slots.

With a correlation with the amount of space on your website that is taken up by AdSense, it’s clear that Google, pervayor of all things white-hat and ethical on the web, has created a product that is used by millions of websites that it feels detracts from the user experience. Now I’m not Alan Sugar but does that sound a bit odd to you?

Though a strange idea, it completely makes sense. Crappy websites tend to run crappy AdSense ads, and Google has recognised it. But what sort of business punishes it’s users for using its product?

Advertising on social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, is becoming more and more popular with advertising revenue at Facebook expected to pass the £1bn mark in 2011 for the first time. Just as Google threatened Facebook with Google +, Facebook is fighting back with PPC.

Those of you who recall the marketing hype around the concept of banner advertising will remember that over a period of time CTR’s dropped, and dropped, and dropped, and dropped…

This is where my main question lies. In the long-term web users will become accustomed to, and immune to, the power of AdWords, just as we did with banners. Let’s face it, it happened with print, it’s happening with TV and it will eventually happen to AdWords. It’s an inevitability unless the presentation, delivery and formats available for Adwords change to keep up with the progress of time, technology and trends. But how can Google ensure a long term growth strategy for it’s PPC product when it’s penalising those it aims to serve?

I’d love to hear your views. Do you think Google are harming their bottom line by punishing the SEO of AdSense users?

Are Google punishing the SEO of AdSense users? written by SEOfosho - Natural Search

Once upon a time, SEO was a very different kettle of fish. Back in the day It was considered acceptable to throw together a quick crappy article on “How to get cheap garden furniture” and send it off to a load of article directories for a few quick links. It was okay to submit your website to 1000+ general directories with perfect anchor text, hell, there was even software for it (and still is). But now with Panda’s multiple updates, Google have quite rightly seen the error of their ways and finally woke up to the fact that this kind of absolute stool was not remotely helpful to users, and have now adjusted the algorithm accordingly.

The SEO landscape has changed and the big G has been banging on about high-quality relevant content ever since. So with article directories, content farms and link wheels being discounted left, right and centre, it would be mad to continue with plugging away at the old well long after the water had dried up.

The panda update has been received with mixed feelings. For many SEO’s it has been a blessing in seeing the error of their ways and with everybody in the same boat, allowed new, old and superstar Search Marketers to come together and discuss their ideas for the winding path ahead. For others though, it stung…it fact it hurt really bad.

Now with Panda rolled out worldwide, this leaves Google’s next step purely speculation, but you can bet your ass that it’s going to be social. It’s going to be relevancy of links. And you can count on the next major update to stomp on any remaining “content for contents sake” pages and domains that made it through.

So how should I do SEO in the post-panda environment?

• Guest Blogging

Move away from crappy devalued directories and articles. You have to intensify your link building efforts in other areas. Guest blogging is one area which immediately springs to mind, and one that is not as hard as you think. Build yourself a strong blogger outreach plan, find yourself a relevant blog and begin interacting. Leave a few worthwhile comments on their blog. Use twitter and other social media to connect to them and offer your amazing guest post idea. There are even guest blog communities that can help in finding opportunities.

Now this is by no means an easy feat, and it won’t happen overnight (and if it does you may want to check the profile of the website before submitting to check it’s the real deal), but with some decent pieces of content that bloggers will actually want to feature you can gain some really good links from high-authority blogs which have a great readership.

• Pimp Your Content

Crap content just won’t cut it anymore. You really need to be spending your time creating some epic content that your users will not only want to see but link to as a great resource. What’s more, you’ll need to take a long hard look through your old posts and pages to clear any junk you’ve got lying around. You will need to learn how to judge the quality of content and remove any low quality or thin content that fails to impress.

• Don’t Over Do Your SEO

It’s not an unreasonable assumption that if all your links were followed you should rank well. But this tends not to be the case. Why I hear you ask?

Two words: Domain Diversity.

Web sites that rank well will have a lot of links and will have a wide range too, be them followed or no-followed, redirected or seriously optimised anchor links from some cool sources to create their a diverse overall link profile, and that’s what you’re going to have to do.

At the end of the day, be it followed or not, if you feel that the page is of adequate quality and is relevant to your website, then why the hell not get a link from them. We’ve all seen the back link profile of an SEO’d web site that are working too hard on SEO to build perfect anchor text do-followed links. What Google is looking for is a natural profile and you’re not going to be able to create that without making a conscious effort to think natural.

And last but by no means least:

• Read more stuff

There are some pretty epic SEO communities, there are great SEO twitterholics and there are shitloads of useful SEO websites out there that can help keep you up to date with the latest in the SEO world. As a blogger I’ll try and broadcast everything I learn, hear or think about an idea but you’ll need to be reading much more than pre-panda days…especially in the short term if you want to keep up.

Fight the Panda: Post-Google Panda SEO Tips written by SEOfosho - Natural Search