David Harry - Trail of the Fire Horse

Making sense of real-time social search

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:48:46 +0100

Going beyond the catch phrases Ok, since I wrote the post last week about �real time� search engines I�ve had more than a few interesting convos and was even contacted by one engine purporting to be a �social search engine� which is a term we�ve not heard much of since last year. One thing is for sure� the terminology is just whacked out there� there is no real semblance of order to any of it. So WTF is going on with all of this? Has last year�s catch phrase �social search� become this year�s, �real-time search�? Seems that way� so let me give you my perspective;

Guest post on Search Engine People

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:01:09 +0100

Just a quick head's up to let you know that I took part in Search Engine People's - Experts Week; International SEO - series. The timing is kind of funny in that Monica's guest post yesterday was on the same topic... Local SEO is in the swing this week for sure...Anyway, be sure to head over and read; Geo-targeted SEO; a technical review (http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/geo-targeted-seo-the-technical-review.html) (and certainly feel free to pimp it... Tweet it, Stumble and Sphinn it m'kay?)Ciao... have a great day!

International SEO Made Easy

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:51:26 +0100

9 Tips to Get You Jet setting in No Time (the following is a guest post from Monica Wright) I have been asked recently about some of the best practices for international SEO (aka geo-targeting). Being a modern day socialite, I did what came naturally... I reached out on Twitter and a number conversations including @seomenno (http://twitter.com/seomenno) in Utrecht, Netherlands and @grosenfriis (http://twitter.com/GrosenFriis) in Copenhagen, Denmark, ( and even Lee Odden pitched in). Together we came up with some of the simplest aspects of getting your local SEO efforts in order.

Another year on the Trail

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:08:15 +0100

3 years and I still won�t shut up Well it�s that time again� a blogging anniversary. If you�ve ever wondered about the screwed up domain name (HuoMah = FireHorse) be sure to see last years post� (http://www.huomah.com/News/Latest/The-Anniversary-Post.html) We�ve now logged more than 450 posts (yea slowed down a bit) and over 1600 comments (and thousands of spam ones deleted). Over the last year we had more than 85 000 visitors and 130 000 page views (not including the Dojo). We also had more than 2 dozen fine folks as guest riders on the Trail to bring new life to my tired old banter. What is most interesting at the end of the day is the fact that people actually enjoy some of the geekier stuff and come back for more. I�ve done less ranting and more musing and digging than in the past on...

Real time search engines; should SEOs care?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:41:08 +0100

The hype and the reality (Update: more rambling on the topic my latest post on real time social search (http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Search-Engine-Optimization/Making-sense-of-real-time-social-search.html)) One of the more popular buzz words in search over the last while is �real time search�. For starters, that�s a bit of a misnomer; there are NO actual �real time� engines� that�s simply not possible (even Twitter search updates in intervals not entirely �real time�). Regardless, people keep getting worked up about this particular area to the point of wondering how it will affect SEO efforts. Last week the folks at Media Post contacted me for some quotable quips (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=108739) for a piece on real-time search and (One Riot�s) PulseRank. They wanted to know if SEOs were considering this the �wave of the future� or something new to the lexicon. For their part, One Riot has said, We believe PulseRank...

Will PulseRank be the PageRank of real time search?

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:00:00 +0100

This is a real-time test!(..please see the update post on Real Time Search Engines (http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Search-Engine-Optimization/Real-time-search-engines-should-SEOs-care-.html))A few mates and I were discussing the merits of so called 'real time' search engines this morning. You see the fine folks at Media Post had asked me about PulseRank recently (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=108739)and that lead to addressing some of the issues amongst us.To that end we're working on a post that considers some of the inherent problems in the space and why search marketers may not want to be actively targeting such locales at this point... (tho they do make good buzz monitoring tools)....so stay tuned.Oh, and why would I bother writing this post to tell you about it? Because we're testing some 'real time' search engines against the traditional ones you see, so we've launched some content into the wild :0)Be sure to come back later in the week to find out how it...

Advertisements for Myself: The SEO Sales Conversation

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:07:06 +0100

(the following is a guest post from Todd Mintz (http://twitter.com/toddmintz)) �Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you -- tripping on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as Leif the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say, the whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.��Hamlet (Shakespeare, not Batista) Recently, I was chatting on the phone with a potential SEO client about some gig work. The conversation was going along fine until (in a roundabout way) he asked me for my �sales pitch� aka why he should use me as opposed to someone else. I...

Four alternatives to NoFollow PageRank sculpting

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:18:29 +0100

(the following is a guest post from David Leonhardt) I really should preface this post with the caveat that I was never a fan of using the NoFollow attribute on links on my sites.� OK, when NoFollow first came out, I actually loaded one of my sites with NoFollow attributes.� Then logic got the better of me. NoFollow is meant to go on user-generated links, in particular blog comment links, to inform the search engines that the link is not a vote of confidence, not a link the website owner is willing to vouch for.� If I place NoFollow links to some of my own pages, what does that tell the search engines? I won�t vouch for my own content? I don�t understand simple coding? I am trying to manipulate the search engines? At best, the site comes off as low-trust; at worst, as...

Listening to the Spam Assassins

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:31:26 +0100

Well, given all the hub-bub over Matt and the magic NF tag (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/pagerank-sculpting/), I shall simply direct you to a post here on �sculpting� (http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Search-Engine-Optimization/PageRank-Sculpting-its-all-old-school-baby.html) the day before the whole thang hit the fan. One should always relied on more statistical approaches to site architecture�nuff said. As for me, I�ve noticed a few other things in between the dramas that are actually noteworthy... but that will have to wait for next week� For now, while this video (from Matt Cutts; spam assassin (http://www.huomah.com/news/latest/matt-cutts-releases-software.html)) has some of the usual stuff, I submit to you; There�s gold in them thar� hills!! Next week, we�ll look at something that�s more interesting from all of this�. SEOs = Baaaad M�kay? Another interesting area that I have been digging in since we last talked about search engines thinking of us as adversaries (http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Search-Engine-Optimization/SEOs-are-not-Criminals.html) is web spam. I have started a comprehensive list...

SEOs are not Criminals

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:48:05 +0100

They are the enemy Hi there� my name is Dave, and I am an algoholic� The other day someone asked me via instant messenger about some patents for an area one particular SEO was doing some research in. After suggesting a few patents and research papers and chatting, they asked, �don�t you get nasty emails from the search engines because you pick things apart?� That�s a pretty interesting question because much of the time search optimizers tend to see themselves as facilitators. They don�t seem to understand the true nature of our relationship with search engines. We are not partners my friends, but we aren�t viewed as criminals either� we are in truth, the enemy. The oddity continued when 'Lisa the Outspoken' had her bubble burst to find SEOs weren't held in high regard (http://outspokenmedia.com/seo/google-profiles-seo-as-criminals/) (jeez Lis' ya coulda come to me...woulda' set ya straight)....