AIO Seo

These Are NOT Your Grandfather’s Google Search Ads

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:05:37 GMT

News flash! Google makes a lot of cash on paid search ads. Phew. I couldn’t keep that ‘news’ in any longer. We are so used to that element of Google and the online space that it is really just viewed as a fact of life and not much else thought is given to it unless you are a PPC ‘guru’ (fyi – if you actually use that terminology to describe yourself (others doing it TO you doesn’t count) just know that people laugh at you behind your back). You buy the ads, people click on them and then you try to figure out if they bought something as a result.

Based on the success of this model you would think that the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ mentality would hold sway at a place like Google. Fortunately, it doesn’t. I say fortunately because there is not a lot business products and / or models that have maintained their leadership position by not changing and evolving (remember IBM’s Big Blue train wreck due to not paying attention?). As a result Google is making some adjustments to their paid ads presentation. The official Google blog tells us.

Text is often useful, but sometimes videos and pictures are a more effective way to receive information. For example, if you want to learn a magic trick, a video showing you how to perform the trick is likely the best result. So over the past few years, we’ve blended videos, images, maps and more into the search results on Google.com.

It also makes sense to provide you with richer types of information in the ads. If you’re looking to buy your mom a new handbag for the holidays, for instance, you might want to see pictures, prices, the addresses of boutiques in your area and a map of how to get there — all within the ad.

To provide a better search ads experience, we’ve been developing and testing a variety of new ad formats. These formats are focused on giving you the information you need, while retaining what you love about Google advertising: that the ads are relevant and useful.

Hard to argue with that thinking.

Here are the examples given on the blog for the new variety of ads you may be seeing.

Video in the ad

Options for Newspapers in the New Media World Order

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:24:52 GMT

I have spent a considerable amount of time in the past year watching the decline and fall of the newspaper empire. At times I have had a ‘you get what you pay for’ take on the situation while at others I find it sad that an important industry is in a rapid downward spiral. Now add to the mix the musings / rantings of Rupert Murdoch and his thought that he can revive his industry through his proposed tactics and you are close to a three ring circus with all clowns and no ringmaster.

You see, when I get the most value out of a newspaper it really has nothing to do with the hard news. In fact, I have already heard most of the news that I care about before a newspaper gets my fingers dirty (which I think is one of the cool things about newspapers because there are fewer tactile experiences in the online world). What I devour though in the newspaper is any investigative reporting. Anything that took time to compile and either promotes someone doing good or exposes someone doing bad. That’s one place where the printed ‘news’ works well. There could be others as well.

I would like to propose some possible solutions / options for newspapers to consider.

Let hard news ‘reporting’ be online and embrace it. The Internet is becoming a more real time medium and the printed word will not be able to compete. As a result, I would love to see in a newspaper a 4-6 page section that is just chock full of snip-its about news items. Just the facts. No opinions. Just a strong aggregation of the high points and no one’s opinion attached. Let me decide what to do next after you have gathered it up for me. Stop telling me what to think.
Tell me what you think but don’t force me to think it. Now I am not suggesting that you go the Newsweek route and just have all op-eds all the time because quite frankly I hate that format. It’s arrogant and it is designed to divide and conquer. We have enough divisiveness in this world. What if you just had a strong stable of consistent op-ed type players who clearly identify where there allegiance is and then provide that content for their audience as the other side of the ‘news’. If I don’t like one or the other then I either don’t read it or, even better, I read it to be better informed. Present both sides of arguments REGULARLY as part of your format rather than trying to look balanced by occasionally bringing in someone from the other side as a sacrificial lamb for your readers to offer up to their ideological god.
Be truly balanced. Stop taking sides for goodness sake. This Washington Post v Washington Times, right v. left crap is just that. Crap. I would LOVE to see a newspaper talk evenly about both sides of the same coin. That would take guts but I think there is a real market for it. I would read that one for sure.
Recognize the real audience. The printed word is more for the thinker, the ponderer (I made that word up so sue me) and the person who wants to digest the news. Online is for the ADHD world we live in of ‘read and reject’ and ‘consume and dsipose’. The quick hit. The surface player. Let the online world serve the ‘real-timers’ and you serve the thinkers. Since an investigative technique takes time to put together there won’t be the ‘it’s old news before the ink hits the paper’ issue.
Make a difference. As I stated earlier I think that a newspaper that was out there uncovering the good, the bad and the ugly of the world with long-term investigative pieces that dig deep and create change and impact would be awesome. You would have less staff because you were not concentrating on the minutiae of each insignificant story. Leave that to the online quick hit environment. Be a true change agent. I would pay for that and I think advertisers would to.
Embrace bloggers and tweeters. Rather than view the real time nature of the web as a threat and somehow ‘beneath your standards’ embrace it for your readers and help them sift through it. What if you put yourself in the position of telling your dedicated readers that “we trust this or that blog” because of the following reasons. That would be cool. Bloggers would then be a much different animal if your could have a frienemy or co-opetition like relationship rather than a completely adversarial one.
Let the engines index your content. This one’s easy. Don’t be an idiot.
Stop playing political games. You report news not set public opinion. When you choose sides you actually lose credibility. That’s not reporting that is campaigning.

As always there is more and I would love to hear your thoughts. If there is a paper that is doing some or all of these please let me know. Where else could newspapers evolve and take full advantage of the new world media order rather than act like there is a way to preserve their no longer relevant status quo?

Thanks for reading and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Thankful Wishes From Online Marketing Blog

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:47:44 GMT

With Thanksgiving almost within reach, it’s hard to think of anything but turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and warm homemade rolls. Actually, for me, my mind is on my aunt’s chocolate pie and my grandmother’s macaroni and cheese.

But regardless of the type of food item occupying your thoughts right now, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what we have to be grateful for. I, for one, realize I have a lot to be grateful for, considering the people I interact with on a daily basis and the work I’m tasked with each day.

Michelle Bowles

Having been a part of the TopRank Online Marketing team for 4 months now, I’m thankful for my fellow team members who have patiently shown me the ropes along the way and made me feel welcome.

And as a brand-new Minnesotan, I’m also thankful for my team members’ recommendations on the best restaurants in Minneapolis, directions to the neighborhood post office, insight on the area speed traps to look out for – you name it!

In the spirit of such thankfulness, I asked some of my fellow Online Marketing Blog contributors here at @TopRank to share what they’re thankful for this holiday season:

Jolina Pettice

“This Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for TopRank clients. 2009 has been a great year of achieving new heights and celebrating success, whether it was attaining that sought after 1^st place ranking for a competitive term, increasing inquiries or launching a blog. I am also extremely thankful for the TopRank team for their dedication, and my friends and family who keep me laughing all year long.”

Adam Singer

“I’m thankful for being a team member of an industry leading digital marketing firm like TopRank, writing for Online Marketing Blog, working with high-quality clients and the marketing community as a whole for being a great group of people. Additionally, as a (relatively) new Minnesotan, I’m thankful that it is nearly December and I still have not had to use the ice scraper provided to me by Dana.”

Thomas McMahon

“I’m thankful to work in a company that is open to new ideas, new media, and that is ever evolving into new and exciting spaces. I’m also thankful for my coworkers who keep me entertained with their witty, and sometimes strange, stories.”

Lee Odden

“I am truly grateful for the amazingly talented and hard working team we have at TopRank and the clients we are fortunate to serve. There is a real spirit of collaboration, problem solving and work quality here that a lot of other agencies don’t have. The heartbeat of our company is Susan Misukanis, and her dedicated long hours keep our team running smoothly – I am forever thankful for her leadership and commitment.

“I’m also thankful for the TopRank community of blog readers, Twitter followers and IRL friends at conferences, in the industry and the media that have been so generous with their participation and attention. I only hope we’ve provided as much value to you as you have to us.

“Last, but not least, I am thankful for my 3 little ‘munchkins’ who make me proud, make me laugh and remind me of what’s most important of all.”

Dana Larson

“Since I began working with TopRank, the thing that I am most thankful for on a continuous basis is the ability for each team member to help each other out when necessary. No one hesitates to lend a helping hand, and we all maintain a positive attitude. Working as a team ensures all ideas are heard, and we all pitch in to benefit the company as a whole. I am also thankful when our TopRank team members help out coworkers outside of work, such as when I am moving next month *hint hint*

Now it’s your turn. What are you thankful for this holiday season?

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Thankful Wishes From Online Marketing Blog | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

Google Give Us Our Rank, Our Daily Bread(Crumbs)

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:51:29 GMT

Some thoughts on Google showing breadcrumb navigation in the search results.

LA Times Social Media Guidelines Lead to Much More

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:38:16 GMT

The LA Times has updated their social media guidelines for their journalists and there is the usual ruckus about everyone being too restrictive. Originally written in March of this year the update makes sense since the 8 months or so that have passed since the first take is like a lifetime in the social media world. In fact, the real story here may be that the LA Times hasn’t taken a ‘set it and forget it’ approach to their social media guidelines so please take note everybody.

Editor & Publisher and the Huffington Post are both talking about the updates. Interestingly enough, I heard about it from @michacha101 who is one of those people that I have no idea why I follow on Twitter but have gained value from doing so. Having said that (and given them a plug) I am learning more about the openness of the social media environment and the value that can be taken from it. Journalists drool over this kind of exposure and availability of information. Trouble is that for the sake of ‘objectivity’ or ‘political correctness or whatever there will always be rules and regs that restrict just how effective the medium can be.

The Huffington Post tells us that some of the LA Times policies include

Integrity is our most important commodity: Avoid writing or posting anything that would embarrass The Times or compromise your ability to do your job.
Assume that your professional life and your personal life will merge online regardless of your care in separating them.

Even if you use privacy tools (determining who can view your page or profile, for instance), assume that everything you write, exchange or receive on a social media site is public.

Just as political bumper stickers and lawn signs are to be avoided in the offline world, so too are partisan expressions online.

There’s a lot of detail that I am leaving out here and here’s why. I have to give the LA Times credit for being on the ball. You see the Huffington Post had only one comment but it was from Andrew Nystrom / L.A. Times social media guy / @AdNys who was completely transparent by saying:

Thank you for writing about our new Guidelines. For the record, here are links to:

- The full text of our revised Social Media Guidelines: http://latimes.com/socialmedia — our original Guidelines were issued in March 2009, before the WaPo or WSJ (and most other major media outlets) issued theirs.

- Our directory of 200+ L.A. Times(@lat�imes)-rela�ted Twitter accounts: http://latimes.com/twitter

- The full text of our 2007 Ethics Guidelines (currently under revision): http://latimes.com/ethics

Hope this is helpful. I welcome all feedback.

Nice move.

So let’s recap. As a result of the social media ‘world’ I got data from someone that was of interest, that was about information that can be seen both positively and negatively depending on your point of view but was ultimately made completely transparent by the source which ultimately reflects positively on them. Pretty cool.

So if you really think that people care about where you are walking and what you see it’s likely that you are just really enamored with yourself. What people really want is information that helps. Thanks to everyone who helped here.

Ich bin ein Googler!

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:17:52 GMT

At one point in time US President John F. Kennedy triumphantly declared “Ich bin ein Berliner!” in a speech to the German people. Now the debate rages on as to whether the president proclaimed he was a Berlin citizen or a donut but that’s for another blog. Today though we learn from TechCrunch Europe that Eric Schmidt from Google may need to head to Deutschland to proclaim that he is one of the good guys as there are calls to ban Google Analytics from sites with a .de extension.

Several federal and regional government officials in Germany are trying to put a ban on Google Analytics, the search giant’s free software product that allows website owners and publishers to get detailed statistics about the number, whereabouts and search behavior of their visitors (and much more).

According to an article in today’s Zeit Online (poor Google translation here), multiple federal and state government officials charged with guarding over national data protection are convinced that Google Analytics is against the law in Germany and are mulling imposing fines on companies who use the service to gather detailed stats based on their website visitors’ usage patterns without the explicit consent of those visitors.

What is probably just as interesting in this quote is the swipe taken at Google’s translation service. I woudn’t know a good German translation if it came up and smacked me in the head (apologies to Herr Manger who was my German teacher for two years in HS. Nothing stuck other than “Ich habe keine idee” which I think means “I have no idea” – NOTE- This was confirmed by Google Translate )

So apparently this isn’t the first time that the German government has voiced these concerns with most of their worry pointed at healthcare data and other sensitive areas. Interestingly enough some of larger media organizations use Google Analytics so this should be fun to watch if it actually turns into anything.

So what’s at risk for those using Google Analytics

One German lawyer that gets cited in the article says the penalties could amount up to €50,000 (about $75,000) per website that uses Google Analytics to keep track of its visitors’ usage patterns.

Google’s take. Well, they disagree of course. What else would you expect?

Google Germany’s Per Meyerdierks, however, says the company is well within its rights to process user data in the United States because it respects the Safe Harbour treaty between the EU and the USA. He argues that an opt-out would be entirely unnecessary, and that users always have the option to refuse cookies anyway.

Now my question to the German government is the following. If you are uncomfortable with Google having this kind of data for many companies what about the individual companies that are collecting the same data using something else and not nearly as secure as Google is?

Google Product Search: Give Me Cashback or Give Me Death!

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:37:56 GMT

As I mentioned yesterday, I love Bing’s shopping engine. In no small part because I can earn some serious cashback. As long as I make sure I’m getting the lowest price in the first place, the cashback makes it worth using Bing.

So, Google Product Search can wave all the new fancy features in front of me that it wants, if I ain’t getting a kickback, I ain’t using Google!

OK, maybe some of you aren’t quite so price conscious as me. Maybe for you, shopping is more about the journey, than the destination. If that’s the case, you’re going to love the scenery Google just added.

First, we have a new gallery view:

We also have new review summaries:

Nearby stores:

Video product reviews and a mobile friendly interface complete the list of new features.

But, what it doesn’t have is this:

And, until it does, I’m sticking with Bing!

Note: This is not a paid post, but someone, somewhere at Microsoft PR just got a raise.

Twitter, IPO and Advertising

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:52:00 GMT

Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder of Twitter was holding court for reporters in the UK and started to talk about all the things that Twitter followers obsess over including the big one: revenue.

Stone said that an IPO is not OOTQ (out of the question) but it’s also not on the front burner. In fact, he said something that is the truth but comes off a little strange (possibly arrogant?) considering how most of the rest of the planet is struggling. Reuters reports

Twitter, the social internet firm that tracks trends through individuals’ updates of events around them, may eventually go to the stock market for funding if necessary, its co-founder Biz Stone said.

The three-year-old company was already making some revenue and would concentrate on that next year. “2010 is really going to be the revenue year. I don’t know if we’re going to be profitable, but we have plenty of time,” Stone said on Monday.

Wow, the sense of urgency is overwhelming. Stone also stated that there is no interest in selling the company.

So 2010 is the ‘Year of Revenue’ for Twitter. Profits schmofits. How is this revenue going to occur? Advertising apparently. But it won’t be your father’s internet advertising either. Biz tells us so much without actually saying anything.

Stone declined to give detail of how Twitter would introduce advertising next year on its site to its users, but hinted again it would be different from traditional forms of internet advertising, which include display ads and sponsored search.

“Everyone’s going to love it. It’s going to be amazing,” he said when asked about the dangers of its tens of millions of visitors taking exception to the move.

So we have some amazing advertising opportunities to look forward to. Any thoughts on what those might be? Let’s hear it.

Natural Link Building Practices

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:00:00 GMT

Don't take chances buying links. Make these safe, proven link building tactics part of your search engine optimization strategy. ...

Smart Move! Google Acquiring “Intelligent Display Advertising” Company Teracent

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:49:06 GMT

Can you tell the difference between these two ads?

Look closely:

Well the one on the bottom just made the founders of Teracent, very, very rich!

OK, that’s not quite the same example that Google just gave over at the official blog, but it did announce that it plans to acquire Teracent.

What does Teracent do?

Teracent’s technology can pick and choose from literally thousands of creative elements of a display ad in real-time — tweaking images, products, messages or colors. These elements can be optimized depending on factors like geographic location, language, the content of the website, the time of day or the past performance of different ads.

This technology can help advertisers get better results from their display ad campaigns. In turn, this enables publishers to make more money from their ad space and delivers web users better ads and more ad-funded web content.

Think of it as multi-variate testing for your banner ads.

No news yet on the price paid and the deal is subject to final closing conditions.

3 Steps for Effectively Using Social Media For PR

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:47:40 GMT

Previously, I explored the intersection of social media and PR and explained why it is so important communications professionals leverage digital channels. In that post I touched on the following key points:

Authenticity/personality – the world and web crave it
It scales – popular brands just get more popular
Long-term storytelling – build a permission asset
Leverage – digital PR is your social proofing
Intersection with SEO – links are by-product
PR has changed – pull is now more effective

Next I’d like to explore a brief outline of how you can effectively use social media to accomplish your PR objectives. I’ll run through 3 key steps as a primer, however I challenge you to consider a unique entry point for your own brand. The social web is as flexible as you want it to be, and there is no single “right answer”. The following are learnings for how you could potentially approach a social media PR strategy.

1. Go platform agnostic

Social media is more than just Twitter

Everyone is buzzing about Twitter and it is without question the network du jour among PR and marketing professionals. And while we’re fond of Twitter as well, (follow us @TopRank) social media is far more than just Twitter. If Twitter is the extent of your participation you’re missing out with a myopic approach. Besides, you don’t get analytics with Twitter, no (direct) SEO benefit, and ultimately, you don’t control the network. To truly be effective at using social media for PR, treat Twitter as a feeder to something larger – as one piece to a much larger and elegant puzzle.

Own a niche across web platforms

Instead of putting all your eggs in one basket or network, focus on owning your niche across web platforms. There is little value in being a brand or person who is popular in network X or Y. There is far more value in being thought of as a leader of a niche. In other words: your positioning should make you known as the definitive source for an industry. Going platform agnostic and putting a focus on a larger strategy that has nothing to do with any single web platform in particular is how you can accomplish this.

Have a destination and draw users back

Without some sort of destination to draw users back to and funnel subscribers, you’ll never achieve successful web community building that is protected from the rise and fall of social networks. If the history of the web has taught us anything, it is that networks can and will fall in and out of favor. Friendster or Orkut anyone? The greatest value exists in building your own community external of networks whose future can be unpredictable. Use them, but realize spending all of your time there is at the opportunity cost of contributing to your own destination where you stand to benefit most. In other words, consider the cost of focusing entirely on social sites such as Twitter or Facebook vs participating in those networks and sending traffic to social content on your own site such as a blog, forum or community.

Connect with power users/influencers

As noted in a previous posts on how subscribers are a vital element of your growth strategy, the ~11% of web users who know to use RSS include the users savvy enough to be web publishers. Reaching out to this educated, technology literate group increases your propensity to connect with power users and influencers, or “contributors” as referred to by Jakob Nielsen in participation inequality. This will enable your ability to build an organic community of sneezers – those who share content like crazy and are linking up the web in meaningful ways.

2. Be ready for a long term commitment

Tactics = fast, strategy = slow

If you’re able to execute on something that resonates, engaging in the social web with the goal of generating PR can see results fast. But don’t make the mistake of thinking a single tactical success is all it takes to see sustainable growth. You need to engage in continued tactics over a long period of time – and the truth is as many of them will fail as will succeed. But if your strategy is sound, in time, it will pay off and provide increasing returns.

Need to become referential

A social media PR strategy needs to be designed to position the company a referential brand. When the brand or company identity becomes referential, your work will start to get easier. As you contribute more, people will start to notice and your content will spawn organic reactions and discussions external of the original source. Additionally, the industry will start to recognize you as a go-to source, and you’ll start to get referenced by virtue of your presence. Find a way to become referential and your efforts will multiply themselves.

Push through “the dip”

To get to the point of seeing PR returns at scale for your social web participation, you’ll need to push through “the dip”. In other words, outlast others who aren’t as serious or committed as you are. I’m still relatively new to the TopRank team, but am honored to publish content at Online Marketing Blog, where the first post dates back to 2003. Well over 2,000 posts have been made here, consistently, and that commitment has paid off: This blog generates 10-20+ organic PR placements each month (equal to about a $10K/month PR budget). Reaching the point where publicity is generated as a by-product of participation should be an end objective of social media for PR.

3. Don’t forget the SEO intersection

Find the nexus of PR, Social Media and SEO

Here at TopRank, we’re cognizant of SEO in everything we do. There are numerous applications for SEO and Public Relations as there are many ways in which social media and SEO can intersect to amplify outcomes. There is a nexus between PR, social media and SEO, and savvy PR agencies activate connections between all three, making them play off each other for increased visibility on multiple fronts.

Use a keyword glossary across all marketing

Your keyword glossary should not be kept in an SEO silo. Rather, apply it across marketing channels – digital or analog – and inspire greater demand for the search terms you are optimizing for. By using your keyword glossary across mediums you’re increasing the potential returns of your inbound marketing efforts. Not only will more awareness of terms increase search demand for terms you rank for, users in your niche will begin to associate your brand with the terms and may start linking to you using those keywords. Therefore, it’s important to work to popularize your search terms across channels for brand association.

Social participation + PR = links

By participating in the social web with the goal of PR, you’re going to inspire attention for your brand. And attention on the web almost always equals links. Links earned from PR in tandem with other link building tactics can be a major boost in both rankings and referral traffic. Plus, editorially earned links are some of the most powerful around.

This is a very short list and exists to serve as a primer to get you thinking of how you can use social media for PR. And for the sake of space I oversimplified many of these points. So I’ll throw it over to the comments: How are you activating social media for PR objectives?

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | 3 Steps for Effectively Using Social Media For PR | 16 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Marketing Tactics vs. Social Media Strategy

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:01:00 GMT

Fully research why you're using a particular social media strategy tactic. Did your agency tell you that you "need" it? Or is your audience there and interacting already, or is there potential for branding and exposure? ...

Google, the Butt of Toilet Humor

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:59:09 GMT

Apparently Google is more than just the world’s most used search engine. It’s also “Super elastic, soft, smooth. Highly absorbent, for you always!”

Via The Huffington Post

Google to Upgrade its Memory? Assigned Startup MetaRAM’s Memory Chip Patents

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:40:52 GMT

In August, the Official Google Blog announced an upgrade to Google’s infrastructure code-named Caffeine, aimed at making the search engine faster, and Google opened the system up for testing to people who might want to provide feedback. An interview with one of the developers behind the upgrade described it as an upgrade to the [...]

Google Testing Permanent Sidebar

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:46:37 GMT

Search Engine Land talks to Marissa Mayer about Google testing a new search interface among a select few users. The new interface uses a left-hand pane to display search options—but instead of being off by default, with a link to turn on the pane, the new search options will be on permanently, and Google will lose the top blue bar over its results.

Other options, including results from other Google properties (Images, News, Maps, Books) will join the left-hand panel. Search Engine Land has screenshots of the news options test:

Meanwhile, as a refresher, here’s the present Search Options (first tested a year ago, added to the SERP in May):

In the new screenshot, sitelinks are also homogenized—rather than appearing inconsistently (at any position, indented or on a single line, or possibly not at all), they appear in this test on the first two results as a single line.

So the new layout is pretty cool—it standardizes many things that weren’t, it puts many popular options all together, and it predicts what category of results you want (images, video, etc., though that may or not work out for you). But is it just me (no, because Matt McGee said this, too) or does this look a little familiar?

Mayer suggests that not only is a three-column layout becoming a default in search engine results pages, but it’s also a “universal truth.” (Kind of like using the magical 28 words on the home page?)

In other news: Mayer says the fading homepage has slowed users down.

Where Marketing Pilgrim Leads, Google News Follows!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:52:01 GMT

Did you know that Marketing Pilgrim is more awesome than Google?

Seriously! I can prove it!

Google has just announced that Google News is now more mobile friendly–meaning it will recognize that you’re viewing the site from your iPhone, Droid, etc, and serve you a page optimized for your phone.

This new version provides the same richness and personalization on your phone as Google News provides on desktop. Our new homepage displays more stories, sources, and images while keeping a familiar look and feel. Also, you can now reach your favorite sections, discover new ones, find articles and play videos in fewer clicks. If you are an existing Google News reader on desktop, you will find that all of your personalizations are honored in this mobile version too.

Here’s how it looks:

So, how are we better? We had a mobile-friendly version of Marketing Pilgrim up WAY before Google did. Point your iPhone to www.MarketingPilgrim.com and you’ll find a streamlined version of the site:

See? We.Are.Better!

SEO Tools -- Worth the Time and Money?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:00:00 GMT

An overview of some free and paid tools that executives and non-SEO trained individuals can gain value from when evaluating internal or outsourced search engine optimization efforts. ...

How Google Might Insert Artificial Named Anchors into Web Pages

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:48:06 GMT

Usually, when you click on a link in a set of search results at Google, the search engine will deliver you to the top of a web page. But what if it didn’t? What if it brought you instead to the place on a page where your query terms appeared, or just above [...]

SEO for Flash: 5 Tips and Best Practices

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:32:23 GMT

SEO for Flash – is it a reality yet?

One of the most common issues for web sites with poor search visibility involves Google not being able to crawl and index a site’s content. Web sites made entirely with Flash are problematic because there are often no links for search engine crawlers to follow or HTML text to copy.

According to the Opera (browser) developer center, somewhere between 30% and 40% of all pages tested contained Flash files representing a lot of content that may not be included in search results or only partially indexed. Despite a large number of sites publishing content using this type of file format,�Flash and search engines have been like oil and water. They just didn’t mix.

In the summer of 2008, Google announced it had improved the indexing of Adobe Flash files. Many Flash developers and SEOs across the globe could breathe an optimistic sigh of relief: Text in Flash files was now crawlable.

But what’s the whole story? Can a site be built entirely with Flash and expect to gain the same search benefits as an HTML site?

Consider these 5 points that Google makes in regards to SEO for Flash:

1. Google can crawl and index all of the text content users see as they interact with the Flash file. That’s a big step in the right direction, since ensuring a site is crawlable is the No. 1 SEO basic. A few points to keep in mind concerning SEO for Flash:

Google maintains that the text in Flash files is treated like text in HTML or PDF files.
If identical content is used in both Flash and HTML, Google will likely see it as duplicate content.
If a Flash file is embedded in HTML, you’ll be able to add meta information, but the content will be indexed as a single item.

The below image illustrates how a Flash site was previously seen in search results (without meta description text) and how it is currently seen (with descriptive text):

2. Google can discover links within Flash files. In other words, if a Flash file includes links to your website pages, you can increase your odds of Google finding and crawling more of the site – just as is the case with links that appear in HTML and other files.

3. Google can index external content that a Flash file loads and associate it with that Flash file. This capability is an update from the summer 2008 revision. Previously, if a Flash file were to load an HTML or XML file, Google would not associate that external content with the Flash file. This new capability, introduced just this summer, allows external content to appear in search results.

The image below shows the results to the query “2002 VW Tansporter 888.” Before the introduction of the new Flash search capability, this result did not appear because the content is contained in an XML file loaded by a Flash file:

4. Google supports common JavaScript techniques for embedding Flash. Another update from the 2008 revision, this capability also applies to SWFObject and SWFObject 2. Previously, if a page loaded a Flash file using JavaScript, Google wouldn’t recognize or index it.

5. Google can index sites scripted with ActionScript. That includes AS1, AS2 and AS3 versions. Google also maintains that is does not decompile Flash files or expose ActionScript code if it’s not visible to users.

All that said, Google’s ability to crawl Flash files is still evolving, so building a site entirely in Flash isn’t best practice. To create the right balance when it comes to using Flash and implementing SEO for Flash, consider these tips:

Don’t use Flash as the navigation.
Embed Flash files into HTML pages.
Use descriptive page titles and meta descriptions.
Don’t include an entire site in one Flash file. Instead, break the content into multiple Flash files with different HTML pages.
Use Flash for design elements and less-important content, and use HTML for the most important page elements.
Enhance web fonts in Flash files by using slfr, per a suggestion by SEO Zombie Blogger Justin Briggs. Because the Flash styles enhance the HTML content rather than replace it, the engines can still read titles.

For Flash optimization from the source, be sure to check out the Adobe SEO Technology Center web site, which was set up specifically to provide webmasters with what the challenges are and provides practical steps, examples, and best practices that you can follow to overcome them.

While Flash, Ajax and JavaScript offer enticing user experience, they continue to offer a less than ideal experience for search engine crawlers. What tactics or best practices have you found in balancing rich media and SEO? Do you think it’s reasonable to for a web site to have an amazing Flash component and still be able to compete in aggressive search categories?

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | SEO for Flash: 5 Tips and Best Practices | 16 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Google: Social Media is a Party, SEO is Bullsh*t, Advertising is Good For You

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:00:11 GMT

I noticed someone using Google suggest in another story today (honestly forgot where) and thought I’d see what Google “thinks” about social media. Then I tried SEO. Not surprising. Funniest of all, considering Google’s business model, was advertising.

Pretty telling when you think about it. Of course this isn’t what Google “really thinks” about social media, it’s Google’s response to search queries and effort to predict what we’re really searching for.

Google Suggest works by drawing from searches by other Google users, sites in Google’s search index, and ads in the Google advertising network.�If you’re logged in, Google will use your search history to make suggestions. It can be a handy search tool. It can also be revealing.

But, that’s not as interesting as viewing these screen shots as what Google “thinks”, so let’s continue:

Whoah, let’s turn off the SEO hate, OK Google? In case you’re not a hater and curious about search engine optimization, find the truth about SEO here and why ongoing SEO is important here. The reality is, Google is the recognized leader amongst the few remaining search engines in more than market share. They’re also the pioneer (thanks in part to Vanessa Fox) and leader in providing webmasters with SEO tools and insight via Google Webmaster Central.

After typing in “advertising is” on Google, I had to laugh because of such positive sentiment. How many millions of dollars, no billions of dollars, go into advertising that is untracked, unaccountable? Google’s bread and butter is advertising so it’s just a bit ironic. Of course, the kind of advertising that Google sells IS trackable and VERY accountable. No wonder Google Suggest says “advertising is good for you”.

What does Google Suggest think of your industry?

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Google: Social Media is a Party, SEO is Bullsh*t, Advertising is Good For You | 20 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Patent Shows Google Book Scanning a Musical Process

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:19:32 GMT

Google was granted a patent today on one aspect of a book scanning process that raises the question what kind of music helps someone scan books best.

The patent is Pacing and error monitoring of manual page turning operator (US Patent 7,619,784), which lists Joseph K. O’Sullivan, R. Alexander Proudfoot, and Christopher R. Uhlik as inventors. [...]

Why Google HQ Loves Thin Affiliates

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:51:01 GMT

How Bing and the Wall Street Journal Could Screw Google

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:03:38 GMT

Why Use Social Media For Public Relations

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:34:30 GMT

Recently, I presented at PubCon on the intersection of social media and PR. The session title was “experts on PR and Twitter,” however the session description went on to discuss a variety of networks. Therefore my interpretation was to speak on the intersection of social media and PR, and not just PR and Twitter.

The social web is far more than just Twitter, and if Twitter is the extent of your participation you’re missing out. Lee’s diagram of social media and channels of distribution presents a visualization of a strong approach, where the centerpiece is a blog. The centerpiece could be anything of course, not just a blog – but the essential element is that it’s a place you control and not an external network. Using Twitter or any network you don’t control as the centerpiece is a mistake, because you’re building the value of a digital asset that isn’t really yours (no analytics, no control, no SEO benefit and if that network falls out of favor all your hard work is devalued).

Additionally, while today we speak about channel-specific PR or marketing, the future will be different. Traditional and digital PR will merge and it will just be seen as PR.

A quote from William Gibson adds clarity to this:

image credit: will lion via flickr

Segmentation will end when the digital divide is bridged. In the meantime, the idea of digital PR continues to proliferate while we see a decline in traditional.

A recent digital readiness report states 18% of marketing decision makers have no interest whatsoever in traditional marketing. This shows a good percentage are already embracing digital fully and is a potential harbinger of the future. Other data in that survey adds to this: a majority agree that knowledge of social networks (80%), blogging, podcasting and RSS (87%), and micro-blogging (72%) is either important or very important when it comes to PR and marking hiring.

Many marketing/PR professionals and agencies are already on board and becoming more sophisticated in their strategies daily. But for those who are new, I’d like to discuss why it is such a great platform for interacting. These are points I touched on during a recent panel on PR and Twitter however I wanted to follow up with more detail.

Authenticity/personality – the world and web crave it

There are too many faceless brands, companies and even, amazingly, people on the planet. We crave authenticity – and digital channels reward it higher than traditional. This is because they are personal versus the fact that traditional channels produce content as the result of a polished, refined process. The truth is the web is not meant to be a finished product; it is merely an avenue to express ourselves. Additionally, the web enables you to talk with consumers and prospects, not at them. Embrace PR with this in mind and you’ll nurture a very different kind of relationship than those who treat it like a broadcast tool.

It scales – popular brands just get more popular

The idea of social media scaling for customer service is of course a misnomer – it doesn’t. But popularity on the other hand can continue to grow. That’s not to say it’s easy to keep up, but look at the runaway growth of certain brands, networks and media and you’ll see this to be true. People like Robert Scoble and Michael Arrington just get more popular, and socially active brands like Zappos and Whole Foods gain greater share of voice daily especially when stacked against competitors.

Social media applied strategically for PR helps make a brand referential. And when something becomes referential, it just keeps growing. Digital media – due to links, sourcing and aggregation potentiates anything which is referential. Staking a claim sooner rather than later is how you can do this and begin to grow organically. As digital channels continue rise in popularity and influence it will become more difficult to do this as more attempt to do so.

Long-term storytelling – build a permission asset

Permission marketing is a core skill for digital PR and marketing professionals to embrace. By growing a community and getting people to say “yes, I want to hear from you,” you’ll earn the permission to share your messages with them long term. And overtime you will develop influence, trust and eventually be seen as an authority on a subject. And as Brian Clarke sagely advises: authority rules.

Leverage – digital PR is your social proofing

If you acquire digital PR and never do anything with it, you’re not optimizing your social proofing. If you’re gaining endorsements from credible industry professionals or generating tons of buzz and links about your product and not showcasing that, it is a missed opportunity. While many will have seen the buzz initially, what about those who have not? Here at TopRank, we embrace this by aggregating mentions of our brand in a digital marketing newsroom. Put your digital PR to work instead of letting it accumulate digital dust. Even consider taking it offline to win new business: comments, endorsements, interviews and feedback from trusted externalities can be a persuasive force.

Intersection with SEO – links are by-product

As discussed frequently at Online Marketing Blog social media and SEO have a symbiotic relationship. And digital marketers who go a step further find there is a nexus between SEO, social media and PR. Uncover this and you will discover the three play off each other for even greater results. Your keyword glossary should not be used merely for SEO – rather, use it across all marketing channels, including in PR programs. After all, generating more search demand for keywords you are optimized for is only going to help you long term.

PR has changed – pull is now more effective

Pull PR is superior to push, there is no escaping this. A (not so) secret part of media is this: media report on media. It’s so simple, yet so overlooked. By becoming media you embrace a pull strategy naturally and will attract attention from all other types of media – both professional and amateur.

Quick conclusion

Social media for PR is a dynamic, constant process, and not all companies will be agile enough to embrace it. But it allows truly passionate and authentic brands to stand out, build a tribe and become referential. The few brands and professionals that get it right are memorable because there are so many who get it wrong.

Having an effective strategy and the patience to see it pay off, enabling your brand “tip” in the social web is reserved for those who can commit long term. But those who do will see returns far greater than traditional PR can offer.

Today I shared a brief overview of why to use social media for PR. If you’re not already a reader here be sure and subscribe, as next I will explore how to use social media for PR.

Yesterday I presented at PubCon on the intersection of social media and PR. The session title was “experts on PR and Twitter,” however the session description went on to discuss a variety of networks. Therefore my interpretation was to speak on the intersection of social media and PR, and not just PR and Twitter. The social web is far more than just Twitter, and if Twitter is the extent of your participation, you’re really limiting yourself.

I also think it’s a bit funny we’re talking about channel-specific PR in the first place. While we segment the idea of “social media PR” today, in the future this will not be the case. It will just be PR.

A quote from William Gibson adds clarity to this:

“One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real. In the future, that will become literally impossible.”

Regardless, social media for PR in particular – while not new to tenured digital marketers – is new to many. Therefore I’d like to discuss why it is such a great platform for interacting. These are points I touched on during yesterday’s panel on PR and Twitter, however are worth further discussion:

Authenticity/personality – the world and web crave it

There are too many faceless brands, companies and even, amazingly, people on the planet. We crave authenticity – and in fact digital channels reward it higher than traditional. This is because they are personal versus the fact that traditional channels produce content as the result of a polished, refined process. The truth is the web is not meant to be a finished product; it is merely an avenue to express ourselves. Embrace PR with this in mind and you’ll nurture a very different kind of relationship than those who treat it like a broadcast tool.

It scales – popular brands just get more popular

The idea of social media scaling for customer service is of course a misnomer – it doesn’t. But popularity on the other will continue to grow. That’s not to say it’s easy to keep up, but look at the runaway growth of certain brands, networks and media and you’ll see this to be true. When something becomes referential it just keeps growing. Digital media – due to links, sourcing and aggregation just continues to build upon itself. Staking a claim sooner rather than later is how you’ll grow.

Long-term storytelling – build a permission asset

Permission marketing is a core skill for digital PR and marketing professionals to embrace. By growing a community and getting people to say “yes, I want to hear from you,” you’ll earn the permission to share your messages with them long term. And overtime, you will develop influence, trust and eventually be seen as an authority on a subject. And as Brian Clarke sagely advises: authority rules.

Leverage – digital PR is your social proofing

Intersection with SEO – links are by-product

As discussed frequently on TopRank Blog social media and SEO have a symbiotic relationship. And digital marketers who go a step further, discover there is a nexus between SEO, social media and PR. Discover this and you will find the three play off each other for even greater results. Your keyword glossary should not be used merely for SEO – rather, use it across all marketing channels, including in PR programs. After all, generating more search demand for keywords you are optimized for is only going to help you long term.

PR has changed – pull is now more effective

Pull PR is superior to push, there is no escaping this. A (not so) secret part of media is this: media report on media. It’s so simple, yet so overlooked. By becoming media, you embrace a pull strategy naturally and will attract attention from all other types of media – both professional and amateur.

Certainly this is a very short list of why you should embrace social media for PR.

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Why Use Social Media For Public Relations | 13 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Facebook Marketing 101

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:00:00 GMT

Tips on promoting your Facebook fan page, engaging your audience, and how to be found in real-time searches. ...

Social Media Success Stories

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What is the ROI of social media? Consider these success stories before activating your calculator. ...

Help Google index your mobile site

Maile Ohye — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:48:00 GMT

(This post was largely translated from our Japanese Webmaster Central Blog.)

It seems the world is going mobile, with many people using mobile phones on a daily basis, and a large user base searching on Google’s mobile search page. However, as a webmaster, running a mobile site and tapping into the mobile search audience isn't easy. Mobile sites not only use a different format from normal desktop site, but the management methods and expertise required are also quite different. This results in a variety of new challenges. As a mobile search engineer, it's clear to me that while many mobile sites were designed with mobile viewing in mind, they weren’t designed to be search friendly. I'd like to help ensure that your mobile site is also available for users of mobile search.

Here are troubleshooting tips to help ensure that your site is properly crawled and indexed:

Verify that your mobile site is indexed by Google

If your web site doesn't show up in the results of a Google mobile search even using the 'site:' operator, it may be that your site has one or both of the following issues:

Googlebot may not be able to find your site
Googlebot, our crawler, must crawl your site before it can be included in our search index. If you just created the site, we may not yet be aware of it. If that's the case, create a Mobile Sitemap and submit it to Google to inform us to the site’s existence. A Mobile Sitemap can be submitted using Google Webmaster Tools, in the same way as with a standard Sitemap.

Googlebot may not be able to access your site
Some mobile sites refuse access to anything but mobile phones, making it impossible for Googlebot to access the site, and therefore making the site unsearchable. Our crawler for mobile sites is "Googlebot-Mobile". If you'd like your site crawled, please allow any User-agent including "Googlebot-Mobile" to access your site. You should also be aware that Google may change its User-agent information at any time without notice, so it is not recommended that you check if the User-agent exactly matches "Googlebot-Mobile" (which is the string used at present). Instead, check whether the User-agent header contains the string "Googlebot-Mobile". You can also use DNS Lookups to verify Googlebot.

Verify that Google can recognize your mobile URLs

Once Googlebot-Mobile crawls your URLs, we then check for whether the URL is viewable on a mobile device. Pages we determine aren't viewable on a mobile phone won't be included in our mobile site index (although they may be included in the regular web index). This determination is based on a variety of factors, one of which is the "DTD (Doc Type Definition)" declaration. Check that your mobile-friendly URLs' DTD declaration is in an appropriate mobile format such as XHTML Mobile or Compact HTML. If it's in a compatible format, the page is eligible for the mobile search index. For more information, see the Mobile Webmaster Guidelines.

If you have any question regarding mobile site, post your question to our Webmaster Help Forum and webmasters around the world as well as we are happy to help you with your problem.

Posted by Jun Mukai, Software Engineer, Mobile Search Team

5 SEO Tips for Online Retailers

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00:56 GMT

Online retail websites face a unique set of obstacles when it comes to improving sales through better search engine visibility. Repetitive product descriptions, a lack of content and frequent churn of products can all be hurdles to overcome. But with these specific tips for retail search engine optimization, online retailers can turn those challenges into opportunities and maximize their organic search traffic.

1. Add fresh content to the website. Many online retail websites focus on selling products rather than informing and providing value to customers, and hence severely lack content. It’s a good idea to include pages on a retail site that are purely content-based. Not only will informative, optimized content improve search rankings, it can help retailers sell more products by engaging customers.

Try these ideas for adding fresh content to an online retail site:

Add customer success stories and case studies to the website.
Create a blog to provide relevant industry news, tips and product offerings.
Incorporate a resource section on the site with relevant white papers and other content.

2. Eliminate repetitive copy. Another issue online retailers face is that many of their products are significantly similar, with only slight variations. As such, product descriptions tend to use very similar copy. And if other retailers sell the same products, their descriptions are likely similar as well.

Avoid being penalized by the search engines for duplicate content by writing product descriptions that are as unique as possible. Highlight the most distinguishing characteristics of products to avoid duplicate copy. Lastly, ensure keyword phrases aren’t repeated too many times throughout descriptions. It’s an easy mistake considering target keywords are likely found in the name or description of most, if not every, product.

Not only will this technique contribute to improved search rankings, but user experience will be enhanced as well.

3. Draw traffic to static pages. For many online retailers, products are frequently added and removed from their website, some as often as every month or every week. Adding fresh content to a site provides SEO benefits, but removing it can quickly negate any advantages, as it takes time for search engines to index content.

To maneuver around this roadblock, draw traffic to more static pages, rather than revolving pages. For example, instead of focusing SEO on individual product pages, focus on product category pages.

4. Don’t forget to optimize PDF product catalogs. For many retailers, it’s a common practice to offer a product catalog in PDF format on their website. When devoting time to optimizing HTML pages on a website, it’s essential not to forget about the catalog or any other PDF files. Remember these key points when optimizing PDF files:

Create text-based PDFs, rather than designing them in an image-based program, so that the search engines have text to read.
Optimize as you would an HTML page, incorporating keywords in headlines, copy and meta descriptions, and including anchor text hyperlinks.
Post a smaller sized PDF to avoid search engines – and customers – deserting the PDF before accessing its content.
Remember to complete the document properties, particularly the title.

5. Optimize images for search engines. SEO doesn’t end with HTML pages and PDF files. Online retailers’ sites are full of images. Why not leverage those images to gain better search rankings? Including alt text and optimized captions can all contribute to improved rankings in the search engines. Plus, images found via the search engines have the potential to be shared and linked to across the web, also contributing to improved rankings.

Have you implemented creative SEO tips for ecommerce and online retail web sites? What tips would you add to this list?

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | 5 SEO Tips for Online Retailers | 23 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

SEO Book Re-opening

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:32:01 GMT

10 Blue Links (and a Bunch of Other Stuff!)

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:28:46 GMT

Some thoughts on how the search user interface has moved beyond 10 blue links.

PubCon 2009: How Major Vegas Hotels Are Using Social Media

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:57:22 GMT

From the perspective of some, it seems like Vegas was late to participate in social media (according to the PubCon panel description).

However, the prominent brands on the strip have stepped up to the plate and are actively engaged in social web participation. They’re leveraging digital platforms for a variety of purposes – from customer service to promotion.

This open-format panel at PubCon 2009 analyzed how Vegas marketing departments are using SM as part of their overall marketing plan and featured some of the largest names on the strip. Brands represented were:

Brad Goldberg, Vice President of Marketing, Luxor
Brandie Feuer, Director of Interactive Marketing, Planet Hollywood
Peter Arceo, Executive Director of Casino Marketing, Las Vegas Hilton
Michael Perhaes, Assistant Vice President of Marketing, MGM Grand
Bryan Allison, Vice President, Marketing, Vegas.com

The session moved quickly, but I was able to jot down the good bits from each of the speakers.

Brad Goldberg, Vice President of Marketing, Luxor

We saw successes from other brands using social media and decided we wanted to pattern the same results. While not everyone may check their emails in Vegas, many of them still check their social profiles while traveling. People are looking to what is happening right now, up-to-date. We wanted to be a part of those real-time conversations and top-of-mind for our consumer base.

We want to keep it fun – staying away from “cold” messages that are too commercial. We think it’s important with regards to the social web to maintain personality/voice. That’s one of the most important things we want to hold onto and maintain. Otherwise, it’s just another advertising vehicle.

Making it easier for those interacting with your products to communicate about those interactions is something we see as important to our future.

Peter Arceo, Executive Director of Casino Marketing, Las Vegas Hilton

At the Hilton, we don’t necessarily have the same resources of our competitors. So what we do is staff social media with people actively interested in what we’re trying to do – spread our brand. We try to get customers to both sample our offerings and make it social. We have a “toys for Tweets” promotion that will bring awareness to the fact that there is a Hilton in Vegas in a positive light. Our approach to get employees involved in social media isn’t to guide them, but take the Zappos approach and let them have their own voice. We want to find people internally interested in doing social media organically.

We design promotions and events to get people together – not just to meet us, but to meet each other. There is a hunger and a need for people to meet each other. We want to be the connector.

Brandie Feuer, Director of Interactive Marketing, Planet Hollywood

We see social media as a great direct response channel. But we’re also cognizant of providing value to users. We do things like give out last minute concert tickets to our followers and promote little things that might not be worth a press release. Social media rests with PR and our interactive department, however we also encourage others to be a part of the space. All employees should be empowered, where possible. We want to move towards more of a social business model.

Michael Perhaes, Assistant Vice President of Marketing, MGM Grand

The MGM Grand was late to the social media game compared to competitors on the strip – we finally joined for a few reasons. The effectiveness of our email marketing was beginning to degrade a bit. The value of email has diminished in the last few years. We’ve seen sites like Facebook have taken up that role for many. We want to put content into social media that may have been ignored in email. In a few years time, social media will become an even more important network than email for our brand.

We have high expectations on response for social media as a full-blown marketing channel. The people that choose to follow us on the social web have affinity for our brand and we want to be able to market to them.

We have specific pages for some channels, for example we have a separate food and beverage Facebook page for that department since there are people passionate about those items. We want to engage other departments too. Most importantly, we want to find ways to make this more meaningful even beyond direct response and reach people interested in Vegas. We’re creating personas to try to build affinity with people.

We read (and respond) to posts customers put up on their Facebook page – specifically things like customer complaints – in order to make their next experience better. It allows that two way communication – if someone complains about their room, we have a way to respond to them immediately.

As a promotional effort we launched a “confessions campaign” on Twitter where you can Tweet your sins, and there’s a livestream of people tweeting those sins. Users can vote on sins which are forgivable vs. unforgivable. The best sins can win a free night. We’ve done advertising in LA to support it and create more buzz. The goal is to gain additional awareness on Twitter, gain more followers and experiment.

Bryan Allison, Vice President, Marketing, Vegas.com

We identified people internally who were passionate about social media and empowered them to get involved and answer consumer questions. The entire company is leveraging the social web. We just launched a campaign called “Vegas Experts Exposed.” This wasn’t the idea of the marketing department; rather it was the idea of some other employees in the company. We want everyone to contribute ideas across the company.

We’ve done things that are both commercial and fun on social channels and we’re continuously surprised with how people interact with the more fun items. We want to have something that people will look forward to on their live feed.

We use a mix of “power users” internally for promoting the product, and also customer service representatives talking to customers and alleviate their problems. There are people internally who are really passionate and want to share their workplace/what they do all day. We encourage them to do so, however to use common sense and ask first on appropriateness if there is a questions.

Many of our younger employees are already involved – it’s an opportunity to use them, tap that resource. They know how to communicate and engage in these channels. We use them to help the people who may not be as experienced in social media get up to speed.

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | PubCon 2009: How Major Vegas Hotels Are Using Social Media | 9 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

PRSA09: Top 10 SEO Tips for Public Relations

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:08:35 GMT

Today at the PRSA 09 conference, it was a packed room for TopRank CEO (and author of Online Marketing Blog) Lee Odden who gave a presentation on SEO for Public Relations.

He started by explaining why SEO is/should be important to PR Professionals.

In a 2008 Journalists Use of Search Survey by TopRank, we discovered that 91% of journalists use standard search to fulfill a component of their job whether researching a story or locating a subject matter expert.

With journalists writing for more channels and with less resources making your content visible within search is critical.

Here are Odden’s 10 SEO Tips:

1. Number one thing to do?
Magic answer is that it depends on the problem.
However, if you choose one item to tackle make sure your website is crawlable. If the site isn’t crawlable, then really nothing else you do in terms of SEO will matter.

2. Understand and Optimize PR Tactics
The content that is likely already being created as part of the PR campaign is low hanging fruit in terms of SEO.

Optimize the following content with keyword phrases (or those terms that journalists might be searching) to help your content become more visible:

Press Releases
Letters to the editor
Online Newsroom
Media kits
Corporate blogs
White papers
Webinars/demos
Newsletters
Real world interviews published digitally

In addition, Odden introduces the audience to the idea of Micromedia Optimization. Now that tweets and soon status updates are being integrated into the search engines, it’s important to optimize the content regardless of the channel.

3. PPC vs SEO for PR
SEO is long term, part of a content process and contingent on content and links over time.
PPC is on-demand, pay to play and an alternative to natural listings. If you have something you need to draw attention to right now, PPC is perhaps the more viable option as you can have ads live within minutes.

4. Keyword Research
In order to optimize your existing content, a list of keyword phrases needs to be developed.
Here’s how you build the list:
1. Brainstorm phrases
2. Import to a keyword research tool
–Google Keyword Tool
–Google Insights & Trends
–WordTracker
–Keyword Discovery
–SEM Rush
3. Find popularity and variations of the original keyword list
4. Create a keyword glossary

When creating the glossary, be sure to segment by popularity and category to ensure no important phrases are missed.

5. Basics of OnPage SEO
When optimizing a website, newsroom or landing page, don’t forget to include keywords in the following places:

Title Tags
Keyword Placement within content
On-page titles
Navigation links
Body copy
Keyword text links
Image alt text

6. Get more from Press Releases
Press releases can be more than a vehicle for distributing messages. If optimized, it can also serve to pull journalists (and even prospects) to the content hosted on a website or within a newsroom.

To optimize your press content for search visibility, remember to:

Research and identify target keyword phrases
Optimize the release for 1-2 phrases
Include a Call to Action (link to landing page, so you can track activity)
Develop and Optimize Landing Pages
Post to Newsroom
Pitch to Media
Distribute via RSS
Leverage Wire Service Distribution
Measure Results

Here are 7 tips specific to Press Release Optimization:
1. Think up and to the left
2. Optimize for people first, search engines next
3. Use keywords in Title, Subhead, body
4. Don’t obsess over keyword density
5. Aim for a 500 word release to use target keyword 2-4 times
6. Use keywords in links to company sites
7. Add media: images, podcasts, video

7. Newsroom Optimization Tactics
Online newsrooms can be an added resource to draw journalists in, if it is optimized and can be found via search.

To optimize your newsroom or to get one started, follow these tips:
1. Consider using blog software to manage your newsroom, very search friendly
2. Share/Save Bookmarks
3. Leverage keyword categories
Chronological archives don’t benefit the search engines or the user. No one wants to search through years of press releases – as opposed to clicking on a category of content like ‘SEO Tips’.
4. Cross link from optimized content to relevant content on the website

8. Link Building
Links ‘electrify’ content in search and can significantly improve search rankings.

Earn links with great content and by deploying the following:

Promote content socially
Link up with partners
Cross link internally
Embed links in releases
Social bookmark pickups of release content/coverage

When creating hyperlinks, be sure to use keywords in text:
Yes: Red Widget
No: Click Here

9. SEO & Social: Yin Yang
SEO and Social Media can be very complimentary to one another, so if deploying both (or even parts of both) be sure to integrate for highest impact.

Optimize Social Media for Search
The role of SEO in a social media effort is to directly influence discovery of social communities or content via search.

Link Building for SEO Through Social Media
Indirectly, social content can boost links to website content, improve search traffic and online sales.

10. Measuring & Selling the Value of News SEO
After deploying some or all of the above, it’s important to tie back to results.

There are are many different ways to attach measurement to the optimization of news content and here are a few to get you started:

Newswire service metrics
Web analytics for landing pages and websites
Google / Yahoo alerts
Monitor blog search engines (via RSS)
Press release landing page conversion tracking
Social media monitoring
Inbound links
Pickups on blogs
Pickups on other websites
Pickups on publications
Search Rankings

Don’t think those will work? Odden recommends using the power of the competitors.�Are your competitors receiving better social or standard search visibility? If so, that’s often a compelling data point for decision makers.

What tips do you have to add for optimizing news content?

TopRank is offering a Free Guide to SEO for PR here.

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | PRSA09: Top 10 SEO Tips for Public Relations | 25 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Google Wave . . . So THAT’s How You Use It!

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:01:52 GMT

Download Youtube Videos Firefox Addon.

PRSA09: Social Media Measurement – Katie Paine on Establishing ROI

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:00:24 GMT

The first day of the 2009 PRSA International Conference in San Diego kicked off general sessions today.

One session I’ve really been looking forward to was the one on social media measurement featuring Katie Paine of KDPaine & Partners. She started the audience off with some numbers, that we all might find useful:

48% of respondents to a PRWeek study said that they were moving money from advertising to social media – only 18% said they were taking money from PR
78% of people trust peer recommendations, 14% trust advertising
91% of Inc 500 companies are using social media
38% aren’t monitoring their brand, product or reputation in social media

Next, the audience had to grapple with the idea (read truth) that it’s the end of measurement as we know it. Here are ten supporting facts:

Procter & Gamble is now paying for engagement, not eyeballs
Sodexo cut 300K out of its recruitment budget using Twitter
Comcast avoided government regs and improved customer service via Twitter
Immunize BC used social media to boost awareness and increase percentage of population immunized
BMC Software measures communications effectiveness based on contribution to EPS (earnings per share)
HSUS (Humane Society) generated $650,000 in new donations from an on-line photo contest on Flickr
Red Cross judges success in terms of property saved and loss averted
IMB receives more leads, sales and exposure from a $500 podcast that it does from a $40,000 advertising program
Wal-Mart credits Q109 profits to 11 Moms
Stanford University calculates ROI from Facebook based on applications and retention

So, if you are measuring success with any of the following, you might be labeled Old School (and need to keep reading).

AVE (ad value equivalency)
Eyeballs
Hits
Couch Potatoes
# of Twitter Followers
# of Facebook Friends/Fans

Paine explains that the above measurement methods are in fact Old School and the incorrect way to measure the effectiveness of any campaign. Eyeballs aren’t a measurement of success anymore because those eyeballs likely avert your advertisement. Hits aren’t an objective of a website, inquiries and conversions are.

The measurement of success isn’t the creation of a Facebook page or even the number of friends/followers the page has. Rather, success is in the engagement with a particular audience and how that engagement has the potential to impact a preset objective.

So why don’t more professionals update the way they approach measurement? Paine says it’s fear. She adresses many fears that this (or any other) audience may have when it comes to social media and defining metrics.
1. Afraid metrics will reveal the program isn’t working.

If it’s not working, why keep doing it?

2. Afraid of what you will hear.

If you’re deaf to the conversation, only your enemies will hear it.

3. Afraid I won’t be able to justify my program/existence.

It’s not about justifying; it’s about improving

4. Afraid I’ll be fired for not showing the right numbers.

You should be fired for not showing any.

Social Media renders everything you know about measurement obsolete.�The definition of timely has changed, the definition of reach has changed, the definition of success had changed.

The answer isn’t in how many you’ve reached, but how those you’ve reached have responded

Once you have reached the audience, take a look at how they engage and make decisions as it may have changed.

OLD: Awareness > Consideration > Preference > Trial > Purchase
NEW: Find > Observe > Participate > Engagement > Purchase/Act/Link/WOM

To get started, set goals for Social Media. Examples of goals are:

Marketing/leads/sales
Mission/safety/civic engagement
Relationship/reputation/positioning

To reach those goals, what do you need to measure? Paine recommends following the 7 Steps to Social Media ROI:

Define the ‘R’ – what are expected results
Define the ‘I’ – what’s the investment
Understand your audiences and what motivates them
Define the metrics (what you want to become)
Define your benchmarks
Obey the Rules
Analysis

In what ways are you measuring social media? What have you found to be the most compelling metrics for getting management and/or client buy-in?

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | PRSA09: Social Media Measurement – Katie Paine on Establishing ROI | 14 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

25 Link Building Tactics to Improve Blog Search Engine Rankings

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:06:43 GMT

Blogs are often touted as good for search engine optimization. The reality is, blogs are simply software tools and what you get out of them from a SEO perspective is in proportion to how well you know how to use them. Good keyword categorization and content are a start, but blogs are not much of a SEO asset unless they attract links.

The myth of “Build it and they will come”. Not many businesses that start blogs have the patience to create great content and wait for others to find that content all on their own as a linking strategy. Without clicking on a link or finding it on a search engine, how will others find your blog? Content is King but only if you promote it.

Links from relevant, credible sources balanced with on-page keyword optimization make it easier for search engines to find, index and sort blog posts in search results. If there’s an expectation for a company blog to rank well in search results, be sure to consider some of the following link building tactics:

1. Create content worth linking to. No matter how many tactics you find here and elsewhere, there simply is no substitute for creating content that others may find useful. Take the time to look at blog posts that already rank well in search results and notice their structure, quantity of words and word placement.

2. Conduct backlink analysis on competing web sites or blogs – find out who is linking to competitor sites that are not linking to yours. Ask sites linking to multiple competitors to link to yours as well. If another web site or blog is already linking to multiple competitors, there is a chance they’ll link to your blog as well.

3. Make useful comments on other blogs that don’t have rel=nofollow. Comments should always be useful, but if you become aware of a topically relevant blog that does not discourage search engine spiders from crawling links in comments, it’s work spending the extra time to provide helpful insights a links to resources that you’ve published on your own blog.

4. Encourage social bookmarks & news submissions of your content using services without rel=nofollow. Show links to those services like Folkd, Spurl or Feedmarker in the blog post template code so they are visible for blog readers to use. Some social bookmarking services will make a copy of what you bookmark or a static web page of the bookmark including a do follow link back to the source (your blog).

5. Get listed on other blogger’s blogrolls. It never hurts to ask another blog that you’re active with to see if they’d consider adding your blog to their blogroll or curated lists of blogs.

6. Guest write on other blogs and include a link to your blog in the bio. In the course of getting to know blogs that already rank well on the keyword phrases you’re targeting, you may notice that they often accept guest blog posts from others. Contact the blog owner and suggest a compelling post that would be first and foremost, valuable to their readers. If it makes sense editorially to link from within the guest post to your own blog, be sure to use relevant keywords as the link text.

7.�Submit to blog & RSS directories. Many directory links have no follow links or are not visited by a large volume of people, but making sure your blog and RSS feed are included in niche categories and collections of blogs can be a positive signal to search engines as well as to long tail users. Many bloggers that aggregate large lists of topically specific blogs will cultivate blog directories as a easy way to find blogs on similar topics. If your blog isn’t on the niche list in those situations, you won’t be included.

8. Submit to regular web site directories like botw.org. While there are blog specific directories (BOTW has one of those as well) many don’t discern web sites from blogs. If a quality directory has a relevant category with other reputable web sites in it, then it makes sense for your blog to be among them as a useful information source.

9. Be sure to include your blog URL in profiles and bios on social media sites. While most social media sites that allow users to add links to their profiles add no follow to the links, there are many that do not. Public profile links on LinkedIn and YouTube channels for example, are good links. Rather than focus on registering with 300+ sites using Knowem, just make sure that of the social media profiles you do set up inlcude a link back to your blog.

10. Write testimonials for services and software that you use. They may publish with a link back to your blog. Testimonials must be well written, genuine and specific in order to be useful for the service/product owner. Get at the essence of what’s great about the product or service and even add something unique. If you’ve written a review of the product/service on your blog, that can also get you a link from their press page.

11. Job listings should always have a link back to your blog. Blogs can be useful recruiting tools that help candidates understand the culture of your company. When purchasing job listings on other web sites, add a link to your blog. The listings may expire, but may also introduce your blog to candidates that write their own blog and decide to write about a listing with a permanent link to the hiring company blog.

12. Event listings should always have a link back to your blog. Blogs can be effective tools for promoting events and if you are listing your event with 3rd party services, a link back to your blog post with more details will be useful to readers that want to know more. That link can also be useful to search engines.

13. Contributions to non-profits often have a donor page with a link. These links are now very rare but you should contribute anyway.

14. Article syndication can still result in a few good links. Include your blog URL in the article bio. Take some of your best tips oriented blog posts and re-write them for specific industry verticals or applications. Then submit them to article repositories. When others re-use those articles, the bio link back to your blog can be picked up by readers and search engines.

15. Distribute press releases via a wire service with a link to your blog included. Our client, PRWeb, is a pioneer in providing competitive SEO value with press release distribution. Many blogs and some news web sites will re-publish your press release exactly as it was distributed, including good links back to your blog. Journalists use News search to look up past press releases and research on stories, which presents an opportunity to be found and included.

16. Contribute Op Ed pieces to Mainstream Media web sites. Contribute a link to your blog of course. If you suggest content to another web site such as a letter to the editor, why not keyword optimize the title? Why not include a link back to your blog where you’ve written many more articles on the same topic?

17. When you get media coverage (or placements) in online publications, be sure to ask the journalist for a link to your blog. Again, it never hurts to ask. Many publications have a policy not to link out from stories. Many leave it up to the journalist or their editor. If you don’t ask, you will never get the link.

18. Develop social networks and share especially useful content from your blog where relevant. Be useful to others and they will useful to you by promoting your content and attracting links. Don’t be gratuitous when sharing links to your own content, but when you have something particularly special and valuable that’s highly relevant to a particular network, then by all means, share it with them. Some are bloggers as well and may link to it from their own blogs as well as pass the link along to others.

19. Linkbait. Create or aggregate disparate content that provides value and is not easily found elsewhere. Promote it to those that would be interested and in a position to distribute to the right audience. Again, create useful content, but be thoughtful about packaging it in a way that makes it unique and is easy to pass along. Look at other blog posts in your topical category that have “gone hot” on social news sites and understand their structure, format and tone. Leverage what has worked for others in your own content to be promoted.

20. Sponsor content on web sites or newsletters archived to the web that allow you to include a link. It may be a nofollow link, but it may not. Many newsletters sent via email are archived to the web or have landing pages on the web. Ask those newsletters if you can buy an ad or even contribute a short article. The article credits should include a link to your blog.

21. Hire bloggers to write content for you. They’ll often cross-post it to their own blog with a link back to yours. Of course, you should be considerate and simply mention that this is ok, don’t ask them or require them to do it.

22. Run a contest that may involve others deciding to link back to your blog. This can be tricky, but Marketing Pilgrim does a great job of this with their SEM Scholarship Contest. Readers write blog posts and the first cut is based on which posts get the most traffic and presumably, links among other criteria.

23. Offer a widget, when posted to others’ web sites, includes a link back to a credits page for the widget on your blog. TopRank’s Thomas McMahon created a RSS buttons tool and it’s use by other blogs has resulted in over 322,000 inbound links.

24. Review other blogs and offer a badge for those that get included. We’ve done this with BIGLIST and it has resulted in over 64,000 inbound links. Focus on quality and be consistent. Also offer a version of the badge that does not include a link for those that want to display the “blog flare” but don’t or can’t link to it. You should include your logo on the badge for improved brand awarness whether there’s a link or not.

25. Create an exceptionally useful tool. Others will link to it simply because it is useful. (See step 1) TopRank created a Social Bookmarking Tool several years ago and still has over 50,000 links as a result.

Bonus tip: When others link to you, THANK THEM! Building good will is one of the most underrated marketing skills online. Be genuine, thoughtful and courteous. Also be SMART and driven to get links where it makes sense.

What linking tactics for blogs have you found to be most effective? What challenges are you facing in attracting other sites to link to your blog?

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | 25 Link Building Tactics to Improve Blog Search Engine Rankings | 52 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Excuse Me, But Where Did Google's Organic Search Results Go?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:57:11 GMT

A look at Google's disappearing organic search results.

Reader Poll Winner: SEO Dojo for Best Paid Subscription SEM Community

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:53:27 GMT

TopRank has been publishing the BIGLIST of SEM blogs since Jan 2007. We’ve created other BIGLISTs of resources as well including the BIGLIST of 100+ Search Marketing Resources posted in October. The categories for that list of SEM resources includes books, conferences, newsletters, blogs, forums and many more. We decided it would be interesting to see which resources from that list our readers felt were the best.

In the past 3 plus years TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog has run over 50 polls: Everything from Best Social Media Podcast to best Keyword Research Tool to Best City for a Search Marketing Conference. In that longstanding tradition, we recently conducted a poll focused on Best Paid Subscription SEM Communities. We defined the category as membership and subscription model sites that include forums, tools and/or training or content focused on search marketing. After asking for additional suggestions in the BIGLIST 100+ SEM Resources post, no additional sites besides SEOmoz, SEOBook, WebmasterWorld Supporters and SEO Dojo were suggested.

After 220 votes, we can now announce that the Paid Subscription Community that Online Marketing Blog readers like best is SEO Dojo. Congratulations!

SEO Dojo was launched publicly over 2 weeks ago, but has been in operation for about 10 months, according to David Harry, creator of the community. While an early stage SEM community, SEO Dojo members are clearly passionate evidenced by the number of votes and comments left on the poll. Here’s the official description:

We are here to teach, learn, and grow. Every teacher a student. Every student, a teacher. This SEO Dojo was founded to give those with an interest in search optimization, personally or professionally, a place to gain knowledge, interact and even teach others the craft.

The SEO Dojo (or Fire Horse) was started as a place to collect search related documents, interact with others and spread the word of search optimization in it’s highest form. We felt there needed to be a place for the new adventurers and uber SEO geeks alike. For determined website owners, or professional SEOs, the in-house, the consultant… the shirt maker.

The basis of SEO Dojo’s creation is similar to other free and paid communities, to serve as a resource and community for search marketing students and long time professionals. In particular, there’s a passion for testing and openness as well as an appreciation for search as something where the learning never ends.

As the newest paid SEM community in the poll, (Sphinn Members launched after this poll was started) the response was impressive, especially considering the size and tenure of the other SEM communities in the poll. In the end, the enthusiasm demonstrated by SEO Dojo members resulted in winning the poll, a free ad on toprankblog.com for 2 months (we don’t sell ads, so this is very unique) and a press release distributed on PRWeb announcing the poll results.

Congrats again to SEO Dojo and thank you to all who participated in the Online Marketing Blog Reader Poll.

We’ll be running polls on SEM Resources in other categories on a bi-weekly basis, so be sure to watch for the next category to be posted. If you have suggestions for additional sites/blogs/forums/books/conferences/newsletters/etc to be added to the BIGLIST of Search Marketing Resources, please visit that link and add them in the comments. Of course, after we started the Best Paid SEM Community poll, a number of suggestions were made and we’ll include those the next time we run it.

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Reader Poll Winner: SEO Dojo for Best Paid Subscription SEM Community | 6 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

More Ways for Google to Embed Themselves in Your Conversion Stream

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:47:37 GMT

A look at a few examples of Google's monopoly marketplace strategy at work.

New personalization features in Google Friend Connect

Maile Ohye — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:40:00 GMT

Webmaster Level: All

Just a few weeks ago, we made Google Friend Connect a lot easier to use by dramatically simplifying the setup process. Today, we're excited to announce several new features that make it possible for website owners to get to know their users, encourage users to get to know each other, and match their site content (including Google ads) to visitors' interests.

To learn more about these new features, check out the Google Social Web Blog.
Posted by Mussie Shore, Product Manager, Google Friend Connect

New Twitter Account @graywolfseo

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:00:46 GMT

How to Save Money on Social SEO Consulting

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:45:14 GMT

Social Media Marketing is getting a lot of attention in the media on and offline, causing many business marketers to wonder how to adjust budgets and resources to participate. Others that have allocated funds to Social Media and SEO programs without proper implementation, timelines or measurement may question their return on investment.

While businesses decide to push or pull budgets, companies that are focused on winning market share and driving revenue are soundly and consistently investing in a mix of digital tactics involving search, email, online PR and of course, social media. Adding to the marketing mix often means outsourcing and good consultants are not cheap.

For many companies, the decision to widen the range of marketing services and get help externally means budget reallocation. For some, it means the blasphemy of cutting tried and true marketing programs in order to chase after shiny social media. The good news is that there are ways to have your Social SEO cake and eat it too. For marketers that want to take full advantage of search engine optimization and social media, here are two of the most important cost saving tips to make both bean counters and marketers happy.

Plan ahead. Setting goals is fundamental to marketing but with a social SEO strategy, it’s important to understand the difference in outcomes as well as the tactics used to reach goals. SEO performance indicators are typically links, rankings, referrer and search traffic, inquiries, sales and other conversions. Depending on goals, social media KPIs will include brand mentions on other social sites, links, comments, measures of engagement, media placements, measures of sentiment about brand terms, syndication and growth of networks.

Setting goals for SEO distinct from Social Media is an important first step to creating a Social SEO strategy. SEO on it’s own can drive sales. SEO can also help grow social networks via discovery through search. Optimizing content for search within social networks improves discovery in places where Google and other search engines can’t reach.

In comScore’s August 2009 Search Engine Rankings report, 3 of the top search engines were social media sites: YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. Companies that focus their optimization efforts solely on Google.com will miss the continued trend towards social search or search within social networks.

Social media facilitates word of mouth and requires ongoing participation to realize the most benefit. Whatever word of mouth can do for a business in the offline world, social media can do online; only faster and to a much larger community. Understand the difference between SEO and Social Media outcomes and you’ll save a significant amount of money on the normal discovery and learning phase of a Social SEO engagement.

Do your homework. With Search Engine Optimization, keyword research and analysis gives marketers valuable insight into the language customers use when searching for their products/services. Understanding communities and customer behaviors in social media is a very different exercise. It’s possible to do some keyword research that is social media specific by analyzing the most common keyword tags used to label and organize social content. It’s also important to understand what social networks and media sharing sites your customers spend their time on. What are their behaviors and how do they participate? Do they share, create or just watch?

Companies that make the effort to understand search based keywords that are most popular is a great first step for saving on SEO costs spent on keyword research. Marketers can do that homework through keyword research tools and competitive keyword research.

Additionally, understanding customer behaviors and content preferences on social networks and media sharing sites is equally important. What keywords are most often used in their conversations? What words do they use when tagging, commenting, linking and sharing media? Social media monitoring tools can help as well as first hand experience with customers through social media participation. Insight from direct observation as well as software that can track and organize the large volume of social content will save tremendous amounts of time when working with an outside consultant as they ramp up the Audience phase of a social media program.

Make no mistake, there’s work involved to save money on high quality Social Media and SEO programs. Think of it as putting sweat equity into your online marketing. Not only will companies save on consulting costs, but the increased knowledge from better understanding search keywords and social keywords will manifest in better relationships with customers and ability to implement on consultant recommendations.

Performing search and social media keyword research isn’t going to replace what consultants will do by any means. But it will shorten the time it takes to ramp up on tasks that can take a large number of consulting hours. The better corporate marketers know their Social Media and SEO goals, the more focused outside consultants can be in helping to reach them.

Other cost saving tips for Social Media Optimization programs include ongoing training, analytics and certain types of outsourcing. We’d love to hear your ideas on these suggestions and your own. How has your company been able to deal with slimmer marketing budgets but still engage in search and social media programs productively?

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | How to Save Money on Social SEO Consulting | 22 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Google Domination through Less-Than-Free

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:38:15 GMT

This is one of the more interesting takes I’ve seen on Google’s Business Model going forward.

How a Search Engine might Adjust Rankings based upon Patterns in Query and Click Logs

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:27:28 GMT

Imagine that a number of people use Google to perform a search for “orange,” and then “banana,” and then “pineapple” and then choose the web page “http://www.example.com/fruit.htm” in the search results they see.

Now imagine that Google looks at the information it collects about what people do when they search, and finds in its query [...]

TopRank’s SEO Halloween Costume Contest

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:42:45 GMT

The TopRank team loves to have fun – for holidays, on team outings, at conferences, etc. Because tomorrow is Halloween, a few members of the TopRank team decided to dress up for a costume contest.�And it’s up to you to decide the winner! Winning includes at least $50 worth of coffee, so be sure to share this post and get your friends to vote too.

We have a winner – Congrats goes to Dana Larson:

Winner! Dana as Minnesota Strawberry Shortcake

Safari Thomas

Bad Angel Julie

Michelle the Football Star

Monkey Audrey and Veterinary Nurse Amie

Mike as Zombie Soupy Sales

Sue After Being Attacked by Scooby Doo

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | TopRank’s SEO Halloween Costume Contest | 11 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Google's Conflicting Push to Move Beyond Search

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:50:32 GMT

Google has begun moving in on many large categories, and now some big brands.

Reader Poll: Best Paid Subscription SEM Communities

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:48:52 GMT

We recently posted a list of over 100 resources our readers could leverage to learn more about marketing online through search. One of the categories was paid subscription SEM communities that offer training, forums and often times templates, forms and guides for implementing effective Search Marketing programs.

A pioneer forum that has a paid channel in this area is the WebmasterWorld Supporter’s group. SEOmoz has been wildly successful with their Pro community over the past few years and SEO Book launched their training community after discontinuing the actual book. The newcomer to this group is SEO Dojo.

Below you’ll find info and links on each community and if you’re a fan, take this poll to vote which is your favorite:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

WebmasterWorld Supporters
Since: Posts go back to Nov 5, 2002 but I suspect it was started before that.
Cost: 6 months $89 – 12 months $149
Description: A private forum for WebmasterWorld supporters dealing with Webmaster, Tech, and Business issues related to operating and promoting a website.

SEOmoz Pro
Since: Feb 2007
Cost: Pro $79/mo, Pro Plus $129/mo, Pro Elite $229/mo
Description: Access to exclusive tools, processes and knowledge that SEOmoz staff use to provide consulting to their clients. Offers a guarantee.

SEO Book Training
Since: Feb 2008
Cost: $150/mo – Membership is full
Description: Over 100 training modules as well as forums, templates, videos and tools.

SEO Dojo
Since: Oct 2009
Cost: $30/monthly or $250/full year plus other combinations
Description: Community and training resource for search and Internet marketers that includes articles, chat sessions, worksheets/guides and plans for webinars.

What has your experience been with these communities? What are the best features? Training, Tools, Community. Which paid SEM communities did we miss? Please share in the comments and we’ll update our 100 Resources list as well as include them in next year’s poll.

This poll will run until Tuesday 11/03/09 after which we will name the winner both on Online Marketing Blog, which gets close to 100,000 visits per month and we’ll be issuing a press release for distribution through PRWeb. The winner will also get a free 125X125 ad on the toprankblog.com right side bar for 2 months.

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� Online Marketing Blog, 2009. | Reader Poll: Best Paid Subscription SEM Communities | 32 comments | http://www.toprankblog.com

Google Localizing Search Results Based on the Search Query

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:45:39 GMT

In some cases Google has begun localizing some search results to other countries if a search query is more popular in that other region.

Social Media: The Need For Measurement

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:15:29 GMT

Measuring social media marketing.

Verifying a Blogger blog in Webmaster Tools

Jonathan Simon — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:48:00 GMT

Webmaster Level: All

You may have seen our recent announcement of changes to the verification system in Webmaster Tools. One side effect of this change is that blogs hosted on Blogger (that haven't yet been verified) will have to use the meta tag verification method rather than the "one-click" integration from the Blogger dashboard. The "Webmaster Tools" auto-verification link from the Blogger dashboard is no longer working and will soon be removed. We're working to reinstate an automated verification approach for Blogger hosted blogs in the future, but for the time being we wanted you to be aware of the steps required to verify your Blogger blog in Webmaster Tools.

Step-By-Step Instructions:

In Webmaster Tools
1. Click the "Add a site" button on the Webmaster Tools Home page
2. Enter your blog's URL (for example, googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com) and click the "Continue" button to go to the Manage verification page
3. Select the "Meta tag" verification method and copy the meta tag provided

In Blogger
4. Go to your blog and sign in
5. From the Blogger dashboard click the "Layout" link for the blog you're verifying
6. Click the "Edit HTML" link under the "Layout" tab which will allow you to edit the HTML for your blog's template
7. Paste the meta tag (copied in step 3) immediately after the <head> element within the template HTML and click the "SAVE TEMPLATE" button

In Webmaster Tools
8. On the Manage Verification page, confirm that "Meta tag" is selected as the verification method and click the "Verify" button

Your blog should now be verified. You're ready to start using Webmaster Tools!

Posted by Jonathan Simon, Webmaster Trends Analyst

Google & Bing Annouce Real Time Search Deals With Twitter

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:14:28 GMT

Social Media Guruism: Mostly Harmless

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:53:25 GMT

Some thoughts on social media.

Dealing with low-quality backlinks

Susan Moskwa — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:53:00 GMT

Webmaster level: Intermediate/Advanced

Webmasters who check their incoming links in Webmaster Tools often ask us what they can do when they see low-quality links. Understandably, many site owners are trying to build a good reputation for their sites, and some believe that having poor-quality incoming links can be perceived as "being part of a bad neighbourhood," which over time might harm their site's ranking.

If your site receives links that look similarly dodgy, don't be alarmed... read on!

While it's true that linking is a significant factor in Google's ranking algorithms, it's just one of many. I know we say it a lot, but having something that people want to look at or use—unique, engaging content, or useful tools and services—is also a huge factor. Other factors can include how a site is structured, whether the words of a user's query appear in the title, how close the words are on the page, and so on. The point is, if you happen to see some low quality sites linking to you, it's important to keep in mind that linking is just one aspect among many of how Google judges your site. If you have a well-structured and regularly maintained site with original, high-quality content, those are the sorts of things that users will see and appreciate.

That having said, in an ideal world you could have your cake and eat it too (or rather, you could have a high-quality site and high-quality backlinks). You may also be concerned about users' perception of your site if they come across it via a batch of spammy links. If the number of poor-quality links is manageable, and/or if it looks easy to opt-out or get those links removed from the site that's linking to you, it may be worth it to try to contact the site(s) and ask them to remove their links. Remember that this isn't something that Google can do for you; we index content that we find online, but we don't control that content or who's linking to you.

If you run into some uncooperative site owners, however, don't fret for too long. Instead, focus on things that are under your control. Generally, you as a webmaster don't have much control over things like who links to your site. You do, however, have control over many other factors that influence indexing and ranking. Organize your content; do a mini-usability study with family or friends. Ask for a site review in your favorite webmaster forums. Use a website testing tool to figure out what gets you the most readers, or the biggest sales. Take inspiration from your favorite sites, or your competitors—what do they do well? What makes you want to keep coming back to their sites, or share them with your friends? What can you learn from them? Time spent on any of these activities is likely to have a larger impact on your site's overall performance than time spent trying to hunt down and remove every last questionable backlink.

Finally, keep in mind that low-quality links rarely stand the test of time, and may disappear from our link graph relatively quickly. They may even already be being discounted by our algorithms. If you want to make sure Google knows about these links and is valuing them appropriately, feel free to bring them to our attention using either our spam report or our paid links report.

Posted by Kaspar Szymanski, Search Quality Strategist, Dublin & Susan Moskwa, Webmaster Trends Analyst, Kirkland

Fetch as Googlebot and Malware details -- now in Webmaster Tools Labs!

Sagar Kamdar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:15:00 GMT

The Webmaster Tools team is lucky to have passionate users who provide us with a great set of feature ideas. Going forward, we'll be launching some features under the "Labs" label so we can quickly transition from concept to production, and hear your feedback ASAP. With Labs releases, you have the opportunity to play with features and have your feedback heard much earlier in the development lifecycle. On the flip side, since these features are available early in the release cycle they're not as robust, and may break at times.

Today we're launching two cool features:

Malware details
Fetch as Googlebot

Malware details (developed by Lucas Ballard)

Before today, you may have been relying on manual testing, our safe browsing API, and malware notifications to determine which pages on your site may be distributing malware. Sometimes finding the malicious code is extremely difficult, even when you do know which pages it was found on. Today we are happy to announce that we'll be providing snippets of code that exist on some of those pages that we consider to be malicious. We hope this additional information enables you to eliminate the malware on your site very quickly, and reduces the number of iterations many webmasters go through during the review process.

More information on this cool feature is available at our Online Security Blog.

Fetch as Googlebot (developed by Javier Tordable)

"What does Googlebot see when it accesses my page?" is a common question webmasters ask us on our forums and at conferences. Our keywords and HTML suggestions features help you understand the content we're extracting from your site, and any issues we may be running into at crawl and indexing time. However, we realized it was important to provide the ability for users to submit pages on their site and get real-time feedback on what Googlebot sees. This feature will help users a great deal when they re-implement their site with a new technology stack, find out that some of their pages have been hacked, or want to understand why they're not ranking for specific keywords.

We're pretty excited about this launch, and hope you are too. Let us know what you think!

Posted by Sagar Kamdar, Product Manager, Webmaster Tools

Internet Marketing Services Minneapolis, Mn.

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:53:57 GMT

Internet Marketing Services in Minneapolis. Rank on Top offers Website Marketing, Seo Services and website development in Minnesota. Helping Minnesota Businesses get more hits and attract more business thru online website search engine optimization and website developement.

Google Friend Connect: No more FTP... just get started!

Jonathan Simon — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:52:00 GMT

Until today, you had to upload a file to your website to activate Google Friend Connect features and gadgets. Today, we're dramatically simplifying the Friend Connect setup process. To get started with Friend Connect features, all you have to do is submit your website's name and URL after logging into www.google.com/friendconnect.

To learn more about the recent updates to Google Friend Connect, check out our post on the Google Social Web Blog.

Posted by Mussie Shore, Product Manager, Google Friend Connect

Translate your website with Google: Expand your audience globally

Susan Moskwa — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:54:00 GMT

(This has been cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

How long would it take to translate all the world's web content into 50 languages? Even if all of the translators in the world worked around the clock, with the current growth rate of content being created online and the sheer amount of data on the web, it would take hundreds of years to make even a small dent.

Today, we're happy to announce a new website translator gadget powered by Google Translate that enables you to make your site's content available in 51 languages. Now, when people visit your page, if their language (as determined by their browser settings) is different than the language of your page, they'll be prompted to automatically translate the page into their own language. If the visitor's language is the same as the language of your page, no translation banner will appear.

After clicking the Translate button, the automatic translations are shown directly on your page.

It's easy to install — all you have to do is cut and paste a short snippet into your webpage to increase the global reach of your blog or website.

Automatic translation is convenient and helps people get a quick gist of the page. However, it's not a perfect substitute for the art of professional translation. Today happens to be International Translation Day, and we'd like to take the opportunity to celebrate the contributions of translators all over the world. These translators play an essential role in enabling global communication, and with the rapid growth and ease of access to digital content, the need for them is greater than ever. We hope that professional translators, along with translation tools such as Google Translator Toolkit and this Translate gadget, will continue to help make the world's content more accessible to everyone.

Posted by Jeff Chin, Product Manager, Google Translate

Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking

Michael Wyszomierski — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Recently we received some questions about how Google uses (or more accurately, doesn't use) the "keywords" meta tag in ranking web search results. Suppose you have two website owners, Alice and Bob. Alice runs a company called AliceCo and Bob runs BobCo. One day while looking at Bob's site, Alice notices that Bob has copied some of the words that she uses in her "keywords" meta tag. Even more interesting, Bob has added the words "AliceCo" to his "keywords" meta tag. Should Alice be concerned?

At least for Google's web search results currently (September 2009), the answer is no. Google doesn't use the "keywords" meta tag in our web search ranking. This video explains more, or see the questions below.

Q: Does Google ever use the "keywords" meta tag in its web search ranking?

A: In a word, no. Google does sell a Google Search Appliance, and that product has the ability to match meta tags, which could include the keywords meta tag. But that's an enterprise search appliance that is completely separate from our main web search. Our web search (the well-known search at Google.com that hundreds of millions of people use each day) disregards keyword metatags completely. They simply don't have any effect in our search ranking at present.

Q: Why doesn't Google use the keywords meta tag?

A: About a decade ago, search engines judged pages only on the content of web pages, not any so-called "off-page" factors such as the links pointing to a web page. In those days, keyword meta tags quickly became an area where someone could stuff often-irrelevant keywords without typical visitors ever seeing those keywords. Because the keywords meta tag was so often abused, many years ago Google began disregarding the keywords meta tag.

Q: Does this mean that Google ignores all meta tags?

A: No, Google does support several other meta tags. This meta tags page documents more info on several meta tags that we do use. For example, we do sometimes use the "description" meta tag as the text for our search results snippets, as this screenshot shows:

Even though we sometimes use the description meta tag for the snippets we show, we still don't use the description meta tag in our ranking.

Q: Does this mean that Google will always ignore the keywords meta tag?

A: It's possible that Google could use this information in the future, but it's unlikely. Google has ignored the keywords meta tag for years and currently we see no need to change that policy.

Posted by Matt Cutts, Search Quality Team

Yahoo! Search Blog Offline for Site Maintenance

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:00:00 GMT

We wanted to give our loyal readers a heads up that tomorrow we'll be making some backend updates to the Yahoo! Search Blog. If you come by for a visit and notice that the site is down, don't be alarmed - we're not going anywhere. We'll be taking the blog offline early tomorrow morning and should be back up within an hour or two.

Of course, if you have any questions, let us know in the comments below.

Yahoo! Search Blog team

MediaWhiz Offers Publishers Faster and Easier Payment Solution

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:33:47 GMT

MediaWhiz announced a new payment option for its web publishers that provides their earnings on reloadable, Prepaid MasterCard� cards. The service is provided by Payoneer, Inc., an approved Member Service Provider of First Bank of Delaware.Publishers that use MediaWhiz’s highly successful link marketing product, Text Links Ads, and its innovative blog product-review network, ReviewMe, can elect to receive payments to fully functioning Prepaid MasterCard cards instead of standard paper check or PayPal options. The cards can be used worldwide at any store, ATM, or online location where Debit MasterCard is accepted.

Payoneer’s service provides a global-friendly alternative to checks, wire transfers and other online payment methods. Publishers benefit by having immediate access to their money while avoiding the hassles associated with lost or stolen checks, hold times and fees, and the lack of availability of PayPal in certain countries. Additionally, cardholders can spend and/or withdraw funds in their own currency without the need for a bank account.

According to MediaWhiz, publishers who opted for this payment method during a six-month trial rollout reported tremendous satisfaction with getting their earnings faster, lowering foreign currency exchange rates, and gaining 24�7 online account management access from anywhere in the world.

This service allows MediaWhiz to turn the payment process into a brand-affirmation opportunity. Cards bear the MediaWhiz logo, reminding publishers of where their earnings came from with each use. MediaWhiz also found that Payoneer was a significant cost-saving option considering its large number of publishers, 40% of whom are located outside the United States.

“Publishers perform just about every business function at online speed and expect the same when they get paid,” said Jonathan Shapiro, CEO of MediaWhiz. The company paid nearly $100 million to its network of over 30,000 publishers in 2007. “Our publishers love their co-branded cards from Payoneer because they get paid faster, and the overseas publishers can keep more of their earnings. We love it because it lowers our processing costs, and keeps an important community of ours happy.”

Patrick Gavin, President of MediaWhiz Display added, “Payoneer integrated simply and easily into our existing payment infrastructure – and let us use payment as a marketing advantage, especially overseas.”

“We see tremendous growth opportunity for the use of reloadable Prepaid MasterCard cards as recurring mass payment vehicles through service providers like Payoneer,” said Alonzo Primus, President and Chief Operating Officer of First Bank of Delaware. “We are eager to help industry leaders such as MediaWhiz gain a competitive edge with innovative payment solutions.”

Yuval Tal, CEO of Payoneer added, “As the Internet makes a global player out of every web site, Payoneer can help online advertising leaders like MediaWhiz take exceptional care of their publishers, and their own bottom line.”

MediaWhiz Ranks No. 256 in Inc.5000’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in America

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:09:03 GMT

MediaWhiz has been ranked #256 in the 2008 Inc. 5000 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies in America.

Additional rankings:

Ranked No. 19 in the Top 100 Businesses in New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA
Ranked No. 21 in the Top 100 Advertising & Marketing Companies

MEDIAWHIZ ENHANCES LEADROI™ LEAD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WITH JETDIAL�

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:28:43 GMT

The Integration of Leading Web-Based Dialing Technology Increases Sales Productivity

We are happy to announce that we have strengthened our Lead Management System, LeadROI™, by implementing JetDial�, a powerful web-based dialing technology that greatly enhances advertisers’ sales force efficiencies, lead throughput time, and conversion rates.

LeadROI’s JetDial is an innovative on-demand call center software that dramatically improves sales force efficiency. The technology automatically manages answering machines, busy signals, disconnected numbers, and fax lines to improve sales talk time by over 40%. For example, when an answering machine is detected, a personalized pre-recorded voicemail greeting is automatically delivered and the sales representative is promptly connected to the next available live party. Finally, JetDial is equipped with powerful monitoring capabilities that enable sales managers to track and analyze the performance of their sales team.

“The JetDial technology sets us apart from the other lead management systems, which offer very basic click-to-dial applications that don’t do much to improve sales force productivity when compared with our advanced preview dialer technology,” said Raj Parekh, General Manager of MediaWhiz’s LeadROI product. “LeadROI’s JetDial technology does everything from screening busy calls to leaving messages while simultaneously making the next call… enabling sales organizations to be significantly more efficient and profitable.”

Jeff Felman, JetDial’s Vice President of Sales, adds “JetDial’s integration with LeadROI is an important development in the lead management system space. LeadROI’s interactive reporting, automated lead distribution, workflow, campaign, and pipeline management capabilities coupled with JetDial’s powerful auto-dialer technology is a perfect marriage that has a huge upside for advertisers looking to improve the ROI of their lead generation campaigns.”

About LeadROI, Inc.

LeadROI was founded in 2004, and acquired by MediaWhiz in April of 2008. LeadROI offers lead buyers and sales organizations a web-based lead and customer relationship management solution. LeadROI provides a variety of point-of-sale tools, including credit reports, pricing and data transfer tools, and the JetDial auto-dialer technology. The proprietary software streamlines new customer acquisition, improves productivity, maximizes sales conversion, and provides critical insight into lead generation production metrics.

About JetDial

JetDial is a private call center technology company, whose founders have over 50 years combined experience in teleservices. JetDial’s expertise is in developing and executing cost-effective, scalable, and legally compliant customer contact solutions that help increase productivity and performance. JetDial is built on a carrier-grade, scalable platform packed with reliable features that assist customer service or sales teams in receiving or making calls. JetDial’s hosted call center technology allows users to analyze calls, track performance, and improve results in real-time.

MEDIAWHIZ ACQUIRES LEADROI LEAD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:27:03 GMT

Deal Boosts MediaWhiz’s Lead Management Technical Capabilities

We recently acquired LeadROI’s Lead Management System, which enables advertisers to better manage, optimize, and monetize their lead generation campaigns.

“The LeadROI technology acquisition provides MediaWhiz with a powerful new platform that makes aggregating, distributing, and converting leads from multiple sources more efficient and profitable. This is a huge value add to our clients who are looking for ways to truly understand and improve their lead conversion processes going forward,” said Ed Kats, Executive Vice President of MediaWhiz.

LeadROI provides unparalleled end-to-end visibility into the campaign process, from initial lead generation to sales conversion. The robust and scalable system has been used by dozens of direct marketers to streamline lead generation program management and boost company sales performance. Some of its most notable features include Interactive Dashboards / Reporting, Automated Lead Distribution, Workflow Management, Campaign Management, Pipeline Management, and an Integrated Auto Dialer.

“MediaWhiz is one of the most successful results-driven marketing companies online today, and we are excited to take our business to the next level,” said Raj Parekh, Founder of LeadROI. “Our initial focus with LeadROI was the financial services vertical, but by joining MediaWhiz, our lead management system will realize its true potential - to drive better ROI for companies across additional verticals such as automotive and insurance.”

With the LeadROI platform, MediaWhiz now has one of the most complete lead generation service offerings in the online advertising industry. “A robust lead management system is a great addition to our MediaWhiz Leads offering, which includes our Full Service Lead ProgramsT, Registration ServicesT, and our Premium Lead Marketplace, LeadVIPT. It sets us apart and ensures our existing client base, which received over 40 million leads in 2007, will see continuous improvement in the performance of their lead campaigns,” concluded Ed Kats.

MEDIAWHIZ HIRES NEW CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:20:27 GMT

MediaWhiz to Take World-Class Online Advertising Platform to Next Level

We welcome our new Chief Information Officer, Sal Guido, to our senior management team.

As CIO, Guido will run the IT infrastructure of MediaWhiz. His role includes implementing strategies to evolve MediaWhiz platforms and infrastructure to align with the Company’s strategic growth plans. He is also responsible for overseeing application development across all MediaWhiz technology groups.

Guido’s technology career spans over twenty years. His most recent success was as Senior Vice President of Technology at Miva, an online media and advertising network company in North America and Europe. While at Miva, Guido helped the company architect a platform consolidation solution that dramatically improved efficiencies and scalability. Guido also worked with the board of directors, senior management, and the global business units to collaborate on Miva’s strategic requirements to develop business justifications and technology strategy to meet revenue and cost control goals.

Guido also served as the Director of Enterprise Computing at Tyco International where he managed an annual operating budget of $115 million, and built the business justification model that was presented to Tyco’s Board of Directors for the consolidation of 260 data centers into 8 regional data centers. Prior to that, Guido served as CTO at New Media Technology, and VP of Infrastructure at Viacom International.

“We’re very excited to welcome Sal to the MediaWhiz team,” said Jonathan Shapiro, CEO of MediaWhiz. “Sal’s previous senior technology management experience and proven track record will enable us to keep our online advertising technology solutions well ahead of the competition, which will be a huge benefit to our clients.”

Sal Guido adds, “MediaWhiz has grown rapidly into a leading full service online advertising company …one that I am thrilled to be involved with. I’m particularly excited to be a part of a company with such an innovative technology culture and a suite of products that I can help take to the next level to ensure the company remains a leader in the space.”

SEO Specialist wanted in Bucharest

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:48:21 GMT

I, and the team at Neutro Marketing, a new startup company offering web marketing services, are looking for a few talented SEO/SEM people.

Since the position is available only in Bucharest, and only full-time, the job announcement below is in Romanian :)

CANDIDATUL IDEAL:

- Experienta medie in domeniul SEO
- Cunostinte de baza in domeniul PPC
- Experienta in auditari de website-uri se considera un plus (SEO, uzabilitate, accesibilitate)
- Cunoasterea limbii Engleze la nivel cel putin mediu
- Pasiune si sensibilitate pentru domeniul marketing online
- Capacitatea de a se adapta la timpi de raspuns foarte mici si deadline-uri foarte stricte
- Spirit de echipa
- Persoana foarte organizata, stie sa-si estimeze durata diverselor proiecte

RESPONSABILITATI

- Auditarea de website-uri, la nivel mediu SEO, sub indrumarea leader-ului de echipa.
- Cu indrumarea leader-ului de echipa, auditarea website-urilor la nivel de accesibilitate si uzabilitate
- Actioneaza ca project manager pentru proiectele asignate, isi organizeaza account-urile si se asigura ca deadline-urile si calitatea lucrarilor sunt respectate strict.
- Realizeaza mentenanta lunara a website-urilor clientilor companiei, optimizand constant indicii website-ului, monitorizand traficul si descoperind noi oportunitati sau semnale de alarma, facand research-uri de cuvinte cheie, gasind constant oportunitati gratuite/platite de link building.
- Lucreaza impreuna cu alti colegi responsabil de proiectul clientului, in cadrul intalnirilor saptamanale/bi-lunare, si constata ce obiective s-au realizat, stabileste planul de lucru pe perioada imediat viitoare, afla noutati de la client samd.

Toate responsabilitatile de mai sus sunt descrise pentru un nivel avansat, insa persoana cautata de noi nu trebuie sa fie neaparat la acest nivel. Cu experienta / indrumarea echipei si cu dorinta candidatului de a avansa si de a se ridica odata cu firma, va creste si experienta acestuia.

BENEFICII

- Salariul pe masura abilitatilor
- Bonusuri la proiecte si/sau pentru realizari remarcabile (dedicatie / dezvoltare personala samd)
- Lucrul impreuna cu cei mai buni din domeniu
- Activarea intr-o companie strict dedicata domeniului marketing online

Sell yourself at the email address present in the header of my blog, on the business card.

Google Sitelinks: The Ultimate FAQ

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:46:54 GMT

I have been testing these Sitelinks for quite some time now on several websites, from new to very old, from few to zounds of visitors.

What are Sitelinks ? They are a collection of links, automatically chosen by Google’s algorithm, to appear below the result of website, linking to main pages of your website. They are randomly chosen, although you can block any link from appearing. We will discuss more about Sitelinks in the Google Sitelinks FAQ section below.

Recently, some of my websites got Sitelinks whilst I tried different ways of reaching this milestone.

Some time ago, Vanessa Fox, from the Webmaster’s Central blog, wrote that the page from the Google Help describing these Sitelinks, has been updated to reflect “information on how Google generates these links”. That’s crap to say the least, because that Google Help page about Sitelinks, just states that they exist, are automatically generated and nothing more.

Although no official explanation except this very basic page is offered by Google, I will try and write down a few of my own ideas, about when and how to get these Sitelinks for your website. Whilst I can’t promise you guys that ALL of the procedures below are involved in the process of making Sitelinks appear for your website, I can definitely guarantee you that SOME are.

The above are true mainly because I have always (during months / years) tried 4 to 6 procedures at a time so I can’t really know which one had the most important contribution to the appearance of Sitelinks.

Procedures which may be involved in the appearance of Sitelinks:

The number of links pointing to your website’s index page, using the several main keywords of your website as anchor. For example, for my blog, the two main keywords are “Cristian Mezei”, my name, and “SeoPedia” the name of my blog. Sitelinks appear only for a few main keywords, not for every keyword your website ranks for.
The number of searches and SERP clicks for the main keywords I described above. you have to have a certain number of clicks for that keyword, to be able to reach a minimum requirement for the appearance of Sitelinks. This makes keywords which are not searched enough, to never have Sitelinks. Although some of my coleagues have mentioned that traffic has nothing to do or has everything to do with Sitelinks, I firmly believe that traffic for a particular keyword or keyphrase is very important.
The number of indexed pages for the keyword you are targeting is also important. Please keep in mind that I am not discussing about the number of indexed pages for your website, but for the number of results shown in Google for that particular keyword.
The age of the website is definitely an aspect when deciding how and when Sitelinks appear. As far as my tests go, and using a naturally and organically built website (no extensive or forced SEO), you can NOT have Sitelinks if the website is younger than 18-24 months, varying from case to case.
You have to rank #1 for that particular keyword (and the ranking has to be stable) to be able to have any Sitelinks at all. This is very important and it has been proven true in 100% of times.

Misleading advices about Google Sitelinks

Whilst many other specialists and/or bloggers from the industry around the Internet have tried to help you figure out some ways to get Sitelinks, I will try to contradict them because some of those advices might not have a contribution to your effort, mainly because they are just too general and my experience says that they could be just loose-ends. Some of these advices might be:

Making your website W3C valid. This is not a bad thing, but I highly doubt that it will make your website more prone to get Sitelinks. A lot of people have reported building their website with erratic code from 1992, and still having Sitelinks.
Having links from powerful websites. I doubt that this aspect will help you in getting Sitelinks at all. Have a look at how I see inbound links having an effect, above (in the Procedures section).
Having a lot of links (generally). I doubt that having tens of thousands of any links will move you up to the ladder, regarding Sitelinks. Whilst links will help I have explained above (in the Procedures section), specifically, in what way they will help.
Some advices were really something like : “Make the website useful” or “Add Meta tags”. Whilst these are surely helpful for any website, they may have nothing to do with your website getting Sitelinks.
Having a very well designed navigation menu. There were websites which had erratic or very well designed navigation menus and links within the website and still they all got Sitelinks.
Pagerank has nothing to do with Sitelinks. There are PR7 and PR2 websites that got Sitelinks.

Although I don’t want to contradict (I just did that, but well .. ) my fellow colleagues, the above are my personal opinions and I wanted to stress them out. The reason I didn’t named names is obvious.

And as the title of my post says, below you’ll get the FAQ section, where I tried to answer most, if not all the questions that poped up in the past year, from all kinds of readers or people:

Google Sitelinks: The FAQ

Q: When are Sitelinks generated ? Is there some kind of Pagerank-alike update ?
A: I do want to stress out that about 4 of my websites got Sitelinks in exactly the same 1-2 day period, although the websites are very different one from another. One is 2 years old, another is 3,5. One has 1000 links, the other has 40.000 links. One is in the auto domain one is my blog. They are not linked in-between them. So all of this makes me think that there is some kind of general update of the Sitelinks, much like the updates for Pagerank, Inbound links or Google Images. Since QOT got their Sitelinks on exactly the same day (6th Feb.) as many of my other websites, I am positive that there is a general Sitelinks update.

Q: I can’t see any Sitelinks generated within my Sitemaps account, although they appear in Google!
A: Sitelinks take anywhere from 2 weeks to 1 month to appear within your Sitemaps account, after they first appeared in the SERPs. Then you will have better control over some of the links.

Q: Why doesn’t my very important “Clients” page get in the Sitelinks section ?
A: This may have to do with the fact that Sitelinks are usually generated from the first level links only. This means that if you have a page reachable by two clicks, it will never be included in the Sitelinks section. On rare occasions, deeplinks will be chosen, but I am not sure as to how these websites are chosen. Also make sure that you have pure HTML links. No Javascript or Flash.

Q: My website doesn’t have too much text links. Does this mean I’m doomed ?
A: Google will generate Sitelinks from image links too, as long as the image has the ALT tag. As other people have found too, it seems that the Sitelinks algorithm may chose a Sitelink even if you have no link towards it from your website, but in exchange, the page has a large number of links from other websites.

Q: What’s the point of having these stupid Sitelinks ?
A: One simple and huge reason: Trust and brand. Sitelinks have began to resemble trust lately in the eyes of the normal surfer (not to us SEMs, simply because we know there are heavily penalized websites who still got Sitelinks), so any website who has them is more prone to get clicks from the SERPs, from the search terms that show Sitelinks.

Q: What’s the minimum and maximum number of Sitelinks I’ll get ?
A: Minimum 2, maximum 8. Nevertheless I still can’t figure it out how Google assigns the number of Sitelinks to each website, except popularity. Most of my popular websites have 8. Most of my not-so-popular websites have 2 to 4.

Q: I don’t have a Google Sitemaps account. Will I still get Sitelinks ?
A: Definitely. The only drawback is that you will not have any control over them.

Q: How are the Sitelinks calculated ? Which links get in and which not ?
A: There are all kinds of opinions. After closely studying all my websites, I myself will still believe that they are chosen randomly. Not after traffic, not after inbound links. There’s an interesting thread at SEW which you might want to read to get some speculation.

Q: I have a page in the Sitelinks section that doesn’t exist anymore. What should I do ?
A: It appears that the crawl delay of the Sitelinks is at least one month. So if you have a page that doesn’t exist anymore, try to 301 redirect it to the new one. The Sitelinks will then work ok.

Q: In my Sitemaps account I can remove Sitelinks if I don’t like them ?
A: Indeed you can. But please be careful when you do that, because if you remove a Sitelink it will not get replaced by another. This means that if you had 6 Sitelinks, and you block one because it’s not appropiate, you will be left with 5 Sitelinks in the Google SERPs. The 6th one will not be replaced with a new Sitelinks.

Vanessa Fox Nude forgotten all important post

The title is just a teaser for Vanessa. She’s had that Nude thing like forever :)

For you guys who don’t know Vanessa, she’s been the women who lead the Google Webmasters Central team until she moved to Zillow.

In this section I’ll analyze the post she made on her blog right after she left Google. I’m actually amazed to see how I can’t any reactions to this post, since IMHO it’s the most important post about Sitelinks ever. More important than what Google has released and certainly more important then I or my colleagues speculate, simply because she’s been involved in the process of releasing the Sitelinks. Block quotes are quotes from Vanessa’s post:

For instance, if I do a Google search for [duke’s chower house seattle], am I looking for directions? Hours? A menu? Google doesn’t know, so they offer up several suggestions. (Quality aside: a link to the menu shows up in the sitelinks, but if you do a search for [duke’s chowder house seattle menu], that same link doesn’t show up on the first page. In fact, no pages from the Duke’s site show up.)

Basically, what Vanessa is telling us is that Sitelinks will NEVER appear for specific search terms. So that’s why we get Sitelinks for “Computers” or “Cristian Mezei” or “HP” or generally, company names as well as very general industry terms.

Google autogenerates the list of sitelinks at least in part from internal links from the home page. You’ll notice in the Duke’s example that one of the sitelinks is “five great locations” which also appears as primary navigation on the Duke’s home page. If you want to influence the sitelinks that appear for your site, make sure that your home page includes the links you want and that those links are easy to crawl (in HTML rather than Flash or Javascript, for instance) and have short anchor text that’ll fit in a sitelinks listing. They’ll also have to be relevant links. You can’t just put your Buy Cheap Viagra now link on the home page of your elementary school site and hope for the best.

In the above, Vanessa confirms me what I already told you in the FAQ section above. Sitelinks will be chosen from links present in the homepage only. I still firmly believe that some websites have Sitelinks from deeplinks within the website. How and when these websites are chosen, is still a mystery.

One more important thing we learn is that Sitelinks are chosen from relevant links in the homepage. Instead of repeating what Vanessa said about relevance, read the above quote.

There is a lot of other useful information inside Vanessa’s post, but since I already tackled those points in my previous sections, I left them aside.

Other opinions about Sitelinks

I asked a colleague of mine involved in SEM too, what he thinks about Sitemaps. I thought to put his answer here as well:

Marius Mailat
www.submitsuite.com

Cristian asked me about my opinion regarding Sitelinks. Breaking this question in small parts, here are my thoughts.

The sitelink option in the Google results are similar with the siteinfo.xml provided for the Alexa toolbar, a simple option for a webmaster to provide most important direct links to his website structure. Google version of Siteinfo is different because you cannot specify WHICH link in your website is a Sitelink. You can only ask remove one link from the Sitelinks (Google Webmaster panel option).

Why are the Sitelinks appearing, when and under which algorithm? The algorithm used is totally automated and is taking in consideration the following criteria’s:

Old powerful website.
The sitelinks are pages which are coming on first position in SERPs.
The sitelinks are most of the time associated with top results related words: “domain”, “domain download”, “domain demo” etc.
The sitelinks are probably not influenced by PageRank.

Other very useful locations on the web for Sitelinks

Have fun with Sitelinks. If you have any questions, suggestions or rectifications, write a comment.

New SEO & webmaster tools by IT Exchange

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:03:07 GMT

Ciprian has just uploaded all the recent tools he and his team have developed, and has bundled them all in one single SEO & webmaster tools package.

I have been using the previous home for some of these tools for some time now, mainly because almost all the tools had tens of datacenters on which you could’ve searched for information, including indexed pages, backlinks and cache times.

Since most of the multiple datacenters tools are restricted to Pagerank and (very few) to indexed pages, Ciprian’s tools were a Godsend.

There a lot of basic tools in the collection. Nevertheless the ones that really help me are the SEO strength (a complete package of the basic stats like backlinks, indexed pages and PR), indexed pages, inbound links, Google keyword ranking and the Google cache.

I think Ciprian should work on the keyword research tool a little bit more. It gives me some wierd results.

Leaving that aside, Ciprian, I think you should also put a link to the Google SERPs, on all the datacenters in the results pages of the SEO tools, so that users can check that result in real time too.

Like most other similar services on the web, Ciprian’s tools have their share of downtime, slow response times and timeouts, but the team is working hard to improve these problems every day.

None of the tools require any user account and they are all free for unlimited use. Have fun.

Blogrush is a scam

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 06:38:14 GMT

Just received an e-mail from BlogRush letting me know that I collaborated and worked to increase my account, for two months now, for nothing, and that Seopedia is not good enough for this crap network.

The mail souns like :

We regret to inform you that your BlogRush Account Is Currently INACTIVE.

Your blog(s) did not pass our Quality Review criteria. You will find instructions below for making your account active again.

You will notice that the widget no longer loads on your pages — please remove the BlogRush code from your blog for now.

We recently reviewed your blog(s) located at:
http://www.seopedia.org

We determined that your blog did not meet our strict quality guidelines. Please do not take this personally, but realize that we must abide by a very strict set of quality guidelines. (They are listed below.)

If you feel you have made the necessary changes to your blog(s) to meet our guidelines, you can resubmit your blog(s) for review after this date:
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The quality guidelines are :

BlogRush Quality Guidelines:

- The blog contains unique, quality content that provides opinions, insights, and/or recommended resources that provide value to readers of the blog. Articles, videos, public domain works, press releases, and content written by others are okay to be used on the blog, but the ratio of unique content should far outweigh content from other sources.

- The blog should be updated on a regular basis (at least several times a month) and should not just go a few months between posts.

- The blog should already contain at least 10-12 quality posts. New blogs with very little content will not be accepted.

- The blog’s primary contain must be in English. BlogRush is currently not available for non-English blogs.

- The blog should not contain an excessive amount of advertising and links and very little actual content. The focus of the blog should be quality content.

- The primary content of the blog should not be “scraped” content from other sources and/or script-generated pages for the sole purpose of search engine rank manipulation. The focus of the blog should be quality content.

- The blog’s content (or advertising) should not contain any of the following types of content: hate, anti-racial, terrorism, drug-related, hacking, phishing, fraud, pornographic, nudity, warez, gambling, copyright infringement, obscene or disgusting material of any kind, or anything considered illegal.

So if Seopedia is not within these guidelines, which blog is ?

I had more then 30 referrals, more then 50.000 credits.

John Reese, you have developed a crappy product with a crappy team. Nevermind waiting 30 days for a product that’s not finished right ?

Important PS: An anomymous tipper just sent me this e-mail that John Reese has sent to a LOT of guys. So the people that edit the quality guidelines of BLogrush are “a bunch of people that would like to earn some extra cash”. Way to go Reese:

Just got an email from good ole john reese he wants to pay you 12 bucks an hour to wipe blogrushes arse hahahahahahahah

I’m looking to hire several people that want to make some quick cash. (Read on for all the details.)

As you probably know by now, Income.com launched it’s first major ‘network’ piece two weeks ago…

BlogRush.

In only its first two weeks, BlogRush has been extremely successful. But it has also been quite challenging.
We experienced a few problems that we are working to solve as quickly as possible.

One of these problems was having users add spammy or low quality blogs to our network — and we also had many users ignore our “English blogs only”
warning and submit foreign blogs as well.

We are moving to a 100% Manual Review Process for all the current blogs in our network and any new blogs from here on out.

We are very serious about protecting the INTEGRITY and QUALITY of our network.

Because of this… WE NEED HELP! :-)

We’re looking to hire a bunch of people that would like to earn some extra cash. If you or someone you know might be interested, please forward this message to them. This would be perfect for a stay-at-home mom, college student, or anyone else looking to make some extra money.

All that’s required is sitting in front of their computer and doing the following…

Login to our Review System with an account we will setup for them. There will be a top “frame” control strip that has a few buttons:

“Approve” “Reject” and “Not Sure.”

The bottom frame will automatically load a blog that needs to be reviewed. After reviewing the blog, just press the appropriate button. That’s it.

* We have created a little training video to teach reviewers what to look for and how to decide what gets approved or rejected. It’s very simple.

After pushing one of the buttons the next blog to be reviewed automatically loads in that bottom frame. It’s as simple as that.

Here’s The Deal…

We’re paying USD $12.00/hour for this review work. It’s not a fortune, but it’s a pretty simple task. Heck, just put on some music and sit back and review some blogs. Pretty easy work. :-)

* All reviewers will be paid DAILY via PayPal for that day’s work. All reviewers will also be independent contractors and responsible for their own taxes, etc. PayPal payments will be made via the “Mass Pay” function so reviewers will not have any fees taken out of their earnings - we will pay for all transaction fees.

We will have several hours of work for
each new reviewer initially. Those that
do a good job will be given the opportunity for ongoing work — as we will be reviewing new blogs everyday.

* The best reviewers will probably also
receive some of our products as an
additional bonus for a job well done.

** Special Note: We are looking to
hire some of our own customers
or email subscribers, ideally. We
are not interested in outsourcing
this work to some low wage workers
in a foreign country. This work
is to be done by applicants
only — NOT by those brokering
the work to others.

Here Are The Requirements:

1. Must have a broadband (fast)
Internet connection. i.e. cable modem,
DSL, etc.

2. Must already know what a blog
is and what a typical blog looks like.

3. Must know the difference in a
quality blog and one that was solely
created to try and game the search
engines and/or just run a bunch of
ads — and/or what a “scraper”
blog is that contains no original
content and simply uses content
taken from other sites with some
sort of software program.

* Our training video gives guidelines
and tips for determining what is a
quality blog and what should be
rejected from our network — including
examples of “good” and “bad” blogs.

4. Must be able to start IMMEDIATELY.
(As in TODAY, if possible.) And be
able to put in at least 2-3 hours a day.

5. Must have an active PayPal account.

If you or someone you know meets
all of these requirements and is interested here’s what to do next:

Send An Email To:
kevincolon@gmail.com
Use Subject Line: “Ready To Start Reviewing!”
and include the following:

- Full Name
- Email Address
- Phone Number
- Location (City, State, Country, etc.)
- Estimate Of Work Availability
(i.e. how many hours a day you can work.)
- Brief Description Of Why You Would
Make A Good Blog Reviewer
- Blog URL (if you have a blog.)

That’s it!

If we accept your email application we
will be immediately emailing you the
full instructions so you can get started ASAP.

* Due to the heavy volume of requests
we expect to receive, we may not be able to respond to every application. If you do not receive an email reply within
24 hours then we have probably decided
not to use you at this time. We will keep your application on file and may reconsider you at another time.
(Thanks for your understanding.)

More News Coming Soon!

Yours For Online Profits,

John Reese

Hide Affiliate Links

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:53:39 GMT

I just found a nifty HTML generator to hide affiliate links.

The only drawback is that on rightclick, the affiliate URL still appears.

SEM gives you SOME satisfaction

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:50:50 GMT

I receive an email today in my inbox.

I laughed my ass of. Who sends these kind of e-mails ?

Mr. Christian, you the guru, the fish, the snake of SEM, you the greatest bear of them all.

Could you, Oh COULD you great Zen master of SEM, give me a link from your blog ?

Top 8 Most Important Things I’ve Learned About Interactive Marketing

Jeremy — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:02:00 GMT

The SEO Reputation Problem

Jeremy — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:54:00 GMT

5 Ways to Get Your CEO/CMO/VP of Marketing to Stop Talking About Alexa

Jeremy — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:50:00 GMT

Yahoo Edges Out Google in Customer Satisfaction…Barely

Jeremy — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:02:00 GMT

Google AdWords Calls Your Bluff

Jeremy — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:43:00 GMT

Blog Editors Rejoice: RustyBudget

Jeremy — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:47:00 GMT