search engine marketing content

Posted by rebecca

This roundup will include news and links from last week that I missed because I was attending SMX West. Also, sorry this is delayed. I’m working on getting Roundup Thursday posts out earlier in the day, but post-SMX has been especially crazy and I have a lot of deadlines that, unfortunately, mean that blogging has to take a bit of a back burner for the time being.

Zero star links:

Yes, that’s right, my first zero star link award. (I’d display a nifty graphic, but Rand didn’t create a zero-star link icon, so just envision a big fat jar of nothin’ for now.) Shari Thurow’s article on Search Engine Land, titled "You’d Be Wise to ‘NoFollow’ This Dubious SEO Advice," calls nofollow sculpting an "accident waiting to happen," says it gives spiders different content than visitors, and asserts that it means you can’t validate your own content. She then takes a big dump on Stephan Spencer and Rand by saying "…where do you get the idea that ’search’ and ‘usability’ are two separate issues?," and she pretentiously says later down in the post that "not every SEO is a web designer/developer, nor does every SEO have experience, training, and/or education in web site usability," and that "usability professionals [quote Jakob Nielson] as long as it suits those needs…these people [are viewed as] usability parrots."  She also predicts that SEOs will abuse nofollow to the point where search engines will resort do devaluing it.

Devalued? Matt Cutts himself said that webmasters can are free to use nofollow internally on their sites to help tell Googlebot which pages should receive link value from other pages (see Matt Cutts on Nofollow, Links per Page, and the Value of Directories for the exact quote). I think it’s fine for Shari to state her opinion, but for her to roll her eyes at Stephan and Rand’s advice that is perfectly fine, according to Google’s head search spam engineer, makes her come off as smug, entitled, and ignorant.

Three star links:

• Slate Magazine’s The Wisdom of the Chaperones outlines how the "web 2.0 democracy" is but a myth. It cites how 1 percent of Wikipedia users are responsible for half of the site’s edits, and it also cites Rand’s post from 2006 about how the top 100 diggers control 56% of Digg’s homepage content (in 2007 they controlled 44%). I don’t think this is a huge surprise to us marketers, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
• It was quite a week for cute kids on YouTube: first this little girl gives us a Cliffs Notes version of Star Wars: A New Hope, and then this little kid does the best cover of Hey Jude ever. You know, when kids aren’t screaming and secreting snot and drool out of every oriface, they can be pretty adorable.
• Talk about motivation! A company is being charged with using waterboarding to "motivate" the workers. Rand usually brings us cookies, but hey, different strokes for different folks.
• For those of you going to SES New York, we recommend going to the IM-NY/Best of the Web charity party on Tuesday, March 18 from 8 pm-midnight at the Midnight at Black Finn (click for a map). The charity parties are always lots of fun and it’s a great way to network. Also, it’s charity! Duh, charity. Do it.
•  Avangate interviews Rand. ‘Nuff said.
• SEO Blackhat talks about a possible correlation between Google’s stock drop and comScore reports of Google ad clicks in January being lower compared to the year before. OMG, conspiracy!
• VisualRevenue shares some online video analytics tips.

Four star links:

• After Suicide, Blog Insults Are Debated from the NY Times highlights how two sites were blamed for the death of an ad agency creative director who committed suicide last month. It brings up the moral issue of whether a blog or site is responsible for managing anonymous posts and comments that can damage someone’s reputation (Sarah, now’s your time to weigh in!). Both the article and the ensuing comments are quite interesting and thought-provoking.
• Utah ISPs could sign up for a voluntary program where they can state to users whether or not they host pornographic content. Providers would also have to "agree to turn over the records of users who have used their services for illegal activity to law enforcement;" plus, "the bill [if approved by the House Government Operations Committee] would also fine participating ISPs $10,000 for violating the terms of the seal, although receiving the seal is voluntary to begin with." Wow. I suppose the voluntary participation would be fine, but what constitutes "illegal" activity? Child porn is one thing, but what about sites that have good ol’ fashioned meat and potatoes porn? (Not porn with meat and potatoes, "regular" porn. Okay, I’ll shut up now.)
• Mike Peters from Software Projects talks about factors that slow your site down and also shares tips on how to make your site run faster [insert Six Million Dollar Man music here].
• Hobo SEO asks top SEOs their opinion on keyword density. The verdict? It’s baloney, bollocks, bullshit. Read the post and pass it along to any clients who say, "I heard that every page should have a keyword density of blah blah point blah percent."
• The Aviva Directory highlights their journey from penalization to crawling through a sewer of poo and much, Andy Dufresne-style, and back into the rankings. It’s refreshingly honest and thorough, and the directory has regained some of its rankings (though could still be penalized). Read the post if you’re in a similar situation–you could glean some great tips and advice from it.
• Pole Position Marketing shares some link building tips from some of the industry’s most respected SEO experts. Read it, study it, apply it, and pull and Uncle Scrooge and dive into the mountain of coinage you’ll make from all those fancy links, visibility, rankings, conversions, et al.
• The next time someone insists that design and layout don’t matter for SEO, refer them to Bill Slawski’s post that highlights the importance of page layout.
• MindValleyLabs says that Internet marketing gurus are screwing the public by making it more difficult for noobs to get guidance. I blame Rand.

Five star links:

• Danny Sullivan chronicles the demise of Ask.com as we know it. Ask is being reconfigured to become a Yahoo! Answers type-site that appeals to women, who, as it turns out, happen to be its core demographic. Danny’s scathing obituary pretty much echo the sentiments of SEOs hears ’round the world. RIP, Ask.

YOUmoz entries:

• Link Exchange 2.0: Page Exchange. Esteban Panzera discusses link exchanges via multiple pages and provides diagrams to help illustrate his strategy.
• Starting Out - How to Show Value. WebDezin80 asks the community what they did when they first started consulting, and how they convinced clients that they were reputable and provided quality services.
• Reflections on the Industry: the Hot Tub, the Economy, and SEO. Agood recounts a conversation she had while hot tubbin’ it up with some neighbors. She discusses the SEO industry, and our influence on the future of the economy.
• Google’s Online Marketing Challenge. Click Magnet talks about a contest Google is running, where college students will receive free advertising with Google AdWords and use the credit to work with local businesses and provide them with online marketing campaigns.
• Google Analytics Referral Traffic: Get Some Really Granular Data Using UTM. CyndiK professes her love for the UTM parameter, which allows you to build a custom uniqe link to put on ads, email campaign links, and other inlinks. The traffic for these is then displayed separately.
• Blogging in an Empty Auditorium. JustFred talks about how you shouldn’t stop blogging just because you haven’t yet established an audience or readership.
• A Survey or Sorts: What SEO Advice Would You Recommend? IsRobot polls the audience and asks them what sort of advice they’d give about SEO right now and what they wish their clients understood about SEO.
• A Day in the Life of SES London 2008. Stephen T attended SES London and provides us with his recap and commentary of the event.
• 10 SMX West Survival Tips. Wrttnwrd drills through some handy and amusing tips on how to survive SMX West.
• Is Your Social Media Campaign Targeted? OldSchoolSEO talks about how he targeted his StumbleUpon traffic by networking, developing relationships, recipro-stumbling, and more. He was able to tweak his social media campaign and get more targeted traffic to his site.
• Blogging — Ready, Steady, Now What? Lindop asks us how we, as bloggers, are able to continuously come up with fresh topics and ideas to blog about. He asked about implementing a publication schedule and requested feedback from us on what we do to get the creative juices flowing.
• How to Improve Your AdWords Campaign. BottomTurn shares with us his strategies on running and optimizing AdWords campaigns.
• RSS Feeds — Right and Wrong. OliverTaco talks about some RSS feeds he had noticed lately, including what they did wrong and what they shouldn’t look like.
• I Hereby Declare OPH the Official SEO Breakfast Restaurant. Brent D. Payne goes completely off-top and waxes poetic about his favorite breakfast destination, the Original Pancake House. (Yes, it’s silly, but I was willing to give the guy a break, given how much he participates on our site.)
• Is Facebook Monetising the Wrong Opportunities? HannahS shares her opinion on how Facebook can successfully leverage advertising on their site, and why its current model pales in comparison to Google AdWords.
• When/How You Can Get By with a Full Flash Site. K0k1man tells us about his love for Flash programming, and shares with us his strategy on getting his Flash site to rank well in the SERPs.
• Why Be White Hat? Who Cares About Morals? Nabha talks about the reasons why white hat tactics are ideal vs. black hat. methods.
• Google Lowers Standards for Sitelinks? Calamier asks if Google has made some changes to their sitelinks triggers, and whether they’ve lowered their standards and have let more sites display sitelinks in the SERPs.
• Where’s All This Traffic Coming From?! Searchme! Richardbaxterseo talks about how SearchMe has been crawling his site a lot lately, and he wonders why…
• Why I’m a Fan of SEOmoz’s Term Targeting Tool. Petrosianii shares his positive review of our Term Targeting and Rank Checker tools. Thanks for the kind words!

Best of YOUmoz:

• Using Hidden Links in Divs = Get Great Google Rankings by richardbaxterseo talks about how Richard found sites that are hiding some of their links, yet are still ranking well in the SERPs. Great sleuthing on his part, and his uncovering of dynamic div link layers proved to be a hot topic in the comments.
• 1:1 Interview with Search Marketing Authority and Visionary Hamlet Batista by Sean Maguire is a thorough, well-written, and very compelling post about Hamlet Batista, the CEO of NEmedia.
• SEO SWOT Analysis — Revisiting Marketing Models by Rishil explores the SWOT model (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and discusses how you can apply it to your website to analyze what’s working and what needs to be improved upon. It’s a very valuable post, and a good reminder of how traditional marketing tactics are essential to Internet marketing and SEO.

New events added to the Events Calendar:

We’ve got some upcoming events, so check them out and let us know if you’re attending!

• SEMpdx’s Searchfest on March 10 in Portland, Oregon.
• SES New York from March 17-21 in New York, NY.
• Shop.org’s Online Marketing Workshop from April 7-9 in Scottsdale, AZ
• High Ranking’s SEO Training Class, taught by Jill Whalen, on May 23. I think this class will be taught online.

New additions to the SEOmoz Marketplace:

Featured job postings:

• SEO/link building/social marketing specialist in Pompano Beach, FL
• Individuals or firms needed for assistance on SEO/SEM projects
• SEO intern for Ephricon Web Marketing in Baltimore, MD
• Search Marketer needed in Phoenix, AZ
• Web programmer/developer and a web designer for August Ash in Bloomington, MN
• Keyword researcher needed for a contract/project
• SEO specialist needed for a leading online fashion brand in London, UK
• SEO/webmaster needed in London, UK
• SEO coordinator needed for First Page Fitness in Boulder, CO
• SEO specialist for I-ology in Scottsdale, AZ

Featured companies:

United States/North America:

• 87 Interactive in Philadelphia, PA
• Area SEO Labs in New York, NY
• Ephricon Web Marketing in Baltimore, MD (Baltimore? Wire reference in 3, 2, 1…there’s bodies in them vacants!)
• UpClick Marketing of Northern Virginia in, well, northern Virginia, probably
• Coalesce Creative in Port Orange, FL
• Imagine R Power in Los Angeles, CA
• Atomic Design in Rochester, NY, and Atlanta, GA
• Rayvan in Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA, and Tulsa, OK
• First Page Fitness in Denver, CO
• Strider Inc. in Toronto, ON, Canada
• Toronto Media in Toronto, ON, Canada

UK/Europe:

• Drabdesign in Petersfield, Hants, UK
• Goodness in France
• Able Glasgow SEO in Glasgow, UK
• Metascreen in Stuttgart, BW, Germany
• Workstation Solutions PLC in London, UK
• Optimised Media in Oxford, UK
• All Things Web in the UK

Asia:

• Himshilp in Bangalore, India
• Cogniter Technologies in Chandigarh, India

Australia/New Zealand:

• SaleHoo in New Zealand

Featured resumes:

• Brian R. Brown (aka identity) is a happily employed SEO who is fueled by a desire to constantly be learning. He also enjoys helping and educating others (in case you didn’t notice via his presence on our site) and specializes in a range of SEO services.
• Eric Wu is currently looking for employment. He has 8 years’ experience in Internet design and development, marketing, and product management.
• Michael Shearer is a happily employed web strategist and developer who enjoys helping companies increase their bottom line using a variety of web-based methods.
• Rainier Reyes is currently looking for employment. He is an experienced PPC analyst who has also created keyword research reports.
• R. Stacy Cook is also looking for employment. He is a software programmer who has experience working with content management systems, is a keyword expert, and provides SEO services.
• Margery Spears is looking for employment. She has experience in agency-based site reviews, site performance in SERPs, content reviews, and much more.
• Jen Nausin is also looking for employment. She is a freelance PPC specialist, and she’s also a highly detailed analyst and project manager.

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Search Engine Optimization is not an exact science. It takes lot’s of work and research. Trial and Error. Read through our posts here and try to learn from our experience. We offer some of our insight… news and comment. Please feel free to share your thoughts, and ideas. The site does allow "follows" so post your links.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 3:27 am and is filed under search engine marketing content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.