Oh sweet “nofollow!” I use you on my blog to keep my link juice from spilling out onto the shady, dark world of the Internet underbellies. I even use you to sculpt my sites, hoping to wrangle PageRank and content into my own little silo of SERP love. Yet you are fickle and have proven […]
There’s a belief among many search engine optimizers that links from college websites (aka EDU links) carry more link juice than typical COM, NET and ORG TLD links. Because of that belief, many SEO specialists spend a ridiculous amount of time and energy trying to build up links on any page that resides on an […]
Every SEO campaign is a process unto itself. It is contrived of many components that, when executed correctly, form the sum of one large piece. Without each component working to its fullest, the benefit of the end product cannot be truly felt. 8 Steps to a Succesful SEO Campaign 1. Keyword Research 2. Competition Research […]
There’s an ongoing obsession with tracking search engine result pages (SERPs). Both seasoned search marketing specialists and know-enough-to-be-dangerous webmasters can’t get enough of them. So what’s so special about these stats and why do people track them? Why Track SERPs? There are generally three reasons why people track SERPs: Research, Trends and Performance. Research tracking […]
“The problem with social media is… there are more people writing it than reading it.” Mixx After being granted a credibility boost from the New York Times recently, it seems like Mixx is here to stay. The underdog of social networking, Mixx has a smaller following than other user generated content (UGC) sites, but was […]
Why is the Raven blog a “Do Follow” blog? The short and simple answer has to do with rewarding our blog community. There’s too many high quality comments that don’t deserve to have their links “no followed” in the comments. Running a “Do Follow” blog does take more effort. You have to be more vigilant […]
From a user experience point of view, 404 pages are not something you want to see. If you reach one, it means the content is gone or has been moved. Also, the average Internet user has no idea what the “404” actually means, even though that’s usually the message they see. For webmasters and search […]
Promoting a locale-based website can require different and somewhat modified search marketing techniques. For example, if you’re marketing a website with a national or global audience, you may focus on building links from other websites that have a similar audience. However, for websites that have a local audience, it’s generally best to focus on websites […]
Like most code based SEO enhancements, optimizing an image with text involves utilizing existing accessibility options already built into HTML. For example, adding the text in an image to the ALT attribute into the IMG element will help users with certain disabilities (or users with a text browser, like Lynx) and also provide more copy […]
I’ve never liked the idea of renting links. Text Link Ads, one of the pioneers in link selling, continues to use misleading terminology in their marketing through their use of the term “Buy Links.” The problem is that you’re not buying links, you’re renting them. Not only that, you’re renting them at the detriment to […]
Using linkbait is a great way of attracting traffic to your website or blog. The only factor you’re limited by is your own imagination. Whether you run a sports blog or are part of a corporate website setup, linkbait should be part of your SEO campaign. If executed correctly, it can have a significant impact. […]
As most SEO specialists know, Matt Cutts — aka Google Search King — hates paid links. In fact, he has an all out war against link brokers like PayPerPost and Text Link Ads. Unlike other search marketing conferences, PubCon is known for teaching the darker side of SEO and SEM. It’s been called the DEF […]
Article distribution can be a very effective method for gaining inbound links and traffic to a website. As part of an SEO campaign it can be time consuming, but if completed and carried out correctly, it can make a significant impact on search engine performance. When you using article distribution, you should focus on the […]
Mention search engines to anyone these days and chances are the first thing they’re going to think of is Google, and rightly so; Google does a great job. However, other search engines do exist, such as Yahoo!, Ask and Bing — just to name but a few. As SEO specialists, it’s important to understand how […]
Blogging has proven itself to be more than just a way to speak your mind online. As companies like Weblogs, Inc and 9rules can attest to, it can also be a lucrative business. Even better, you don’t have to be a large company with several blogs to make money — Darren Rowse of ProBlogger is […]
The idea of Negative SEO — any type of SEO technique used to hurt a competitor — has long been a subject that seasoned SEO specialists like to keep quiet about. It’s not because they use those techniques, it’s because it’s so easy to do and they don’t want anyone to know about it. Unfortunately, […]
Google has reached a monopolistic milestone with its recent changes to the treatment of paid links. While I believe they are still operating within reason, they are edging ever closer to the danger zone, after which I will not be surprised to see regulatory intervention. Recent changes to Google’s index have been focused around the […]
Stephan Spencer, from CNET’s News Blog, posted an informative entry about changes that are taking place with Google’s search engine. Of particular interest was the news from Matt Cutts regarding underscores in URLs. Traditionally, underscores were treated differently from hyphens. Hyphens have long been the preferred method for dividing keywords up in a link. Whereas, […]
There’s a lot of buzz going on about Google’s 950 Penalty. The problem webmasters are having has been called the 950 penalty, because pages that have traditionally performed well in the SERPs are being shifted from the top-ten position to the nine-hundredth position. The key thing with this so called penalty is that it’s only […]
Roger Johansson posted an interesting entry on his site entitled, “Elements and Attributes in HTML 5.” In his entry he lists some new elements that are being considered for inclusion in HTML 5 (the next major version of HTML). article A section of a page that consists of a composition that forms an independent part […]
