Miss SEO 2008
December 30, 2007
We have a new Miss SEO 2008 - Kylie Johnston. Some you may not have heard of her in the wider SEO cummunity, but she is certainly up and coming in the Southern-Eastern Ohio region!
Here is what Kylie Johnston had to say for herself:
"I want to promote conservation, especially to youth in schools," she said. "I also want to promote the performing arts. They're such an important part of the community."
And here is a translation of what she probably meant to say 
"I want to promote social media, especially to the linkarati on Digg. I also want to promote all performing PPC ads. They're such an important part of the our online community."
How do you view the source code?
November 7, 2007
Viewing the source of a website is always a good starting point when doing an SEO health check. Let’s look at a few ways:
- Do you use 'ctr+u' in firefox and take the old fashioned approach of checking out the code?
- Do you put on your xray specs to see key elements?
- My current favourite is the 'inspect’ option using firebug.
- Another option is to use the web developer extension and there is little doubt that its the best all rounder. Use the 'Outline block level elements' and 'Show elements names when outlining' to view HTML elements.
Do you have a another handy way?
PPC & SEO Services in the UK
June 30, 2007
Last week, I had several interviews for some rather tasty PPC & SEO jobs in London, UK. It really does appear that the demand for skilled SEM employees is incredibly high at the moment. A common and unsurprising question often asked by recruiters and potential employers was to give a brief concise definition of SEO.
The simple answer that I gave is that it is the practise of optimising a web site both internally and externally to increase the volume of targeted traffic. With search engines especially looking at two key factors, results that are both relevant and popular to its users.
Relevance (on-page SEO) - the actual content on the page; this can be the text that a visitor can see and also the source code that search engines (& visitors) can read. The relevance of a page relates to the keyphrase that a user queries in a search engine and the search engine matching that with key elements on a page such as the title tag, header tags and the actual content of the page.
Popularity (off-page SEO) "“ every time another site references/links to your site, search engines perceive this as a vote that your site is important. The more links, the more votes "“ the more popularity search engines credit the site as having. The popularity increases every time your site acquires a new link, although not all links pass equal value (it depends on how much popularity/authority the linking web page has, as well as to how much relevance it has in relation to the page receiving the link).
Off-page SEO can also impact relevancy "“ with the keywords in the anchor text and surrounding area of the inbound link playing a major role.
Here is a very simple ranking formula:
Increased Relevance + Increased Popularity = Search Engine Trust + Higher Rankings
A more thorough ranking formula was discussed last year.
White Hat Vs Black Hat SEO
Another common question asked was to give my view on white & black hat SEO. This is a tricky question in an interview scenario "“ for those of you who are new to the terms white hate SEO is following practises that are accepted and encouraged by search engines, whereas black haters spam & manipulate the content (both on-page and off page) to achieve higher rankings.
Dave Chaffery notes that there are many shades of grey of SEO:
Its really about the combination of how proactive and how ethical you aim to be with SEO.
It can be very difficult to compete by being an 100% white hat SEO for very competitive keywords. You need to be aggressive and also appear natural in your link acquisition, but at the same time have a significant degree of ethical best practises.
In the 'shades of grey SEO' article I would not feel at all comfortable trying on hats 1 to 4, and explaining which hats I would try on in an interview scenario is not easy as many agencies perceive and publicise themselves as being 100% white hat - although I think most SEOs are neither one extreme or the other and fall somewhere in between. What colour hat are you?
PageRank Update
April 29, 2007
Whilst the PR on my Google toolbar remains on 4 for both the homepage and blog of this site, I have noticed that the PR for deeper pages has increased, so I can’t grumble too much. Of course, the PR reading on the Google toolbar is not hugely important as I discussed in the last update.
However, if vanity gets the better of you or you just wanna peep to see if you can expect a change - here is another tool that you can use to check your PageRank at the various Google Data Centers.
The Bonsai Sandbox meets Google's Root Rot
April 12, 2007
The Bonsai Sandbox meets Google's Root Rot
While I don't pretend to be a Bonsai tree expert, nor a Google Sandbox pro; I couldn't help but notice the uncanny similarities between the successful growth of a Bonsai tree and a fresh website ranking in Google.
As spring has certainly sprung (UK), my relatively new Bonsai Tree has just started to spurt new shoots. Not knowing a great deal about the tree, I contemplated a re-pot, but thought I should better do a little research first. My tree ———–>
It became apparent that when potting or re-potting a bonsai tree it is essential to get the moisture balance just right and the one thing to avoid at all costs is total settlement of the soil before roots can penetrate. Drawing from this, it is clear that the roots are the nucleus for driving growth.
BonsaiGardner.org points out that there are three primary things that stand out in bonsai tree care "“ water, soil and the pot which the bonsai is grown.
To Water or Not to Water, Links are the Question?
It appears that the key attribute to Bonsai care is the watering.
I remember hearing an old Buddhist proverb, that you can give an apprentice Bonsai artist tools to prune on his first day, but only after several years will he be in a position to water the tree properly.
As for the reference, sorry I am not sure where it came from "“ you will have to take my word on it but it really does highlight the importance of watering. Too much or too little water can result in root rot "“ a common cause for lack of growth and even fatality in fresh Bonsais.
This proverb also holds weight for your link building efforts for a fresh site.
I use the word fresh to illustrate a new or re-potted tree. Similarly with a website this may be for a new, recently changed domain (301) or a change of registry info for a site.
Just like an inexperienced Bonsai enthusiast can get the balance of the moisture for their tree all wrong, a novice SEO can acquire too few links or go out aggressively and get too many spammy links. Both limit the growth and presence of the tree and website alike.
For the Bonsai tree it's the dreaded root rot and for the web site owner it's the equally un-fancied Google Sandbox.
Trust in the Magic Roots
I think Ibrian over at SEOmoz gets it just right:
The result is that to rank on Google for any kind of competitive keyword, you need to be able to leverage some degree of "trust".
Likewise, with the Bonsai, in order to get any kind of tree growth with a newly potted tree, you need to leverage some degree of root trust or a root system. The Bonsai really does put a lot of faith in its roots and these roots are extremely fragile after potting.
Be Selective in your Watering/Link building
In order to leverage some degree of trust, it is important to be selective in your watering and link building approach. BonsaiGardner.org notes that you want to follow the old Japanese rule and water three times "“ once for the pot, once for the soil and once for the tree.
This ties in well with Aaron Wall's thoughts that being selective in links acquisition for a quality spread of trusted links is the preferred method to move forward and that sometime less really is more.
Similarly to the Bonsai tree, if you get the quality, volume and rate of link acquisition in the right areas for your website "“ the Google Sandbox will not provide too much of a problem; yes there will be a hurdle to climb "“ but a very achievable one.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, while some fresh Bonsai species can handle long periods of dryness, others require near constant moisture. This can be said for web sites too, there are many variables that come into play and it matters a great deal as to the environment and marketplace that they are in. Yes, even Bonsai trees compete within their own market!
What about my Bonsai?
She is still a-growin’ strong! I took a little peek at the roots "“ they seem to be in pretty good knick, so a 301 direct re-pot really isn't necessarily. That makes me feel better, although this still leaves me with pruning (tuning keywords), maintaining the soil (good neighbourhood), ensuring there is enough sun light and fertiliser (engaging content). I am sure there are plenty more analogies we could go into, but I am tired and of need of sleep. Feel free to share any thoughts or suggestions.
SEOMOZ Ranking Factors Version 2 Released
April 4, 2007
Another outstanding contribution from a 35 strong team of top SEO chapies, has been compiled over at SEOMOZ for the most significant SEO ranking factors in 2007. Rand Fishkin describes it as 90% - 95% of the knowledge required for Google’s Algorithm. So role back your eye lids, put on your thinking cap and read on… and on! It’s definitely one of the most definitive guides you will find for your SEO strategy.
Here is a quick overview of 2005 Vs. 2007 ranking factors:
Top 10 Ranking Factors in 2005:
- Title Tag (4.57)
- Anchor Text of Links (4.46)
- Keyword Use in Document Text (4.38)
- Accessibility of Document (4.3)
- Links to Document from Site-Internal Pages (4.15)
- Primary Subject Matter of Site - (4.00)
- External Links to Linking Pages (3.92)
- Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community (3.77)
- Global Link Popularity of Site (3.69)
- Keyword Spamming (3.69)
Top 10 Ranking Factors in 2007:
- Keyword Use in Title Tag (4.9)
- Global Link Popularity of Site (4.5)
- Anchor Text of Inbound Link (4.4)
- Link Popularity within the Site’s Internal Link Structure (4.1)
- Age of Site (4)
- Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site (3.9)
- Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community (3.9)
- Keyword Use in Body Text (3.9)
- Global Link Popularity of Linking Site (3.7)
- Topical Relationship of Linking Page (3.6)
SEO & PPC E-consultancy Rountable Discussion
March 31, 2007
E-consultancy rountable briefings are usually a worthy read. Take the SEO or PPC ones for example. They require registration but are free and take a look into changes in the SEM marketplace and it is specifically related to UK search.
Here are some highlights:
- The UK market for Search Engine Marketing was worth an estimated £1.41 billion in 2006, according to E-consultancy.
- Shortage of talent continues to be an issue "¦ there are not enough knowledgeable SEO people to go around.
- Growth of Social Media Optimisation and tracking "“ understanding the impact of social media on brand perception and search rankings.
- Before embarking on social media optimisation, it is important to understand the possible return on investment.
- Spending specifically on Paid Search amounted to £1.26 billion in 2006, equivalent to 90% of the total spent on Search Engine Marketing. Paid Search is becoming more like SEO due to importance of landing page quality.
- The landing page quality score introduced by Google means that paid search is increasingly becoming like natural search (search engine optimisation) "It really is bridging the gap between PPC and SEO" .
- Search has become much more granular than just looking at keywords. It is also important to look at demographics, time of day and other factors relating to the searcher's profile."Click profiles will become more valuable."
- Ideally, advertisers should treat Paid Search as a cost of sale rather than allowing budget to dry up to the detriment of the company when there there is still excellent ROI to be made.
- A lot of the SEO companies, such as Spannerworks, are offering social media optimisation services. "Traditional PR people often don't have a clue about online PR."
PageRank Updates Continued
January 27, 2007
I thought I had missed out on the quarterly PageRank update, with most updates occurring two or three weeks ago.
SearchEngineLand, a site a little younger than mine, with massive PageRank potential also appeared to miss out. A few days ago I noticed SearchEngineLand was up to the might of PR 7 from PR 0 – which is pretty much unheard of from a site which is purely a news resource. So I swiftly checked my site which previously had a PR of 0 and joy joy, it had gone zero to hero… Well from PR 0 to PR 4 to be more accurate – but I’d be happy if that sticks!
PageRank can be good in giving a quick snapshot of how much authority a site has, but this by itself is not highly accurate and in many cases misleading.
Aaron Wall over at SEOBook believes that the cache date of a page is a far better measure of authority.
What Google frequently visits (and spends significant resources to keep updated) is what they consider important.
Aaron’s take on PageRank and cache date.
He also shares a cool tool to check the cache date of any given page, courtesy of Jim Boykin of WeBuildPages.
You can check your PageRank over various Google Data Centres with this neat tool.
How NOT to Pitch SEM Services in 10 mins: Internet Advancement
January 25, 2007
Yesterday I had the displeasure of receiving a phone call from a pushy SEO salesman named John from Internet Advancement regarding a client’s site that I am currently consulting for.
Before I begin, you may be wandering who exactly is Internet Advancement?
Meta Keywords are the Key to Good Rankings ~ 2 mins
Before John had properly introduced himself or I had time to ask, he began to proceed and tell me that my client’s site was in immediate need of attention for online success. He then went onto to say rather loudly that many of the meta keywords tags on the site had errors and rectyfying this was the key to getting ranked well in Google.
(Sneakily ) Find Clients at Yahoo Directory - via new submissions ~ 4 mins
I calmly asked John to slow down and let me know a bit more about his company and where he had found my client’s site. He gave their url and informed me that he found the site on Yahoo! Directory – What’s New and then went back to telling me that keywords is where it’s at!
My naturally calm nature was being severely tested and I politely notified John that I thought he was old school and that cold calling from America was not appreciated. He then yelled back that meta keywords tags were not old school and that he had success with helping over 6000 sites to prove it!!!
Selectively Cold Call Clients… it’s better than SEO! ~ 6 mins
I then asked for examples of keywords that Internet Advancement ranked for. John then angrily asked me whether I was listening to him earlier when he mentioned that they carefully select their clients from paces like Yahoo! Directory and do not need rankings to acquire customers. Evidently rude and an SEO Jackass to boot! But wait there’s more stupidity…
Submit Repeatedly to all Search Engines… get ranked in 108 days! ~ 8 mins
After some strong disagreement, John ups the anti and goes all out for the hard sale. He becomes even more vocal and confidently informs me that they have the ability to submit the site to all the search engines several times a month. I replied that the site was already indexed and that we preferred building up inbound links to get crawled frequently. He then let me know that I had got it all wrong and re-submitting would help with rankings and not just how often a website got crawled.
I could not take anymore, it had gone from being humorous to quite disturbing – hanging up was the only way out.
Offer to Call back in 108 days whilst being hung-up on ~ 10 mins
John, pleeease don’t call back!
R.I.P MSN Small Business Directory
December 18, 2006
Today, I tried to submit a client’s site to MSN Small Business Directory.
Step 1.
All looks well…
http://sbd.bcentral.com/addsite.aspx
Step 2.
…until a random picture of a woman appears and….
Sign Up & Get Your Small Business Listed Today!
As of November 15, 2006 Microsoft will no longer accept new sign-ups for select Microsoft Online Small Business Services.
Alas, another Directory beats the dust. Anyhow, there are far more creative and worthwhile link building opportunities available these days!
Update - as one small business directory dies, another matures and fills the vacant gap - checkout the UK Small Business Directory.
