Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals | Stacey Morgan Smith

Google continues to revolutionize the way we get information.

I’ve been a reliable reader of the Washington Post for close to 15 years. Home delivery, read it each morning on Metro…even drove 20 miles to pick it up weekly (at a huge markup) when I lived in Central Virginia. Moving back to Northern Virginia 3 years ago, the very first thing I did was go online and order a 7-days-a-week subscription.

Now I’m faced with recycling papers I can’t find time to read. Google, the Post and the NY Times are making it easier for me to stay on top of the issues.

According to the article in yesterdays’ Washington Post, the three entities have created Living Stories. As mentioned on the page, “Complete coverage of an on-going story is gathered together and prioritized on one URL. You can now quickly navigate between news articles, opinion pieces and features without long waits for pages to load.”

I can quickly scan top headlines and read those that interest me.

Clicking a link takes me to a full page of information about that topic.

I find that I can quickly and easily read articles of interest, and I plan to visit the page regularly. What do you think? Can Google save newspapers?

Stacey Morgan Smith is the director of search engine optimization for Northern Virginia Internet Marketing Company NetStrategies. With over 14 years’ experience as an editor and proofreader, she brings a different viewpoint to SEO. Along with the rest of the NetStrategies team, she can help you increase your leads from search!

Tuesday’s sessions at SMXEast in New York continued with “Ask the Search Engines: Best Practices Edition.” Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Land moderated, and notes from the presentations and Q&A with Google, Yahoo!, and Bing include:

Maile Ohye, Senior Developer Programs Engineer, Google Inc.

• If you need to bring your site offline for temporary maintenance, what’s the best way to do it? Return a 503 with a helpful message. Google will later recrawl the URL. Google will not index the content of the 503 (the preexisting content will be available in search results).
• How do you help bots crawl your site more efficiently with if-modified-since? Respond when appropriate with 304 “Not modified.”
• Which file(s) might be good to disallow from crawlers? individual login pages and calendars
• What action(s) can reduce load time (and thus increase user happiness)? order the external scripts and CSS on your pages efficiently (external scripts load serially – all other loading is blocked -  **stylesheets above external scripts allow parallel loading – much faster)** compress images
• What is the possible result of this implementation of “other-language” versions of a page using rel=”canonical”? This can be a problem if a french searcher is searching for a site. She’ll still see english version.

Sasi Parthasarathy, Program Manager, Bing, Microsoft

• Secure Your Website – no one talks about it. Everyone takes it for granted.
• Spammers target spiky queries that follow popular events and capitalize on the popularity to make money. They hack popular sites, use the link, and then spam the queries that target those queries.
• Blogs and forums are user-generated content, which makes them nonsecure and vulnerable if not secured/monitored regularly.
• Links on hacked pages may lead to a fake malware page which actually loads viruses if you click for the antivirus.
• Forums and blogs are spam magnets.

Q&A with Maile, Sasi, and Cris Pierry, Senior Director, Search, Yahoo! Inc.

• Using javascript to fool the search engines is a recipe for disaster.
• Safest to use text links.
• In bing, linking out is NOT part of the algorithm.
• Google and bing never supported the keywords tag. Yahoo, within last 3 months, doesn’t support keywords tag. They were NEVER a major ranking factor of the search engines.
• Good ranking factors: GOOD TEXT, informative and unique, content should make sense. KEYWORDS in the title tag, in the page itself (body copy), (in past – higher on the page was helpful), presence of the words in the links or near the links that lead to your page.
• How to move a website to a new domain without affecting its rankings: webmaster central blog – best practices for moving your site, webmaster tools – change of address; 301s
• Javascript & ability to executive has been a long time coming and they are treading lightly to ensure no negative side effects. only certain types of events are found to be safe.
• Canonical tag transferrs all link properties — it’s true.
• Whatever the 301 will do for you, the canonical will do for you.
• If you change hosting, it doesn’t matter – it won’t affect your rankings unless your hoster is slow. It doesn’t matter what your backend is if your structure is the same.
• Display none by itself isn’t blackhat, but it’s walking a thin line.
• Anytime that money is changing hands, you’re safest using nofollow.

I think it’s great that reps from the big-3 search engines took the time to come answer questions from Internet marketers. It makes it easier to play by the rules when you get additional opportunity to learn what the rules are!

Stacey Morgan Smith is the director of search engine optimization for Northern Virginia Internet Marketing Company NetStrategies. With over 14 years’ experience as an editor and proofreader, she brings a different viewpoint to SEO. Along with the rest of the NetStrategies team, she can help you increase your leads from search!

My final Monday session at SMXEast in New York included the all-important topic of link building. Though it was a bootcamp/basics class, link building is often considered a difficult part of SEO. Attending the class gave me a few new pointers and useful information.

The session was moderated by Disa Johnson, the CEO of SearchReturn. Notes from each speaker include:

Debra Mastaler, President, Allicance-Link
There were 76 billion searches on Google in July 2009, and 25 billion of those were in the US. Relevance to a subject puts you into a topical community.  There are 4 main link types: credibility, content, smo, and paid, BUT if you use paid links you go against the terms of service. Begin your link building as if you had a business on main street: get a link from the chamber of commerce, charities, organizations, alumni organizations, etc. Get listed in directories. See how other people are selling themselves first. Each element of your site has a directory: articles, software, rss, newsletters, blogs, etc.  Always place your original content on your site first and then distribute elsewhere. Be sure bios use links back to site. Focus on traditional content link generation tactics.

Eric Ward, CEO, EricWard.com
There are hundreds of tools for link building, including links pages, social sites, etc. There are only two audiences, though: people and search engines. Link building has to be customized to a particulare site, and you have to use a well-rounded multiple-strategy approach. Remember: the easier a link is to get, the less value it will have to a search engine.

I really enjoyed listening to Eric Ward, who was link building before it became vital. I appreciate that he will not work with certain less-than-savory types of sites, and I think his nugget about ease of getting a link in relationship to value of a link is something all of us should remember.

Stacey Morgan Smith is the director of search engine optimization for Northern Virginia Internet Marketing Company NetStrategies. With over 14 years’ experience as an editor and proofreader, she brings a different viewpoint to SEO. Along with the rest of the NetStrategies team, she can help you increase your leads from search!

]]> http://www.netstrategies.com/blog/search-engine-optimization/link-building-fundamentals-smxeast-session-notes/feed 2 http://www.netstrategies.com/blog/social-media/two-social-media-tools-i-rely-upon-google-reader-and-hootsuite http://www.netstrategies.com/blog/social-media/two-social-media-tools-i-rely-upon-google-reader-and-hootsuite#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:52:47 +0000 Laurie Dunlop http://www.netstrategies.com/blog/?p=861 Learn Social Media with Laurie Dunlop

It’s the simple things in life we sometimes take for granted. For example, the view from my desk of the Occoquan Marina in Northern Virginia is lovely, even on rainy days. Without question it puts me into a better frame of mind for writing. No matter how many times I see a bald eagle swoop through the sky, it never fails to give me a thrill! My poor husband works from a windowless cubicle deep within the Pentagon. How can I forget how fortunate we are at NetStrategies to see such beauty while working?

Likewise, I seldom give a second thought to the great tools at my disposal for work like Google Reader and HootSuite.

I use Google Reader for reputation management, brand and keyword monitoring, and blog consolidation. It is really a wonderful application that helps with efficiency. As an added bonus, Google, a company that never sits on its laurels, continues to improve and expand its features.

These are a few ways to use Google Reader for business:
1. Set up Google Alerts (another great tool not yet available in Bing as of this posting) and feed into Google Reader. I follow a number of alerts including NetStrategies staff members, our company name, and terms like Internet marketing. If someone mentions our company name, I can follow the link and see the context. It allows me to stay on top of discussions involving our company, staff, product lines, etc.

2. Send all RSS feeds you follow to Google Reader. For example, I follow several blogs and scan them through Reader. This is the simplest way to breeze through the many blogs I follow and open ones that really pique my interest.

3. Google Reader shows me any Tweets mentioning words I set as search terms in Twitter. This is a quick way to monitor Twitter talk, retweets, and replies.

4. You can now share posts through social media platforms right from Google Reader through the new “Send to” feature. Simply open the settings page and enable the services you want to use. If your favorite service isn’t listed you can create your own “Send to” link with a URL template.

HootSuite Makes Twittering Much Easier
HootSuite makes my job of managing multiple Twitter accounts a snap. Log into HootSuite using your Twitter account email and password, then add to your profile any additional Twitter accounts you use. I manage my own profile lauriedunlop as well as NetStrategies and InternetMktgTV. The Hootsuite dashboard (newly improved) lets me toggle between the different accounts and see retweets, replies, direct messages, Twitter stream, and more. I like that I can schedule Tweets through HootSuite, too. You can also track Twitter statistics.

What tools or programs do you use to simplify your workflow? Leave a comment and share your favorites!

Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals | Stacey Morgan Smith

Sometimes when I’m working on rewriting site copy for a customer, I go a few hours without lifting my head to see what’s going on in the world of search engine optimization. I keep TweetDeck running, so I may see a few tweets come in, but today I just figured a lot of people were talking about coffee.

Not quite. This afternoon, I finally took some time to check out the coffee talk. Wait — not coffee…CAFFEINE!!

AP reports that Google, already the giant in search engines, has been planning a new engine, which Google’s blog states “will be faster, more accurate, and more comprehensive.”

The announced Yahoo!/bing union of a few weeks ago isn’t quite old news, and now we have another “shakeup.”

My search results are mixed.

When searching for “washington dc tourist spots,” I don’t see a difference between Google and Caffeine until I get below the fold of page 1.

Google, results 4-10

Caffeine, results 4-10

However; when searching for Northern Virginia PPC, all of the results below the first two differ.

Google, results 1-6

Caffeine, results 1-6

Our philosophy? Continue to follow best practices in SEO. We’ve earned our position and our customers’ positions in all of the search engines that way, and I’m sure we’ll see similar results in Caffeine.

UPDATE: This site http://doubleshotwebdev.com/caffeinated/ enables you to compare the search results of Google vs. Caffeine.

Stacey Morgan Smith is the director of search engine optimization for Northern Virginia Internet Marketing Company NetStrategies. With over 14 years’ experience as an editor and proofreader, she brings a different viewpoint to SEO. Along with the rest of the NetStrategies team, she can help you increase your leads from search!

Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals | Stacey Morgan Smith

If you search the Internet, you’ll find search engine optimization companies that make a lot of guarantees.

“WE GUARANTEE – Our SEO Tactics And Strategies Makes You More Money, Sends Your Website To The Top Of Search Results In More Than 500 Search Engines…” [sic]

“Top 5 Ranking OR 100% Money Back !!!”

“We guarantee your website top 10 search engine rankings within 3 to 6 months (or earlier).”

“Cheap SEO Package for your Website – $60 –Guaranteed Results”

“SEO Experts provide guaranteed top ten seo placement”

“We provide full proof [sic] seo services with guaranteed results.” (foolproof, indeed)

Wow, guarantees sound GREAT! Heck, I should hire one of these guys, right? I mean, if they promise me the top spot in a search engine, AND they promise to give me my money back, well, what do I have to lose?

Time and money to start: time invested with a company that gained its expert status yesterday, money wasted on inexperienced optimizers, and more money through lost sales opportunities.

How do you know you can trust your SEO company?

One thing you should know is long they have been in business. One site I visited stated, “…as a free lancer [sic] until just now!” Freelancers are just as good as organizations, but I don’t think I’d want someone who couldn’t spell the term working on my site. In addition, this particular freelancer cum CEO spelled his company’s name three different ways on his homepage. Not my ideal SEOer.

What is the company’s BBB rating, and is their rating in Internet marketing (or a similar service), or did the owner buy a good business name with a nice BBB rating in another field? It’s a good idea to check.

Does the company have a physical presence, or are they represented only by a website page and toll-free number? Being able to sit down with your SEOer is good. The very nature of this business means face-to-face isn’t necessary every day, but once or twice a year you should be able to request an in-person meeting.

Are your phonecalls returned in a timely manner? Is a different person returning your call each time…and do you have a hard time understanding him or her? The World Wide Web has made the World a smaller place, but all too often outsourcing means not only out of your company but out of the country. You should be able to reach your search engine optimizer, a person you know by name, by phone when you have questions. If you leave a message, he or she should call you back promptly.

Research your SEO company and don’t fall for fruitless guarantees. Google doesn’t tell any SEOer its secrets, and there is no way to guarantee a top result in ANY engine!

Stacey Morgan Smith is the director of search engine optimization for Northern Virginia Internet Marketing Company NetStrategies. With over 14 years’ experience as an editor and proofreader, she brings a different viewpoint to SEO. Along with the rest of the NetStrategies team, she can help you increase your leads from search, but she doesn’t guarantee you first place in Google!

• The deal is still a long way from closing, in fact the complete bing/Yahoo! search engine is at least two years away. The process of approval alone will likely take the rest of 2009.
• Microsoft’s adCenter platform will replace Yahoo!’s Panama platform. This means that ads placed in Yahoo! will be managed through MSN adCenter’s interface. This will take additional transition time after the deal is approved by regulators.
• Cost Per Click (CPC) prices will be set by adCenter’s automated auction process. With an increase in advertisers coming to bing from Yahoo!, it will be interesting to see what happens with CPCs. Like anything in the PPC medium, industry verticals will obviously play a large role.

One of the primary shortcomings of Microsoft’s adCenter was lack of volume. It simply does not generate as much traffic as Google or Yahoo! This is one of the most intriguing parts to this partnership. In the words of a press release from www.choicevalueinnovation.com:

“With the addition of Yahoo!’s search volume, Microsoft will achieve the size and scale required to unleash competition and innovation in the market, for consumers as well as advertisers.”

Overall, the general consensus among the PPC community is that this partnership is a good thing for the PPC industry. It will give Google increased competition and also will give Microsoft the search volume it needs to accelerate the learning from its own marketplace and improve its adCenter platform more quickly. I’m looking forward to any improvements Microsoft can make to its adCenter management interface. At the moment, AdWords provides the most advanced campaign management tools, so it will be interesting to see what improvements Microsoft can make with the increased search volume and insight from Yahoo!.

Sources: ad Age, Choice. Value. Innovation., and SEW