Sunday, November 15, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 09, 2009
Google Wave Development
You can now watch your RSS feeds from Google Wave. This incredibly simple robot could not be more useful! You have to add it to a wave, and enter the link to the RSS feed you want to subscribe to and wait for new posts to appear in your inbox as unread blips.
You can now watch your RSS feeds from Google Wave. This incredibly simple robot could not be more useful! You have to add it to a wave, and enter the link to the RSS feed you want to subscribe to and wait for new posts to appear in your inbox as unread blips.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Twitter Blog: Get to the Point: Twitter Trends
Twitter Blog: Get to the Point: Twitter Trends
Twitter Blog has a short blog post mentioning that they have added technology “to show higher quality results for trend queries by returning tweets that are more useful.” Clearly, this is Twitter’s first step in improving Twitter Search by adding relevancy and search quality factors to the search algorithm.
Until now, Twitter Search returns results based on keyword match and the most recent tweet. Trending Topics is the first of Twitter’s search areas to get the relevancy filter, to reduce the “noise” that Twitter Search has. We knew Twitter was working on adding relevancy factors with linkage data, and I assume this is the first signs of it. In the Twitter blog post, Twitter said it might be very noticeable right now, but they hope to improve it over time.
Twitter Blog has a short blog post mentioning that they have added technology “to show higher quality results for trend queries by returning tweets that are more useful.” Clearly, this is Twitter’s first step in improving Twitter Search by adding relevancy and search quality factors to the search algorithm.
Until now, Twitter Search returns results based on keyword match and the most recent tweet. Trending Topics is the first of Twitter’s search areas to get the relevancy filter, to reduce the “noise” that Twitter Search has. We knew Twitter was working on adding relevancy factors with linkage data, and I assume this is the first signs of it. In the Twitter blog post, Twitter said it might be very noticeable right now, but they hope to improve it over time.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tips to help link building
1. Shout it out. You are the link builder and maybe the client thinks that’s all you know how to do, but actively being engaged in the overall process of optimization makes you a better link builder, and makes the results more targeted. Many times, you’d be surprised at how receptive clients are when you say “hey, we think this keyword actually might work out really well, and this one…not so much.” Clients like honesty and straightforwardness, just like anyone else. If you notice that there’s no mention of the keywords in the page you’re trying to build links for, say something and press to get some changes made. You don’t have to write the content…just point out how things could be done in a better way.
2. Learn the basic about SEO. If you’re building links and that’s all you know how to do, you really need to start learning more about everything else. While I definitely don’t think that you can’t be a good link builder without knowing basic SEO techniques, I do believe that you can’t be a great one until you do.
3. Social media is growing, so use it. Remember that link building doesn’t just happen via email or press releases. Get on Twitter and use your keywords in your tweets about the newest blog post or bit of content. Submit the link to niche social media sites that seem relevant. Tell people about the site in any way possible, trying to get the point across that you have what they want.
1. Shout it out. You are the link builder and maybe the client thinks that’s all you know how to do, but actively being engaged in the overall process of optimization makes you a better link builder, and makes the results more targeted. Many times, you’d be surprised at how receptive clients are when you say “hey, we think this keyword actually might work out really well, and this one…not so much.” Clients like honesty and straightforwardness, just like anyone else. If you notice that there’s no mention of the keywords in the page you’re trying to build links for, say something and press to get some changes made. You don’t have to write the content…just point out how things could be done in a better way.
2. Learn the basic about SEO. If you’re building links and that’s all you know how to do, you really need to start learning more about everything else. While I definitely don’t think that you can’t be a good link builder without knowing basic SEO techniques, I do believe that you can’t be a great one until you do.
3. Social media is growing, so use it. Remember that link building doesn’t just happen via email or press releases. Get on Twitter and use your keywords in your tweets about the newest blog post or bit of content. Submit the link to niche social media sites that seem relevant. Tell people about the site in any way possible, trying to get the point across that you have what they want.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
New Keyword Research Tool from Google
A new beta version of a new keyword tool from Google is available in the AdWords console. To get to it, login to adwords.google.com, go to a campaign, click on opportunities (if you have that tab), then on the left bar, click on keyword tool. A “beta” link should be available for you to click on in the top paragraph.
If you don’t see it, below is a big screen shot of the tool. The keyword tool integrates some of the other tools that Google has been releasing. It links to the Google Insights for Search tool and it brings in data from industry segments. It also gives more advanced break down of filter options, from showing country specific data, mobile data, setting your own CPC prices, allows you to add keyword filters, you can filter by industry category, break out by word and filter by match type. This tool seems pretty neat off the bat, but you should really dig deeper into it yourself.
A new beta version of a new keyword tool from Google is available in the AdWords console. To get to it, login to adwords.google.com, go to a campaign, click on opportunities (if you have that tab), then on the left bar, click on keyword tool. A “beta” link should be available for you to click on in the top paragraph.
If you don’t see it, below is a big screen shot of the tool. The keyword tool integrates some of the other tools that Google has been releasing. It links to the Google Insights for Search tool and it brings in data from industry segments. It also gives more advanced break down of filter options, from showing country specific data, mobile data, setting your own CPC prices, allows you to add keyword filters, you can filter by industry category, break out by word and filter by match type. This tool seems pretty neat off the bat, but you should really dig deeper into it yourself.
Monday, September 21, 2009
The Keyword Tag; Google don’t use it.
Google tells the world what every seasoned webmaster and search marketer should already know: The keywords meta tag has no impact whatsoever on how Google’s search engine ranks pages. None. Zilch. Nada. And while Google often needs to be somewhat ambiguous when talking about how it ranks pages, the message in today’s blog post is perfectly clear:
“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.”
Google’s blog post also talks about an imagined clash between two web site owners, Bob and Alice, over Bob’s use of Alice’s business name in his keywords tag and copying of other words from her keywords tag. Although Google doesn’t mention actual companies and doesn’t reference a specific lawsuit, the video that accompanies the blog post does mention lawsuits that involve the keywords tag and Google’s search rankings. About the keywords meta tag, Matt Cutts says:
“It’s really not worth suing someone over because, at least for Google, we don’t use that information in our rankings even the least little bit.”
Google tells the world what every seasoned webmaster and search marketer should already know: The keywords meta tag has no impact whatsoever on how Google’s search engine ranks pages. None. Zilch. Nada. And while Google often needs to be somewhat ambiguous when talking about how it ranks pages, the message in today’s blog post is perfectly clear:
“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.”
Google’s blog post also talks about an imagined clash between two web site owners, Bob and Alice, over Bob’s use of Alice’s business name in his keywords tag and copying of other words from her keywords tag. Although Google doesn’t mention actual companies and doesn’t reference a specific lawsuit, the video that accompanies the blog post does mention lawsuits that involve the keywords tag and Google’s search rankings. About the keywords meta tag, Matt Cutts says:
“It’s really not worth suing someone over because, at least for Google, we don’t use that information in our rankings even the least little bit.”
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
YouTube will Share Ad Revenue with Users
YouTube want to share profits with users who post popular videos on the site, the company announced on its blog. By extending the YouTube Partnership Program, the company offers more individuals with one off popular videos a chance to earn thousands of dollars a month.
In the past amateur videos on YouTube never earned a dime for the creator, even if they clocked millions of views. But YouTube is now rewarding authors of videos that keep YouTube popular and is offering to spread the wealth it generates with the authors.
YouTube will monitor the popularity of user-submitted videos and some users will get invited to start earning revenue through the Partnership Program. To determine with videos are worth it, YouTube will look at the number of views the video has so far and its compliance with the site's terms of service (read no copyright infringements).
Once the revenue sharing scheme is enabled on a user's video, YouTube will do the rest of the work, selling advertising against the video and paying the user a share monthly into their AdSense account. This option is available only to users in the U.S. for now, but YouTube says is hoping to roll this feature internationally.
Up until now, only users producing videos that reached a wide audience were able to join the YouTube Partnership Program. Launched initially in 2007, the program included over time regular content producers.
Full guidelines, contest rules and tips and tricks are available on the TV for All.
YouTube want to share profits with users who post popular videos on the site, the company announced on its blog. By extending the YouTube Partnership Program, the company offers more individuals with one off popular videos a chance to earn thousands of dollars a month.
In the past amateur videos on YouTube never earned a dime for the creator, even if they clocked millions of views. But YouTube is now rewarding authors of videos that keep YouTube popular and is offering to spread the wealth it generates with the authors.
YouTube will monitor the popularity of user-submitted videos and some users will get invited to start earning revenue through the Partnership Program. To determine with videos are worth it, YouTube will look at the number of views the video has so far and its compliance with the site's terms of service (read no copyright infringements).
Once the revenue sharing scheme is enabled on a user's video, YouTube will do the rest of the work, selling advertising against the video and paying the user a share monthly into their AdSense account. This option is available only to users in the U.S. for now, but YouTube says is hoping to roll this feature internationally.
Up until now, only users producing videos that reached a wide audience were able to join the YouTube Partnership Program. Launched initially in 2007, the program included over time regular content producers.
Full guidelines, contest rules and tips and tricks are available on the TV for All.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
How easy is it for search engine to crawl your site?
URLs are like the bridges between your website and a search engine’s crawler: crawlers need to be able to find and cross those bridges in order to get to your site’s content. If your URLs are complicated or redundant, crawlers are going to spend time tracing and retracing their steps; if your URLs are organized and lead directly to distinct content, crawlers can spend their time accessing your content rather than crawling through empty pages, or crawling the same content over and over via different URLs.
Google also shares some best practice tips for ensuring your URLs are fully optimized to be crawled and indexed by the Google crawler.
There are a few things that Google recommends you follow when ensuring your URLs are set-up correctly, which will help the crawlers find and crawl your content faster. These include:
• Remove user-specific details from URLs.
URL parameters that don’t change the content of the page—like session IDs or sort order—can be removed from the URL and put into a cookie.
• Disallow actions Googlebot can’t perform.
Using your robots.txt file, you can disallow crawling of login pages, contact forms, shopping carts, and other pages whose sole functionality is something that a crawler can’t perform.
• One URL, one set of content
Her is a presentasjon made in Google docs and is an explanation on the subject.
URLs are like the bridges between your website and a search engine’s crawler: crawlers need to be able to find and cross those bridges in order to get to your site’s content. If your URLs are complicated or redundant, crawlers are going to spend time tracing and retracing their steps; if your URLs are organized and lead directly to distinct content, crawlers can spend their time accessing your content rather than crawling through empty pages, or crawling the same content over and over via different URLs.
Google also shares some best practice tips for ensuring your URLs are fully optimized to be crawled and indexed by the Google crawler.
There are a few things that Google recommends you follow when ensuring your URLs are set-up correctly, which will help the crawlers find and crawl your content faster. These include:
• Remove user-specific details from URLs.
URL parameters that don’t change the content of the page—like session IDs or sort order—can be removed from the URL and put into a cookie.
• Disallow actions Googlebot can’t perform.
Using your robots.txt file, you can disallow crawling of login pages, contact forms, shopping carts, and other pages whose sole functionality is something that a crawler can’t perform.
• One URL, one set of content
Her is a presentasjon made in Google docs and is an explanation on the subject.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Now you can use Twitter in Search
Twitter has changed the look of its public homepage , now it look more like a search engine. And last week we found out that Twitter’s new search guru is Doug Cook, who was formerly of Yahoo and inktomi
This means that Twitter is now effectively competing in search with not only the major players but all the third parties that are using the site’s API as the backbone of their own engines
Twitter has changed the look of its public homepage , now it look more like a search engine. And last week we found out that Twitter’s new search guru is Doug Cook, who was formerly of Yahoo and inktomi
This means that Twitter is now effectively competing in search with not only the major players but all the third parties that are using the site’s API as the backbone of their own engines
Internet marketing articles
Internet marketing articles: "Semantic Web Marketing"
As you are aware the Internet continues to change the way we search, purchase and market product and services forcing us to evolve both as customers and as business owners.
We learn how to leverage the change in our favor as consumers, and as business people we investigate how best to monetize it. Regardless of which side of the commercial equation we’re on, evolution is a survival imperative and failure to adapt is bound to have grave consequences.
The semantic Web is an evolution in the way the Internet stores, recalls and displays information, and has been continuing to evolve for the last couple years. The semantic web is no longer as speculation about the future of the net, the semantic web is almost here, and something forward thinking business’s should be considering in their marketing strategies.
As you are aware the Internet continues to change the way we search, purchase and market product and services forcing us to evolve both as customers and as business owners.
We learn how to leverage the change in our favor as consumers, and as business people we investigate how best to monetize it. Regardless of which side of the commercial equation we’re on, evolution is a survival imperative and failure to adapt is bound to have grave consequences.
The semantic Web is an evolution in the way the Internet stores, recalls and displays information, and has been continuing to evolve for the last couple years. The semantic web is no longer as speculation about the future of the net, the semantic web is almost here, and something forward thinking business’s should be considering in their marketing strategies.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Compare Google Caffeine to plain old Google - Google Caffeine Compare
Compare Google Caffeine to plain old Google - Google Caffeine Compare
Facesaerch Caffeine Compare
This new tool from the makers of the facesaerch image search engine shows both “old Google” results and Caffeine results side-by-side in frames. You can test it here.
Facesaerch Caffeine Compare
This new tool from the makers of the facesaerch image search engine shows both “old Google” results and Caffeine results side-by-side in frames. You can test it here.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Help test some next-generation infrastructure
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Help test some next-generation infrastructure
Google has just unveiled a “secret project” of “next-generation architecture for Google’s web search“. This new architecture appears to include crawling, indexing, and ranking changes.
Google has just unveiled a “secret project” of “next-generation architecture for Google’s web search“. This new architecture appears to include crawling, indexing, and ranking changes.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Google and Bing
If you can't choose default search engine, And you want to compare Bing & Google results? This is the right place to be. Just put your query in the search box and press Enter. You'll see results from both engines side by side.
Try it out here.
If you can't choose default search engine, And you want to compare Bing & Google results? This is the right place to be. Just put your query in the search box and press Enter. You'll see results from both engines side by side.
Try it out here.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
SEOmoz | Top 10 Things the Microsoft/Yahoo! Deal Changes for SEO
Yahoo and Microsoft have announced a long-rumoured internet search deal that will help the two companies take on chief rival Google.
Microsoft's Bing search engine will power the Yahoo website and Yahoo will in turn become the advertising sales team for Microsoft's online offering.
Yahoo and Microsoft have announced a long-rumoured internet search deal that will help the two companies take on chief rival Google.
Microsoft's Bing search engine will power the Yahoo website and Yahoo will in turn become the advertising sales team for Microsoft's online offering.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
A New Local Ad Strategy for AdWords
Google has announced a new AdWords feature called location extensions. The feature allows advertisers to add dynamic addresses to their ads. If you're a business owner, you can set up extensions by linking an AdWords campaign to your Local Business Center (LBC) account. If you're not the primary business owner of the locations you're advertising, you can manually enter addresses directly into AdWords.
Video about Google Local Business Center Introduction
Google matches business locations to users' search terms and shows the address with advertisers' text ads. When Google can't determine a location or if the address isn't relevant, users will just see the ad without the address.
Advertisers also have the option of not making the address dynamic. If they prefer, they can simply show a specific address for an individual ad.
Ads can show with their relevant extensions on Google and Google Maps. They will show as regular text ads without the extensions on partner sites.
Location extensions will become fully available in the coming weeks. Some advertisers already have access to the feature. Local business ads will no longer be a separate format. Advertisers who already have local business ads, however, will be happy to know that their ads will continue to run as long as they're not edited.
Information about the local extensions can be found here.
Google has announced a new AdWords feature called location extensions. The feature allows advertisers to add dynamic addresses to their ads. If you're a business owner, you can set up extensions by linking an AdWords campaign to your Local Business Center (LBC) account. If you're not the primary business owner of the locations you're advertising, you can manually enter addresses directly into AdWords.
Video about Google Local Business Center Introduction
Google matches business locations to users' search terms and shows the address with advertisers' text ads. When Google can't determine a location or if the address isn't relevant, users will just see the ad without the address.
Advertisers also have the option of not making the address dynamic. If they prefer, they can simply show a specific address for an individual ad.
Ads can show with their relevant extensions on Google and Google Maps. They will show as regular text ads without the extensions on partner sites.
Location extensions will become fully available in the coming weeks. Some advertisers already have access to the feature. Local business ads will no longer be a separate format. Advertisers who already have local business ads, however, will be happy to know that their ads will continue to run as long as they're not edited.
Information about the local extensions can be found here.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Inside AdWords: Location extensions, a new way to run local ads
Inside AdWords: Location extensions, a new way to run local ads
Google AdWords To Add Addresses On Ads: Location Extensions
Google AdWords To Add Addresses On Ads: Location Extensions
Sunday, June 21, 2009
AdWords Conversion Optimization
Link Your Analytics Goals and Transactions to AdWords
AdWords advertisers can now import Google Analytics Goals and Transactions into their AdWords accounts to use as conversion actions. This allows users to track campaign return-on-investment (ROI), and optimize their accounts for conversions within the AdWords interface, and the new one is now avaliable.
Previously, users would have had to install AdWords Conversion Tracking separately to use the feature, now they can just follow these steps:
1. Sign in to your Google Analytics account.
2. Click "Edit Account and Data Sharing Settings."
3. Make sure you've selected at least the "With other Google products only" options under "Share my Google Analytics data."
4. Click "Save Changes" to finish.
5. Go to your AdWords account
6. Navigate to the "Conversion Tracking" page from within your AdWords account.
7. Click "Link your Analytics goals and transactions" from the Conversion Tracking table.
8. Select the Goals or Transactions you want from the list.
9. Edit the action name so you can identify the goals in your AdWords reports.
10. Select "Link" from the bottom of the table to finish.
"The big benefit of importing your Google Analytics Goals and Transactions into AdWords is that you can use them with theConversion Optimizer, an AdWords CPA bidding tool that has been shown to help advertisers get more conversions from AdWords," saysEmel Mutlu of Google's Inside AdWordsCrew. "Conversion Optimizer makes it a lot easier to manage your AdWords bidding and maximize results."
More tips form Google.
Link Your Analytics Goals and Transactions to AdWords
AdWords advertisers can now import Google Analytics Goals and Transactions into their AdWords accounts to use as conversion actions. This allows users to track campaign return-on-investment (ROI), and optimize their accounts for conversions within the AdWords interface, and the new one is now avaliable.
Previously, users would have had to install AdWords Conversion Tracking separately to use the feature, now they can just follow these steps:
1. Sign in to your Google Analytics account.
2. Click "Edit Account and Data Sharing Settings."
3. Make sure you've selected at least the "With other Google products only" options under "Share my Google Analytics data."
4. Click "Save Changes" to finish.
5. Go to your AdWords account
6. Navigate to the "Conversion Tracking" page from within your AdWords account.
7. Click "Link your Analytics goals and transactions" from the Conversion Tracking table.
8. Select the Goals or Transactions you want from the list.
9. Edit the action name so you can identify the goals in your AdWords reports.
10. Select "Link" from the bottom of the table to finish.
"The big benefit of importing your Google Analytics Goals and Transactions into AdWords is that you can use them with theConversion Optimizer, an AdWords CPA bidding tool that has been shown to help advertisers get more conversions from AdWords," saysEmel Mutlu of Google's Inside AdWordsCrew. "Conversion Optimizer makes it a lot easier to manage your AdWords bidding and maximize results."
More tips form Google.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Google AdWords Testing “Opportunities” Tab?
AdWords accounts Google is testing a new tab in the AdWords interface named “opportunities.” The new tab seems to include “ideas” for adding new campaigns, keywords and ad groups to your Google AdWords campaign
Do note, adding the “opportunities” tab meant removing the “tools” tab from the top navigation. More on AdWords help expert blog.
AdWords accounts Google is testing a new tab in the AdWords interface named “opportunities.” The new tab seems to include “ideas” for adding new campaigns, keywords and ad groups to your Google AdWords campaign
Do note, adding the “opportunities” tab meant removing the “tools” tab from the top navigation. More on AdWords help expert blog.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Cloud Computing
Ten companies to watch
Cloud computing is spreading through the IT world at the moment, with innovative start-ups and established vendors alike clamoring for customer attention.
Generally speaking, cloud providers fall into three categories: software-as-a-service providers; infrastructure-as-a-service vendors that offer Web-based access to storage and computing power; and platform-as-a-service vendors that give developers the tools to build and host Web applications. Here are 10 cloud companies that are worth watching.
Ten companies to watch
Cloud computing is spreading through the IT world at the moment, with innovative start-ups and established vendors alike clamoring for customer attention.
Generally speaking, cloud providers fall into three categories: software-as-a-service providers; infrastructure-as-a-service vendors that offer Web-based access to storage and computing power; and platform-as-a-service vendors that give developers the tools to build and host Web applications. Here are 10 cloud companies that are worth watching.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Google Search Appliance 6.0
Now Searches Documents by the Billions.
They are releasing a new version of the software that runs on Search Appliance.
Version 6.0 can search billions of documents. They're also releasing a new hardware Search Appliance that can search 30 million documents.
Google Search Appliance can be deployed to search billions of documents in 5 racks of about 10-12 GSA's each. A little over a year ago, it took a 5 box rack to search 10 million documents. So, you can see how the progress is coming fast and furious.
Google Search Appliance is an enterprise solution that enables companies to search internal documents or provide site search for websites.
The announcement of Version 6.0 comes with a Google-made video that has the look and feel of a Spanish-language soap opera.
Now Searches Documents by the Billions.
They are releasing a new version of the software that runs on Search Appliance.
Version 6.0 can search billions of documents. They're also releasing a new hardware Search Appliance that can search 30 million documents.
Google Search Appliance can be deployed to search billions of documents in 5 racks of about 10-12 GSA's each. A little over a year ago, it took a 5 box rack to search 10 million documents. So, you can see how the progress is coming fast and furious.
Google Search Appliance is an enterprise solution that enables companies to search internal documents or provide site search for websites.
The announcement of Version 6.0 comes with a Google-made video that has the look and feel of a Spanish-language soap opera.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
A New Search Engine (Wolfram Alfa)
Wolfram Alfa is a "computational knowledge engine". It made its debut last week and, despite the fact it's been commonly compared to other search engines -- everyone's looking for the next Google -- it isn't really that similar at all. While Google indexes and searches the web, Wolfram Alpha is able to process factual data that's been curated by the Wolfram team and converted into forms that can be run through computations. Wolfram Alfa
Wolfram Alfa is a "computational knowledge engine". It made its debut last week and, despite the fact it's been commonly compared to other search engines -- everyone's looking for the next Google -- it isn't really that similar at all. While Google indexes and searches the web, Wolfram Alpha is able to process factual data that's been curated by the Wolfram team and converted into forms that can be run through computations. Wolfram Alfa
Monday, May 25, 2009
Why Would Twitter Kill RSS? | WebProNews
Will Twitter Kill RSS? | WebProNews
Twitter and RSS have some things in common. However, they are not the same, and Twitter will not kill the feed reader.(As written in some blogs lately). This is a concept I have seen come up a number of times, and frankly, I just don't see it happening, at least not without some dramatic changes in how Twitter is presented to its users.
Twitter and RSS have some things in common. However, they are not the same, and Twitter will not kill the feed reader.(As written in some blogs lately). This is a concept I have seen come up a number of times, and frankly, I just don't see it happening, at least not without some dramatic changes in how Twitter is presented to its users.
14 Key Requirements For A Search Friendly CMS
14 Key Requirements For A Search Friendly CMS
The most important SEO decisions you make is the selection of your content management system. Your CMS can make SEO easy, or, in some cases, make SEO virtually impossible, or cost you a lot of money. Here are 14 crucial elements you should verify in a CMS before you commit to using it.
The most important SEO decisions you make is the selection of your content management system. Your CMS can make SEO easy, or, in some cases, make SEO virtually impossible, or cost you a lot of money. Here are 14 crucial elements you should verify in a CMS before you commit to using it.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Yahoo Helping Newspapers Sell More Ads Online
Yahoo Helping Newspapers Sell More Ads Online
Here’s a change of pace: Some newspapers are making money online and crediting a search engine with making it happen. AdAge writes about the Yahoo-Newspaper consortium, and cites multiple cases where individual papers or newspaper groups are using Yahoo’s ad targeting technology to increase online-only ad sales.
Here’s a change of pace: Some newspapers are making money online and crediting a search engine with making it happen. AdAge writes about the Yahoo-Newspaper consortium, and cites multiple cases where individual papers or newspaper groups are using Yahoo’s ad targeting technology to increase online-only ad sales.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Twitter Has Plans to Launch Ranking Algorithm
Twitter will try to become a Google competitor in real time search by announcing plans to build a search ranking algorithm. The algorithm will assign a “reputation” score to certain tweets and use this to deliver the most relevant results to searches.
Currently, search.twitter.com simply performs a text match and returns all posts that mention the keyword you’ve searched for. The down side of this is that for popular terms, many times you will just see re-tweets and low value content from hundreds or thousands of users. By assigning a ranking system to these results, you’ll be able to see the most meaningful results first.
The changes were announced by Santosh Jayaram, who recently joined Twitter after managing search quality operations at Google. Jayaram said that not only will Twitter launch a ranking algorithm; they will also begin scanning the links included within tweets and start indexing this content.
This could see Twitter become a serious competitor to Google in the field of real time search. By indexing external links it will help to make twitter a more complete index about what’s happening in real time across the web.
For more info, check out the post on news.com.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Google Getting Twitterpated
Google Getting Twitterpated
check out what Marissa Mayer said in a press conference last week.
"We are interested in being able to offer, for example, micro-blogging and micro-messaging in our search. Particularly in Blog Search and possibly in Web Search, but we dont have any particular plans to announce."
check out what Marissa Mayer said in a press conference last week.
"We are interested in being able to offer, for example, micro-blogging and micro-messaging in our search. Particularly in Blog Search and possibly in Web Search, but we dont have any particular plans to announce."
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Google will Change Ranking Algorithm
Google will make changes to its search ranking algorithm to combat the spate of links leading to malicious web pages appearing at the top of Google’s search results, according to an inside source.
Over the past few months, cybercriminals have been using blackhat SEO techniques to manipulate search rankings. When it first began, they were marginally successful at following Google Trends to find buzzy search queries and elevating a newly created targeted webpage.
But after a short period of time, these same gangs appear to have become disturbingly effective. Last week, when researching a news story, I found the top five results all led to fake scareware pages.
Obviously if Google fails to do something about this manipulation, users will lose trust and the good ole days of Google will be over fast. A Googler speaking on condition of anonymity told WebProNews a ranking change is pending that tackles spam of this kind. Once the change goes live, users shouldn’t see it “nearly as often.”
The freshness or buzzy nature of a query also aided in this pursuit, and cybercriminals merely have to follow Google Trends and Google News to know which keywords and phrases to target.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Keywords are the most important to the Internet Marketing?
Why should you care about your Keywords when you do your Internet Marketing?
Keywords are essential to your online success. You must get your keywords right or it's game over before you even get started. This is because keywords are the most important element of your online marketíng. It can't be emphasized enough, especially to beginning online webmasters or marketers, choosing the right profitable keywords will largely determine whether or not you succeed with your online endeavors.
What are Keywords?
Keywords are the words or phrases someone types into a search engine to find what they're looking for on the web. Some keywords or phrases are valuable/profitable, while others are virtually worthless. Profitable keywords are the ones that convert into a sale, a lead or potential client for your company or product. These are the words someone is searching in order to buy a product. Someone searching for "iPhone from Appl" is probably in the market to buy a iPhone and could turn out to be very profitable for the right website or business.
Profitable keywords are the ones where the searcher is in the right "mind-set" or frame of mind to buy what they're searching for on the web. Tailor your marketing online to target these profitable keywords and it can turn into a success.
So what's the whole process for finding or choosing profitable keywords to use in your marketing? Lets look at some ways to proceed:
Number of Keyword Searches?
What you need to do is to find out how many searches are made for your chosen keywords each month. Simply use WordTracker or a site like SEOBook. These will give you a preliminary number of searches made each month for your keyword. Highly popular, well-searched keywords with hundreds of thousands of searches each month will be extremely hard to rank for because you will have stiff competition from major companies with limitless resources.
You have to pick less popular keywords that get only a couple of hundred of searches each day because your chances of getting on the first page greatly increases. But don't get fixated on the number of searches, some keyword phrases that only get four or five searches daily, can still be very profitable.
For serious keyword research in a particular niche market You cøuld use Brad Callen's Keyword Elite which is professionally designed software that makes all your keyword research so much easier. But there are plenty of free keyword tools you can use. One handy keyword tool is Google Adwords external suggestion tool which will help you find valuable keywords.
Commercial Intent of Keywords?
But how do you know if a keyword is profitable? One convenient tool is from MSN which helps you with "Detecting Online Commercial Intention" of keywords. Just type in a keyword and it will give you a percentage or probability your keyword query has commercial benefit or intent.
Conversion Rate of Keywords?
Once you have your chosen keywords in place, next you want to have a landing page that converts those keywords or traffic from those keywords into buyers or leads for your online business. This is another crucial element of your online marketíng - you must have a landing page or content/site that converts into a sale or you obviously won't make any revenue.
Keep in mind, if you're into affiliate marketing, you main goal is not to sell but to "pre-sell" your products or services. One effective way I have found to do this is to give potential customers/clients valuable information they can use in making their final purchasing choice. Comparison sites do well, as do review sites, top ten sites... potential customers use the Internet and keywords to not only find products but more so, to find information on those products. Your goal should be to provide this valuable information to make their task a little bit easier for them and they will reward you with a sale.
Long-Tail Keywords?
Long-Tail keywords are simply that: long three or four word phrases that searchers use to find what they're looking for on the web. Because they are highly specific, long-tail keywords have proven to have better conversion rates than general keywords. This is also just common sense, someone searching for a "2005 ford mustang convertible" may just be in the right mind-set to buy such a vehicle; as compared to someone searching for a more general keyword phrase such as "sports cars."
Study your website traffic logs religiously to find long-tail keywords that turn into a sale. Target these long-tail keywords in your marketing. Even buy PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising in the three major search engines - Google Adwords, Yahoo! Marketing and MicroSoft AdCenter - for these valuable/profitable keywords.
And build higher rankings in organic search for these long-tail keyword phrases. It's really not that difficult for long phrases, especially if they're related to your site; many times you can reach the top spot in a matter of days, especially in Google.
How to Rank High for Your Chosen Profitable Keywords?
Of course, the million dollar question is: HOW do you rank in the top spot for your chosen keywords? I believe the key to ranking high in the search engines (especially Google) is to be persistent in building your rankings for your keywords. Take a long-term view or approach, sometimes it may take months, even years, to rank in the top Five for your highly competitive keywords.
The best strategy is to "stick to it" and keep building relevant links to your keyword landing page. Create related blogs with valuable content linking back to your keywords. Write keyword related articles and distribute them all over the web. Create Google Alerts for your keywords and then place comments/links in the newly formed pages on the web that Google is indexing.
Be pro-active, download the SEOQuake toolbar and find your main keyword competitors. Check out their links and then go out and get the same links. Write better, higher quality content than your main competitors because Google always rewards great content. Plus, use the free Addthis.com button and let your visitors bookmark your great content in all the social bookmark sites and build your keyword links for you.
Do keyworded Press Releases with your embedded links and spread them all over the web. Get these Press Releases into Google news and other important places on the web. PRWeb.com is really a great place for your press releases since you can embed your keywords in your links.
If you can try to get your most important keywords in your domain name. Many SEO experts argue the merits of this but from my own experience and marketing - it is much easier to rank high for your keywords if you have them in the domain name. Again, it is just common sense, if you have your main keyword in the domain, this keyword is obviously telling the search engines this is what your site is all about. I have even bought domains and created sites specifically around certain keywords just to rank high.
Always remember, you have to be persistent, I have been fighting some keyword battles for over four or five years! For really profitable keywords, it can be a constant struggle to remain on the first page, but the trick is not to give up, just keep fighting away at your competitors. Persistence usually pays off in the end and those profitable keywords will have your links in the top spot. Make ranking high for those profitable keywords your number one marketing strategy. Concentrate all your marketing efforts towards getting plenty of quality traffic for those keywords and you will succeed online
Why should you care about your Keywords when you do your Internet Marketing?
Keywords are essential to your online success. You must get your keywords right or it's game over before you even get started. This is because keywords are the most important element of your online marketíng. It can't be emphasized enough, especially to beginning online webmasters or marketers, choosing the right profitable keywords will largely determine whether or not you succeed with your online endeavors.
What are Keywords?
Keywords are the words or phrases someone types into a search engine to find what they're looking for on the web. Some keywords or phrases are valuable/profitable, while others are virtually worthless. Profitable keywords are the ones that convert into a sale, a lead or potential client for your company or product. These are the words someone is searching in order to buy a product. Someone searching for "iPhone from Appl" is probably in the market to buy a iPhone and could turn out to be very profitable for the right website or business.
Profitable keywords are the ones where the searcher is in the right "mind-set" or frame of mind to buy what they're searching for on the web. Tailor your marketing online to target these profitable keywords and it can turn into a success.
So what's the whole process for finding or choosing profitable keywords to use in your marketing? Lets look at some ways to proceed:
Number of Keyword Searches?
What you need to do is to find out how many searches are made for your chosen keywords each month. Simply use WordTracker or a site like SEOBook. These will give you a preliminary number of searches made each month for your keyword. Highly popular, well-searched keywords with hundreds of thousands of searches each month will be extremely hard to rank for because you will have stiff competition from major companies with limitless resources.
You have to pick less popular keywords that get only a couple of hundred of searches each day because your chances of getting on the first page greatly increases. But don't get fixated on the number of searches, some keyword phrases that only get four or five searches daily, can still be very profitable.
For serious keyword research in a particular niche market You cøuld use Brad Callen's Keyword Elite which is professionally designed software that makes all your keyword research so much easier. But there are plenty of free keyword tools you can use. One handy keyword tool is Google Adwords external suggestion tool which will help you find valuable keywords.
Commercial Intent of Keywords?
But how do you know if a keyword is profitable? One convenient tool is from MSN which helps you with "Detecting Online Commercial Intention" of keywords. Just type in a keyword and it will give you a percentage or probability your keyword query has commercial benefit or intent.
Conversion Rate of Keywords?
Once you have your chosen keywords in place, next you want to have a landing page that converts those keywords or traffic from those keywords into buyers or leads for your online business. This is another crucial element of your online marketíng - you must have a landing page or content/site that converts into a sale or you obviously won't make any revenue.
Keep in mind, if you're into affiliate marketing, you main goal is not to sell but to "pre-sell" your products or services. One effective way I have found to do this is to give potential customers/clients valuable information they can use in making their final purchasing choice. Comparison sites do well, as do review sites, top ten sites... potential customers use the Internet and keywords to not only find products but more so, to find information on those products. Your goal should be to provide this valuable information to make their task a little bit easier for them and they will reward you with a sale.
Long-Tail Keywords?
Long-Tail keywords are simply that: long three or four word phrases that searchers use to find what they're looking for on the web. Because they are highly specific, long-tail keywords have proven to have better conversion rates than general keywords. This is also just common sense, someone searching for a "2005 ford mustang convertible" may just be in the right mind-set to buy such a vehicle; as compared to someone searching for a more general keyword phrase such as "sports cars."
Study your website traffic logs religiously to find long-tail keywords that turn into a sale. Target these long-tail keywords in your marketing. Even buy PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising in the three major search engines - Google Adwords, Yahoo! Marketing and MicroSoft AdCenter - for these valuable/profitable keywords.
And build higher rankings in organic search for these long-tail keyword phrases. It's really not that difficult for long phrases, especially if they're related to your site; many times you can reach the top spot in a matter of days, especially in Google.
How to Rank High for Your Chosen Profitable Keywords?
Of course, the million dollar question is: HOW do you rank in the top spot for your chosen keywords? I believe the key to ranking high in the search engines (especially Google) is to be persistent in building your rankings for your keywords. Take a long-term view or approach, sometimes it may take months, even years, to rank in the top Five for your highly competitive keywords.
The best strategy is to "stick to it" and keep building relevant links to your keyword landing page. Create related blogs with valuable content linking back to your keywords. Write keyword related articles and distribute them all over the web. Create Google Alerts for your keywords and then place comments/links in the newly formed pages on the web that Google is indexing.
Be pro-active, download the SEOQuake toolbar and find your main keyword competitors. Check out their links and then go out and get the same links. Write better, higher quality content than your main competitors because Google always rewards great content. Plus, use the free Addthis.com button and let your visitors bookmark your great content in all the social bookmark sites and build your keyword links for you.
Do keyworded Press Releases with your embedded links and spread them all over the web. Get these Press Releases into Google news and other important places on the web. PRWeb.com is really a great place for your press releases since you can embed your keywords in your links.
If you can try to get your most important keywords in your domain name. Many SEO experts argue the merits of this but from my own experience and marketing - it is much easier to rank high for your keywords if you have them in the domain name. Again, it is just common sense, if you have your main keyword in the domain, this keyword is obviously telling the search engines this is what your site is all about. I have even bought domains and created sites specifically around certain keywords just to rank high.
Always remember, you have to be persistent, I have been fighting some keyword battles for over four or five years! For really profitable keywords, it can be a constant struggle to remain on the first page, but the trick is not to give up, just keep fighting away at your competitors. Persistence usually pays off in the end and those profitable keywords will have your links in the top spot. Make ranking high for those profitable keywords your number one marketing strategy. Concentrate all your marketing efforts towards getting plenty of quality traffic for those keywords and you will succeed online
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Software Pirates Tell Their Stories in BSA Campaign by PC Magazine: Yahoo! Tech
Software Pirates Tell Their Stories in BSA Campaign by PC Magazine: Yahoo! Tech
What does a software pirate look like? Anyone. And that's the new message of the Business Software Alliance, which asked five convicted software pirates to tell their stories.
What does a software pirate look like? Anyone. And that's the new message of the Business Software Alliance, which asked five convicted software pirates to tell their stories.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
15 Essential Checks Before Launching Your Website | How-To | Smashing Magazine
15 Essential Checks Before Launching Your Website | How-To | Smashing Magazine
What to do when your CMS system is ready for launch. Check some more important tasks...
What to do when your CMS system is ready for launch. Check some more important tasks...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
New feature from Linkedin.
LinkedIn launched a new feature that would allow members of groups to share and discuss news articles. Last week, the professional social network offered group owners and managers another way to provide relevant news to their group by way of sharing feeds.
Managers can now create customs news feeds by adding an RSS feed, an Atom feed, or just a Web site URL.
According to a recent blog post, the idea is to give group members a "comprehensive news digest" on LinkedIn that will potentially help them discover new blogs and sources.
While at first glance the idea of incorporating feeds into the professional networking service doesn't seem particularly interesting - many other networks have already enabled this sharing and communicating option, it may just be a great way to introduce feeds to a more mainstream market.
Sites like Twitter, Digg, Facebook, etc., have always relied on participation from a tech savvy audience; those who are already familiar with feeds, and who for the most part have already created their own customized feeds, so that the content, more than the technology is the most important component.
LinkedIn however is a little different. Its audience doesn't comprise solely of the tech or Web savvy; many are just ordinary folk wanting to find other like minded folk for professional purposes. With this new feature, it just may be that LinkedIn will bring the feed to the masses.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
SEO is Becoming More Important In Long Terms
It's a small business owner's dream to be the first result in Google when someone types in a word like "shoes." The resulting traffic stats and sales numbers would be incredible. However, it seems that small businesses might do much better by optimizing for queries involving more than one word.
Cost and feasibility need to be considered, of course - it's a rare small business that can pay for a site capable of competing with those owned by big corporations. But there's more to the situation than that.
It's in the land of three-, four-, and five-word searches that more and more people are spending their time, and together, 45.4 percent of the searches Hitwise has tracked so far this year fall into these categories.
Focusing your search engine optimization efforts on longer queries is something to think about instead of straining to create interesting one-word product names, then. Heck, attain a high ranking now, and maybe you'll even have a hold on it when the Reeboks of the world branch out.
It's a small business owner's dream to be the first result in Google when someone types in a word like "shoes." The resulting traffic stats and sales numbers would be incredible. However, it seems that small businesses might do much better by optimizing for queries involving more than one word.
Cost and feasibility need to be considered, of course - it's a rare small business that can pay for a site capable of competing with those owned by big corporations. But there's more to the situation than that.
It's in the land of three-, four-, and five-word searches that more and more people are spending their time, and together, 45.4 percent of the searches Hitwise has tracked so far this year fall into these categories.
Focusing your search engine optimization efforts on longer queries is something to think about instead of straining to create interesting one-word product names, then. Heck, attain a high ranking now, and maybe you'll even have a hold on it when the Reeboks of the world branch out.
SEO is Becoming More Important In Long Terms
It's a small business owner's dream to be the first result in Google when someone types in a word like "shoes." The resulting traffic stats and sales numbers would be incredible. However, it seems that small businesses might do much better by optimizing for queries involving more than one word.
Cost and feasibility need to be considered, of course - it's a rare small business that can pay for a site capable of competing with those owned by big corporations. But there's more to the situation than that.
It's in the land of three-, four-, and five-word searches that more and more people are spending their time, and together, 45.4 percent of the searches Hitwise has tracked so far this year fall into these categories.
Focusing your search engine optimization efforts on longer queries is something to think about instead of straining to create interesting one-word product names, then. Heck, attain a high ranking now, and maybe you'll even have a hold on it when the Reeboks of the world branch out.
It's a small business owner's dream to be the first result in Google when someone types in a word like "shoes." The resulting traffic stats and sales numbers would be incredible. However, it seems that small businesses might do much better by optimizing for queries involving more than one word.
Cost and feasibility need to be considered, of course - it's a rare small business that can pay for a site capable of competing with those owned by big corporations. But there's more to the situation than that.
It's in the land of three-, four-, and five-word searches that more and more people are spending their time, and together, 45.4 percent of the searches Hitwise has tracked so far this year fall into these categories.
Focusing your search engine optimization efforts on longer queries is something to think about instead of straining to create interesting one-word product names, then. Heck, attain a high ranking now, and maybe you'll even have a hold on it when the Reeboks of the world branch out.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Google Offers A Peek Into Its Internal Eye-Tracking Studies
Google Offers A Peek Into Its Internal Eye-Tracking Studies
There’s an interesting post today on the Official Google Blog that gives a glimpse inside the company’s usability and eye-tracking studies — tests that help Google determine what their search results pages should look like.
There’s an interesting post today on the Official Google Blog that gives a glimpse inside the company’s usability and eye-tracking studies — tests that help Google determine what their search results pages should look like.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Travel companies are going for Twitter.
Hotels, airlines, airports and other travel companies are joining the Twitter community, to pitch services, update travel conditions and respond directly to the individual needs of customers. They're finding the mobile nature of the technology is ideal for talking to travelers. Read More..
Hotels, airlines, airports and other travel companies are joining the Twitter community, to pitch services, update travel conditions and respond directly to the individual needs of customers. They're finding the mobile nature of the technology is ideal for talking to travelers. Read More..
Monday, February 02, 2009
PPC marketing in a down Economy
The economy’s downturn has finally reached the online advertising world.
When you stop marketing, you lose touch with your clients. You stop understanding what is important to your consumer base. Many believe that customer service and marketing is more important in a recession than at any other time. If you lose touch with our client base, how can you see the trends your clients are facing? Red More....
The economy’s downturn has finally reached the online advertising world.
When you stop marketing, you lose touch with your clients. You stop understanding what is important to your consumer base. Many believe that customer service and marketing is more important in a recession than at any other time. If you lose touch with our client base, how can you see the trends your clients are facing? Red More....
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Google and Niche Services
Google and Niche Services: "Google continues to end projects, the most recent one being AdWords for Print. The blog post that explains the decision shows the big picture at Google:"
Friday, January 16, 2009
Microsoft and their missed opportunities With paid search.
Microsoft Bid to Beat Google Builds on a History of Misses from the Wall Street Journal has a very detailed look at some of the mistakes Microsoft made early on in the paid search space. The piece goes through the failure of Microsoft’s original Keyword ad platform, named bCentral Keywords, which was discontinued in early 2000. It then discusses the fact that they did not purchase Overture, which Yahoo acquired in 2003. Followed by the failed attempts at buying Yahoo this past year.
we all know Microsoft has made many mistakes in the past with search opportunities. But the most interesting pieces of the article is that Ballmer still wants the deal with Yahoo. It is also very interesting to see that Microsoft’s new search ad platform, adCenter, was code named “Moonshot.” Many advertisers love the feature set within adCenter, so the technology is not the reason adCenter is not competing. As Andrew Goodman notes, it is about market share. Advertisers go where the customers are and the customers are at Google, not Microsoft.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Google is testing new AdWords budget option
Google have been offering selected clients a new AdWords budgeting option called "Timeframe". This allows advertisers to choose a monthly budgeting option which allocates budgets across a calendar month according to traffic demands. The monthly budgeting option has only been made available to selected advertisers during a beta testing period.
Most advertisers would be familiar with how daily budgets work, where a set spending limit is applied each day. One of the shortfalls of this approach means that on lower traffic days, you might have some unused budget leftover that could have been used on higher traffic days.
Monthly budgeting eliminates this issue by automatically adjusting your budget each day to match traffic demands. From the AdWords Help Center:
With a monthly budget, Google will adjust your budget automatically each day to meet traffic demand while still respecting your budget for the calendar month. If you've seen this on your AdWords account, let us know what you think!
Friday, January 09, 2009
Google Releases Top Tactics for difficult Times
As we continue to hear news about an economic recession, the good folks at Google have decided to help you out.
They have recently announced the release of the "Top Tactics for Tough Times" centered around making the most of Google Adwords.
Here are the Google AdWords experts' top recommendations for making the most out of Adwords.
1. Focus your ads on low prices and savings.
2. Use value-related keywords
3. Make sure your ad groups are targeted and relevant
4. Do not waste money on irrelevant clicks
5. Make it easy for customers to buy
6. Focus your money on your high performers.
The article goes into more details on these points, so if you would like to read more, then check it out here.
http://www.google.com/adwords/tactics2008/
Thursday, January 01, 2009
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