Archive for August, 2008
SEO Ranking Factors
Posted on 30. Aug, 2008 by search_junkie.
Being a professional organic SEO consultant I often see posts about, or get asked directly, “what is more important as an organic ranking factor, on page optimization, link building, site structure, etc.?” I have been asking myself this question in my head for a long time. I have to say that I am now 100% sure of what is the #1 SEO ranking factor and I can prove it!
Ever heard of a Google bomb? Well it is what happens when a large amount of sites point links at another site with the same anchor text. The site ranks, even if the site has nothing to do with the anchor text/keyword that it is ranking for! So it is proven that if you point enough links at a site with the same anchor text, the site will rank for that term even if it is not optimized for it. Hell, the site could be completely in Flash with no readable content and it would still rank!
The same cannot be said of any of the other ranking factors. Thus I am now 100% convinced that linking is THE most important ranking factor hands down. I have already seen this in real life with client sites but it is the whole Google bomb factor that for me scientifically proves my point.
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Unstable Google Search Results
Posted on 28. Aug, 2008 by search_junkie.
If any of you monitor the keyword rankings for your site(s) you may have noticed that in the past month of so that Google has been wildly changing their rankings. It is so crazy that you can even hit refresh and see your site increase or decrease in rankings! Now I understand that the SERPS are dynamic and can and will change. And I have been through many an update in the past. But no one has EVER seen anything like this.
Updates to the index used to come 1-3 times per year, major ones that is. There are always fluctuations but there were typically only a few major updates each year in the past. Now, it seems like each day is a major update. I am not sure if Google has been performing some kind of ongoing testing with Universal Search or what? Perhaps it is that Google is incorporating some Adwords tactics like CTR? Or maybe they are monitoring traffic to sites using Google analytics or the Google toolbar? Another theory is that they could be performing some sort of multivariate testing on different SERPS to see which ones perform the best for the user. Or that they are using bounce rate.
Whatever it is, its giving me a headache. And I can’t imagine that the typical user would appreciate it either as many people expect to see certain sites when they do a search.
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Web Develoment Versus Web Design
Posted on 26. Aug, 2008 by search_junkie.
Many people out there do not understand or even know that web development and web design are two completely different skill sets. To the lay-person a “webmaster” is the person that will design and build out their website(s). But in reality not all webmasters, or web developers, are good at design. In fact good designers are hardly ever great developers.
A good developer will understand site architecture and some light programming. They will know how to access hosting, use cpanel, etc. They will know how to create valid CSS and XHTML. Good developers will know how to work with databases too.
But a good designer will have a mastery of design software like photoshop, fireworks, etc. A good designer will that certain elements need to be in a homepage, like a call to action. Designers will understand what types of colors go together and what types of moods they can elicit. A great designer will know how to design a site so that it not only looks good but will be search engine friendly as well.
Now I am not saying that there are not competent designers and developers out there because there are. But they are few and far between. What I am saying is that in general designers and developers should be two different people. In web companies, or agencies, there is someone that creates designs and someone else that builds it out and that deals with hosting. So next time you set out to build a site please try to understand that if you want quality work done then you are most likely going to need to hire someone (or an agency) to create your design and another person to build it out to spec.
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Link Building Schemes
Posted on 21. Aug, 2008 by search_junkie.
As a professional SEO consultant I come across all types of link building schemes. And having worked for some major SEO firms I have seen it all. Of course in our industry you really need to stay on top of things so I read about many different link building tactics every week. Linking is still one of the most difficult and important factors of ranking a site.
So I get this email the other day about a new and “wonderful” link building scheme from a proposed SEO guru. This is always amusing. But this solicitation was different from the rest, there was a different pitch from an apparently American company. Well, upon further investigation the idea was supposedly US born but the “work” was done off shore. Ahhhh, delete!
But what really got me about this “scheme” was that they wanted $3000 for 20 “authority” links. Ha! Well it was a fun joke for our office but that is about it. Once again I am disappointed at myself for even taking time to consider this proposed scheme. The concept is actually pretty good but to think that one can scale or monetize this. The idea is to do blog interviews with industry authorities, legitimately, and then through your high quality and seemingly non-solicitated link bait get authority links to your interview post. Of course you can then 301 that page to a service page or other page you want to rank. Its a great link bait idea that can work in any industry but they wanted $3000 for 20 links! Hilarious! Well now I have given away the secret, do with it what you must.
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The Value of Online Reputation Management
Posted on 14. Aug, 2008 by search_junkie.
Online Reputation Management (ORM) is a hot topic these days. More and more people are researching your name and business in Google before deciding to work with you. And if there are negative listings showing up it could be VERY damaging to your success. The worst part about it is that you will probably never know that negative press in the search results is what is killing your business. Clients and prospects will probably just avoid you!
That being said now, how much do you think it would be worth to you to have the negative search results pushed down in the SERPS so that hardly anyone will see them? To me you cannot put a price on your reputation. I have heard quotes in upwards of $100,000! Now that is a bit ludicrous but paying $10-$30k would not seem that crazy to me. Of course you will still need to clean up your act so that people stop posting negative stuff about you. Because you never know when something new can surface!
I challenge you to monitor the search results for your name and/or brand to see if there are any negative results there. You may be surprised by something from 1997, or even a recent event. If you do find something negative you will want to contact a good online reputation management company to help you out.
