August 2007

 

90% of SEO Consultants Incompetent or Crooked - Greg Howlett

Posted by Aaron on 16 Aug 2007


Great post here from Marketing Pilgrim, and a good lively conversation in the comments. What I would add to the discussion is that many clients WANT exactly what Greg is cautioning against in his post. Most of his points are great, but, unfortunately, a lot of people who call me (I don’t cold call) are looking for a quick meta tag and link building type campaign because the IT folks don’t want to hear your suggestions, the marketing folks don’t want your ideas and the product people don’t want your advice. I agree that SEO programs should be fully integrated, but convincing customers of that is sometimes difficult. They view it as a condiment instead of an integral part of the website sandwich…

The tips here are valid, but I don’t think they should necessarily be presented as find out if your SEO guy is unscrupulous… They should be presented as suggestions to help businesses understand why they need an integrated SEO program with a respectable budget attached to it - and, perhaps, why it is better to do it in-house…
Read on:

8 Tips for Avoiding an SEO Fraudster


Tagged as: Travel Marketing, Search Engines, Marketing, SEM, SEO, Online Marketing, Link Building, PR, , ,

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Yahoo edges Google in user satisfaction survey

Posted by Aaron on 15 Aug 2007


Why doesn’t this surprise me? While Yahoo is getting really good at pinpointing successful models and snatching them up, or creating them itself, all while mastering the art of integration… Google is creating obscure tools, which may or may not be around in a year and neglecting to properly market or integrate them. I think Google is really falling short on user experience. Yes, simple is good - but times change; what worked five years ago may not be the best approach today. Yahoo has integrated its tools so seamlessly that it makes sense to me that users are more satisfied. How will they turn that into search volume though? Do they even need to worry about that?

Yahoo edges Google in user satisfaction survey | Technology | Reuters


Tagged as: Google, Search Engines, Yahoo, Other, , ,

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Google Wants More of Your Money…

Posted by Aaron on 09 Aug 2007


I know what Google says, “this will help the quality of our results.” But, like most (who ARE NOT Matt Cutts’ disciples), I am cynical when it comes to Google - just like politicians, Fox News and Clear Channel radio.

It seems that Google is making some changes to the algorithm that determines your ranking in the PPC listings - or Adwords for the brand conscious. To review, Google bases your rankings on quality, CTR and CPC. Currently, Google uses your actual CPC to help determine rankings. In other words, it uses what you’re paying, not what you’re willing to pay - or your maximum CPC.

Well, it seems, that in the near future that formula will be tweaked to consider your maximum CPC in the ranking algo instead of your actual CPC. You won’t have to pay that max CPC (necessarily), but, according to Google, this will give advertisers more control over obtaining a top ad spot.

Maybe so, Google. But it will also encourage users to increase their max CPC in order to get better rankings under the impression that a higher max CPC will increase rankings - regardless of what your actual CPC will be. And, while users will still pay an “actual CPC,” when everyone suddenly raises their max CPC, the actual CPC will follow - because your actual CPC is dependent on what the other advertisers’ maximum CPC is.

Google makes more money, you have a harder time maintaining a positive ROI, and Google moves one step further toward world domination. Read more about the apocalypse here:

Want That Top Ad Position On Google? The Rules Are About To Change


Tagged as: Google, Search Engines, SEM, Online Marketing, , , , , , , , ,

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Google Tips from Blogger Conference (via CNET)

Posted by Aaron on 08 Aug 2007


Nothing too earth shattering here.  But, Stephan Spencer has posted some tidbits from Matt Cutts’ talk at WordCamp 2007.  Most aren’t specific to just bloggers and offer more insight into ranking well (or ranking poorly) with Google.  Matt never gives up the real juicy stuff, so I assume this is just an opiate for the SEO masses more than anything else…

Here are a few of the general SEO items that Spencer notes:

  • Underscores in URLs are now seen as word separators, just as hyphens have always been.
  • Keep query parameters in the URLs to no more than 2 or 3 and Google will treat your URL the same as a static one.
  • Directory depth of your pages does not matter to Google.
  • Page file extensions don’t affect your rankings.  Do avoid using .EXE, however.

To read Spencer’s entire piece:

Underscores are now word separators, proclaims Google | Tech news blog - CNET News.com


Tagged as: Google, Search Engines, SEO, Online Marketing, Optimization Tips, Blogging, , , , , ,

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