August 29, 2005
Domain Name Length of a URL
Rusty Brick on Domian Name Lenght Is a shorter URL is better then a longer URL. What about the URL structure?
Having a URL that looks like: http://www.domain.com/blog/2005/08/22/where-is-carmen-sandiego
versus http://www.domain.com/blog/where-is-carmen-sandiego
Will not make a noticeable difference in your rankings. What the engines mean when they say a shorter file path structure is in terms of site navigation. For example, if I literally have to click from the main site, to the blog, to the 2005 section, to the August section, to the 22nd day section and then click on where-is-carmen-sandiego - then that is bad. But if I put a link (i.e the first, long, one listed above) on the index page, to a long URL, then the search engines will crawl it and index it well. The shorter the click path to a specific file, the better off you are. The length of the URL itself, is not a major factor in terms of search engines.
Posted by Ahorre at 12:04 PM
June 20, 2005
Web Site Checklist - Getting Indexed by Search Engines
Michael Nguyen from Social Patterns covers key points prior to getting your web site indexed by the major search engines.
"So let’s spend a little time discussing the most basic idea behind search engine optimization: Indexing. Before you can begin to think about optimizing a page’s title tags, content, links - one thing needs to be certain, that page needs to be indexable."
Many factors hold back web pages from being indexed properly.
- Perhaps there is an error in your robots.txt?
- Maybe your web server is blocking directory contents?
- Is there JavaScript or broken code within your page?
- Are there any incoming text links to the page?
- Are there any automatic redirects from the page?
- Is your site using frames or only flash?
- Is your entire site navigation in JavaScript? A dropdown?
- Are your meta tags telling robots to not index?
- Is your site full of duplicate content, invisible content, or hidden links?
- Did you buy a banned domain?
Posted by Ahorre at 03:17 AM
June 13, 2005
AOL Moves TV Spend To Search
New York Times looks at how AOL is ironically turning to search ads on rivals Google and Yahoo to attract people to its new public portal offering. The story notes how $50 million intended for television ads is instead going to search because AOL realized search was already the biggest driver of traffic to its free music site. Recent research from Penn State yesterday, on how consumers are found to head primarily to organic listings. Yes, search marketers have known that for years. But to say about ads:
According to recent reports, businesses spent an estimated $8 billion to sell their products and services via sponsored links in 2004, despite little evidence that such advertising successfully directs traffic to Web sites. More likely to hook consumers are the organic results or those results returned automatically by the algorithmic operations of the search engine, Jansen said.
Posted by Ahorre at 05:24 PM
May 17, 2005
Content is King for Search Engine Optimization
Search Engines and King Content By Tony Wright. Thousands of articles, books and forum entries detail how to make your site search engine friendly, but ultimately, one rule stands above the rest: Content is king. A special report from the Search Engine Strategies 2005 Conference, February 2005, New York, NY.
On the "What is Content" panel a group of experts discussed ways to ensure that Web sites include content that is not only friendly to search engine spiders, but also appeals to the ultimate audience@mdash;the end user.
Kent Lewis, President of Anvil Media, Inc. suggested that including any of the following items on your Web site could provide relevant content for both search engines and end users:
Press Releases
FAQs
Articles
Blogs
Directory Listings
Glossary
Jennifer Slegg, Owner of JenSense.com, suggested using analytics as a way to determine what types of content you should include on your site. According to Slegg, it is often possible to determine what your visitors are looking for by combing through your server logs, paying close attention to the most popular paths through the site.
Slegg also suggested analyzing your customer service requests to determine areas where your site content could be beefed up. Additionally, look through internal site search tools to see what keywords web users are typing once they reach your site. These words can trigger ideas that can lead to new content, according to Slegg. She also suggested monitoring industry message boards to find content ideas.
When writing content for your site, Slegg noted that it is not always necessary to focus on the most competitive term in the copy. By focusing on "the tail," or less frequently used keywords, it is possible to gain a significant amount of traffic overall from several longer, lower search volume phrases.
When writing articles, Slegg suggested creating short articles of 200-300 words and using catchy titles in order to get users reading. Write about seasonal topics and create content about basic subjects so that those unfamiliar with an industry can learn more about it.
Ensure that all the content on a site is search engine friendly. Slegg said that making certain forums, blogs and other frequently updated sections of a site can be read, it is easy to provide relevant, fresh content for both users and search engines.
Anthony Garcia, Senior Persuasion Architect at Future Now, said while it is important to understand the search engines needs when writing content, it's the end user that is the ultimate target.
"Search engine spiders don't have credit cards," said Garcia. "People do."
Garcia suggested viewing your audience as one single reader, and to write specifically to that reader.
"A page that is read by people is better than a page that is read by bots," said Garcia.
Garcia argued that by writing for the end user, it is easy to write for a search engine spider as well. He said that search engines love feeding web users relevant results, so the more relevant the content is to the end user, the more likely it will eventually be served up by the search engine to that end user.
"SEO methods are useful, but algorithms will change," said Garcia. "The only time content is not king is when it undermines sales efforts, and some SEO methods can cause content to do that."
Garcia suggested creating a target profile of the "one person" being written to in the content, and showed several examples of profiles he has created for his clients. These profiles included topographic, psychographic and demographic information. Garcia also suggested "mapping keywords to the implicit intent of the user" when thinking about how to optimize copy for search engines.
During the question and answer section of the presentation, a question was posed about how to persuade web site owners to pay for high-quality content as part of a search optimization effort. Lewis proposed estimating the potential traffic the copy would generate and creating a financial model around that copy. Garcia said that copywriting is viewed as a commodity, but one that everyone needs to have. His solution: convince the client of the strategic value of the copy before discussing the cost.
Other session attendees were concerned about the effects of syndication of copy, and whether or not that created duplicate content, which search engines frown upon. The common consensus among the panelists was that syndicated copy did not constitute duplicate copy and is not likely to be penalized by search engines.
"A search engine won't penalize duplicate content in syndication," said Search Engine Watch Associate Editor Chris Sherman, moderator of the panel, "but it will serve up the most relevant site with that content on it first."
Tony Wright is the chief interactive marketing officer at Zunch Communications.
Posted by Ahorre at 04:13 PM
May 16, 2005
Search Engine Optimization is a Hot Business for 2005
Entrepreneur.com listing of the top 13 Businesses for 2005. From high-tech clothes to wine, eBay drop-off stores to tech security, the business ideas on our 2005 hot list run the gamut. But they have one thing in common: They're sizzling hot and just waiting for you to bring them to life.
#3 Search Engine Optimization Being a rock star on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans will get the hairs on your arms to stand up. Garry Grant, 46, who used to play with the likes of Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen, says he got that same feeling the day he learned his company was ranked No. 1 on Google. The CEO and president of Search Engine Optimization Inc., Grant says top ranking has equaled huge revenue gains: He expects company sales to reach $6 million in 2004, up from $1.9 million in 2003. Not bad for the multitalented computer science graduate, who went from being a rock star to an internet entrepreneur.
Eighty-four percent of Americans online use search engines, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which researches the impact of the internet, and ComScore Networks Inc., a provider of marketing information and consulting services. That means getting a high ranking can make or break a business. "You could spend a million bucks on a website, [but] if it's not visible, it's worth nothing," says Grant. Businesses that want top rank turn to search engine optimizers, which provide the "technology, methodology and science of increasing your website's visibility," according to Grant.
Larry Chase, publisher of Web Digest for Marketers and SearchEngineForMarketers.com, says search engine optimization (SEO) isn't for the faint of heart. "This is a very fast-changing marketplace," says Chase. "It's not the kind of field where you learn it once and forget about it." Chase recommends constant reading of industry news to keep up; Grant goes a step further and checks for patents filed by search engine companies to stay ahead of the competition.
Good niche areas for entrepreneurs include pay per click, copywriting and local searches, says Chase, who forecasts personalized searching will be the next big search innovation. For example, tech geeks searching the word Apple will get results for Apple Computer, not the kind of apple you sink your teeth into. In this niche, opportunities exist for entrepreneurs in developing the technology that acquires such user preferences or profiles, as well as in optimizing websites for personalized searches.
Of course, we can't talk about SEO without mentioning the elephant in the room: Google. Chase and Grant agree that Google gets the most SEO attention. However, Chase adds, "You can't please all of the search engines all of the time-you have to figure out that middle ground." Like Grant, if you figure that out, you, too, can be a headlining act.—Steve Cooper
Spanish Search Engine Marketing
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Posted by Ahorre at 04:45 AM