February 6, 2009 on 8:45 am
Filed Under:SEO, Web, Around the Web
Search Engine Land plopped an
into my inbox this morning and as I was leaving an insanely long comment on that blog, it occurred to me to just post it here.
I love the hand-flapping and red-flag waving that happens whenever the Googs seems to be messing with our lives.
Sometimes I wonder if they don’t necessarily do it under the auspices of a "better user experience" and only do some of this stuff to create columns like this and put all us poor SEOs in a panic.
I don’t, for one second, believe that Google would do something to their search results that would render their own Analytics tool less-capable. Nor do I believe that they would do anything that could do such damage to the analytics software industry.
Has no one wondered what their motivation for doing such a thing would be?
Seriously, when was the last time Google went and did something that so drastically mucked with all our lives that we got mad at them and lost money and clients and shaved all our cats? The Florida Update? From my memory of the experience, all that did was teach us to be a bit more scrupulous (or at least educated in Google’s "rules") in our search engine optimisation efforts.
So, at the risk of sounding too rational and pragmatic and not handflappy enough, I say "So what?"
Google is testing something and may change the entire way they do things…
So what?
So you may have to change the way you do things as well? So you may have to clean up a few of your processes and applications that you’ve long depended on?
Get real and adapt and adjust or die.
I know I’ll be fine, and No, that doesn’t mean I won’t have to do anything. I may have to work my ass off to get my systems to catch up to an all-AJAX SERP from Google, but that’s fine, because there’s probably a lesson in there about how to do things better.
Alrighty, my rant’s over. Catch you later, and have a good website.
Search Engine Marketing - 29/5/08
May 29, 2008 on 11:20 am
Filed Under:Around the Web
Good stuff today, with a few Press Releases that are actually PRs and not "We’ve found another way to promote the SEO page on our site" because really "TechName Solutions Announces Their SEO Offerings" isn’t really news, goddamit. It’s NOT, it’s you using a News Site to promote your site. "UniqueName Studios Announces New SEO Tool Aimed At Photographers" actually IS news, and deserves to be there instead of your tired crap.
/rant
Old dogs and new tricks: why the content industries are the real pirates
Though this one really only touches on it, and it focuses mostly on file sharing and other some such… This Could Be Huge.
He may be right, and the real perpetrators may have nothing done to them, but for all those crapwads out there stealing content and publishing it on their sites, as their own words, their ISPs may have to turn ‘em over.
Which, of course, I think is seven shades of awesome.
Hey, I have to play fair in this little game, so should you. If you cheat, you should be punished. At the end of the day, may the best SEO win.
P.S. It’ll be me. Haha.
Internet Marketing Services Company Cybertegic Shares its Tools With the Public
Okay, you know how I went on that rant at the beginning, and promised you better? Yeah?
Well, I sort of lied. I guess I didn’t lie really, I just needed to clarify a few things. This "Press Release", this supposed piece of latest news coming from a certain company… well it’s a prime example of the kind of flotsam that’s permeating the News Sites these days.
Go ahead and read it through, and make sure you count the number of times they target a specific phrase (hint: it’s in the title of the article). Then, go ahead and click on the links. They’ve promised these new and exciting SEO Tools right? Should be something exciting yes?
A page of links. LINKS!!
Why issue a Press Release to tell me that you’ve got a page full of sites that I already know about instead of those valuable SEO Tools that you promised me?
Brutal, and the kind of thing that I’ve been railing about lately.
Reputation Management Service Launched by Search Engine and Social Media Marketing Firm, Brick Marketing
This, on the surface, can look disturbingly similar to the one above, which I railed against.
Nup, this one is an example of what is different, and what companies should actually use this for.
This guy, my buddy Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing, is a reputable bloke who is using the News Releases to tell the world about something that’s actually News. He’s offering a new service, similar to others using the PRs to tell about them doing the same sure, but his is actually NEW to the industry. Reputation Management, as a service, is fairly new and not many companies are doing it (or even doing it well). Everybody’s heard of SEO, so saying how excited you are about SEO Tools and then just giving me links to Google (GOOGLE! By the soul of Matt Cutts I’ve bloody heard of GOOGLE’S SEO TOOLS), is crap.
Do it like Nick, and save your big announcements for when you actually want to announce something big, it’s worth it and it’ll pay off if for no other reason than I’ll stop sledging you.
How to choose the right SEO expert or company?
Though this content looks relatively unique, meaning that I Googled parts of it and found no dupes, it’s basically someone else’s SEO page run through the "marginally correct" English translator. Ever taken a phrase in Babelfish, run it through the English-French translator, and then taken the result and run it back through the reverse? That’s what this entry looks like.
I would’ve probably given some points until I got to the comments. By any stretch of the imagination am I to believe that these are all different people from different companies? Oh man.
The Need For Search Engine Optimisation Standards
Not ground-breaking, but nonetheless true. Preach on brother!
Part of the reason our industry has negative connotations attached to it, like "Snake Oil Salesmen" and such, is because there are consistently suss happenings, and no one policing them. Google can ban a site, or an IP, but they can’t find BlackHat McSpammington and put him in Google Jail. He’ll just pop up again, with a different IP and domain, ready to work his craptastic magic once again.
Standards are really the only answer. Unfortunately, no one knows how to go about this in the right ways just yet.
Including me. But it’s something I’ll think on. Watch this space.
————————
Whew, I feel an odd combination of wanting to hug something small and cuddly and reassure it that the World is going to be a safer place with me leading the charge and wanting to kick something hard. Not at the same time mind you, for that would just be wrong.
Til next time, have a good website.
Search Engine Optimisation Australia - 22/5/08
May 27, 2008 on 12:11 pm
Filed Under:Around the Web
Not much for this day. These were mixed in with the other junk, of course, but I’m always pleased when I find something worth reading.
Newcastle: Illegal Use of Trademarked Keywords In META Tags
Short and sweet, he writes about how you better not use anybody else’s trademarked words in your meta tags. They’ll still find you and, apparently, sue you.
Introduction to SEO Strategies and Techniques
Found this one and realised that it sounded startlingly familiar. Then I checked around and saw that it’s from Kanga Internet, whom I know from the Port 80 forums. Small world, eh?
—————–
Okay, there were more, but I finally traced a few of them back to a place that distributes articles for free. Fair enough, you can’t write your own content because you are really, really, ridiculously stupid, so you get someone else’s. Thing is, one of the stipulations of using that content is to link back to the site and include the author’s info, which most of these do not do.
I’d be all for writing articles for others to use as long as I got a backlink and credit, but these buggers are just getting the article and posting it as their own. Oh, they don’t say "By ME" but by NOT saying "By so-and-so" they’re still just as wrong.
I’m off my soapbox now, and going to make a sandwich.
Adios, and have a good site.
Pay Per Click Advertising - 21/5/08
May 27, 2008 on 11:52 am
Filed Under:Around the Web
Lots of these for the day, some a bit more basic (as PPC articles tend to be) and others that are a bit more relevant.
Pay Per Click (PPC)-Why You Should Care?
Not Rocket Science, but a good article for a small business owner to get introduced to PPC. I dig this one because Jeff Paro didn’t write it to pimp his own site, he’s doing it for the good of his users. Bonus.
Pay-per-click Advertising - How to get traffic to your site.
Short and to the point, but beneficial to people seeking an explanation. Again, not for the purpose of site promotion (at least not solely for that reason), which scores points with me.
I use Google Adwords for advertising my website I use pay per click keywords with no luck. Yahoo any better ?
This is an open discussion on a member site, where someone’s discussing Yahoo! over Google for paid placement. Debates are good, and different people’s experiences help us decide which way we should go.
Two Things Your PPC Ad Copywriting MUST Do
Another Nick Stamoulis article that’s short and sweet. Still don’t know where I know him from. It really IS time to email him and ask.
Search Engine Marketing Australia - 18/5/08
May 26, 2008 on 2:14 pm
Filed Under:Around the Web
Some good ones in here for this fine day, and a pleasure it is to link to them.
Hire My Mum is Launched in Australia
Holy Cats and Yammers! This sounds like so many different shades of awesome I can’t really even begin to gush. What an absolutely killer idea!
The only problem I can find with it at this point, and bear in mind I haven’t signed up yet, is that it continually mentions "women" and "mums". Currently, I am a Work At Home Dad, with the exact same needs and responsibilities. I’d hate to think I’m excluded from this gig because of my gender.
Other than that, sounds great.
Linkbait Via Fakery Works; Press Duped; SEO’s Get Giddy
Even though this guy is in Toronto, he may as well be down the street, as he has echoed my sentiments perfectly in what seems to me to be an unfortunate proliferation of the "crap" that I keep mentioning in this blog.
I especially love that he’s mentioned that "the industry is already frowned upon by many outsiders, this this is the last thing we need."
Well said man, well said.
Web Consulting Australia 17/5/08
May 26, 2008 on 1:42 pm
Filed Under:Around the Web
Some good stuff in this one.
AODC - separating content, structure, format and behaviour
Short and sweet and informative too, it’s like the label on a box of cereal. I kid, a good interview and some valuable advice and links in there too.
Who’s Who Directory of Women in Ecommerce Debuts
No, they’re not doing a calendar or anything, it’s just an interesting link and I’m all about folks who make good for themselves, whether they’re singled out for being female or not.
Web Analytics Fails to Inform Business Decision-Making
Nice article and information on a valuable survey. The only shocking thing about the survey results is that they’re not shocking at all. Most website owners don’t know much about their analytics, and that’s just too bad really. Except for me, I suppose. Heh.
Search Engine Optimisation Australia - 17/5/08
May 26, 2008 on 1:33 pm
Filed Under:Around the Web
Still catching up on these, but am trying to only give out links to decent sites instead of just examples of what crap there is out there.
A Conversation with Euro RSCG SF’s Alan Burgis
Not a bad interview and an interesting take on advertising.
——————-
Alrighty, I thought there was more, but I’d already written out that I wasn’t going to focus on the crap and that’s, unfortunately, all that’s left.
Web Consulting Perth 17/5/08
May 26, 2008 on 1:11 pm
Filed Under:Around the Web
Couple of interesting ones for an alert that’s a week or so old. Honestly, these ones are decent value.
Your Business Website - What Should You Be Monitoring?
This one seems familiar, but that may be because the RealmSurfer guy has had a couple of articles picked up by the article networks and pasted absolutely everywhere. This is okay though, because he, as the original author, is cool with it and is credited everywhere it appears.
Making Blogging Work for your Business
I’m loving this guy more and more and am taking notes on what he does with his site and his content every week. I know that what he writes can seem like a lot of the same stuff that others put on their sites, content for content’s sake, but I admire the way he puts it out there without being condescending or openly pandering to search engines. He just seems to be doing it the right way, and I respect that.
Search Engine Optimisation - 17/5/08-23/5/08
May 23, 2008 on 4:52 pm
Filed Under:Around the Web
Heaps of these during the week, but most are Faux Press Releases that are SEO firms trying to make their SEO all Latest Newsy sounding.
"Extra! Extra! SEO is defined as…" and so on. It’s NOT News and shouldn’t be treated as such. I click and read because I love surprises. Sadly though, I rarely if ever get any.
Do you have Search Engine Optimisation to promote your business??
The only thing funnier than this one trying to pass itself off as relevant is that the ad below it was for "Chinese Ladies for Marriage". Classic!
"Hmm, this article about how businesses use something called… SEO, to promote their businesses online is great… and hot damn, I’ve been looking to marry a Chinese Lady all these years and here’s an ad right THERE!"
See last article about SPAM and how I feel about it. "Chinese Ladies for Marriage" is going to be my new "Spammers all carry used band-aids and dead mice in their pockets" catch-phrase.
Search Engine Optimization (Optimisation)
If you’re going to use blog posts to amp up your SEO efforts (like I am right NOW) then at least be honest about it (like I am RIGHT NOW).
Flash - SEO Optimisation
Nice. Finally, short and sweet and relevant and useful. I’ve read this blog for a while now, off and on, and JustSearch seems pretty legit to me.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in Internet Marketing
Despite the fact that abdulkaremsblog6933 is an old friend of mine from WAY back (we’re tight, so I’m allowed to call him "abdulsblog6933") I find that there is a proliferation lately of stolen content. The only reason I click on sites like this is to grab some unique-sounding content, chuck it into Google, and see how many sites show up with it on there.
Mayhap I’m a touch sensitive after a former employer came onto a popular forum the other month with tales of the "Mission Statement" being used a competing firm’s site. Since I helped write that copy, I became suitable defensive, and then found that sites from Michigan to Bangalore had all stolen this content. Brutal.
‘Course, nowadays I’d probably be a bit flattered before I’d get angry about it. Maybe I’m growing up after all.
Search Engine Marketing - Search Engine Optimization is Important
Despite the glowing obviousness of that statement, I did the same thing with this article. Grabbed some, Googled it, and saw how many sites have it. Not many, but still enough to make one wonder if it’s even worth facing duplicate content penalties (anymore, they just don’t index one of them).
Of course, one may wonder about duplicate content when I Googled parts of this article and still got 5 or 6 sites. Does duplicate content even matter anymore?
Ah well, at least most of them credited the right guy with the article, even if he probably never okay’ed it’s usage.
The 10 instructions of Search Engine Optimization
My favourite part of this one is "Just getting high ranking is not the end of your make money journey". I hate to come across like a snob, but the improper use of English cracks me the hell up.
Oh, and speaking of duplicate content, this article shows up roughly TWENTY TIMES in Google.
That seals it, I’m going out and getting some used band-aids and dead mice. No more paying for sandwiches for me, no sir.
——————-
Grrrr, I just lost a half-hours typing when I inadvertently bumped the touchpad on the laptop and then hit the Backspace button to delete a typo. Don’t do that. It sucks.
And NO, I’m not writing it again, though I should because there was some awesomely witty and relevant writing in there. Poo.
——————-
I’m off on my make money journey. Have a good site.
Web Analytics Australia - 17/5/08-23/5/08
May 23, 2008 on 4:30 pm
Filed Under:Around the Web
This one seems to get lots of miss-hits, so we’ll see what it has for the week or so.
The credit card-terrorism connection
This is another one that’s just funny. The same title came through in the same alert linking to something like dodgyashell.blogspot.com or some such, and Surprise! it was already taken down.
SPAM is still funny to me, because it’s somehow still worth it to these people to do this kind of crap. Somehow, they still think it works. It’s almost like the guy that’s always carrying around a used band-aid or dead mouse, to handily stick in his sandwich so he can make a scene and not pay for his lunch.
Sure, he gets free lunch all the time, but at what actual cost?
Spammers, to me, are a bunch of band-aid and dead mouse carrying freeloaders.
———————
Sadly, that’s about it for this particular alert. A half-dozen emails filled with links to news releases about this and that, but nothing about actual Web Analytics.
Ah well, I got to rant about SPAM, so that was good.
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