How Does the Google Panda Algorithm Update Effect SEO?

Just one day after Cinco de Mayo Google released a blog post “More guidance on building high-quality sites”. With this post Google has dealt with a number of questions that they have been trying to resolve with their algorithm update.

Of course, we aren’t disclosing the actual ranking signals used in our algorithms because we don’t want folks to game our search results; but if you want to step into Google’s mindset, the questions below provide some guidance on how we’ve been looking at the issue…

Here is the fresh list of the questions Google is trying to answer with Panda:

• Would you trust the information presented in this article?
• Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
• Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
• Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
• Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
• Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
• Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
• How much quality control is done on content?
• Does the article describe both sides of a story?
• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
• Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
• For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
• Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
• Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
• Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
• Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
• Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
• Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
• Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
• Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

Writing an algorithm to assess page or site quality is a much harder task, but we hope the questions above give some insight into how we try to write algorithms that distinguish higher-quality sites from lower-quality sites.

So what does this mean to us SEOs?

If we are wearing the SEO white hat nothing.
It is our job to help create great content that deals with all the questions above. What good is it to get visitors to your site to just have them turn around and walk out the door (metaphorically that is). We need to engage our visitors and give them value.

If you haven’t been keeping in mind most or even all of the list above why not?

If you had a brick and mortar store would you only have a door? Your customers would walk through your door and not be able to find anything they were looking for. How long would you be in business with this store?

While I believe the list above are some very lofty goals shouldn’t they be what we are striving for?

If you shoot for the moon and fall short you will be no where. If you shoot for the stars and fall short you will be able to reach the moon with ease.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Google Panda Update – Update is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

SEMpdx’s SearchFest 2011

When I opened the door to get the paper this morning I was a little disappointed it wasn’t snowing. I wanted to be the only one there wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. Wait a minute I will probably be the only one there wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt anyway. Only time will tell.

If you haven’t heard about SearchFest it is the premiere search marketing event in Oregon. They have a great line up of speakers including:

• Adam Audette
• Allison Hartsoe
• Ben Lloyd
• Bryan Rhoads
• Chris Boggs
• Chris Sherman
• Conrad Saam
• David Mihm
• Dustin Woodard
• Greg Sterling
• Hallie Janssen
• Ian Lurie
• Joanna Lord
• John Andrews
• John Shehata
• Jordan Kasteler
• Kegan Sims
• Kent Schnepp
• Lisa Williams
• Lulu Gephart
• Mark Knowles
• Marshall Simmonds
• Mary O’Brien
• Matt McGee
• Matthew Brown
• Michael Cottam
• Mike Blumenthal
• Mike Rosenberg
• Rand Fishkin
• Reid Spice
• Scott Hendison
• Scott Orth
• Susan Delz
• Todd Friesen
• Todd Malicoat
• Todd Mintz
• Todd Nemet
• Will Scott

It’s still not too late to attend. To quote from “Out To Sea” “It’s never too late, that’s why they invented death”

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

SearchFest 2011 is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Google Local What is Ahead in 2011?

Here we are one week into 2011 and I am finally getting around to putting up my first blog post this year.
Google Local has been very erratic the past few months.
I figured I’d toss around some of my Google Local observations, predictions, and conclusions.

Google Local Observations

• Google renames the Google Local Business Center Google Places
   
• New display for business listings appearing when users submit search queries related to local businesses

 

• Local results moves around from the top of the organic results to the 3rd position

 

• Google’s local Results change from the top 3 inserted into the organic results to multiple results

 

• Google no longer lists a page organically and in the local results

 

• Today Google places the local results in the number 2 position

 

• Google places 7 local results on the first page

 

• Google now only places 6 organic results on the first page

 

• Google places 13 results for a search term like “portland window cleaning” on page one

Google Local Predictions

• Local businesses will be scrambling to recoup their SERPs

 

• Local businesses will be forced to become more familiar with the various factors which may influence local search rankings

 

• Local search and organic results will become more subservient accomplices in your first page results on Google

 

• You will see more deep linking in the top listed websites

 

• You will see more mini sites being used

 

• You will see a lot more changes to the Google first page results display in 2011

Google Local Conclusions

• Google isn’t really trying to be more relevant with their new displayed results

 

• Google is trying to create more value to their Google Places model

 

• Google is trying to create more revenue with Google Places

 

• Google is trying to create more of a need for AdWords

 

• Google is not my friend they just want access to my pockets!

 
Don’t even get me started with Google instant! That’s fodder for another post.
 

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Google Local New Year Predictions is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Bing and Yahoo! Conjugate Alliance in the US and Canada

With the sheets pulled back all that was left was for the bing – Yahoo! Search Alliance to be conjugated.

Towards the end of last month Yahoo! fully switched to using bing’s technology as the power for its search results in the US and Canada.

What this means is whenever anyone searches on yahoo.com they will get exactly the same results as as they would on bing. The only differences are the interface, navigation, some universal results (except images and videos) and related searches.

But will this bring SEO woe?

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

The organic results appear to be identical.

The Yahoo! footer now sports a “Powered by Bing™” identifier.

It looks as though everything is going as planned by the bing – Yahoo! Search Alliance, so unless something blows up we can expect Yahoo to switch to bing powered PPC ads sometime in mid October.

What this means to us SEOs is that bing is now powering 5.2 billion searches monthly which gives them nearly 32% of the search market share in the US and nearly 9% in Canada. Previous information deduced from the numbers published in the comScore report from June 2010.

Yahoo Site Explorer

One of the largest concerns to SEOs is the effect this alliance will have on Yahoo’s Site Explorer. This tool is one of the best free sources for backlink data. If Yahoo’s Site Explorer goes away it will take many of the popular backlink checkers that use its data with it.

Good News

According to the post on the official Yahoo search blog Site Explorer will remain operational at least till early 2012. 2012 is the chosen date when Yahoo is planning to complete the switch to the bing backend technology.

Once all markets are being served by Microsoft, we plan to refine the focus of Yahoo! Site Explorer, and webmasters should use bing’s Webmaster Center to provide information about their website and its structure.

How is the switch to Bing algorithm affecting your site?

Are you noticing a rise or decline in traffic from bing or Yahoo?

Post your story in the comments.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Bing and Yahoo! Conjugate the Relationship is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Will these Bed Partners Help SEO?

As Bing and Yahoo! get ready to climb in bed together this week I find myself considering the effect this will have on the SEO world.

This is one of those rare occasions when I actually publish two posts the same day.

I received an email from the Microsoft adCenter this morning with the following statements.

This is an exciting week for Bing as we reach another major milestone in the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance. This week, Bing will begin powering organic search results on Yahoo! Search for the English language in the United States and Canada.

After this organic transition is complete, Bing will power 5.2 billion monthly searches, which is 31.6 percent of the search market share in the United States and 8.6 percent share in Canada. You can take advantage of this traffic by using search engine optimization (SEO) to complement your search campaigns and boost the visibility of your business.

I find the statement “take advantage of this traffic by using search engine optimization (SEO)” very interesting. It appears that unlike Google the Bing Yahoo! alliance is going to embrace SEO.

Is this the Bing strategy to attack the Google giant’s SEO distain head on with acceptance of the SEO community?

Bing has already launched their own version of Webmaster Tools and they even offer up a page with the title “Search Engine Optimization for Bing“.

Bing’s SEO principles

SEO is fundamentally about creating websites that are good for people. The most basic advice we can give for achieving optimum rank for your site in Bing is to do the following:

• Develop great, original content (including well-implemented keywords) directed toward your intended audience
• Use well-architected code in your webpages (including images and Sitemaps) so that users’ web browsers and search engine crawlers can read the content you want indexed)
• Earn several, high-quality, authoritative inbound links

At least Bing is openly welcoming SEO unlike Google who tries to sweep it under the rug and deny its existence let alone it’s validity.

Will Bing be able to eat away at the hold Google has on searches? I use Bing as my personal search engine of choice and have been since their launch of the “decision engine”.

As time passes we will have more answers to these questions.

As you probably already know I am a Mac guy and Microsoft is well.. Microsoft. They do offer some great webmaster tools especially their web developer tool box but.. they only run on Doz Longhorn and above.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Bing and Yahoo! Pull Back The Sheets is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

A Double Shot of Espresso – Using Google Caffeine for SEO

Since my Last post on Google Caffeine “Google Caffeine – The SEO Experts Speak” took some pressing (french of course) for not being up to date.

I figured I would try another search approach. Let’s take a look at the results we get from the top 10 results for “using google caffeine for seo“ using the parameter of in the last 7 days?

The Envelope Please!

Here are the Google search results.

1. Google Caffeine : The SEO Experts Speak
   5 days ago – I used the new Google Caffeine to search for the information.The quotes were pulled from Google’s top 10 results for “using google caffeine for seo”. … sphinn.com/story/156087/ – Cached

 

2. Techfrog – SEO Articles, News, SEO Tips, Polls And Quizzes
   5 days ago – Techfrog.org Provides The Latest Seo Articles, Tips, Quizzes, Polls, News & Updates on … If Not For Google, Which Search Engine Would You Prefer Using? … techfrog.org/ – Cached

 

3. Google Caffeine & SEO, Virtual Keyboards, 3D Maps & AdSense …
   1 day ago – Google Caffeine & SEO, Virtual Keyboards, 3D Maps & AdSense Earnings … Some guy wants to use Google to propose to his finance. Google did doodles for … pcdoctorbymail.com/…/google-caffeine-seo-virtual-keyboards-3d-maps-adsense-earnings/ – Cached

 

4. Search Engine Guide: Search Engine Marketing and Social Media …
   4 days ago – With well-known brands and small businesses alike now using social media marketing in … Popular Articles. New SEO Practices for a Google Caffeine World … www.searchengineguide.com/ – Cached

 

5. Caffeine – Google’s answer to Bing | Google Success SEO SEM Tips
   4 days ago – Google unveils a beta version of their next generation search engine dubbed Caffeine. Google Caffeine is designed is to improve its size, indexing speed, … www.google-success.com/caffeine-googles-answer-to-bing.htm – Cached

 

6. Effective SEO Techniques in the Google Caffeine Updated Era
   5 days ago – In the Caffeine updated Google SERP clear preference is given to the domain names, …. To get traffic online you need to use SEO best practices. … www.articlesbase.com/…/effective-seo-techniques-in-the-google-caffeine-updated-era-3012189.html – Cached

 

7. Google Caffeine updated Off Page SEO Technique | SEO,SEM,Internet …
   34 minutes ago – All the webmasters especially those who specializes in Google SEO and Google … are of good quality and have not been involved in using any black hat SEO technique. … Website Design: Seo Implications Of Google’s New “caffeine” Search … www.xiexiejiao.com/…/google-caffeine-updated-off-page-seo-technique.html

 

8. Google Caffeine. Quick, but not relevant. | SEO Blog from …
   9 hours ago – Ive been conducting some experiments over the last week on google caffeine, and will publish a full blog post in the next day or two when the results of my. seoforums.org/seo-blog/google-caffeine-quick-but-not-relevant/ – Cached

 

9. How Google Caffeine Will Affect an SEO Website
   5 days ago – PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 11, 2010 – With any new search engine architecture the concern rises for SEO websites. Now with the arrival of Google Caffeine, … www.prlog.org/10851406-how-google-caffeine-will-affect-an-seo-website.html – Cached

 

10. Website Design: Seo Implications Of Google’s New “caffeine” Search …
    4 days ago – Website Design: Seo Implications Of Google’s New “caffeine” Search Engine … a good Website Designer that does not use the pre-packaged website generation … www.webmaster9.com/…/website-design-seo-implications-of-googles-new-caffeine-search-engine.html – Cached

So let’s examine these 10 results for “using google caffeine for seo”.

Here are some interesting observations.

• The listing in the first position was generated by my original post
• 6 out of the 10 pages actually displayed “Ads by Google” (Google Adsense)
• 7 out of the 10 pages actually had the term “google caffeine” in the actual article
• There was very little NEW Google Caffeine information.
• One of the “new” results “Caffeine – Google’s answer to Bing” had a comment dated September 30th, 2009 at 3:16 am.
• One result was from a “Popular Article” listed in a sidebar.
  “New SEO Practices for a Google Caffeine World”
• I found some NOT so NEW information.
  “Google no longer uses the keywords found in the “meta keyword” HTML tag but searches for the keywords that have the most density in the first 50 words of the page.”
• I found only one quote worthy post.
  “Ive been conducting some experiments over the last week on google caffeine, and will publish a full blog post in the next day or two when the results of my experiment are available.”
• I had no way to pull off another the “Experts Speak” subtitle

Google Caffeine may be faster and show more results but I see no improvement on their results.

So I will stand by my original post “Google Caffeine – The SEO Experts Speak“. There is more old Google Caffeine information from the experts than new and fresh.

What does this say about Google Caffeine? Is it all hype or are the experts keeping a lid on their findings as to it’s inner workings?

You decide for yourself!

Me! I am going to make myself another double espresso.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

A Double Shot of Google Caffeine for SEO is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Exorcist Required to Exorcize Seth Godin from This Blog

I have been spending chunks of time this week trying to remove a WordPress Plugin’s “feature” from the Search Engine Optimizician.

“What Would Seth Godin Do” is a great plugin for WordPress. WWSGD has been serving me well for years.

As time has rolled on I have moved past this plugin. The problem is that WWSGD won’t move past me. You can probably still see it at the top of this page/post.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
 
I have done everything I can think of:

• deactivated the plugin through the WP interface
• deleted the plugin through the WP interface
• installed the plugin and changed the settings through the WP interface
• deactivated the plugin again through the WP interface
• deleted the plugin again through the WP interface
• ftp’d to the server and deleted from the plugins folder
• ftp’d to the server and search for and removed “what_would_seth_godin_do.php“
• I have even repeatedly emptied the cash
• I even deleted and reinstalled the cash plugin

Yet the WWSGD greeting still remains.

First time visiting Search Engine Optimizician? Make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed before you leave!

 
 
I have been emailing back and forth with Richard K Miller the author of this stubborn little plugin.

Richard has been very cooperative and helpful but yet Seth remains. I have no ill feelings for either WWSGD or Richard.

I would even recommend this plugin for WordPress beginners.

By default, new visitors to your blog will see a small box above each post containing the words “If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!” After 5 visits the message disappears. You can customize this message, its lifespan, and its location. The message can be excluded from Pages if desired.

I put out this post for some fresh ideas on how I might possibly be able to exorcize this sticky widget from the Search Engine Optimizician.

Any ideas?
I’m open to anything! Any seance experts out there?

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Seth Godin WordPress Plugin Exorcism is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

SEO and Google Caffeine

 
As I sat requiring liquid caffeine this morning I figured I would check out the Google Caffeine updates in the SEO world. So I googled “Google Caffeine”.

You will have to excuse me for a few minutes while I fix myself a cup of the real caffeine with my espresso machine…

While I was creating my 12 oz 4 shot americano with my 15 pump Krups espresso machine I was trying to come up with some sort of witty comparison with Google Caffeine. I couldn’t. The only comparison I could derive was that caffeine was supposed to speed you up, that’s probably why Google chose “Caffeine”.

Back to my Google search, I searched for using google caffeine for seo.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
I chose a some of the top results and…
 
 
Seth Weintraub
New Google Caffeine search engine reinvents SEO

The results are what makes Google so popular and will be the true test of how good this new engine is. In my tests, the new Google pulls significantly different results than the old Google. For what I was searching for (my name, people I knew, events, computer hardware) the results were significantly better. In fact, it looks like the search keywords have become much bigger a factor than before. I’m seeing smaller sites rise to the top more overall.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists are going to have to go on a whole new formula for getting their clients to the top…and who knows exactly how this new Google search algorithm works? SEO people are going to have to start nailing down the new rules to Pagerank to keep their customers on top.

 
 
John Andrews
Google Caffeine SEO Notes

There is some speculation that this will form a basis for the Google’s annual “screw the affiliates right around Thanksgiving, to have maximum impact on the holiday sales season” effort this year. If that’s true, I suppose it’s a good sign that Google finally recognizes the importance of such huge changes, and the need for more than a week or two of lead time. It also makes sense that Matt’s out front handling PR on this, since he has to face the webmasters at Pubcon in November.

I have yet to see any meaningful discussion of this new Google on the web, beyond basic observations on a few specific searches. But I’ll keep watching.

 
 
Aaron Wall
Google Caffeine

In the new infrastructure so far I think there is…

• an increased weighting on domain authority & some authoritative tag type pages ranking (like Technorati tag pages + Facebook tag pages), as well as pages on sites like Scribd ranking for some long tail queries based mostly on domain authority and sorta spammy on page text
• perhaps slightly more weight on exact match domain names
• perhaps a bit better understanding of related words / synonyms
• tuning down some of the exposure for video & some universal search results

The ROI on effective SEO campaigns is simply unbelievable, and Google is going to do everything in their power to diminish the ROI of algorithmically focused optimization efforts. As the cost of memory drops and the algorithms improve, the next couple years might separate the men from the boys in the SEO space. Those improvements will drive many SEO practitioners into parallel fields like niche publishing and public relations. 5 years ago was the perfect time to start building your empire. But starting today is far better than starting tomorrow.

 
 
Mark Rushworth
SEO for Google Caffeine Part 1

There’s lots of speculation that Google will rank faster serving pages higher (based on comments made by Matt Cutts who said something about users liking sites that load quicker).

Personally I don’t believe that this will be a massive factor in Caffeine as it penalises site owners with limited budgets who may not be able to afford a dedicated server on pier1 or rackspace hosting etc… this doesn’t mean that their content is any less valid.

 
 
Dave Cosper
New SEO Practices for a Google Caffeine World

The new approach catering to Caffeine appears to favor a more altruistic SEO model and rightfully so. Marketers will need to shift priority and think “relevance” rather than just links. Effectively deliver quality content – the high-level perspective is really that simple. Qualitative not quantitative, although if you can quantify quality you may be on to something. The old adage “build it and they will come” has more merit now than ever. I’m willing to bet most people already knew this was an important ranking factor, but what’s more interesting is how Google Caffeine is using brand new parameters to measure it.

To successfully adapt to the new blended search results we’re seeing out of Caffeine it’s going to be really important for SEO companies to push clients into the social realm. There are far too many opportunities to be missed with the advent of the Facebook “Like” feature and Twitter’s “Places of Interest”. I like these social links better than traditional links because they’re related to a specific user and open up all new gateways to social sharing and traffic.

 
 
Will Google Caffeine “Jolt” The SEO Community?

What may have seemed like a blatant attempt to pull a PR stunt on Starbucks with a code name “caffeine” inside the GooglePlex, is now poised to stir up the search engine result pages and the web as we know it.

It is logical to suspect that the “new caffeinated filters” will identify patterns of automation and parse and purge the existing index (like a process of refinement) by observing timestamps, IP ranges, semantic anchor text clusters and other unique signatures. Or on the contrary, will someone simply flip a switch and voila a new Google is unleashed?

 
 
 
Compare Google Caffeine

Welcome to our Google Comparison tool. Enter your query and we will return the results for both the new version of google and the existing version. The differnces between the two can be sublte as they essential run off a similar algorithm. By having the side by side you can see that there are some slight differences. If you have comments about this tool, please leave them on our New version of Google. This tool is based on a tool we previously did to compare google & bing. Please excuse the patchy design, but our focus was on the usability and doing something that worked !.

You can compare results from the old Google to the new Google Caffeine side by side.
 
 
Matt Cutts
More info on the Caffeine Update

I joked that the half-life of code at Google is about six months. That means that you can write some code and when you circle back around in six months, about half of that code has been replaced with better abstractions or cleaner infrastructure. Six months is an exaggeration, but Google is quite serious about scrutinizing our codebase regularly and rewriting the parts that don’t scale well to make them more robust, more elegant, or faster.

Matt has broken links in this post

So there you have it the “Google Caffeine” info from the SEO experts direct from Google search results.

I am sure there are more SEO experts who have posted on the subject but… hey they didn’t rank in the top SERPs.

As my coffee is finished so is this post on Google Caffeine.

I guess my tongue in cheek writing technique is at to high an altitude for some people.

It was pointed out that:

Sadly, only one of those quotes is from 2010, and that one is from May. The rest of the comments are all from 2009. This could be more informative if more recent information was used.

I thought it was obvious but guess I have to point out that I used Google (equipped with Caffeine) to search for “using google caffeine for seo”.

The quotes from above were gleaned from the top 10 listings. So where is the power from Google Caffeine? The results the new Google Caffeine search gave me information from May 2010 and 2009.

I have a suspicion that my regular readers picked up on the first go round.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Google Caffeine – The SEO Experts Speak is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Window Cleaning Portland, Portland Window Cleaning, Window Cleaning Portland OR, Too Many Variations!

If your Portland business specializes in window washing why would you want to rank for Portland window cleaning?

Even though your favorite keyword research tool tells you that there aren’t that many searches on “window cleaning your city”, is it worth your efforts ranking on it?

The results are quite interesting. I hadn’t thought of “Portland window cleaning” as being a short-tail search term but evidently it is. (Well sort of)

I have bolded the results below containing derivations of all three words used in my newly discovered short-tail search term “Portland window cleaning“. OK! So the real short-tail term is “window cleaning“.

I have also italicized the very closely related phrases containing “Portland” and/or surrounding areas. (Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

The Google research tool gives me the following keywords: (YesI I use Nichebot to access Google’s tool also.)

• professional window washing
• window cleaning
• residential window cleaning service
• residential window cleaning
• window cleaning pricing
• window washing
• gutter cleaning service
• residential window cleaning business
• window cleaning business
• window cleaning services
• window washing companies
• professional window cleaning services
• window washing cleaner
• hi rise window cleaning
• window washing service
• window cleaning companies
• window cleaning solution
• windows portland oregon
• high rise window cleaning
• window washing business
• portland window cleaner
• commercial window cleaning company
• commercial window cleaning service
• window cleaner portland
• commercial window cleaning
• window cleaners portland
• window cleaning portland or
• portland windows
• window washing residential window cleaning window
• window washing prices
• window cleaning portland
• window cleaning prices
• residential window cleaning prices
• windows cleaning prices
• commercial window cleaning prices
• portland window washer
• window cleaning price
• window cleaning cost
• portland gutter cleaning
• industrial window cleaning
• window washing portland oregon
• domestic window cleaning
• window cleaners portland oregon
• window cleaning portland oregon
• window cleaning rates
• window cleaning websites
• window cleaning vancouver wa
• beaverton window cleaning
• window cleaning quotes
• home window cleaning equipment
• total window cleaning

Yes they are listed in order of search popularity.

Back to the question “If your Portland business specializes in window washing why would you want to rank for Portland window cleaning?”

It appears as though there are enough derivations of “Portland window cleaning” to make it worth your time. There are nine bolded phrases in the list above and many italicized ones. The most searched phrase that contains relates to “Portland window cleaning” is “Portland window cleaner“.

You would want to rank for “Portland window cleaner” but “Portland window cleaning” would still be a worth while phrase.

To shorten it up I would say YES you would want to want to spend the effort to rank for “Portland window cleaning“.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Portland Window Cleaning: Simple Strategies for Washing Your Keyword List is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

The New SEOmoz Guarana Tool is Slated to Blow the Doors off of Google’s Caffeine

Let’s compare caffeine and guarana. What are their definitions and their synonyms?

Once we compare their definitions and their synonyms we can continue on to discuss their functions.

Guarana

Guarana (pronounced /ˌɡwɑrəˈnɑː/, from the Portuguese guaraná, Paullinia cupana (syn. P. crysan, P. sorbilis) is a climbing plant in the maple family, Sapindaceae, native to the Amazon basin and especially common in Brazil. Guarana features large leaves and clusters of flowers, and is best known for its fruit, which is about the size of a coffee bean. As a dietary supplement, guarana is an effective energy booster: it contains about twice the caffeine found in coffee beans (about 2–4.5% caffeine in guarana seeds compared to 1–2% for coffee beans).

Guarana is a native species of South America and has stimulating properties when taken by mouth. Guarana is also used to enhance athletic performance and to reduce fatigue.

The active ingredient in guarana was formerly called guaranine (tetramethylxanthine), but was later found to be caffeine. Guarana has one of the highest caffeine contents of all plants (up to 7%), and has been used by manufacturers for its caffeine content (e.g., Dark Dog Lemon®, Guts®, and Josta®).

Guarana Synonyms:

guarana

• Brazilian cocoa
• caffeina
• caffeine-tannin complex
• Dark Dog Lemon®
• elixir of youth
• gift of the gods
• Go Gum®
• guarana bread
• guarana gum
• guarana paste
• Guarana Rush®
• guarana seed paste
• guaranin
• guaranine
• Guts®
• Happy Motion®
• Josta®
• mysterious Puelverchen
• pasta guarana
• Paullinia
• Paullinia cupana
• Paullinia sorbilis
• Sapindaceae (family)
• Superguarana
• tetramethylxanthine
• Uabano
• Uaranzeiro
• Zoom®

Caffeine

Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that is a psychoactive stimulant drug. Caffeine was discovered by a German chemist, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge, in 1819. He coined the term kaffein, a chemical compound in coffee (the German word for which is Kaffee), which in English became caffeine (and changed to Koffein in German).

Caffeine is found in many plant species, where it acts as a natural pesticide, with high caffeine levels being observed in seedlings that are still developing foliage, but are lacking mechanical protection; Caffeine paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding upon the plant. High caffeine levels have also been found in the surrounding soil of coffee bean seedlings. Therefore, it is understood that caffeine has a natural function as both a natural pesticide and an inhibitor of seed germination of other nearby coffee seedlings, thus giving it a better chance of survival.

Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the beans, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants. It is most commonly consumed by humans in infusions extracted from the bean of the coffee plant and the leaves of the tea bush, as well as from various foods and drinks containing products derived from the kola nut.

Caffeine Synonyms:

caffeine

• battery acid
• brew
• café
• café au lait
• café noir
• cappuccino
• decaf
• decoction
• demitasse
• espresso
• forty weight
• hot stuff
• ink
• jamocha
• java
• joe
• mocha
• mud
• perk
• varnish remover

Google Caffeine

Caffeine is just a revamp of Google’s indexing infrastructure.

• Content is available to searchers more quickly
• Caffeine has resulted in a 50 percent fresher index
• Google’s storage capacity has greatly increased
• Caffeine is intended to help Google better evolve as the web does
• Google’s flexibility in storing information about documents has greatly increased
• The Caffeine infrastructure provides more flexibility in the type of details that can be stored with a document

How can content owners best take advantage of the new infrastructure?

Content owners will reap the benefits of Caffeine without doing anything at all.

Google has said that that Caffeine change doesn’t make any of the crawling, indexing, or ranking factors more or less important than before. It simply makes crawled content available in search results more quickly before and paves the way for added flexibility in taking advantage of the whatever may come as the web evolves.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

SEOmoz Guarana

Not only is SEOmoz Guarana a revamp of the SEOmoz’s indexing infrastructure it also has many uses geared toward the individual user.

• Content will be available to searchers more quickly
• Guarana will result in a 70 percent fresher index
• SEOmoz’s storage capacity will be greatly increased
• Guarana is intended to help SEOmoz better evolve as the web does
• Guarana is open to the evolution of it’s users also
• SEOmoz’s flexibility in storing information about documents will be greatly increased
• The Guarana infrastructure provides more flexibility in the type of details that can be stored with a document
• With Guarana the individual user will be able to attach specific search variables to their saved quires and information

How can SEOs best take advantage of the new SEOmoz Guarana?

SEOs will be able to reap the benefits of Guarana by attaching search and ranking variables to this new incredible tool.

SEOmoz has iterated that that Guarana won’t change any of the crawling, indexing, or ranking factors for the mozRank. It simply makes crawled content attachable to your informational search results more quickly than ever before and sets the stage to increase your SERPs like nothing ever has past or present.

Way to go SEOmoz keep the SEO tools coming.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

SEOmoz Guarana VS Google Caffeine is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

AdWords Help Pages are Banned by Google for Cloaking

On July 1st Vanessa Fox published a post on Search Engine Land about Google breaking its own rules.

It appears even Google can’t follow their own rules.

Search for [google adwords help] or [adwords help] this morning on Google and the AdWords help center is nowhere to be found. Search for the URL itself, and it doesn’t appear to be in the index.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

Even Google finds it impossible to follow their own rules

According to Barry Schwartz this goes well beyond just the AdWords Help area, it appears this is how Google’s help sections work site wide.

When asked about these violations a spokesperson from Google said:

I can confirm that some Google support pages were inadvertently showing different content to the Google crawler than to users. This error has since been fixed. We will investigate how this happened and make sure that we take appropriate action.

Google eagerly admitted that those who work on Google products don’t have any special knowledge of search. The recent SEO report card they issued on Google products proves this. Google products have been found to be violating the webmaster guidelines in the past.

The Google support pages were banned in 2005 for cloaking. Early 2009, Google Japan was discovered buying links for PageRank, and swift action was taken by Google once again.

Google responded as soon as they were alerted to the infraction.

What can we learn from this?

• Don’t show search engines different content than you show users
• Make sure you don’t serve different content to search engines
• Don’t look to Google products as the shining examples of what to do for SEO
• Just because those teams work at Google, doesn’t mean they’re search experts

Read the full article at Search Engine Land.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Google Bans Google for Cloaking is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Are Keywords different for PPC and Organic Search? Why you want to rank organically on a word you wont pay for?

Is there a really a valid reason for trying to rank on a keyword or keyword phrase organically that you wouldn’t be willing to pay for in your pay-per-click campaign?

Let’s examine the examples from the “Century 21 Real Estate Presentation Post“.

Let’s take a look into the following keyword phrases:

• real estate
• Portland homes for sale
• Portland house for sale
• 3 bedroom house for sale in north Portland

Usually it is not a good idea to bid on keywords or keyword phrases for pay-per-click unless they will convert to sales. The more general keywords are usually reserved for your organic strategies.

Your short-tail keywords, “real estate” for example are so top level, even though they have a possibility of converting down the line they just don’t make sense to pay for click-throughs. Your long-tail keywords, “3 bedroom house for sale in north Portland” for example, are ripe for conversion and therefore perfect for pay-per-click.

This doesn’t mean that you will want to ignore these same conversion long-tail keywords for your organic campaign.

Once again using my favorite keyword research tool I have compiled some numbers for the four keywords listed above.

Competition = The number of sites listed with the matching phrase.

Predicted daily count = The number of times the exact phrase is entered into all the search engines.

KEI = Keyword Effectiveness Index. The larger the number the easer it is to rank for the keyword or keyword phrase.(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

Real Estate

Google returns 1,700,000,000 results.

• Competition – 536,000,000
• Predicted daily count – 14,727
• KEI – 0.19

Portland Homes for Sale

Google returns 8,080,000 results.

• Competition – 50,100
• Predicted daily count – 0
• KEI – 0.0

Better keyword phrase: “homes for sale portland oregon”
Google returns 14,900,000 results.

• Competition – 25,100
• Predicted daily count – 14
• KEI – 0.0

Portland House for Sale

Google returns 8,510,000 results.

• Competition – 8,200
• Predicted daily count – 0
• KEI – 0.0

Better keyword phrase: “houses for sale in portland oregon”
Google returns 6,630,000 results.

• Competition – 13
• Predicted daily count – 10
• KEI – 3.77

3 Bedroom House for Sale in North Portland

Google returns 265,000 results.

• Competition – 1
• Predicted daily count – 0
• KEI – 0.0

Keyword Wrap-Up

So there you have the long and short of keywords and their tails. Just because the results don’t show any searches are being made on a particular keyword or keyword phrase that doesn’t mean there are actually none. These tools are bulk tools and require a fair amount of data before the results are exposed. The 0 search counts are an average over a year divided by 365. One search a week would still show up as “0″ searches.

Guess who is the “1″ competition?

To answer my original question “Is there a really a valid reason for trying to rank on a keyword or keyword phrase organically that you wouldn’t be willing to pay for in your pay-per-click campaign?” my answer is an emphatic yes! As a business professional I understand the value of keeping the funnel full. What a great way to keep potential clients entering the funnel. Just make sure they are introduced to you early in their purchase process with your rankings on your top level or short-tail keywords.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Century 21 Real Estate Presentation Keywords Part Deux is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

What is search? & Why is search important to your real estate business?

What % of Real Estate purchases begin on line?

Google tells us that 80 to 90 % of all real estate searches start online, at either a computer or on a mobile device. Today buyers pull up page after page of homes, compare assets, price per square foot, every detail.

Buyers have even bought homes straight off the Internet, without ever visiting them in person.

Real Estate Shopping Online

Along with the advantages of real estate shopping online comes the risk of being taken in. And as web driven real estate marketing becomes more competitive and sophisticated, it seems likely the risk could increase.

Internet Savvy Real Estate Agents

Internet savvy real estate agents produce websites, create blogs, post to bulletin boards, engage in social networking, and learn just about every way they can to make themselves visible across the internet. Many of them also spend large amounts of money buying keywords and other tools that push them to the top of Google searches so that, for example, when you type in “Portland homes for sale,” their website’s are among the top few in the SERPs (search engine results page).

Pay-per-click campaigns can cost a real estate agent up to $2.00 or more per visitor, and not all of those are solid leads or in other words buying customers. Some agents feel it’s like throwing money away, but they need to market themselves in the world of web driven real estate. Since PPC is where each through is paid for by a bidding process, the more money the agent spends, the better their positioning. Often the search results end up with the largest, wealthiest brokerages getting the best rankings. You know, those brokers who get half of that 3 percent commission.

The Long and the Short of It All

Real estate agents are throwing money at the short-tail keywords. Short-tail keywords are the words that are more general and therefore closer to the beginning of the buying cycle. Statistics show that 60 percent to 80 percent of Google real estate searches are those long-tailed phrases. Long-tail keywords are those that are more specific and therefore closer to the end of the buying cycle.

When biding on keywords for paid search most real estate agents are focusing money on the short-tail keywords and in that case, throwing their money away.

Long-tail searches have a multiplier effect on your web listings. Thousands of pages of data are created from listings. Every listing that matches one criteria in a short-tailed search will spread out over the web to feed the longer-tailed searches. Not only will the long-tail search terms be more relevant but, the short-tail phrases like “Portland house for sale”, are hoarded by the big brokers. Long-tail phrases like “3 bedroom house for sale in north Portland” will cost realty agents considerably less, even as low as $.10 per visitor. Those leads will be directed toward a more-targeted audience, focused buyers who are further along in the buying cycle.

Research shows that over 70 percent of real estate searches are coming from long-tailed keywords, like “gated 3 bedroom home for sale in north Portland Oregon,” and these same long-tailed keywords are converting into better quality leads for the agents.

This can also help the real estate consumer by providing a faster search with more relevant data.

This could also ultimately lead to cost savings. Brokers know their days without a real online presence are numbered. The virtual brokerage is becoming reality. As consumers demand commission concessions from their agents, someone is going to get squeezed and it will most likely be the broker.

What are keywords?

Keywords are the search terms and/or groups of terms searchers are actually placing in the search box on the search engine page.

How to find out what search terms or phrases people are using to find …

There are plenty of free tools available out there to help with your research.

My favorite keyword research tool is Nichebot. This tool saves me lots of time and hassle when I need research keywords. You can even get a 2 week free trial for only a buck!

For more information on organic keyword research check out one of my earlier posts “Using Keyword Research for Better Results in the Search Engines“.

The above article deals mainly with keyword advertising. This is where you bid per click on individual keyword and keyword phrases.

You can also rank organically for keywords. This is where SEO enters the picture.

The big difference here is that PPC pay-per-click advertising costs money every time someone visits your site from the search results. Organic is the search listings in the search engines where you don’t pay for visits from the search engines.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

This presentation is earmarked for:
Century 21 Peninsula Realty
6110 North Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203-4122

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Century 21 Real Estate Presentation Post is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

SEO for SEOs, Advanced Analytics, Google’s Caffeine release and SEOmoz Rumors in Seattle

Once again the cream of the SEO crop got together at Seattle’s Bell Harbor International Conference Center. This is always a great venue and this year’s version wasn’t disappointing.

There were plenty of interesting presentations, visitors, guests, and rumors to keep the days and evenings entertaining.

The Bell Harbor International Conference Center sits right on the water with-in walking distance to a plethora of food and visual delights.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
Danny Sullivan interviewed Matt Cutts about Google’s release of Caffeine. Typical of any Matt and Danny Show they joked around and had a great time. Here is the YouTube video of the interview.

The most interesting rumor I heard at this year’s conference was that SEOmoz was planning a new tool. This tool is code-named “Guarana”. (Hey that sounds much cooler than “Longhorn” doesn’t it?) This new tool is rumored to be much more potent than Google’s “Caffeine”. I can’t wait for the release of this new powerful tool.

(logo courtesy of undisclosed source)

One of the more interesting topics that came to my attention this week was the depth of detail in the “NEW” analytics. The San Diego based company, Covario, touted that you can actually track your social, print, and web all together along with their relationships, all from one dashboard. Analytics are no longer just something to only track your website traffic.

Stay tuned for more insights about SMX Advanced in the days to come.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Top Level SEO The Subject at SMX Advanced Seattle is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Submitting Your Website to Directories with OneWaySEOLinks

Easily Increase Your Link Popularity, Google PageRank, Website Traffic And Profits. Hey, doesn’t everyone with a website want to do that?

I figured I’d join and check it out and report my finding back to you.

Our database lists OVER 400 of the TOP directories that accept one-way link submissions…

These websites start at PageRank 0 and go all the way up to PageRank 9!

There is absolutely NO charge for this service and you can use it in on as many websites as you like.

Does this sound too good to be true to you?
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
Signing up was simple and easy enough. The usability and functionality of the website was another story all together.

Adding projects was simple and straight forward. Submitting them was another story all together.

Some of the time when I tried to access their directories clicking on the “directories” link the site tried to download a .php page.

Other times when I tried to access their directories I got a database error.

When it did actually work it took 2 minutes to open the page.

I have a fast internet connection.
Here is proof from speakeasy.net/speedtest.

When I arrived at the directories page I was pleasantly surprised.
They had a clean looking interface that appeared to be very usable.

On with the experience.

They say “Easily Increase Your Link Popularity, Google PageRank, Website Traffic And Profits Starting Today… Without Spending A Penny!”.

When I clicked on the directory they have listed second there was money required and even a reciprocal link if you wanted the best price.

The first directory in their listings was another story.

I chose a category. I then clicked on the submit URL link and…

I got a 404 error.

I think there are easier ways to submit to directories and keep track of the submissions.

You can always build your own spreadsheet to track your directory submissions. There are also many sources for directories on the web.

I have even written a post on submitting to directories and how to find the most relevant ones.

So as far as OneWaySEOLinks goes…

Thank you for joining OneWaySEOLinks.com!

One of the best ways to achieve high rankings in the search engines is through link building. You absolutely must have numerous quality links to your site or you will never be found in the organic searches. Most webmasters don’t have a linking strategy, yet they wonder why their site lacks traffic and sales. Our goal is to help you easily gain hundreds of quality links to your site, without costing you a dime! Enjoy.

To get started, simply click Add Project. Enter a Title (eg. your site name) and URL. Then click Submit. Now click Directories and choose your Project from the drop-down menu to load all of the Directories (over 275!). Next you want to click on a Directory (the site will open in a new window) and manually submit your site. After you finish submitting your site, click Mark As Submitted. Enter your Anchor Text (eg. the title used in directory submission) and click Submit.

You can also gain access to 200 PageRank 4 – PageRank 9 High PR Directories by referring just 3 people to this site. Click Profile to access your Affiliate Link. You can view your Referral stats at any time by clicking Referrals.

Thanks for helping spreading the word about OneWaySEOLinks.com.

Happy link building!

Jeff Alderson

I am not able to access the PR 4 to PR9 directories but if they are anything like the other list of directories they are not worth my time.

If I can get 3 people to sign up I will have access to those directories and I will report on it at that time.

While I am not recommending OneWaySEOLinks at this time I might sometime in the future if they actually get the project up and running on all cylinders.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

OneWay SEO Links – Directory Submissions Made Easy? is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Local Weather, Local News, Google Local, Local Search, is Local Search Taking it’s Place in the Local Arena

A study from the end of 2009 gives us a realistic view of local search and it’s effect on business.

In this study surveys were taken by actual online users of local business search platforms. This survey sample was based on the comScore proprietary panel of two million online consumers. These particular survey results were based on 4,000 completed responses.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

And the Survey says:

• print media is declining
  41% of local business searchers spend the vast majority of their time searching for local businesses online instead of offline
• Yellow Pages usage down 3%
  Internet Yellow Pages are experiencing significant growth
• Google has developed applications that have overtaken online business directories
  local searches have grown 40% – 51% over 2008, attributed mostly to Google Maps
• mobile search continues to experience growth
  more consumers have access to mobile devices with Internet browsers and applications
• As youth and seniors continue to age search will be affected
  41% of youth, ages 18 to 24, utilize search engines for business information while 49% of searchers 65 years old or more rely on print
• search engines comprise a significant portion of search traffic for local business information

LOCAL SEARCH STUDY SUMMARY
Since 2007, the trend across all searches is that more users are searching for personal reasons, less for business purposes. This creates a need for companies to develop positive user experiences and relevant business information across all search platforms, so consumers can develop good impressions about your brand and make informed purchase decisions. Whether your consumers are engaging in mobile, online or print searches, search satisfaction remains relatively high. Survey respondents were the most satisfied with online searches, followed by searching for local businesses on their cell phones. When dissatisfied, a majority of consumers blamed content: not being able to find what they were looking for or a lack of product/service information.

While the Internet is the most satisfactory source of local business information among consumers, traditional media and burgeoning mobile solutions hold relevance in today’s search landscape, demonstrating the need for businesses to integrate cross-platform strategies. Based on our findings, companies should allocate marketing dollars to the distribution of different media channels because consumers today use a variety of sources for local business information, sometimes several sources for single purchase decisions. As both innovative and traditional sources continue competing for consumer search traffic, businesses need to focus on developing a complete search presence. The idea is to diversify your search marketing to help consumers find you, regardless of how they’re searching.

So what does all this mean?

An exclusive search marketing position is probably not the best stance to take. You need a complete marketing strategy. You should include a complete package, a diverse mix of media sources for local business information that includes mobile platforms and a strong mix of social media.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Local Weather, Local News, Google Local, Local Search is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

SEO for Firefox – SEO Tools of the Trade for Firefox Web Browsers

Next in the Firefox Browser plugin “Tools of the Trade” series is SEO for Firefox. SEO for Firefox is a great plugin that will allow you to see where a site is standing when it comes to visibility.

SEO for Firefox gives you a quick overview of just how visible a website is on the internet. It looks at Google, Yahoo, important directories, and social media.

I like to just be able to glance at something and see if it is worth doing or not. Over time in the SEO game you sorta learn a feel for estimating keywords and markets, but it is helpful to have a few additional data points, especially if you are new to the market.

This tool was designed to add more data to Google and Yahoo! to make it easier to evaluate the value and competitive nature of a market. SEO for Firefox pulls in many useful marketing data points to make it easy get a more holistic view of the competitive landscape of a market right from the search results. In addition to pulling in useful marketing data this tool also provides links to the data sources so you can dig deeper into the data.

SEO for Firefox is another one of the offerings from Aaron Wall at SEOBook.com that we have covered in this Firefox Plugin series.

The main tool in the SEO for Firefox plugin is the “Site Information” window.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
This window is launched either by right clicking and choosing SEO for Firefox > Lookup This Page or by using the Firefox toolbar Tools > SEO for Firefox > Lookup Tool.

The information available in the Lookup Tool is:

• PageRank
• Google Cashe Date
• Traffic Value
• Age
• del.icio.us
• del.icio.us Page Bookmarks
• Diggs
• Diggs Popular Stories
• Stumbleupon
• Twitter
• Yahoo! Links
• Yahoo! .edu Links
• Yahoo! .gov Links
• Yahoo! Page Links
• Yahoo! .edu Page Links
• Technorati
• Alexa
• Compete.com Rank
• Compete.com Uniques
• Cashed
• dmoz
• Bloglines
• Page blog links
• wikwpedia
• dir.yahoo.com
• Btow

By double-clicking on the service you open the page associated with that particular information comes from.

The SEO XRay function in SEO for Firefox will also give us some useful information.

It is launched by right clicking and choosing SEO for Firefox > SEO XRay or by using the Firefox toolbar Tools > SEO for Firefox > SEO XRay.

SEO XRay will give you access to the following information from the page:

• Heading tags
• Keyword Density
• Title
• META description
• META keywords
• External links
• Internal links

The Keyword density information is simple and easy to read.

The External links and Internal links can be exported in .csv format.

As you can see you get the URL information as well as the anchor text and whether the link is internal of external.

Can you think of any uses for this csv export?

Here is a short video on SEO for Firefox.

I find SEO for Firefox very useful all the time.

I can get some insight into a potential client’s website or even get up to date information on a current client’s website quickly and easily. I also use the Google Cashe Date information daily. I find being able to find out when Google last cashed a site very valuable information.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Firefox Web Browsers, SEO Tools of the Trade for SEO Information is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Rank Checker – SEO Tools of the Trade for Firefox Web Browsers

Next in the Firefox Browser plugin “Tools of the Trade” series is Rank Checker. Rank Checker is a nice little plugin that will allow you to check your search ranking in Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Rank Checker gives you the power to track your search engine ranking for multiple keywords at the click of a button.

I like being able to check my rankings real quickly without worrying that some SEO company is aggregating my data and/or spying on me. This tool is open source and hosted on your computer – designed with privacy in mind.

Looking at the rankings of a couple of your sites that you know intimately well and tracking how they change over time allows you to

• learn how to read the search results
• appreciate and understand general algorithmic trends
• be one of the first people to know when the relevancy algorithms change in a major way

Rank Checker is just one of the offerings from Aaron Wall at SEOBook.com that we will be covering in this Firefox Plugin series.

Even though Rank Checker is limited by only covering the 3 major search engines I still find it very useful.

You can actually add multiple keywords with a pop-up menu.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

I will use this Firefox Plugin when checking the keywords for a potential client. Many website owners actually have no idea how they rank for their chosen keywords on the big 3.

Rank Checker returns nice orderly results which can be saved, exported as a csv file, and scheduled for consistent tracking.

I don’t use the scheduling feature. It is nice that Aaron has added tracking over time.

Here is a short video on Rank Checker.

I do find Rank Checker useful. Rank Checker isn’t my only search engine rank checking/tracking tool in my SEO arsenal but, that’s just ammunition for a post at another time.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Firefox Web Browsers, SEO Tools of the Trade for Search Engine Ranking is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How to Create Your Own Facebook Fan Page Step by Step

We are going to go through the steps to create a Facebook Fan Page.

The first thing you are going to need is a Facebook account. If you don’t have one yet you will need to sign up for one first.

Now that you have signed up… Just sign in and…

According to the Facebook Overview

A Facebook Page is a customizable presence for an organization, product, or public personality to join the conversation with Facebook users. The Page focuses on the stream of content posted by the Page administrators.

By leveraging the real connections between friends on Facebook, a Page lets Fans become brand advocates. Posts by the Page will start to appear in News Feed, giving Pages a stronger voice to reach their Fans.

In addition, Pages now have the flexibility of multiple customizable tabs previously exclusive to user profiles.

What you will need before you begin:

• A Fan Page Profile Picture
• A Name for your Fan Page
• Some Engaging Information for your Fan Page

Profile Picture
Profile pictures on Facebook and Facebook Fan Pages can have a maximum size of 200×600 pixels. Facebook Pages do not allow background images like Twitter, Myspace, and other social media sites. You can take advantage of the full 200×600 allotted space to get your brand in front of your fans.

Name your Page
The name you give your Page is permanent, so make sure it’s the one your fans and customers will recognize and that it is one you are willing to live with.

Useful and engaging
You will need some info that will turn your Facebook fans into paying customers, and vice versa. Restaurants and bars can use detailed info like addresses and store hours. Bands can use songs and videos. Photos of what you are offering and hyperlinks to independent reviews will work well. Get what you’ve got, you can always add more later.

Now it’s time to get started.

Step 1: Pick a category and name.
This is probably your most important part of creating a Facebook Fan Page. Once you have chosen your category and name you will not be able to change either one of them. Choose carefully and wisely. Using your company name is not a bad idea.

Click “Create Page.”

Once you have chosen your category and name you will get a chance to link your Fan Page updates to your twitter account. This is not a bad idea. It will automatically post your Fan Page updates without any extra work on your part.

Step 2: Add a profile picture
Click “upload a picture” near the top and upload the graphic or photo that best represents your product. Make sure that your brand is clear even as a “thumbnail.”

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
Next you will want to Install the Static FBML App and Add a Custom Tab.

Do a search for “static FBML” on Facebook (or just click this link), and click “Add to my Page” in the upper-left. A dialog pop-over will appear with a list of Pages you administer. Select the Page you want to customize by clicking the “Add to Page” button next to the Page, and when you click the button it will disappear from the list. Now click “Close”.

If you go view your Page now, you’ll notice when you click the “>>” tab there is now an “FBML” option in the drop-down. If you click on it, that tab appears in the list of tabs at the top, and you can drag it around. You’ll notice the tab is completely blank. You can now add some content to it.

To add content, click on “Edit Page” again on the left below your Page image. Go to the “FBML” subsection again, but this time click the “Edit” link. Now you’ll be taken to a very simple form with a “Box Title” field and an “FBML” field. This is your Canvas.

You can change the title of the tab. By default this tab gets called “FBML” when you add it. You’ll probably want to change the title of the tab depending on your purpose!

Now enter enter some content. The “FBML” field will take most basic HTML. You don’t need to include any , , or tags, as the HTML you enter will only take the place of that whitespace you just saw. All the header stuff is taken care of for you. Play with it and see what you can do.

(FMBL information courtesy of post by Jesse Stay, founder & CEO SocialToo.com)

Step 3: Add information
Click “Add information to this Page” underneath the profile picture and enter your basic and detailed information. The fields available will depend on your Page type. The more details you add the more successful you will be.

Step 4: Make it rich and engaging
Just like your user profile, Pages have multiple tabs. The default tabs are a Wall tab, an Info tab, and a Boxes tab for application modules. You can devote entire tabs to several Facebook applications, like Photos, Reviews, and Discussion Board.

Step 5: Publish
Click the “publish this Page” link to share your Page the with world.

Step 6: Update Regularly
Updating your Page regularly with fresh photos, upcoming events, and the latest promotions means your Page will not only look like a profile, it will feel like one, and that will keep your fans returning.

Step 7: Stir and Repeat (Repeat Step 6)
You can also send some or all of your fans messages by clicking “Send an Update to Fans” in the upper-left of your Page (under the profile picture).

There you go step by step instructions to create a Facebook Fan Page.

Become a fan of Search Engine Optimization Portland.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Facebook Fan Page – Step by Step is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Now the URL SEOGaryPool.com is Being Used by a Guy Who Says His Name is Gary

My searching has shown up another impostor. I am and have been SEO Gary Pool.

I am now changing the focus on my identity to Gary Pool SEO.

The new perpetrator is not claming to be SEO Gary Pool even though his URL is SEOGaryPool.com. Instead he is stating. “Hi everyone, my name is Gary and SEO is on my mind day and night.”
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

This Gary is hiding his identity in his “who is” listing.

SEOGaryPool.com is hosted by Bluehost Inc.
1958 South 950 East
Provo, UT 84606

SEOGaryPool.com has a Google PageRank of “0″ and an Alexa Rank of “23,528,380″ as of today.

Maybe we will revisit this later.

I am still SEO Gary Pool,
Late,
Gary Pool SEO

Yet Another SEO Gary Pool in the Digital World – Well Not Quite! is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

"SEO Gary Pool" is being used by The Flux SEO from Pakistan to Commit Fraud

During a recent search on my identity "SEO Gary Pool" I noticed another site I had never heard of was ranking on my identity "SEO Gary Pool".

I was shocked at the results of the search. In addition to the usual expected results there was a new player in the field using SEO Gary Pool. This new player was from Pakistan.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
The usual results were:

• SEO Blog : Internet Marketing : Search Engine Optimizician
  searchengineoptimizationportland.com/blog
• SEO Gary Pool | Search Engine Optimization Specialist | Search …
  searchengineoptimizationportland.com/seopdx/gary-pool.html
• Gary Pool – LinkedIn
  linkedin.com/in/garypool
• Search Engine Optimizician -Digital Strategist – Gary Pool SEO …
  blogcatalog.com/blogs/search-engine-optimizician-digital-strategist-gary-pool-seo.html

Here is the interesting result:

• SEO Services | FLUX SEO Pakistan | SEO Gary Pool
  seo.thefluxinc.com

Of course I had to investigate.

It turns out they are using my name as though I actually worked for them.

They are using statements such as:

“Another fact which makes the FLUX affable is the affordable SEO gary pool services.”

“The FLUX Inc. is the SEO gary pool company which takes the trust of its customers by providing its all details online.”

The server for the site is located in Houston, Texas but the URL is owned by a person in Pakistan.

The FLUX Inc
Umar Jamil
Fareed Colony, Street # 1
House # 1, Narwala Road
Faisalabad
Punjab,38000
PK
Tel. +92.3006625619

There are even ads on the site for viagra, cialis, and levitra.
If you were in my shoes what would you do?

Late,
Gary Pool

"SEO Gary Pool" is Victim of Fraud by The Flux in Pakistan is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

SEO, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Strategies Glossary for This Technology

While reading the January issue of SES I ran across a glossary I would like share with my readers.

I am constantly getting questions from my clients and other SEOs about the definition for terms that I use with them on a daily basis. Some times even though I know the definition of these terms I have trouble conveying these definitions to them.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
This glossary list from the SES magazine should help with the consistent transfer of this information.

advertising network: A service where ads are bought centrally through one company, and displayed on multiple websites that contract with that company for a share of revenue generated by ads served on their site.

algorithm: The technology that a search engine uses to deliver results to a query. Search engines utilize several algorithms in tandem to deliver a page of search results or keyword-targeted search ads.

anchor text: The clickable text part of a hyperlink. The text usually gives visitors or search engines important information on what the page being linked to is about.

click through rate (CTR): The rate (expressed in a percentage) at which users click on an ad. This is calculated by dividing the total number of clicks by the total number of ad impressions. CTR is an important metric for Internet marketers to measure the performance of an ad campaign.

content network: A group of websites that agree to show ads on their site, served by an ad network, in exchange for a share of the revenue generated by those ads. Examples include Google AdSense or the Yahoo Publisher Network.

contextual advertising: Advertising that is targeted to a web page based on the page’s content, keywords, or category. Ads in most content networks are targeted contextually.

cost per action (CPA): A form of advertising where payment is dependent upon an action that a user performs as a result of the ad. The action could be making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or asking for a follow-up call. An advertiser pays a set fee to the publisher based on the number of visitors who take action. Many affiliate programs use the CPA model.

cost per click (CPC): Also called pay-per-click (PPC). A performance-based advertising model where the advertiser pays a set fee for every click on an ad. The majority of text ads sold by search engines are billed under the CPC model.

cost per thousand (CPM): An ad model that charges advertisers every time an ad is displayed to a user, whether the user clicks on the ad or not. The fee is based on every 1,000 ad impressions (M is the Roman numeral for 1,000). Most display ads, such as banner ads, are sold by CPM.

geo-targeting: Delivery of ads specific to the geographic location of the searcher. Geo-targeting allows the advertiser to specify where ads will or won’t be shown based on the searcher’s location, enabling more localized and personalized results.

Googlebot: Google uses several user-agents to crawl and index content in the Google.com search engine. Googlebot describes all Google spiders. All Google bots begin with “Googlebot”; for example,

Googlebot-Mobile: crawls pages for Google’s mobile index; Googlebot-Image: crawls pages for Google’s image index.

inbound link: An inbound link is a hyperlink to a particular web page from an outside site, bringing traffic to that web page. Inbound links are an important element that most search engine algorithms use to measure the popularity of a web page.

invisible web: A term that refers to the vast amount of information on the web that isn’t indexed by search engines. Coined in 1994 by Dr. Jill Ellsworth.

keyword: A word or phrase entered into a search engine in an effort to get the search engine to return matching and relevant results. Many websites offer advertising targeted by keywords, so an ad will only show when a specific keyword is entered.

link bait: Editorial content, often sensational in nature, posted on a web page and submitted to social media sites in hopes of building inbound links from other sites. Or, as Matt Cutts of Google says, “something interesting enough to catch people’s attention.”

link building: The process of getting quality websites to link to your websites, in order to improve search engine rankings. Link building techniques can include buying links, reciprocal linking, or entering barter arrangements.

meta tags: Information placed in the HTML header of a web page, providing information that is not visible to browsers, but can be used in varying degrees by search engines to index a page. Common meta tags used in search engine marketing are title, description, and keyword tags.

pay-per-click (PPC): See cost per click (CPC).

quality score: A score assigned by search engines that is calculated by measuring an ad’s clickthrough rate, analyzing the relevance of the landing page, and considering other factors used to determine the quality of a site and reward those of higher quality with top placement and lower bid requirements. Some factors that make up a quality score are historical keyword performance, the quality of an ad’s landing page, and other undisclosed attributes. All of the major search engines now use some form of quality score in their search ad algorithm.

return on investment (ROI): The amount of money an advertiser earns from their ads compared to the amount of money the advertiser spends on their ads.

search advertising: Also called paid search. An advertiser bids for the chance to have their ad display when a user searches for a given keyword. These are usually text ads, which are displayed above or to the right of the algorithmic (organic) search results. Most search ads are sold by the PPC model, where the advertiser pays only when the user clicks on the ad or text link.

search engine marketing (SEM): The process of building and marketing a site with the goal of improving its position in search engine results. SEM includes both search engine optimization (SEO) and search advertising, or paid search.

search engine optimization (SEO): The process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. SEO includes technical tasks to make it easier for search engines to find and index a site for the appropriate keywords, as well as marketing-focused tasks to make a site more appealing to users. Successful search marketing helps a site gain top positioning for relevant words and phrases.

search engine results pages (SERPs): The page searchers see after they’ve entered their query into the search box. This page lists several web pages related to the searcher’s query, sorted by relevance. Increasingly, search engines are returning blended search results, which include images, videos, and results from specialty databases on their SERPs.

social media: A category of sites based on user participation and user-generated content. They include social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Del. icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are centered on user interaction.

spider: A search engine spider is a program that crawls the web, visiting web pages to collect information to add to or update a search engine’s index. The major search engines on the web all have such a program, which is also known as a “crawler” or a “bot.”

title tag: An HTML meta tag with text describing a specific web page. The title tag should contain strategic keywords for the page, since many search engines pay special attention to the title text when indexing pages. The title tag should also make sense to humans, since it is usually the text link to the page displayed in search engine results.

universal search: Also known as blended, or federated search results, universal search pulls data from multiple databases to display on the same page. Results can include images, videos, and results from specialty databases like maps and local information, product information, or news stories.

web 2.0: A term that refers to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services. These usually include tools that let people collaborate and share information online, such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and
folksonomies.

I have also created a downloadable PDF of the SEO terms glossary for you to print and keep handy.

Are you going to SES New York this March?

Search Engine Strategies puts on great, very informative events. I have procured a 15% discount for you if you are interested.

I would also like to thank SES for the fine glossary.

Late,
Gary Pool

SEO – Internet Marketing – SEM – Technology Definitions is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician