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March 30, 2005

SEO, an ongoing process.

One of the complaints I frequently see is the mournful cry of "But I haven't changed anything on my site so why am I losing ranking?" This attitude, and the immediate assumption that a penalty, filter or algorithm change is at fault ignores a basic truth about the very nature of the web.

You aren't the only one out there.

It seems obvious but it can be easily forgotten if your vision becomes too me-centric. You can become obsessed with beating the algorithm and forget that you aren't the only one trying to do so. So then you get to the top and there is a tendency to think, "That's it, I've made it." But your competitors aren't standing still, unconcerned that you outrank them. No, they want your ranking. And being number one just means you've got that many more competitors behind you who want you're spot. It's the rare company that wants to be number 5. As Will Rogers said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

What does that mean to you? It means that you can never rest. SEO doesn't end after a single round of edits and polishing. Continue to add good relevant themed content, continue to go after expert back links, monitor your competitors and keep an eye on their keywords and resources.

Posted by sesparza on 03/30/05 at 9:39 AM
See more entries in Design, SEO Tips & Tricks

March 29, 2005

Google buys Urchin

It was announced this morning that Google would buy Urchin, a web analytics company. Google says they will be making it available to their advertisers to help them maximize their sales. Urchin is an incredibly robust tool and they've been around forever. Google anticipates the deal will be closed by the end of April. Terms of the sale were not released but John Battelle heard a rumor of a price of $30 million.

Offering more functionality to their program is what will keep Google ahead of Yahoo and MSN in the pay per click market. With Urchin, Google will increase their usefulness to their advertisers, no longer just leaving analytics up to the site owner.

Andy Beal thinks the Urchin acquisition is a move toward a performance-based pricing model and predicts we'll see one before the end of the year.

Posted by sesparza on 03/29/05 at 9:35 AM
See more entries in SEO Tools

March 28, 2005

MSN rises, Google drops.

AdWeek noted that MSN Search is gaining ground, apparently at Google's expense. Taking results from Neilsen/NetRatings report on the January to February changes, the article shows that MSN's new engine grew to 14.2 percent from 12.8 percent while Google dropped to 45.9 percent from 47.1 percent. Yahoo's share held steady at about 21 percent.

February 1 was the launch of MSN Search and their big advertising push which included a Super Bowl advertisement and extensive web and TV ads including spots during the Academy awards and the Grammys. The campaign was estimated to cost about $150 million.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 03/28/05 at 11:11 AM
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

March 24, 2005

Yahoo to increase mail storage to 1GB.

Supposedly responding to customer needs but more than likely just playing catch-up with Google, Yahoo! will be increasing their mail services to 1GB of storage at the end of April. They already offer a paid subscription to Yahoo! Mail that features 2GB of space as well as ad free pages and 250MB for free accounts, the same amount as Hotmail.

As an account holder at Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail, it's getting to the point where I have more space left in my mailboxes than I do on my hard drive. Once Hotmail follows to the 1GB storage as well, I really will have more room left. Now where is that Internet OS I was promised?

Posted by sesparza on 03/24/05 at 12:19 PM
See more entries in Branding, Email, Email

Hijacks by 302 Redirect

Though far from a new issue, page hijacks by 302 redirects have been getting a great deal of press recently. The rumbling started back as early as September 2004 as in this thread from Webmaster World. Search Engine Watch forums have a thread Come on Google, Fix it!!! on the issue as well where GoogleGuy made a few posts on the issue including this one asking for examples. That thread dates back to November 2004. After a lot of screaming from the SEO community, Slashdot discovered the problem and chewed over it in their inimitable fashion. A little while later, they picked it up again for another go round. Hopefully the wider exposure will prompt a response since repeated cries from webmasters have gone unheeded.

The most comprehensive report on the problem so far is this one by Claus Schmidt. It's worth noting that while this hijack works in Google and MSN, Yahoo seems to have figured it out.

At the moment, Google returns about 18,600 results for 302 hijack. It's about time they did something about it.

Posted by sesparza on 03/24/05 at 11:28 AM
See more entries in SEO Tips & Tricks

March 18, 2005

Google OS?

SERoundtable has an extensive look at the possibility of Google developing what SER is calling an Internet Operating System. Stemming from a recent article at CNET about a "Web-based thin client-type hosted environment-slash-operating system replacement", the SERoundtable story examines the likelihood and usability of a desktop anywhere client. Admittedly, the idea is impressive but the privacy concerns are numerous. More discussion on the topic can be found at the Webmaster World forums.

Posted by sesparza on 03/18/05 at 2:42 PM
See more entries in SEO Tools

March 7, 2005

Or you could look out the window

Google announced today that they're adding weather to their quick response features. Just type in "weather" and the zip code or address you're interested in to get an update about the current conditions as well as a three day forecast above the regular SERPs. It's neat and clean but not as nice as AskJeeves' weather service which offers a seven day forecast, detailed weather conditions and seasonal information as well.

Yahoo also offers a shortcut link to a weather page though not the instant information of AskJeeves or Google. MSN doesn't have any quick answers as yet but it is almost certainly only a matter of time.

Posted by sesparza on 03/ 7/05 at 10:56 AM
See more entries in Branding