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May 29, 2007

Weekend Update.

Hey, troops (holiday pun not intended). I hope you were all blessed with a three day weekend and used the time to back away from the computer and actually enjoy it. To those who had to work yesterday, well…my tanned, relaxed body feels almost sorry for you. Better luck next year, eh? [By "tanned" she means "burned". It's not pretty.--Susan] - Only my shoulders are burned and I’m adorable. Cancer-ridden, but adorable.

Here are some of the headlines I missed during my Memorial Day BBQ-athon.

Google/Doubleclick Deal Scrutinized

I was enjoying the few days that went by without a Google/DoubleClick headline but, like three day weekends, all good things must come to an end.

The New York Times reports today that the Federal Trade Commission has begun its preliminary investigation into the Google/DoubleClick deal that was announced back in April. You’ll remember that when the deal was first announced privacy groups were up in arms, arguing it would “give one company access to more information about the Internet than any other company in the world”. The combination of Google collecting user search histories and DoubleClick tracking user movements made some people a tad fearful.

The FTC will now conduct an investigation but they’re probably not too concerned with your privacy fears. As the NYT notes, antitrust officials don’t deal with privacy issues, they’re concerned about whether this deal hinders competition. The FTC has sent Google a list of detailed questions known as a “second request” in order to get more information. This may indicate that they found something in the initial deal that raised some flags.

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, believes that the decision the FTC makes will have a lasting effect on the online advertising agency and privacy on the Internet.

Facebook Mania Goes Widespread, Privacy Concerns Abound

Do you want to know how most of the SEO community spent their weekend? They spent it joining and obsessing over Facebook. If you don’t believe me, I have the friend requests, a mile-long newsfeed, and messages from some of my favorite SEOs to prove it.

SEOs weren’t the only ones running to Facebook, though. Last week’s f8 Platform launch (the one that released an API allowing developers to create additional toys and functionality for the site) made Facebook everyone’s new favorite watering hole. I’d be excited about this if I liked the idea of new kids coming in and ruining a good thing.

Thanks to f8, droves of news users are joining Facebook and littering their once clutter-free profiles with noisy applications like embedded Digg and Twitter feeds, music programs, political compasses, random trivia games – and that’s just on Tamar Weinberg’s page! Kidding – Tamar hasn’t adopted the compass. Yet.

Even more worrisome is Donna Bogatin’s report that Facebook is scarier than Google, showing how the site’s updated privacy policy really gives them the right to collect and use any information about you they’d like. I wonder if Facebook users, especially the ones they’ve gained in the past week, know that they openly admit to sharing information with third parties, actively seeking additional information about you through blogs and other means, holding on to information you delete from your profile, and lots of other scary things. It really is frightening. [And yet you wonder why I refuse to get one? --Susan]

Yahoo Puts Non-Yahoo Links On Home Page

There’s lots of buzz today over Yahoo experimenting with putting non-Yahoo property links on the home page. According to Michael Arrington, who was personally contacted Yahoo because he is just that cool, says Yahoo will analyze the click data they receive and decide whether or not to make this a permanent thing.

I think it’s a great step by Yahoo to increase the relevance, or at least the perceived relevance, of its home page by linking out the same way the rest of us have to. And if Yahoo is looking for blogs willing to participate, well, just drop me an email. And if an email is too much work, our answer is yes!

Fun Finds

Eric Enge details 10 Cool Things You Can Do With (the New) Google Analytics.

Australia has a not-yet-launched search engine claiming to be powerful enough to dethrone Google. They won’t launch until late June, but they’re snarky and we like that!

Darren Rowse asks if you kiss on the first date. He pretends he’s talking about blogging, but we all know he’s not.

The New York Times takes a look at Meetup.com and basically makes it look like a haven for anti-social losers. Way to go, New York Times!

Kim Krause-Berg and Rae Hoffman both turn 21 this weekend. Congrats to both, with just a little more congratulations going to Kim. :)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/29/07 at 1:15 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

May 25, 2007

Friday Recap

Search Engine Land decided to become completely confusing this week and put everything in different “lands”. Okay, so what’s in Searching Land? And GYM gets their own land but Ask is forced to live with AOL? That’s not fair. And then there’s a button I’m supposed to pretend doesn’t exist even though I can see it because I have eyes? I’m so confused. At least all those columns are off in their own land. Is there anyone besides me and Susan who doesn’t have a Search Engine Land column? I have a headache.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Laycock says that click here is evil. Um, excuse me? Clearly, Jennifer has never met our version of click here. It’s great; you’ll never be productive again.

While I’m still somewhat on topic and talking about search, here’s my plug for the first-ever Virginia meetup for search marketers, which takes place June 10th in Vienna, VA. If you’re in the area you should go. Why? Because Simon Heseltine is my buddy. And super nice.

My last bit of actual search news is kind of sad. Susan (finally) went on a date with a nice boy named Jamison Stone this week, and well, she didn’t make it out alive. She’ll be missed. Or at least we’ll pretend for a day. [I hate you so much. --Susan] - Funniest. Picture. Ever.

GigaOm’s Liz Gannes spoke to a bunch of Silicon Valley high schoolers regarding technology and what they’d like to change. Deep insights included one student asking for more USB ports. Why? Oh, let her explain:

“I always think it’s kind of cruel when somebody has to choose between their mouse and their printer.”

If you listen, you can hear the gum smacking.

I’m totally loving the Hitwise to Go blog lately, which tells me that “plus sized lingerie” is the most search for term containing “plus sized”, and that the Utah Jazz is the most searched for basketball team. Which one do you find most disturbing?

Get It In Writing posted a list of the Top 20 Words You Use In Speech or Copywriting That Make You Look Stupid. My favorite ‘word’ will always be “irregardless” because someone who shall remain nameless uses it far too often in casual conversation around here. And then Susan’s head explodes! [My new favorite is "passive tense". Where did these people go to school? --Susan]

Here are a few videos you absolutely have to watch. One will warm your soul, another will makes you extremely uncomfortable, and one will…oh, just watch them:

Like a video, but not, here’s a fun game that involves ladybugs. The little Japanese girl responsible for the soundtrack will keep you coming back for days.

I don’t read too many things that have the power to make me giggle uncontrollably with tears running down my face, but What to Do with Hotel Soap actually caused people to stare. [Lisa is several years behind the rest of us with the funny internet stories. --Susan] - It’s because Lisa goes outside and socializes, while Susan locks herself in her room and plays with her made up Internet friends.

Also making me giggle, Kim Krause-Berg’s reaction to all the wonderful MyBlogLog updates she never asked for nor wanted. I’m totally with her and mentally tagging MBL a big schmoe. If you didn’t read her blog post, you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about.

From the Society of Enablers comes a mitten perfectly suited for smokers. Now you don’t have to worry about cold fingers while you trek out in the snow to slowly kill yourself. Huzzah!

Stop the presses! TechCrunch reports that Second Life now has better clouds and wind. There’s virtual wind! My little heart can’t even handle it. Oh wait – I don’t live in Second Life. Nevermind.

Also life altering: Google Talk has updated their smileys, I mean emoticons. Impressed, right?

The most impressive gadget of the week: a NES Alarm Clock. It’s so beautiful.

Things I Learned From BoingBoing This Week:

  • Some people buy tomatoes because they look like mouse heads. These people are not normal.
  • The next time I buy a wedding dress, I’m buying one made from the parachute that saved my beloved’s life. That’s totally awesome.
  • A snot siphon? Really? I don’t care how much I love my children, I will never use my mouth to suck snot out of their little germ infested noses. That’s how you accidentally give birth to gremlins.
  • Next time you message someone on FaceBook and they don’t answer. Don’t be insulted; it could be that they’re dead.
  • Passive aggressive behavior is always funny. Sad when exhibited by adults, but still funny.
  • Nerd stigmata are cool, but a nerd stigmata in the shape of a mouse cursor is kind of lame. I’d much prefer one in say…I don’t know, something trendier than a mouse cursor.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/25/07 at 4:52 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in Fun Stuff

Meta Tags in Search Engine Optimization: Who Needs ‘Em?

Oh, I know this one! The answer is, “you do”. You need Meta tags. Do I get a prize? Is it chocolate? Do I get it now?

Yesterday afternoon, while reading Jill Whalen’s High Rankings Advisor newsletter, I came across a question we hear a lot. Questioner Jasmine asked Jill about Meta Keywords and Meta Description tags and whether they should be written to reflect the content on the page. If so, Jasmine was concerned because she runs an ecommerce site that is mostly images with very little content. I suppose her question was: If I’ve got no content, what do I put there?

You should go over to Jill’s site to read her full answer, but I’ll give you my opinion here for good measure. And because this is our blog and I’m sort of expected to do that.

To Jasmine’s first question, Jill says:

First off, don't worry about the Meta keywords and descriptions; they don't need to use the same words you have on your page. Generally your description would be similar, but if it's not, it's not a problem.

I’m not altogether sure what Jill meant by that in regards to “words” (keywords or words words?). Obviously you’re not going to put ALL of the words you used on your page; that would be ridiculous. However, the terms that the page is being optimized for should be included in your Meta Keywords, and in your Meta Description tag where appropriate.

I’m confused as to why that would even be a question. If you’re constructing your Meta Keywords and Meta Description tags without taking into account the actual page content and the focus of that page, what are you putting in there? Your wish list of words you want to rank for even though you don’t have the content to back it up? That not search engine optimization, that’s search engine spam. Spam’s bad.

It makes sense to us that if the Meta Description and Meta Keywords tags are used by search engines to get a better idea of what the page is about, then they should be written to be unique for each page and should absolutely include the keywords that page is focusing on. It’s the heart of optimization.

In case the warm weather has fried your brain, here’s a brief refresher on Meta Description and Meta Keywords tags:

  • Your Meta Description tag should be unique for every page on your site and include the keywords and phrases that are relevant to the page. The Meta Description tag often acts as the text snippet that users will see in the search results. Along with the Title tag, this tag is going to be what convinces a searcher that your site is going to answer their search query. If your Meta Description doesn't match the page content, why would they consider your site relevant? Your Meta Description tag will be about twice the size of your Title tag, so it’s a good opportunity to expand on your focus. Twice the amount of space gives you twice the amount of room to explain the subject of your page. Take advantage of it.

  • There’s always talk that the Meta Keyword tag is useless and can therefore be ignored. We don’t agree with that. Yahoo says they still use it the tag, so for that reason we think it’s worth paying attention to. The Meta Keywords tag gives you a chance to strengthen the focus of your page, while giving you room to insert any common misspelling of keywords that you would never put in the actual text. You may want to include these terms in your optimization effort, but you don’t want to look like a moron to visitors when you can’t spell your own keywords. Every keyword phrases used on your page should be included in your Meta Keywords tag. Think of it as a summary of all the major elements on the page, helping to further focus the page's message and purpose.

Given all that, yes, questioners everywhere, you should include page-specific keywords in your Meta Description and Meta Keyword tags. Doing so helps focus the content of your page for the engines, which is important for any search engine optimization campaign.

So what do you do if you’re an ecommerce site with little or no content? Well, if you’re at all concerned with search engine optimization, I suggest you start creating some.

It doesn’t matter what kind of site you’re running, if you want to show up in the search engines, you need content. The engines aren’t going to recognize a picture of a puppy and know that you are a site about puppies. They’re going to go to your Web site, see nothing, and assume that you are about nothing. And they’d be correct.

If you’re a site that’s graphic heavy there are tons of ways you can increase the amount of content on your site. You can replace images and Flash with text, you can increase the text on existing pages, you can write detailed product pages that explain the images, while using keywords, etc. The possibilities are endless; you just have to put effort into making your site theme as strong as it can be for your keywords.

Considering that excellent content is what sparks authoritative links, it’s not hard to argue that the engines are judging your site based on its content. If you want to distinguish yourself as an authority on puppies, you need lots of expert content that utilizes your site’s main keywords. You have to earn your authority and your rankings.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/25/07 at 10:26 AM | Comments (9)
See more entries in SEO Tips & Tricks, Search Engine Optimization

May 24, 2007

Blogs, Memes & Bloggers

Bloggers Have More Connections Than Journalists

Marc Evans (via Andy Beal) points to a Plaxo study that tallied the average number of contacts for different job titles to see whose address book is bigger. Uninteresting and totally not surprising, talent agents and publicists took top honors with 628 and 490 contacts, respectively.

More interesting was that bloggers were found to be better connected than most journalists, with an average of 267 contacts to their pitiful 247. Ooo, take that, journalists! You may get more respect, prettier badges, and better titles but we have more friends to get us the scoop. Kind of curious is that those that listed their job title as “geek” have an isolating 92 contacts. Who makes a living out of being a geek? Fine, besides Scoble.

Very funny to me (and likely only me), Andy Beal reveals he doesn’t know how accurate the study is since he told Plaxo he only had 100 contacts when he really has more than 450. Hee! Way to be, Andy.

(As a side note: It’s probably a good thing bloggers are so well-connected, since a third of bloggers are risking their jobs. Has Heather B. Armstrong taught you nothing?)

Are Social Media Memes Overrated?

Tamar, whom I haven’t been able to speak to since Tuesday and is giving me seriously BFF withdrawal, pointed to a Cre8asite thread that asks: Are Social Media Memes Overrated? [Why did we start calling them "social media memes"? Was just calling them "memes" not buzzword enough? They're no more social media than playing M.A.S.H at lunchtime in high grade school. --Susan] - Hey, don’t get in my face over it. I didn’t name it; I merely quoted the Cre8asite thread. Back off.

I don’t think “overrated” is the right word. That would imply that people are lining the streets to talk about how wonderful they are and I don’t see that happening. I think the answer is are they useful, is there any worthwhile purpose to them, what’s the takeaway?

The use is in the branding and the emotional aftertaste. It’s being able to give readers a deeper glimpse into your life, your passions and your interests. They’re popular for the same reasons that the occasional off-topic blog post is often well-received. People like learning about other people, especially those that they have formed an attachment to.

Personally, I enjoyed the 5 Things meme that went around last year, because it gave me a glimpse into the past of some of my favorite people. However, I think most would agree that the recent bunch have been pure noise. I’m all for the occasional meme that’s going to give me an insight into your life, but I’m not particularly interested in what magazines you’re reading. Your charity affiliations are nice to know (though I’m sure a bunch of you were lying) and unless there’s a really compelling story there, not so interested in why you blog, just that you do.

SEO Meetups

Poor little Rebecca Kelley has had to do all kinds of blogging this week while Rand continues his stay in China, or “China” as Becs calls it (the girl has trust issues). One topic the-blogger-I’m-most-mistaken-for mentioned yesterday was the recent surge in SEO meetups.

I like the idea of SEO meetups because they give people a chance to meet and mingle with others who are interested in the same stuff they are. You get to leave the conference mindset for a bit and form your own clicky high school lunch table and have actual, IRL conversations about exciting things like Google, link development, CSS, blogging social media and other topics that if you mentioned to outsiders (aka “normal people”) you’d either be mocked viciously for or given that we’re-sorry-you-don’t-have-friends nod. It’s like conference networking without all those silly sessions getting in the way.

Rebecca linked off to the SEO section at Meetup.com, which is a stellar resource if you’re trying to find likeminded individuals to play with. The closest SEO meetup in my area is deep in LA. Why are people always trying to make me drive? Driving in LA is terrifying.

Fun Finds

Joe Whyte illustrates that Ask.com still has not learned how to coordinate their marketing campaigns. Guys, you’re breaking my little blogging heart.

Neil Patel explains why little is the new big and how “little” bloggers are important to your success. Don’t worry, by little he means not-yet-famous, not little in size. It’s still okay to be mean to short people. They deserve it for being so damn short.

Matt McGee offers up some excellent advice to help you protect your domain name.

Blog Tutorials says bloggers should act their age. Because age has anything to do with blogging.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/24/07 at 3:02 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in Blogging

May 23, 2007

Liveblogging: How do you like it?

After reading Seth Godin’s blog this morning, I have a question. And hey, we’ve mentioned Seth Godin every day this week, why should today been any different, right? Right!

So, Seth brings up the topic of liveblogging today and argues that, for him, the medium doesn’t work because the writer/blogger is writing to remind themselves of what they just witnessed, not to inform the audience. He says:

“…Most people don't take notes to be read. They take notes to write them. The act of writing things down triggers different areas of our brain, it focuses attention, it makes it easier to remember things. You can read your blog notes later and say, "yeah, I remember that slide..." But for an outsider who's not there, the amount of information that's imparted is small indeed. Compare these liveblog posts to posts written an hour later, ones that digest and reflect and chunk the information. These are deliberately designed to inform the reader, not to remind the writer.”

I can somewhat see his line of thinking, but I think it depends on the blogger doing the liveblogging. All liveblogging is not created equal. Some bloggers jot down quick notes, others focus on key points, and a crazy few scramble to get down every word. If you’re liveblogging consists simply of “notes” about what just happened, then you’re probably not providing a hell of a lot of information to the reader. But not all liveblogging is like that.

I know that when we liveblog conferences we try really hard to give readers an accurate portrayal of what’s happening, as its happening. I do my best to recount as much of the session as I can, adding commentary where appropriate, and even keeping you abreast of the music playing in the background in case you’d like to set the mood at home. And because I so easily turn into a star struck child, there’s also typically a healthy dose of who just walked in, how cute the guy on the podium is, and how excited I am to be blogging with Kim Krause-Berg again. Our liveblogging is a half conference room/half high school cafeteria.

One thing I found interesting in Seth’s post was the idea that liveblogging is done to remind the writer about what they just saw or heard, not to inform the reader. I somewhat disagree. I can’t speak for other bloggers, but I know when I look back at the 17 sessions I covered at Ad:Tech San Francisco or the 17 sessions at SES New York, sometimes I don’t even remember being there, even after I read it. I remember certain sessions, but I can’t count how many times I’ll read a session recap and give Susan my confused face because I have no memory of that session. At all. Sometimes I fear I’ve been cloned. [Cloned? Why, that's a ridiculous idea... *nervous laugh* --Susan]

I suppose as someone who does more than her share of liveblogging, and who is scheduled to do some more in less than two weeks, I want to know if you think Seth is right.

Do you have a difficult time making sense our liveblogging? Would you prefer a less-banter, more Search Engine Roundtable approach to the coverage? Should I hang up my laptop and let Susan take over? Would you prefer we take notes and then write up the sessions in the late evening? What do you want out of liveblogging?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/23/07 at 1:51 PM | Comments (6)
See more entries in Blogging

Technorati Redesigns, Ruins My Morning Ritual

I’m feeling a tad unsettled this morning. See, I have a morning routine: My cell phone alarm goes off, I allow myself one snooze, and then I not-so-carefully trip and stumble my way over to my laptop to comfort myself in friendly email (anything scary looking will be ignored) and Technorati stats. Some may think I have a problem but the structure comforts me. Or at least it does when people aren’t playing games with my emotions.

Today I visited Technorati and had no idea what I was looking at. I thought perhaps I had broken something in my daze, but no. David Sifry had simply redesigned the entire thing while I was sleeping last night. I didn’t even get an email.

David says the update was 6 months in the making and was designed to reflect Technorati’s shift from being blog-only to including all forms of social media. The individual searching silos that once differentiated the various searches (keyword, tag, and blog directory) have been removed. Similar to Google’s Universal Search, you tell Technorati what you’re interested in and they’ll assemble the Web’s freshest content for you, regardless if it’s found in blogs, photos, video, podcasts, events, etc.

For better or worse, there’s also a ticker across the top to keep users up-to-date on what people are talking about and searching for at any given time. Personally, I don’t care that people are searching for [anti-depressants] and [Owen Wilson], but maybe you do. I’m sure Susan does. [Yes, I've such a history of loving social media. --Susan] - No, but you do have a history of needing antidepressants and other social anxiety medication. Additional improvements were made to Technorati’s Where’s The Fire and Favorites, and of course, the interface looks very different from what it looked like when I went to sleep last night.

Overall, the redesign is everything I would expect from Technorati after reading David’s State of the Live Web last April. Technorati is expanding from being a just a blog search engine to becoming the “main aggregation point for all forms of social media on the Web”. The new design reflects just that.

My opinion of the redesign is generally positive, with a hint of uneasiness.

First off, I hate the default home page. We’re talking an intense, burning hatred for this loud, ugly, cluttered page. I hate the ticker, the tag cloud is entirely too large and I’m not sure I understand how the music category fits in. I realize it has always been there but it’s bothering me more today than it used to. The problem with the home page is that there are far too many places for me to get lost (and there’s far too much orange). I’m there because I want to do a search. Let me do a search without confusing me with flashing lights and things that sparkle.

But I can overlook the home page. Why? Because David Sifry is awesome and has provided Lisa-friendly alternatives. Instead of wincing at a page so loud it smacks me in the face, I can either log into Technorati and get a more muted, more relevant page or, and this is the option I really like, I can pretend that blogs are the only form of social media that exist (cause they are) and use the clean-looking s.technorati.com page that I totally love. Props to Technorati for realizing that not everyone wants to search the entire lot of media. Some of us are just interested in blogs.

I do like the universal search approach, though. I won’t use it every day, but I will use it when I’m looking for a more comprehensive search and I like that it’s at least offered to users. However, there is one thing that’s very troubling. You’ll noticed that if you do a search for [bruce clay], the URL it generates is [www.technorati.com/tag/bruce+clay]. Why is this troubling? Because it’s not searching for any and all content that mentions Bruce Clay, it’s searching for content that is tagged Bruce Clay. That limits the search considerably.

For example, doing that [bruce clay] search brings up a mix of relevant and not-so-relevant search results. Personally, there are far too many Clay Aiken references for me. Bruce has been mentioned on the Web exactly 9 gazillion times. There’s no reason to bring up photos, or even worse, videos of Clay Aiken. As far as I know Bruce Clay and Clay Aiken are not the same person. When Bruce is done optimizing Web sites he doesn’t go off and… what does Clay Aiken do these days? It doesn’t matter. We get the scary Clay Aiken results because it was tagged [bruce] and [clay]. That has to be fixed.

This worries me further because we don’t tag our blog posts. There are categories, but we don’t specifically tag. Does this mean our posts won’t show up in a Technorati search? How many other blogs will be excluded from the blog search if Technorati isn’t searching full text? This could be a major problem. It also tries to force people into tagging things and I don’t like anyone trying to push my hand. I get enough of that from Susan. [I solemnly swear I'm not planning on forcing you to tag anything. At the moment. --Susan] - As if you have the authority to “force” me to do anything.

So, overall I like where Technorati is going with this (as long as they keep their blog-only search page option), but I am concerned. I’m impressed with how Technorati has handled this whole “live Web”. I’m impressed that they were able to exploit a Google vulnerability and claim the market for their own. However, I don’t want to see them going 100 percent social media and forget what they were. I don’t want my blog search to be compromised because not everyone is tagging things. Improve on what you have, but don’t take away your staples.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/23/07 at 12:17 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in Blogging, Social Media

May 22, 2007

Ask.com: Rising or Falling?

My friend Jennifer Laycock asks a question over at Search Engine Guide that I can never seem to stay away from. It’s about Ask.com and whether our favorite little engine that could is on fire or just going down in flames.

Like Jennifer, I’m a big Ask.com fan, as is Susan. Their success is our success and their failures are Susan’s failures. Jennifer asks if they’re on fire of if they’re going down in flames. Personally, in regards to search I don’t think they’re going anywhere. They’re just kind of floating there and that makes me sad.

Jennifer breaks down some of Ask’s recent behavior:

“It's a frustrating journey to watch as it seems that every time they do something great, they follow up with something that makes me cringe. Earlier this year they scored humor points with a Google pen joke, but their follow-up went too far. Earlier this year they stormed the gates of local search with the very impressive Ask City product. Then they followed that up with the cringe worthy "information revolution" viral flop.”

It’s a frustrating journey for sure. Let’s also not forget the somewhat odd billboards that have been popping up, the multi-million dollar ad campaign in the works, and the forthcoming Edison algorithm update that we first heard about during this year’s Search Engine Strategies New York. It’s one step forward, one step back, and at that rate, Ask.com isn’t go anywhere.

I want Ask.com to succeed. They have a long road ahead of them, but nothing would make me happier than to see them getting closer to taking over that number three position and building themselves up. I hope Edison will help them do it. Funny commercials and branding won’t be enough, especially this round of commercials.

Last year we had Apostolos Gerasoulis and his adorable son Eli telling us how Google wasn’t better, it was just more popular. This year people are claiming to be “algorithm’d out” and that Ask’s algorithm is on the move. Everywhere you look there’s that damn word: algorithm.

I get where they’re going, you probably get where they’re going, but does everyone? I’m pretty sure algorithm isn’t in my mother’s everyday vocabulary. She hears algorithm and she’s having flashbacks of the tantrums I used to throw when forced to do my math homework. Ask.com needs to be targeting every day searchers, not just the sad lot of us who spend our entire day achieving our life long dream of being stricken with advanced carpal tunnel by the time we hit 30. (My right wrist is seriously sore today.)

Let’s be fair. Everyone knows that Ask.com’s tools are better than Google’s, Yahoo’s, or Microsoft’s. AskCity is awesome, their blog search kills, and the Smart Answer and query refinement tools Ask has been using for years are just now starting to be adopted by the other engines. When it comes to advanced search tools, Ask.com is in a league of their own. This is great, but their traditional search results are still lacking. Without a strong SERP, Ask.com will never become more than a specialty engine. You’ll use it when you need to find a local furniture store, but you won’t trust it for everyday searching.

I played around with Ask.com this morning to see what its results were looking like and I’m still not impressed. In fact, I’m disappointed. The results aren’t altogether relevant and there are old pages in there that shouldn’t be coming up anymore. What good are the promotions and billboards if you’re setting users up to be disappointed? Fix your index, then promote it.

Maybe Edison will be that missing link that makes Ask.com more relevant, more noteworthy and more competitive in search. Once I feel like I can trust Ask.com’s results, I will be first in line to switch over and blog about it. But it’s not there yet. I don’t think Ask.com is improving or falling. They’re just holding on while we all wait for Edison to arrive.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/22/07 at 4:08 PM | Comments (5)
See more entries in Ask, Branding, Search Engines

Radio Ads, Hot Trends & How I’m Changing The World

Not that we want to control those too…

The New York Times reports that Google filed a proposal with the Federal Communications Commission yesterday asking them to institute a real-time auction-based system for selling radio spectrum. Google says creating a system similar to what is currently in place for online ads would maximize efficiency and help smaller companies be able to afford radio ads at 3am in the morning on John Tesh’s radio station. [Don’t even pretend you didn’t just click that link. I saw you.]

Before Google’s last minute proposal, the FCC was planning to institute a traditional auction of the spectrum. Google claims this will result in licensees ending up with more bandwidth than they need. We’ll see if Google is able to change the collective mind of the FCC.

And in case you’re thinking it, Google says they’re doing this to promote competition, not because they want to get in on the ground floor and become a bandwidth reseller. I totally believe them.

Google Outs Hot Trends

[This was apparently really big news today so I’ll try and look impressed.]

Google added a new feature to Google Trends appropriately named “Hot Trends”, created to show uses the hottest search queries of the day. It differs from similar services like Google Zeitgeist or the Yahoo! Buzz in that the trends history can pinpoint searches by city, state, country or even globally. You can also go back in time to see hot trends of days past, I don’t believe the other services have that functionality.

There are lots of pretty graphs and charts but I think the most fun feature is that it allows you to see why certain terms have all of a sudden become “hot”. Google shows you the hotness score, related searches, when the query achieved hotness, plus the news items, blog items and Web results for that query. That’s helpful since I am apparently so old and boring that I don’t recognize at least 80 percent of these queries. Eh, make that 90 percent.

It’s useful in a wow-that’s-kind-of-interesting way. It’s neat to see what people were searching for last week as opposed to what they’re searching for this week. However, I wouldn’t give it anymore value than that. If you think this is going to become your new favorite keyword research tool, well, then you’re just special.

I have skills. Two of them!

Sometimes I worry about what would happen if Bruce finally listened to Susan and I lost my job. There’s something about walking into a job interview, looking my potential employer in the eye and telling her that I’ve spent the past 15 months blogging that terrifies me. I’ve never had an interviewer laugh in my face and I certainly don’t want to start now.

Luckily for me, The Blogging Herald has helped to calm that fear. Contrary to Susan’s popular belief, blogging has in fact given me employable skills! [Heck, we hired you even without employable skills.--Susan] - Heh. You got me there. I possess the two skills needed for successful blogging: authenticity and transparency. The Blogging Herald says these are critical life skills because they are necessary to build relationships, which are the currency of success in society. See, Mom, not only do I have employable skills, I have life skills! You can stop being embarrassed by me now.

Even more impressive, The Blogging Herald goes on to say that blogging allows us to learn who we really are: “Authenticity by it’s very nature is about humility and acceptance of our transparent selves. This is world-changing action taking place from the inside out of each individual.”

As of today I’m updating my resume to read:

February 2006 – present: Changing the world!

Beat that!

Fun Finds

Search Engine Watch says that people searches make up 30 percent of all searches? That’s it? I know at least 50 percent of my searches are about me. ;)

ResourceShelf reports that AOL’s blogging platform has released new tools. AOL has a blogging platform? Like blogging blogging? Who knew?

Meanwhile, Hitwise reports that the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox (!) are the two most visited baseball team Web sites in sports. See, now that I knew.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/22/07 at 12:36 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in Blogging, SEO, Search Engine Optimization

May 21, 2007

Weekend Update

Don’t Believe Anything You Read On Friday

Despite the buzz that resulted from Fair Isaac’s press release on click fraud last week, it turns out it was all for naught. We can’t trust those numbers either. Freakin’ figures.

Fair Isaac caused a lot of hype announcing they had conducted an independent research study and found that 10 to 15 percent of clicks billed to advertisers were fraudulent. Clearly, the reported number was much larger than Google’s stated .02 percent and didn’t include any of Google’s pretty graphics, so we all sat around and waited for the sky to fall.

However, over the weekend clarity began to ensue. Kevin Newcomb writes that the data provided by Fair Isaac was based on a small sample size (fewer than 10!), and not statistically significant. The numbers were taken completely out of context causing people, and most main media, to get themselves all worked up over a bunch of nothing. The stats provided by Fair Isaac mean very little to anyone.

Shuman Ghosemajumder provides an intelligent response to what happened over on his blog. People, do yourselves a favor and never believe anything you read on a Friday. The fact checkers apparently take Fridays off.

Google and Its “Secret Deals”

The Sunday Herald stirred up some more trouble for Google reporting that the search engine had made ‘secret deals’ with several UK newspapers in order to license their content and include it in Google News. The news outlet then reported that the deals were being kept super secret in fear that other news outlets would begin requiring Google to make similar deals.
Don’t you just love it? Google making secret deals at midnight in dark, foggy open fields. Fun!

Well, it was until Google very bluntly says the reason we haven’t heard about these deals is because they never took place. (Or because Sydney Bristow doesn’t want you to know about them!)

I’m hoping (and thinking) they’re not true. Google has always fought for their right to include mainstream news in news.google.com arguing fair use. Up until recently that line of thought has always worked. However, recently there’s been Google’s AFP settlement, and of course all that craziness going on over there in Belgium [ducks]. Either Google’s days of freely linking to content is over or the Sunday Herald is reporting rumors. I’m thinking it’s the second.

On the other side of things, if you want Google to index but make it only available to users who subscribe, Barry Schwartz explains how to do that over at Search Engine Roundtable. He’s so helpful.

Fun Finds

I’m loving the new Ask.com marketing campaign, including the new searchbetter.com domain where users can go to learn about and demo all the features that help Ask to stand out. Ask is swell. [I have to second the awesomeness of Ask here. I just used Ask City to find a mid-point for my friends and I to see a movie. Can't do that with Google Maps.--Susan]

Shoemoney gets down and dirty in his video blog AdSense Arbitrage – Just the Facts and says unless you’ve received an email telling you that your AdSense account is going to be disabled, don’t fret over the recent hype.

Om Malik talks about the new Nokia 3109 that only allows you to make phone calls. No, seriously, that’s all it does. Sweet.

Not surprisingly, WebProNews discovered that as summer approaches, more and more users are conducting searches for “3 day diets”, “fat diets” and “fast weight loss diets”. As someone who just purchased a bathing suit for my upcoming vacation, I’m currently searching for “got the suit, now how do I fit into it?”

.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/21/07 at 3:56 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Fun Stuff, Pay-Per-Click

Tell me why you’re Different

It’s Monday, it's gloomy and I’ve got a question for you: If it’s our differences that make us unique, interesting and worth knowing, why do we try and hide them? As a site owner, why would you waste your entire home page telling customers how you’re just like everyone else?

You sell car parts too? You guarantee your low prices like everyone else? You’re located in the same neighborhood as all those other car places? Your site looks just like everyone else’s? Huzzah; let’s be friends.

Seriously, it’s all well and good and special that you’ve been able to match your competition, but that doesn’t make me want to buy from you. You have to set yourself equal and then you have to prove that you're better. I want to know why you’re different, better, and prettier than those other guys. Why are you worth my time? Why should I care about you? Your site text, and especially your home page, is valuable real estate. It should be chock-full of reasons why you’re different and therefore better, not stuff to bore me.

While I was stuck in traffic All Day Saturday (thank you Strawberry Festival in Oxnard), Seth Godin was once again penning a short blog entry that would leave me deep in thought.

Seth advocated avoiding the Just Another Meeting (J.A.M.) mentality. The one where you half ass your way into the conference room for your weekly Monday morning meeting (M3), spin around on your spinny chair a couple times (the same spinny chair you always sit in), and then shoot spit rockets at the wall while 8 of your peers agree that the best course of action for client X is the same course of action you take for every client. Don’t even pretend you don’t know exactly what he’s talking about. That process you pretend to go through in order to justify that you needed to have a meeting in the first place? Yeah, don’t do that. That method is broken.

Instead, Seth proposes the following:

“Instead of approaching that moment as JAM, maybe there's a different way. Instead of focusing on how similar this time is to last time, instead of realizing that the similarities demand similar approaches, maybe, just maybe, the team could focus on the differences. How is this opportunity different? What could we try that might have a radically better outcome?”

As a search engine optimization company, it would be easy for us to look at the sites for Client A and Client B, decide they both need some traditional optimization work, and then present them with carbon copy site assessments complete with best practices and little value. And though that would save us a lot of time, we don’t do that. We realize that the strength and power behind every site is in the details. It’s about focusing on and highlighting what makes you different and why you stand out.

When you design your Web site, or even your business model, don’t make it a carbon copy of your competitors. Yes, there will be some similarities; there needs to be. Some degree of “likeness” builds trust and credibility for your company. But realize that in order for you to be successful you have to offer customers something they can’t get anywhere else. Make your uniqueness the theme of your site and break out of your routine.

It’s tempting to follow the competition or use the same formula today that you used yesterday. If it worked last time then, by golly, it’ll work this time. And it might work, but it’ll probably be boring and it won’t make you better. It won’t give users a reason to buy from you, do business with you or even remember you. It will just show them you’re the same as everyone else. Yawn.

And I won’t lie to you. It’s very possible that you’ll try something new and fall on your face, at least the first time. Not every change you make to your site or the way you deal with customers is going to be positive. Sometimes there’s a good reason that old philosophies have lasted ten years, but you won’t know that until you dare to switch things up. Change your site design, craft your landing pages and ad text from scratch, find a new angle, etc. You won’t know what you can play with and what you should not touch at any cost.

Kill the J.A.M. approach and mix things up. When you go into next week’s M3 pick a different spinny chair and change your scenery. When you’re redesign your Web site, make a list of all the things you need on your site and then throw away the old template. When you’re dealing with customers, know ahead of time what makes your product different and approach them in a new way. You may not always get the exact reaction you’re after, but at least you’ll get a reaction. Bored, glazed over eyeballs are useful to no one.

You get above average results with above average effort. As Seth has argued in the past, What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/21/07 at 3:47 PM | Comments (4)
See more entries in Branding

Let Bruce Clay Get You Into SMX Seattle

Maybe it’s because we’ve been talking about it forever or because I’ve been fighting with Susan over liveblogging session dibs, but it’s hard to believe that Search Marketing Expo is just two weeks away. Quite frankly, the plane just can’t take off fast enough. I want to go play with my friends; I mean blog. I want to go blog.

Unfortunately, unless your name is Keri Morgret, you may be a little bummed that you missed your shot to attend next month’s debut SMX conference for free. (We know, but Keri had a seriously good site analysis. Don’t hate her because she’s crafty). But don’t fret, my friends. While we only had one full-conference pass to give away, we can offer loyal blog readers a free Networking pass to get you into the big event.

The Network pass includes:

  • Access to the Exhibit and Networking Hall where you’ll meet representatives from the leading search engines, vendors, and premiere companies in the industry.
  • Access to all SMX Advanced networking events, including SMX Bash sponsored by Microsoft Sunday night, the SMX Reception sponsored by Yahoo! Search Monday evening, and SMX After Dark: Google Dance Northwest on Monday night.

Most exciting for us, it gives you the chance to walk around the exhibit hall and come visit us at Booth #24. Admit it; you want to come play with us.

You have until June 1st to collect your free Networking pass, after that it's $50 for the same rights and privileges. My advice to you is to hurry up and get it for free and then spend the $50 on alcohol. What? It’s just more cost-effective.

To register for your free Networking pass, simply head over to the SMX Advanced Registration page and enter the ID code bruceclay EH.

And remember, if you’d like to attend the full conference, we can use our powers of persuasion to make Danny offer you a 20% discount off the full price. (Huzzah! That’s another $250 you can spend on alcohol!) To make good on your discount, go to the SMX Advanced registration page and enter the ID code: bruceclay20. If you are dreaming of a full conference pass, I’d encourage you to hurry up and purchase your ticket. Danny Sullivan says tickets are going fast and they’re almost sold out.

You can find the show’s full agenda on the SMX site, complete with the list of speakers, sessions, and descriptions. I’d also like to remind you that SMX is your first (and most likely last) chance to see Lisa Barone* and Susan Esparza in the same room. Do you want to pass that up? [Are we still pretending I'm not just a figment of your imagination? --Susan] - Once the masses meet you and all of your annoyingness, they will appreciate me so much more.

We’ll see you in Seattle!

[*Yes, I did just refer to myself in the third person. Do you want to harp on that or go secure yourself a spot in Seattle? Hurry along now.]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/21/07 at 2:36 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in SEM Events

May 18, 2007

Friday Recap

Hey, kids. It’s Friday. Rebecca Kelley got me sick. Let’s get to it.

Everyone’s looking for a soundtrack lately. Danny’s looking for some mood music for SMX (you mean no jazzy Michael Bolton or Whitney Houston like at SES? Bummer!), while Hillary Clinton is looking for a campaign theme song. Let’s hope her platform is stronger than her music choices: Shania Twain? Smash Mouth? KT Tunstall? For serious? [Pssst, Danny! SMX needs more cowbell. --Susan]

Speaking of mood music, last week I presented you with the 25 most depressing songs in the world and I fear that you now may be teetering too close to the edge. To make amends, here are five songs guaranteed to make you insanely happy. Or, you can forget the tunes and just go look at funny cloud pictures.

While I’m repenting, I’ll also apologize to the folks at Gray Hat News. Apparently, we’re encroaching on their sarcasm patent. Sorry, guys. Them Whom We Will Shortly Need A Send A Cease And Desist Order For Break Of Our Patent On Sarcasm will try to keep it down. [That new nickname initializes to Twwwsntsacadfboopos, by the way. I say we call Lisa "Boopos" from here on out. Who's with me? Jabecca? --Susan] - What did I tell you about encouraging the Mozzers bad behavior? Knock it off!

I’m trying to turn down the snark, really, I am, but would you trust AIM with your credit card? Would you trust a judge who didn’t know what a Web site was? I vote no for both.

Watch as Robert Scoble explains how he’s able to read 27,000 feeds a day. To turn it into a fun drinking game, take a drink each time you see a shot of his hands, teeth, or when he laughs so hard that his body convulses and goes totally out of frame.

Move over Andy Hagans, Patrick Sexton is the new master linkbaiter. First he’s baiting Barry, now he’s baiting Bruce with some weird story about a bathtub, a refrigerator, and a showerhead. I was confused, but he likes the blog so he’s cool. [I like the progression as you read that entry. At first, you're just baffled then you kinda get it then you're heart-warmed. Then there's the awesome BC pimp. A++, would read again! -Susan]

Nathan Weinberg’s laptop overheated so he put it in the freezer. Say what? Are you making that silly scrunched up face too or am I the only one fearing Nathan is insane. Hands?

I always suspected that Cartoon Barry was just a front for some seedy porn ring and it turns out I was right. He tries to hide behind unassuming posts like “look how white my teeth are”, “I like soap”, and “sushi’s gross”, but deep down Barry Schwartz is all about one thing: Cartoon porn.

Ten month old Bubba Ludwig was issued a gun permit after his oh-so-clever father jokingly filled out an application for him. Is it scarier to you that a baby can legally own a gun or that in 2007 parents are still nicknaming their children “Bubba”?

You think your grandmother is pretty weird, don’t ya? Oh, yeah, well does she have a horn? I didn’t think so. Go ahead and send that belated Mother’s Day card. She can open it with her horn.

Right here is the best reason ever to wear a helmet. See, kids, crush the plastic, not your skull.

This guy is making me feel completely unproductive. He got more done while on hold for Sprint Customer Care than I did all week.

I’m not a huge fan of tattoos, but if you’re going to go there, at least get a good tattoo artist. Otherwise, your plenty adorable new wife comes out looking like the corpse bride.

Speaking of new brides, Mother Jones cracked the case on why divorce rates have gone down. It’s because women are smarter than they were 20 years ago and fewer of us are getting married.

Daily Mail proves that my childhood request for a pet monkey was not as crazy as my parents led me to believe. This guy had a lion. A monkey is totally more reasonable than a lion.

Two questions: Would you drive behind a truck-carrying truck? If it wasn’t a total emergency, would you use this restroom?

Things I Learned From Boing Boing This Week

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/18/07 at 12:24 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in Fun Stuff

May 17, 2007

UK Blogging & Search Engine Optimization News

Hello. I’d like to encourage our UK readers to grab a pen and come back. (Readers in the States can go get a snack and check back later. We’ll miss you.) I'll wait.


Those damn Americans gone? Jolly Sweet! There are some important dates coming up that you Brits should be made aware of.

First, if you’re of the blogging kind (read: if you’re totally awesome), there are two fun blogging conferences you should make time for.

Incisive Media is hosting the Blogs & Social Media Forum in London on June 5th. The conference will examine blogs and social media and their impact on internal and external corporate communication, collaboration and knowledge transfer. It’s good to see blogs being thought of as a viable communication tool for businesses, and even more exciting that it’s happening in the UK.

Checking out the conference schedule programme for the event. It looks more social media-oriented than blogging-oriented, but it’s still worth checking out. If you’re interested in attending, head over to their registration page. Do it soon and there’s an Early Bird Discount! It’s like getting dinner for half the cost.

The really exciting UK-based conference will take place on June 8th. The NLab at De Montfort University is hosting the Women Business & Blogging conference, which sounds like it’s going to be a really fun event. Men are invited, but the speakers are all women who will be talking about women bloggers, readers and users. Speakers include Eileen Brown (Microsoft’s female Scoble), Jory Des Jardins (Co-founder of BlogHer), and Meg Pickard (Guardian Unlimited). How great is that lineup? Girl power!

The event is being held at the Leicester Business School and registration closes on 29 May. I’m secretly hoping Bruce Clay Europe’s Marie Howell will be attending this one and will give us the full write-up. (Or that Bruce decides it’s finally time to send me overseas for some international liveblogging. Huzzah!)

In my totally unbiased opinion, the greatest search marketing-related event of all will be Bruce’s forthcoming UK SEO training course in London on 13-15 June. (Using the word “forthcoming” increases my Brit street cred.) It’s the first-ever UK training class and we’re offering both Bruce’s Basic and Advanced training, making it a fantastic opportunity for marketing managers, webmasters and SEOs to learn about UK search engine optimization and get a leg up on their competition.

Remember, the market is only getting more competitive. The only way to compete is through proper search engine optimization training. It won’t just improve your rankings; it will increase your ROI and give you the tools you need to make your site the best it can be.

And just between you and me, if you sign up for Bruce’s UK SEO training by the end of the UK business day Friday (like, tomorrow), you’ll get a £200 discount, making the training £1295 plus VAT instead of £1495. It’s a pretty good deal considering the amount of knowledge you’ll receive, plus a subscription to our SEOToolSet.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/17/07 at 12:27 PM | Comments (6)
See more entries in Blogging, International, SEO, Search Engine Optimization

May 16, 2007

Universal Search, SEM Scholarship Finalists, & Fun Finds

Huzzah! Rejoice! Yay!

Andy Beal has made my entire day and possibly my entire week telling me that Google is adopting a “universal search model” that give users a more integrated searching experience. That means one search for everything. Huzzah!

From Google’s Press Release, which went straight into my Junk Mail folder and I didn’t find it until three hours later (sweet!):

“Beginning today, the company will incorporate information from a variety of previously separate sources – including videos, images, news, maps, books, and websites – into a single set of results. At first, universal search results may be subtle. Over time users will recognize additional types of content integrated into their search results as the company advances toward delivering a truly comprehensive search experience.”

The amount of joy this news is bringing me confirms the fact that I am officially a geek. But I don’t care because I’m too busy being excited.

I very much heart the idea of being able to enter in my query and have Google provide me with all of the relevant information, not just relevant Web pages, but video, news, blogs, and more. For me, this has always been where search is going and I’m totally psyched that Google has found a way to give this to me.

As Andy notes, this will undoubtedly have an impact on search engine optimization. If you thought trying to get a site ranked in just ten available spots was difficult, wait until your ten spots are reduced to three or four. To be competitive, SEOs are going to have to optimize all forms of content, not just the traditional Web page. Aren’t you excited?

More Google Searchology News

There’s lots more news coming out of today’s Google Searchology event. TechCrunch has been doing a wonderful of job of liveblogging it and keeping track of all the announcements. Besides the launch of a universal search mode, Google has also announced more integration for Google Video, a new navigation bar for Universal Search, on-the-fly query translations, and Google Experimental, a place where users can go to experiment with Google’s latest ideas. Just when you think the other engines are catching up, Google goes ahead and kicks them in the face.

Are You An Upcoming SEO Hot Shot?

I don’t know, is your entry on this list? Andy Beal posted the five finalists for his 2nd SEM Scholarship. The lucky finalists will now go before Andy’s stellar, and frankly kind of scary, panel of judges before the winner is announced on Monday. So much excitement!

Fun Finds

I stalk Bruce. I wouldn’t have mentioned it but my stalking of him led me to this fun video interview he did during Ad:Tech San Francisco. It’s nice to know while I was watching my fingers bleed, Bruce was enjoying the limelight and being fawned over for being the rock star he is.

Kim and her obviously kickass daughter got me all choked up. Again. Seriously, I don’t know if I can handle the waterworks every time I go and read Kim’s blog. I finally had to tell her as much as I love her and her blog, make me cry again and we’re breaking up. :)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/16/07 at 3:39 PM | Comments (4)
See more entries in Google

Nobody Likes a Grumpy, Codependent Blogger

I’ve been called a whiny blogger, a complaining blogger, an annoying blogger who has no idea what she’s talking about and should just go away, but never a grumpy blogger. However, reading Darren Rowse’s post yesterday on How Not to Become a Grumpy Blogger I fear I may be on my way to becoming one. I give me another 6 months before I start firing things at Susan’s head for no reason. (No, see, it’s different because now I only do it when I have a reason. See? Different.) [Right now, I have warning and can duck. --Susan]

Darren goes in depth to explain all the ways not to turn out grumpy; here’s his list summarized.

  1. Your Personal Worth Is Not Tied To Your Blog Performance
  2. Don’t Believe Your Own Press
  3. Work Life Balance
  4. Be A Relational Blogger
  5. Get Thick Skin

Yeah. With the exception of number two, I’m so totally screwed.

I shouldn’t say that; I’m getting better, but I’m still in trouble. A few months ago, my self-worth was entirely wrapped up in this little blog and how my daily blogging turned out. The other work was fun, but at the end of the day, if I wasn’t able to express something genuine in this blog I went home and beat the cats. That energy and frustration had to go somewhere and it went straight into their little meowing faces.

This was less than ideal.

The problem was I was still blogging with my newbie skin. It was all thin, and translucent and scary looking. Hearing people say mean things about me or blog about how disappointed they were probably affected me more than it should. You can only assure yourself that they don’t know the real you so many times before you’re rocking back and forth under your desk humming.

However, as I mature into the totally awesome blogger that I’m growing up to be (you laugh, you die), I’m realizing that Darren’s right. There does need to be a balance.

Darren’s post caught me because it touches on the evolution that takes place in blogging. You start out wanting people to like you and crying when they don’t, to realizing that you can’t please anyone and all you can do is be yourself and speak your mind. It’s the same for corporate blogs. They start out trying to be people-pleasers, taking advantage of this new and exciting technology, and then they realize all their customers want is to learn about the company and the people behind it. And you can’t fake that.

You have to forget about all the other stuff and just blog. You have to let the good press and the bad roll off your back. And you have to form relationships.

I actually think it’s the relationships you make that will become your saving grace in preventing you from becoming an unbearably grumpy blogger. No matter what kind of blogging you’re doing, you have to interact with others in your industry in order to reach the blogging nirvana that Darren talks about. I know Susan gets somewhat freaked out by this, but it’s possible that I speak to my blogging friends more then my non-industry friends. I can say pretty honestly that Facebook and a group of four ladies and one stalker have ruined my life in a really good way. [I'd judge but my meatspace friends would beat me for the hypocrisy.--Susan] Ha! Look at you pretending you have friends outside of the computer box. You kill me.

But it’s an evolution. I know I’m still at risk for turning into a grumpy blogger. My skin, though thicker, is still too thin. I still care if you don’t like me or if you say mean things about me. And my balance isn’t totally ironed out yet, but it’s better.

I’m going to try and heed Darren’s advice. Maybe print out those five little principles and tape them to my computer monitor where my picture of Rand used to be. (Sorry, Rand, it just didn’t work out.) They’re good points to remember as you continue blogging. I think it’s hard to start out adhering to them, but over time, if you’re going to have any long term success in this space, or “survive in the rough and tumble”, you have to listen to Darren.

Blog. Make friends. And have a life.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/16/07 at 3:19 PM | Comments (7)
See more entries in Blogging

Australian Search Engine Optimization Is Spam

It’s been a somewhat slow blogging week for me as I try to get caught up on things, but I didn’t want to let this one pass by. Andy Beal pointed us towards a hilarious The Age article that declares that most Australian search engine optimization firms are spammers. Here we go again.

I suppose The Age is filling in for Jason Calacanis as he takes his month-long reprieve away from blogging and SEO-bashing, reporting that most Australian search engine optimization firms are using spammy tactics to trick the search engines even though Google has given them clear guidelines to follow. You Aussies are such jerks!

Or actually maybe you're not: All of the The Age’s information came from multiple anonymous, but I’m sure very reputable, sources. One source refused to be named because he didn’t want Google to retaliate. That’s a totally legitimate fear. I’m sure Google has absolutely nothing better to do than waste its time blacklisting Google haters. They’re going to catch on to that Jason fellow any day now.

In fact, I bet it’s no coincidence that Jason and Matt are taking their vacations at the same time. Matt probably has him bound, gagged and locked up somewhere. Huzzah!

But I digress.

The bad press for Australian SEOs comes after Found Agency, a Sydney-based optimization firm, “virtually disappeared” from the Google index once it was caught using a click counter that linked back to the Found Agency site in order to boost its inbound links. It’s like SEO circa 2001 over there, and as usual, one bag apple spoils the bunch.

Obviously, it’s unfair to cast doubt on an entire industry because one company was found to be using dodgy tactics. There are plenty of SEO firms in the States playing on the other side of the line, but that doesn’t mean we all are. We’re not all snake oil salesmen, nor are we card cheats.

The Australian search engine optimization industry is still growing and maturing. There’s going to be a natural weeding out process when those using spammy techniques are going to learn their lessons the hard way. They’ll start teetering over the dark side and they’ll find themselves banned. I’m sure Australia has its group of “over-aggressive” SEOs as the article called them, but it’s unfair to label most SEOs as acting in that way. I’m sure there are plenty of reputable Australian search engine optimization firms to be found.

I’m not completely versed with the search engine optimization landscape down there but I can vouch for Bruce Clay Australia. I know that Jeremy and Des (who are totally awesome guys who should visit more often) run things the same way Bruce does here in the States. It’s pure white hat, tried and true, best practice search engine optimization.

I don’t want to get all self-promotion-y because that’s not my thing, but if you’re in Australia, and you’re not sure what’s right, what’s wrong and where the line is in optimization, Bruce will be in Sydney 6-8 August teaching the Australian SEO course. You may want to check it out. Whether you’re an SEO or a site owner, it’ll give you a chance to learn the basics and make sure the campaign you’re running is based on best practices.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/16/07 at 12:45 PM | Comments (6)
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

May 15, 2007

Search Engine Optimization Charity Contest Winners Revealed

Today’s the day we announce the winners of our SEO contest. You’re excited, aren’t you? Yeah, well, don’t be a jerky cheater and scroll down to find the names without reading the rest of the entry. I work hard to amuse you with my wit, let me have my moment, will you?

Okay!

So, as you may have read, we launched an SEO Charity Contest two weeks ago challenging search marketers to donate their time to help a worthy cause, offering a pretty incredible prize package as an added incentive. We were auctioning off a free pass to Search Marketing Expo (just 20 days away!), as well as a free pass to Bruce Clay’s SEO training course and the Advanced Certification Course. We thought it was a pretty sweet deal.

And apparently, so did you. We received in-depth analyses on a myriad of great-sounding charities. And because we received so many stellar applicants, we selected not only a Grand Prize Winner but a Totally Awesome Runner-Up (TARU).

The TARU will be awarded a free pass to Bruce’s SEO training and Advanced Certification Course being held July 16-19 in Simi Valley, CA.

And the winners of Bruce Clay’s SEO Contest are:

[cue drum roll]

  • Grand Prize Winner: Keri Morgret who partnered with Open Education Resource.
  • Totally Awesome Runner-Up: Cavan Moon who partnered with Chicago Canine Rescue Foundation. (Here’s hoping Cavan brings a puppy to training!)

Congrats to both Keri and Cavan! Enjoy your moment of fame and then scurry off and go buy your plane tickets. We can’t wait to meet both of you.

To read more about Keri, Cavan and their causes, check out the Feature Article in today’s SEO Newsletter.

To those that were unlucky this time around or wanted to enter but were unable to, have no fear. As a result of the success of this contest, we will be offering similar opportunities in the future. Your next chance to win will be later this summer when we auction off a ticket to Search Engine Strategies San Jose. Keep your eyes on the blog for details!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/15/07 at 2:43 PM | Comments (7)
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May 11, 2007

Employee Googling, Facebook Gets Classified and a New Ask Mobile

Googling Your Employees is Totally Okay

Three federal judges got together, googled themselves, found the whole thing amusing, and then decided to uphold a previous court ruling that said it was okay for employers to perform Google searches on potential employees.

The decision stemmed from a case concerning David Mullins, a federal employee who was fired after he misused a government vehicle and credit card, and falsified travel documents. After David committed his brilliant acts, his employer conducted a Google search and found that David had a history of acting like a jackass. He was then fired.

David cried to the courts that his employer violated his right to “fundamental fairness” by performing the search. The courts and those of us with a brain disagreed. David, you were fired because you are were a government employee who misused a government vehicle and created phony receipts. That’s generally looked down upon.

And another thing? Life’s not fair.

Facebook Lets Users Sell Stuff

I’ve become somewhat Facebook-obsessed over the past few months, so the news that they’ll be opening up free classified ads is very cool for me. It’s a totally great way to guilt trip my friends into buying my stuff. Huzzah!

The New York Times says users can choose to show their listings to only their designated friends or to anyone located in one of their defined networks (high school, college, company, geographic region, employment, etc). Classified listings can be made to appear on their profile pages or be sent out via their news feeds, which users immediately see upon logging onto the site.

I wonder if the new classifieds will take advantage of their recent Oodle or Jobster partnerships? Are job boards next? Did I mention that Hitwise reported that amount of time spend on social sites is three times that of news and media sites?

Coming Soon: Ask Mobile GPS

Search Engine Land comments on Reuters and the Wall Street Journal’s reports that Ask.com is gearing up to launch a new mobile service named Ask Mobile GPS on Monday, which will combine IAC properties like Citysearch, Ticketmaster, Evite and others.

Greg Sterling has a chance to demo the service and said:

I was impressed with [Ask Mobile GPS’] many features and capabilities. But the most interesting and impressive aspects of it from my point of view involved the integration your contacts, the application's content and tools and GPS: the capacity to send my location information very simply to many people simultaneously through my contact list.

No more having to try and locate street signs to explain to people where I am when I get lost and they need to come get me ASAP before the man with the shifty eyes makes his move? Sweet!

Fun Finds

Danny does an excellent job of defending search engine optimization. Again.

Seth Godin shows readers how the traffic-obsessed are misusing Google Analytics.

Nathan shows us how to run Outlook in iGoogle. Totally cool.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/11/07 at 4:55 PM | Comments (0)
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Revelations From Google’s Annual Press Meeting

There are lots of great tidbits and sound bites seeping out from Google’s annual press and shareholder’s meeting that was held Thursday. Lucky for us, Andy Beal is all over it and breaks the coverage into four bite-size, topic-centric sections. [1,2,3,4] Thanks Andy!

Some key things I took from the meeting coverage:

Google’s No Longer Just About Search

[Please look surprised. It makes me feel important.]

Everyone’s reporting that Google has a new tagline that better describes their mission for the future. The new motto is “Search, ads and apps”. I’m not sure if this is meant to be the new “don’t be evil” or “organizing the world’s information” or if Eric Schmidt threw out a phrase and the press made it sexy by calling it “Google’s new tagline”. We’ll see if Google starts throwing it around in product launches and whatnot.

About the new mission, Eric noted:

“The move is less a strategy shift than a new message — a way for Google to talk about its disparate initiatives in a way shareholders and the public can readily understand.”

I like the new motto/tagline/mission statement/whatever the hell you want to call it. It reinforces that Google is first and foremost about search, with a little ads and apps thrown in to make lots of money for good measure. By increasing transparency and telling users what it's about, it helps Google avoid the Chicken Little meltdown users typically have when Google starts straying from search and getting more into applications.

Google’s Feeling Confident

Historically, Google would snatch up small startups as a way of hiring new engineers but that’s changing somewhat. Eric says the Google of today is finally comfortable purchasing larger companies (YouTube, DoubleClick) in order to build out their portfolio.

That doesn’t mean Google is no longer interested in small, scrappy startups, though. According to Eric, Google continues to pick up small companies at least once a week. Kinda like an apple a day, I guess. Despite rumors, Eric promises that Google is not interested in buying Dow Jones, saying Google isn’t looking to buy businesses where they would own the rights to the content. That’s good. Can you imagine if Google broke from their “we’re not content producers” stance? Oye.

Stands By Censorship Decision

Despite the harsh criticism they’ve received, Google stands by its decision to abide by Chinese censorship laws and voted against a proposal that would have forced Google to not self-censor any of its products, as well as disclose any incident where censorship may have occurred. I commented back in October that I respected Google’s stance on this and I stand by that.

All in all, not a terrific amount of new information, but it’s nice to hear Eric Schmidt confirm what you’ve long believed about Google. Makes you feel less crazy.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/11/07 at 2:19 PM | Comments (0)
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Friday Recap

Happy Friday, people! I hope it’s as pretty where you are as it is in Southern California today. Don’t hate me if it’s not. I didn’t make you live there.

Fun Fact About Lisa: There are few things that defined my childhood/early teens better than Beverly Hills 90210. Sometimes my Brandon Walsh doll was the only one who understood me. This is why John Aboud and Michael Colton’s re-creation of the 90210 theme song is wickedly awesome. It will give you the strength to tackle the rest of your day.

Actually, I take that back.

Life is no longer worth living. Last week I found out my car will give me cancer and this week the news got even worse. Popcorn will give me lung cancer, the iPod has killing powers, drinking Starbucks is equal to devil worship, and Google says Americans are dumb. I’m going to go sit in my Aveo until I taste like cancer.

If the sad state of the world has left you yearning for a good cry, here’s a list of the 25 Most Exquisitely Sad Songs in the Whole World to get you started. You supply the tissues.

If you’re not going to sit in your cancer-inducing car and wait for death, you’ll need to learn how to fake a smile. The trick is to look interested without looking like a deranged psycho. (Pay attention, Susan. You’ll need this for when we let you out for SMX Seattle.) [Wait, you're going to make me talk to people? I thought I got to sit in a corner and blog then go back to my room. --Susan] You’re my “boss”. I can’t technically make you do anything. Bruce, however, can. You may want to talk to someone about being medicated that week, and for your brother's wedding, and possibly for the rest of your life.

Something for new parents to keep in mind: Babies and cobras do not make good playmates. Keep the baby away from the cobra.

Someone’s lying and claiming that Gmail users are young and wealthy. We are? Maybe they meant Gmail founders are young and wealthy. I’m just young.

MarketingDrone conducted a super scientific test to see which presidential candidate is running the best search engine marketing campaign. Head over there to find out the winner, but here are two takeaways: John Edwards is SEM retarded and Rudy Giuliani is an elitist. (It’s okay; I’m from New York, I can say that.)

ResourceShelf shows that we’re not too concerned with others guessing our passwords. It’s probably bad that all my passwords are written on a Post-it and taped to my desk lamp, huh?

Special thanks to Vanessa Fox for trying to ruin my day. The one Friday we don’t get doughnuts and she has to rub it in our face. Real nice, Vanessa.

Nathan Weinberg had some fun with Google Suggest this week and I giggled through the whole thing like the little girl I secretly am. It was sad in a very adorable way.

Seth Godin does an excellent job summing up the essence of Web 2.0.

Jeremy Zawodny tried to trick us all with a riddle that involves a giraffe, an elephant and a refrigerator. I got the riddle, however, I can’t for the life of me spell refrigerator. Where does the “d” go?

WebProNews discovered a social network for the unemployed called Layoffspace. Maybe the reason these people don’t have jobs is because they spend too much time on social networking sites. (And don’t get paid for it like I do.) Just a thought.

Reader Poll: It’s Friday afternoon. Which route do you take to your office? I’m a red line girl. It limits the chance of Bruce finding out that I am once again barefoot.

Things I Learned From BoingBoing This Week:

That’s it from me. Remember that Sunday is Mother’s Day. It’s not something you want to forget, especially if you forgot your mother’s birthday last year. Right, Susan? [This time, it's totally Robert's fault. I asked him weeks ago what we were doing for her this year and he failed utterly.--Susan] - I'm so sorry, Mrs. Esparza.

[Speaking of daughters and birthdays: Happy birthday, Mom!]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/11/07 at 12:05 PM | Comments (6)
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May 10, 2007

Bruce Clay’s SEO Contest Ends Tomorrow

Do you hear that?

The sirens? The rip roaring sirens? They’re alerting you that tomorrow, Friday, May 11, is the last day to submit your site analysis to enter our search engine optimization contest benefiting a non-profit organization. This is your final chance to volunteer to help a deserving cause and put yourself in the running for a free pass to next month’s inaugural Search Marketing Expo Advanced in Seattle and Bruce Clay’s SEOToolSet training and Advanced Certification course. That’s a near $4,000 incentive for something we know most people would love to do for free.

Remember, you need to send us a site analysis for the non-profit you partnered with explaining in 1,000 words or less why that site would benefit from an organic search engine optimization campaign. Tell us what they’re doing right, where they can improve and how you can help. Be sure to analyze their site, not just tell us why they're a worthy cause. We want to see your ability to recognize problems and come up with a plan.

You don’t have to specialize in search engine optimization to enter, but you should have some basic knowledge, as the conference you will be attending is marked as advanced.

Our inboxes metaphorically close tomorrow at 11:59 PST. Get those entries in. Submit your site review to Susan or Lisa.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/10/07 at 5:20 PM | Comments (4)
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A Lesson In Reputation Management (& The Boston Red Sox)

10e20 had an interesting post this morning about managing celebrities online and using social media sites like Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube and the blogosphere to push down bad press and highlight positive news. It’s a rather logical principle: get high-ranking social media sites and blogs to link to positive news about you (interviews, bios, press mentions, etc) in order to push down the articles written by that guy who you call you a giant, self-absorbed idiot that one time. (Okay, three times.)

Utilize social media to control the conversation about your company, your client, yourself. Social media sites are a great way to manage a reputation management campaign because the sites tend to rank well in the engines and they encourage natural linking. By creating and managing profiles on social media sites it allows you to take control of the most important keyword you have – your name.

They also help you to clean up public relations nightmares as they’re happening, especially if you have a blog.

Famed Boston Red Sox pitcher and owner of the legendary bloody sock Curt Shilling made some controversial remarks about Barry Bonds on Tuesday during a radio show. He got caught up in the moment, said things he shouldn’t have said, and put himself into a volatile situation. It could have turned into a seriously ugly situation. To be honest, I was kind of waiting for it to erupt.

But it didn’t; Curt got out relatively unscathed thanks largely to the public apology Curt issued the next day on his blog. Yes, Curt Shilling is a card carrying member of the blogosphere.

In his post, Curt apologized for his remarks, acknowledged the error, and then discussed the issue in an articulate matter. He was genuine and sincere, and as a result he immediately changed the conversation. The news headlines weren’t about Curt mouthing off on his radio show; they were about how Curt took responsibility, how he’s communicating with his fans. That’s a much better conversation to have your name come up in.

His blogging also helped to maintain his public persona and paint Curt as a human, an all around nice guy who screws up just like everyone else. As I write this, 485 readers have left comments on Curt’s apology post, most praising him for taking responsibility for his words and apologizing. The handful still angry with Curt left remarks telling him so. Maybe they’ll feel better in the morning because Curt gave them a forum to express themselves. And if not, well, he’s no worse off.

Blogs and social media are powerful tools in helping small companies, large corporations and even celebrities take control of a conversation and spin it in a positive direction. It’s worth noting that after three months Curt’s blog ranks fourth for his name, with two official Major League Baseball sites and an ESPN profile ranking about him. That’s pretty powerful considering all the articles that have been written about Curt Shilling over the years. Three months and he’s already surpassed them.

Use blogs and social media to not only monitor the conversation that’s going on, but to control it. Is there a nasty article in the SERPs you’re trying to get rid of? Create a Flickr account, upload pictures associated with your company, and link out. Create a MySpace page for your company or yourself. Get on Facebook, on LinkedIn, etc. These pages typically rank well and are a good way to push down negative stories.

Have someone create a Wikipedia page for you and link out to positive resources about your company. The links from Wiki are nofollow, but the resource section provides users with a trail to find more information, which they can then cite on their own, fostering more natural links. [I don’t know how this is possible, but Curt Shillings doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. The stapler and dirty traitor Johnny Damon do, but Curt Shillings does not. Blasphemy. ](Thanks goes to Chris Winfield who alerted me Curt Shilling does have a Wikipedia page. I just can't spell. Heh.)

You want to make sure that when someone searches for your company, the top ten results are going to be positive. Or at least as positive as you can make them.

P.S.

I heart the Red Sox

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/10/07 at 3:55 PM | Comments (1)
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Sweat The Small Stuff: Search Engine Optimization Is In The Details

Over at Search Engine Land, Jill Whalen makes the argument that search engine optimization in the 21st century isn’t about the small stuff like keyword densities and Meta tags; it’s about building up site credibility and trust in your brand.

Is she right?

I’ll agree with her that branding and building credibility are key to any good organic search engine optimization campaign, especially as personalization becomes more prominent, but I think you’d be doing yourself a great injustice writing off “the small stuff” and declaring that “it doesn’t really matter”. Of course it matters.

What does Jill mean by “the small stuff”?

“I mean the picky details that paralyze people. Things like how many words or characters should be in a title tag. Or in what order those words should be placed. Or how many times a keyword phrase should be in the copy. Or how many keyword phrases any page can be optimized for. Or should commas be used in the Meta keyword tag. Or should file names have hyphens in them. Or should headlines use H1 tags (or H2 tags, or whatever).”

I won’t argue that optimizing your Meta tags and H1 tags will always give you a significant boost in the rankings, or that if you put one extra word in your title tags you’re doomed to Google Hell; it won’t.

I won’t argue that Meta tags and H1 tags hold the same importance as keyword research, link building and site architecture, or that they should paralyze you in fear. There has no been research to prove that self-induced paralysis has any effect on your rankings.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not important or that you should forget them. The details are important. If they play any part in the search engine’s algorithm, they should be part of your search engine optimization campaign. Why? Because if you’re ignoring them and your competition isn’t, it puts you at a disadvantage. You can’t afford that.

I’m going to say it again, mostly because I can: The details are important. The details are what give you that final push to overtake your competitors.

As Jill correctly notes, however, you don’t want to become so consumed with the details that you neglect the bigger stuff. You want to spend time doing keyword research, you want to spend time addressing usability concerns. She’s right, there’s no sense optimizing your Meta tags if your page is so buried the engines can’t find it anyway. You have to find a middle ground and balance your time effectively.

We’ve said this many times and I apologize if it sounds somewhat pretentious (I don’t mean it to be), but anything worth doing is worth doing right. It’s worth it to use nails to build a house instead of glue because in the end you have a stronger structure. One swift change in the weather won’t knock down a house made with nails. The same thing applies here. Don’t be an algorithm chaser.

Who wouldn’t love a way to streamline the optimization process? Writing Meta tags isn’t my idea of a good time, but it takes just as long to write a proper Meta tag as it does to create a crappy one. (Or to fight with yourself over whether you should include them in the first place). It takes just as much time to write a good Title as a bad one. Why not write a good one? Why wouldn’t you want your site to be the best it could be?

I’d love to cut down the amount of work that goes into a search engine optimization campaign. If we could do that, we could have more clients, we could create more great sites and maybe Susan and I could get separate offices. But there’s a reason for all those steps – they’re all important. The engines are working with 100+ different factors and you never know which one will be the tie breaker. Do you want to be kicked off the first page of the results because your competition optimized their Title and Description tags and you didn’t? That seems pretty ridiculous. Don’t put yourself in that situation.

The trouble with 'not sweating the small stuff' is that you end up with an okay site. Not a great site, just one that's 'good enough'. If all you're willing to optimize for is 'good enough' then your rankings will reflect that. Top 20 is good enough. Top 10 requires more work. Top 3? That requires sweating the small stuff.

If you're not willing to put in the work to be the best, why would any search engine consider you the best?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 05/10/07 at 11:54 AM | Comments (12)
See more entries in SEO, SEO Tips & Tricks, Search Engine Optimization

May 9, 2007

Microsoft, Mergers, Google Print Ads & Fun Finds

Bill Gates Reveals His Plans For 2007

Attending the eighth annual Strategic Account Summit, Bill Gates announced he will spend his last Microsoft year focusing on “search, buyers and sellers”, putting his energy into developing online and advertising services.

A mighty good plan after the Seattle Times reported that adCenter “didn’t have the smoothest launch” and has had a very difficult time attracting advertisers. Another sign of trouble – there’s been significant turnover by adCenter’s top management. Yikes.

Hopefully, Microsoft will be able to turn it around. From what I’ve heard about the pay per click service, the technology is there; it’s everything else that’s missing.

eBay and StumbleUpon: Together At Last?

More rumors that eBay and StumbleUpon may be shacking up are coming from TechCrunch. Duncan Riley reports that the two are in advanced talks for eBay to acquire StumbleUpon for a reported $75 million. Are you excited? Are you on the edge of your seat dying to see what happens? Yeah, me neither.

Why is eBay willing to pay so much for StumbleUpon? Om Malik says it’s all about the StumbleUpon toolbar:

By marrying the toolbar to Skype client, eBay can do an end run around Google’s dominance of the search business. A simple search box inside Skype client is all it would take. It is not that far fetched: Skype has been slowly integrating various different services (including PayPal) into its client, and slowly becoming eBay’s desktop backdoor.

Google Print Ads Integrated Into AdWords

Marketing Pilgrim had the scoop about Google Print Ads being integrated into Google AdWords. Andy provides screenshots and says advertisers are able to select a date range for ads to run, weekly spend and select newspapers by schedule, circulation and relative costs directly from the console. It was announced last month that Google would launch its program into extended beta.

The list of available newspapers is pretty exhaustive. There’s everything from the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald to the Fresno Bee to the Hartford Courant. Something for everyone.

Fun Finds

James Thomas recounts what happened when he gave up Google for two weeks. Did you hear that? Someone gave up Google and lived.

Jane Copland brought us the results of SEOmoz’s Web 2.0 awards. Normally, I never resist an opportunity to take a shot at a Mozzer (especially after Jane said I sucked)