- Michael Campbell's internet marketing secrets: "Issue is #38 published December 11 2003"
1) look for a spring shake up in search. Google
goes public with a rapid spike in price. Yahoo sells off their
stock and announces a switch to Inktomi. Google stock falls in
price, as word spreads that search domination is over.
2) Google algorithm change.... or just an angry executive?
There's a lot of theories flying around. Most can be dismissed
with a few clicks and a little research. Some people thought
it was an over optimization penalty, others a bug. Whatever it
was, and still is, Google has upset a lot of people...my conclusion is.... don't hit, play fair, hold hands
crossing the street, and always follow the Google guidelines
that say, "Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains
with substantially duplicate content."
3) more insight - and mathematical proof - into the Google
changes, be sure to read Leslie Rohde's research paper
entitled, "A Statistical and Experimental Analysis of Google's
Florida Update, using the link below.
Florida
Friday, December 12, 2003
Search engine news blog | Search Engine Lowdown
Search engine news blog | Search Engine Lowdown: "Google reps were scarce, with those manning the booth reluctant to talk about the recent update despite the constant requests from attendees. Google really was keeping a low profile at the event, not wanting to send their normal engineers to speak. As one of my co-workers put it, Google simply sent the �sacrificial lambs�."
A Merry Christmas for Content Writers at Search Engine Roundtable Weblog
A Merry Christmas for Content Writers at Search Engine Roundtable Weblog: "A Merry Christmas for Content Writers
Hi everyone-- I'm honored to be a part of this little adventure and hope to have some good discussions here.
For my inaugural post I'd like to mention a little gem from a post on High Rankings Forum's Florida update thread. (Seems every forum has one or ten.) The moderator Old Welsh Guy, in his normal brilliantly funny fashion, has composed a verse for a Christmas card to Google.
Your Algo sucks
times are now hard
here's your XXXXXX
Christmas card
He's kidding, of course (he did fine in the update), but it's pretty amusing.
The upshot of this (long, of course) thread, and the related (very long) threads on the other forums I frequent, is that:
1) Florida's been really hard on a lot of people. The jury's still out on the conspiracy theories, and there's currently a lot of debate among those who chose to make changes to their sites to recover rankings and those who made no changes-- it seems ranking are returning to many, and they're returning to both those who changed and those who didn't.
2) Content sites have fared well. Content seems to be as important as ever, if not more so. Which is a premise from which I will be making a lot more posts in the future: if content is king, how do I get some good content?
3) Don't take free traffic for granted. We're all looking forward to the day when Google has some decent competitors.
But, again, see #2: they all like good, quality content. "
Hi everyone-- I'm honored to be a part of this little adventure and hope to have some good discussions here.
For my inaugural post I'd like to mention a little gem from a post on High Rankings Forum's Florida update thread. (Seems every forum has one or ten.) The moderator Old Welsh Guy, in his normal brilliantly funny fashion, has composed a verse for a Christmas card to Google.
Your Algo sucks
times are now hard
here's your XXXXXX
Christmas card
He's kidding, of course (he did fine in the update), but it's pretty amusing.
The upshot of this (long, of course) thread, and the related (very long) threads on the other forums I frequent, is that:
1) Florida's been really hard on a lot of people. The jury's still out on the conspiracy theories, and there's currently a lot of debate among those who chose to make changes to their sites to recover rankings and those who made no changes-- it seems ranking are returning to many, and they're returning to both those who changed and those who didn't.
2) Content sites have fared well. Content seems to be as important as ever, if not more so. Which is a premise from which I will be making a lot more posts in the future: if content is king, how do I get some good content?
3) Don't take free traffic for granted. We're all looking forward to the day when Google has some decent competitors.
But, again, see #2: they all like good, quality content. "
Thursday, December 11, 2003
SEC rule may nudge Google toward IPO | CNET News.com
That ruling I mentioned...
SEC rule may nudge Google toward IPO | CNET News.com: "A private company must report its finances once it has more than 500 common shareholders--or stock-option holders--and $10 million in assets, according to section XII(g) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. That means a private company must file quarterly forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that disclose operating expenses, profits, partnerships, shareholders and many other details--a laborious process that can cost as much as $2 million annually."
SEC rule may nudge Google toward IPO | CNET News.com: "A private company must report its finances once it has more than 500 common shareholders--or stock-option holders--and $10 million in assets, according to section XII(g) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. That means a private company must file quarterly forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that disclose operating expenses, profits, partnerships, shareholders and many other details--a laborious process that can cost as much as $2 million annually."
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
More Florida...Search engine news blog | Search Engine Lowdown
Search engine news blog | Search Engine Lowdown: "Who will come out on top?
1. Those web sites that target more than just a few search terms. Your site should be relevant for more than just the generic phrases.
2. As I have always said, relevant links are the key, not just any link. Look at SEL, we've jumped to a PageRank of 7 with just 39 links, but each one of them is from a relevant site and not a single one solicited.
3. With Google now stemming search results, we no longer have to worry about whether to target the singular or plural search terms.
Don't panic, continue to make your site relevant for targeted search terms and don't employ spam techniques and you should weather the 'florida' storm"
1. Those web sites that target more than just a few search terms. Your site should be relevant for more than just the generic phrases.
2. As I have always said, relevant links are the key, not just any link. Look at SEL, we've jumped to a PageRank of 7 with just 39 links, but each one of them is from a relevant site and not a single one solicited.
3. With Google now stemming search results, we no longer have to worry about whether to target the singular or plural search terms.
Don't panic, continue to make your site relevant for targeted search terms and don't employ spam techniques and you should weather the 'florida' storm"
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
A few quotes from In conversation with... Daniel Dulitz - Google Engineer.
people are just casually surfing the web they can see
what Google's PageRank impression of that page is. And
that's great. I'm all for people doing that. But for
search engine marketing, search engine optimisation
purposes, yeah, I'd say that there's too much emphasis
placed on what that PageRank number actually is.
Our job as a search engine is to return the best results
that we can. And we're not naive enough to think that we
can condense every indicator about a page into a number
from one to ten. We certainly can't do that. So, if people
are trying to look at what we're doing and their idea is
based on that single number from one to ten, then ...
well, they're not going to be effective in figuring out
what we're doing at...
I think part of the problem also, is that people are
fascinated too much about what kind of rank they have at
search engines – regardless of whether it's any use having
that rank. You know, whether it brings them any traffic or
not. And those issues seem to become just so important to
them. As far as I'm concerned, I get a better idea of what
traffic I'm getting, and from where, just by looking at
log files – not by doing a rank check to see if I'm still
number one for my own name spelt backwards...
...Much more important than checking your rank on search
engines... In fact, I think THE most important thing
you can possibly do is track conversions of users who
visit your site – and to track that by referrer – yes, as
you say, to analyse your own site logs.
Then you can work backwards from there, you can see what
referrers are doing a good job for you. Are these
directory or links from other sites providing a lot of
good traffic AND are search engines providing good
traffic. And then you can look at changes in those
relationships. You can detect between yesterday and today
that there are fewer conversions from, say, Alta Vista
than there used to be. Then you have a real live person
case asking the question...
Mike G
So, as I said, you can learn a lot more about your success
from your log files than you will doing a rank check for a
keyword or phrase, which even if you're number one,
doesn't convert for you...
Florida Google Dance Resources
MOST COMPREHENSIVE TO DATE:
Florida Google Dance Resources: "Florida Google Dance Resources
By Danny Sullivan, Editor
December 7, 2003
This page summarizes articles from Search Engine Watch and resources from elsewhere that pertain to major changes to Google's search algorithm that happened in November and December 2003. 'Florida' is the nickname that's been given to this particular wave of changes known as the Google Dance."
Florida Google Dance Resources: "Florida Google Dance Resources
By Danny Sullivan, Editor
December 7, 2003
This page summarizes articles from Search Engine Watch and resources from elsewhere that pertain to major changes to Google's search algorithm that happened in November and December 2003. 'Florida' is the nickname that's been given to this particular wave of changes known as the Google Dance."
How to Get Google to Deep Crawl
How to Get Google to Deep Crawl: "Too many people focus on driving crawlers to the home page in order to cultivate PageRank. Toolbar PR is only a representation, an estimate, of many factors that go into determining a website's popularity. On a scale of 1-10, it is a very rough measure. See this interview with a Google Engineer and take note of what he says about the shortcomings of the Google PR shown in the toolbar.
Concentrate instead on creating content that is good enough that other webmasters will feel it is worth linking to. I know, this won't work in every business model- that's when ingenuity and creativity come into play."
Concentrate instead on creating content that is good enough that other webmasters will feel it is worth linking to. I know, this won't work in every business model- that's when ingenuity and creativity come into play."
Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone
Brett_Tabke, top tips from 2002 - a few choice items... from " a condensed SEO bible."
Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: "The following will build a successful site in 1 years time via Google alone. It can be done faster if you are a real go getter, or everyones favorite a self starter."
H) Insite Cross links.
(cross links in this context are links WITHIN the same site)
Link to on topic quality content across your site. If a page is about food, then make sure it links it to the apples and veggies page. Specifically with Google, on topic cross linking is very important for sharing your pr value across your site. You do NOT want an "all star" page that out performs the rest of your site. You want 50 pages that produce 1 referral each a day and do NOT want 1 page that produces 50 referrals a day. If you do find one page that drastically out produces the rest of the site with Google, you need to off load some of that pr value to other pages by cross linking heavily. It's the old share the wealth thing.
P) Gimmicks.
Stay far away from any "fades of the day" or anything that appears spammy, unethical, or tricky. Plant yourself firmly on the high ground in the middle of the road.
The multiplier effect of many pages is not mentioned often enough, and IMO the phrase: "You do NOT want and "all star" page that out performs the rest of your site. You want 50 pages that produce 1 referral each a day and do NOT want 1 page that produces 50 referrals a day."
Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: "The following will build a successful site in 1 years time via Google alone. It can be done faster if you are a real go getter, or everyones favorite a self starter."
H) Insite Cross links.
(cross links in this context are links WITHIN the same site)
Link to on topic quality content across your site. If a page is about food, then make sure it links it to the apples and veggies page. Specifically with Google, on topic cross linking is very important for sharing your pr value across your site. You do NOT want an "all star" page that out performs the rest of your site. You want 50 pages that produce 1 referral each a day and do NOT want 1 page that produces 50 referrals a day. If you do find one page that drastically out produces the rest of the site with Google, you need to off load some of that pr value to other pages by cross linking heavily. It's the old share the wealth thing.
P) Gimmicks.
Stay far away from any "fades of the day" or anything that appears spammy, unethical, or tricky. Plant yourself firmly on the high ground in the middle of the road.
The multiplier effect of many pages is not mentioned often enough, and IMO the phrase: "You do NOT want and "all star" page that out performs the rest of your site. You want 50 pages that produce 1 referral each a day and do NOT want 1 page that produces 50 referrals a day."
What Happened To My Site On Google?
Danny's 3 basic "golden Rules"
1) Have a good, descriptive HTML title tag that reflects the two or three key search phrases you want your page to be found for.
2) Have good, descriptive body copy that make use of the phrases you want to be found for in an appropriate manner.
3) Seek out links from other web sites that are appropriate to you in content"
Three golden rules of link building:
1) Get links from web pages that are read by the audience you want.
2) Buy links if visitors that come solely from the links will justify the cost.
3) Link to sites because you want your visitors to know about them
So not much has changed re the basics:
Search Engine Placement Tips: "Search Engine Placement Tips By Danny Sullivan, Editor October 14, 2002 "
On pageRank:
Google never used the PageRank algorithm to rank web pages. PageRank is simply a component of that overall algorithm, a system Google uses to measure how important a page is based on links to it. It has always -- ALWAYS -- been the case that the context of links to the page was also considered, as well as the content on the page itself
1) Have a good, descriptive HTML title tag that reflects the two or three key search phrases you want your page to be found for.
2) Have good, descriptive body copy that make use of the phrases you want to be found for in an appropriate manner.
3) Seek out links from other web sites that are appropriate to you in content"
Three golden rules of link building:
1) Get links from web pages that are read by the audience you want.
2) Buy links if visitors that come solely from the links will justify the cost.
3) Link to sites because you want your visitors to know about them
So not much has changed re the basics:
Search Engine Placement Tips: "Search Engine Placement Tips By Danny Sullivan, Editor October 14, 2002 "
On pageRank:
Google never used the PageRank algorithm to rank web pages. PageRank is simply a component of that overall algorithm, a system Google uses to measure how important a page is based on links to it. It has always -- ALWAYS -- been the case that the context of links to the page was also considered, as well as the content on the page itself
What Happened To My Site On Google?
Review of Florida dance in Q&A form, conclusions included below:
What Happened To My Site On Google?: "What Happened To My Site On Google?
By Danny Sullivan, Editor December 7, 2003 "
Smart businesses will realize they need to budget for this, just as they budget for advertising and to obtain leads in the real world. It's the rare and exceptional company that can get by on PR alone ... free listings aren't guaranteed. Yes, search engines can do what they want. Yes, it's foolish for anyone to have built a business around getting what are essentially free business phone calls via Google.
My advice is unchanged -- do the basic, simple things that have historically helped with search engines. Have good titles. Have good content. Build good links. Don't try to highly-engineer pages that you think will please a search engine's algorithm. Focus instead on building the best site you can for your visitors, offering content that goes beyond just selling but which also offers information, and I feel you should succeed.
Google and other search engines will continue altering their ranking systems, just as they always have done -- and that listings will change, sometimes dramatically, as a result.
What Happened To My Site On Google?: "What Happened To My Site On Google?
By Danny Sullivan, Editor December 7, 2003 "
Smart businesses will realize they need to budget for this, just as they budget for advertising and to obtain leads in the real world. It's the rare and exceptional company that can get by on PR alone ... free listings aren't guaranteed. Yes, search engines can do what they want. Yes, it's foolish for anyone to have built a business around getting what are essentially free business phone calls via Google.
My advice is unchanged -- do the basic, simple things that have historically helped with search engines. Have good titles. Have good content. Build good links. Don't try to highly-engineer pages that you think will please a search engine's algorithm. Focus instead on building the best site you can for your visitors, offering content that goes beyond just selling but which also offers information, and I feel you should succeed.
Google and other search engines will continue altering their ranking systems, just as they always have done -- and that listings will change, sometimes dramatically, as a result.
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