Friday, March 12, 2004
Is 100x1 =1x100 -> High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum
Is 100x1 =1x100 -> High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum: "Those 1,000 inter-site links to my home page are going to potentially raise the PR to my home page. But if my home page starts out with a low PR (under 4, if my experience counts for anything), most of those 1,000 pages will never be crawled. It's a chicken-and-egg thing, and the only way to break it is to get links from outside the web site. "
How To Beat Google's 'Brandy' Update
How To Beat Google's 'Brandy' Update: "Brin, one of the founders of Google recently said,
Google has made five significant changes to its algorithmic formulas in the last two weeks."
1) Increase in Index Size
2) Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
This is a very significant new technology that Google has always been interested in, and the incorporation of LSI has been on the cards for some time. If you are an insomniac, then Yu et al.'s Cover Page: "Patterns in Unstructured Data" paper is quite helpful in explaining the concept, but, in short, LSI is about using close semantic matches to put your page into the correct topical context.
It's all about synonyms. LSI may see Google effectively remove all instances of the search keyword when analysing your page, in favour of a close analysis of other words. For example, consider the search term 'travel insurance'. LSI-based algorithms will look for words and links that pertain to related topics, such as skiing, holidays, medical, backpacking, and airports.
3) Links and Anchor Text
Links have always been the essence of Google, but the engine is steadily altering its focus. The importance of Page Rank (PR), Google's unique ranking system, is being steadily downgraded in favour of the nature, quality, and quantity of inbound and outbound link anchor text.
4) Neighbourhoods
Now, more than ever, has the question of who's linking to your site become critical. Links must be from related topic sites (the higher the PR the better); those links are seen to define your 'neighbourhood'
again consider the example of travel insurance, big insurance companies might buy links on holiday-related sites in order to boost their ranking. These businesses will actively invest in gaining targeted inbound links from a broad mix of sites. Consequently, their neighbourhoods appear tightly focused to Google.
5) Downgrading of Traditional Tag-Based Optimisation
Google has taken big steps to downgrade standard SEO techniques in favour of LSI and linking, which are far less manipulable by the masses.
(NB Yahoo have not...)
Concludes: to optimize your site successfully for Google has become a lot more difficult
Synonyms As LSI appears to be so significant, it is important to start looking carefully at the information architecture of each major section of your site, and to increase the use of related words. It is also important to re-examine the title tags to include this concept; good title tags have synonyms and avoid repetition of the key phrase.
Outbound Links Link to authority sites on your subject. In the travel insurance example, these authority sites could include places like the State department, major skiing directories, etc. Not only will this help with LSI, it also allows Google to define the neighbourhood more easily. Furthermore, you could engage in link swaps with other companies so that you gain the benefit of an on-topic, LSI-friendly link.
Inbound Links and Link to Us Pages Based on what we have just said, sites need to formulate a link development strategy. A budget needs to be set aside to buy links and develop mini-sites. Look to set up links with university sites (.edu or ac.uk), as these seem to be valuable given Google's informational bias.
Each section of a site should have its own link-to-us page. For example, HotScripts, the major computer script directory, has a great link-to-us page. By providing people with creatives and cut-and-paste HTML, you can vastly improve your chances of attracting reciprocal links to your site. You'll need to have a separate page for each section, to maximise on-topic inbound links.
Dodgiest...Mini-Sites It is important to develop separate mini-sites (also known as satellite sites) for each key subject of your Website. This is a useful tactic that improves your chances of appearing in the SERPs for your keywords. Furthermore, as the last three Google updates have shaken things up so much, having more than one site reduces the likelihood that your business will be disrupted by the engine's updates. However, Google is likely to view satellite sites as spam, so you must take some steps to reduce the chances of your being blacklisted on this basis.
First, make it as hard as possible to for Google to detect host affiliation between your main site and its mini-sites. Google may define sites to be owned by the same person if the first 3 octets of the sites' IP addresses are the same (e.g. 123.123.123.xxx). Therefore, if you're going to run mini-sites, put them on different Web hosts.
Secondly, use different domain names for your mini-sites, rather than sub-domains of your main site. In the past, Google has not penalised sub-domains, but the early results from the Brandy update show a considerable reduction in the presence of sub-domains in the SERPs.
Finally, be very careful with the linking strategy you use between mini-sites -- Google will look at the linking structure very critically. Don't plaster each of your sites with links to the others, and don't reciprocate links between the sites.
Google has made five significant changes to its algorithmic formulas in the last two weeks."
1) Increase in Index Size
2) Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
This is a very significant new technology that Google has always been interested in, and the incorporation of LSI has been on the cards for some time. If you are an insomniac, then Yu et al.'s Cover Page: "Patterns in Unstructured Data" paper is quite helpful in explaining the concept, but, in short, LSI is about using close semantic matches to put your page into the correct topical context.
It's all about synonyms. LSI may see Google effectively remove all instances of the search keyword when analysing your page, in favour of a close analysis of other words. For example, consider the search term 'travel insurance'. LSI-based algorithms will look for words and links that pertain to related topics, such as skiing, holidays, medical, backpacking, and airports.
3) Links and Anchor Text
Links have always been the essence of Google, but the engine is steadily altering its focus. The importance of Page Rank (PR), Google's unique ranking system, is being steadily downgraded in favour of the nature, quality, and quantity of inbound and outbound link anchor text.
4) Neighbourhoods
Now, more than ever, has the question of who's linking to your site become critical. Links must be from related topic sites (the higher the PR the better); those links are seen to define your 'neighbourhood'
again consider the example of travel insurance, big insurance companies might buy links on holiday-related sites in order to boost their ranking. These businesses will actively invest in gaining targeted inbound links from a broad mix of sites. Consequently, their neighbourhoods appear tightly focused to Google.
5) Downgrading of Traditional Tag-Based Optimisation
Google has taken big steps to downgrade standard SEO techniques in favour of LSI and linking, which are far less manipulable by the masses.
(NB Yahoo have not...)
Concludes: to optimize your site successfully for Google has become a lot more difficult
Synonyms As LSI appears to be so significant, it is important to start looking carefully at the information architecture of each major section of your site, and to increase the use of related words. It is also important to re-examine the title tags to include this concept; good title tags have synonyms and avoid repetition of the key phrase.
Outbound Links Link to authority sites on your subject. In the travel insurance example, these authority sites could include places like the State department, major skiing directories, etc. Not only will this help with LSI, it also allows Google to define the neighbourhood more easily. Furthermore, you could engage in link swaps with other companies so that you gain the benefit of an on-topic, LSI-friendly link.
Inbound Links and Link to Us Pages Based on what we have just said, sites need to formulate a link development strategy. A budget needs to be set aside to buy links and develop mini-sites. Look to set up links with university sites (.edu or ac.uk), as these seem to be valuable given Google's informational bias.
Each section of a site should have its own link-to-us page. For example, HotScripts, the major computer script directory, has a great link-to-us page. By providing people with creatives and cut-and-paste HTML, you can vastly improve your chances of attracting reciprocal links to your site. You'll need to have a separate page for each section, to maximise on-topic inbound links.
Dodgiest...Mini-Sites It is important to develop separate mini-sites (also known as satellite sites) for each key subject of your Website. This is a useful tactic that improves your chances of appearing in the SERPs for your keywords. Furthermore, as the last three Google updates have shaken things up so much, having more than one site reduces the likelihood that your business will be disrupted by the engine's updates. However, Google is likely to view satellite sites as spam, so you must take some steps to reduce the chances of your being blacklisted on this basis.
First, make it as hard as possible to for Google to detect host affiliation between your main site and its mini-sites. Google may define sites to be owned by the same person if the first 3 octets of the sites' IP addresses are the same (e.g. 123.123.123.xxx). Therefore, if you're going to run mini-sites, put them on different Web hosts.
Secondly, use different domain names for your mini-sites, rather than sub-domains of your main site. In the past, Google has not penalised sub-domains, but the early results from the Brandy update show a considerable reduction in the presence of sub-domains in the SERPs.
Finally, be very careful with the linking strategy you use between mini-sites -- Google will look at the linking structure very critically. Don't plaster each of your sites with links to the others, and don't reciprocate links between the sites.
Thursday, March 11, 2004
johnny.ihackstuff.com :: I'm j0hnny. I hack stuff.
Interesting article from SecurityFocus, via TheRegister, on how you or others can use Google to find things that aren't meant to be found. Talks about use of some advanced Google search techniques, and how passwords, budgets, medical records and more can be found (and how they inadvertantly get into Google in the first place).
johnny.ihackstuff.com :: I'm j0hnny. I hack stuff.: "Googledorks!
googleDork (gOO g�l'D�rk) noun 1. Slang. An inept or foolish person as revealed by Google"
Examples: Error Messages (31)
Really retarded error messages that say WAY too much!
Files containing juicy info (35)
No usernames or passwords, but interesting stuff none the less.
Files containing passwords (22)
PASSWORDS, for the LOVE OF GOD!!! Google found PASSWORDS!
johnny.ihackstuff.com :: I'm j0hnny. I hack stuff.: "Googledorks!
googleDork (gOO g�l'D�rk) noun 1. Slang. An inept or foolish person as revealed by Google"
Examples: Error Messages (31)
Really retarded error messages that say WAY too much!
Files containing juicy info (35)
No usernames or passwords, but interesting stuff none the less.
Files containing passwords (22)
PASSWORDS, for the LOVE OF GOD!!! Google found PASSWORDS!
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
'Traditional' airlines gaining online share - 09-Mar-04.
'Traditional' airlines gaining online share - 09-Mar-04.: "EasyJet remains the clear leader in the UK online transport sector according to the latest statistics from Hitwise, but full service schedule airlines like BA have gained ground.
The no-frills airline notched up a 12.9% share of visits to UK transport sites in the week ending 28 February. This has fallen from an average 14.4% share during December 2003.
However, the share was not taken by no-frills rival Ryanair, which remains in second spot with an 8.5% share of visits to UK transport sites. This hasn�t moved significantly from 8.3% in December 2003.
The largest gain by an airline in the top ten was made by Flybe, which came seventh in the table with a 2.8% share. It previously had less than 2% of the share of visits and didn�t make the top ten. Two other airlines increased their share of visits. BA went up from fourth place to third place with a 6.7% (it was 6.3% in Dec 2003) and bmi came tenth (below bmibaby in fifth) with a 2.35% share of visits.
Three rail websites remained in the top ten but all lost share in UK visits to transport sites since December. National Rail dropped from 7.1% in December to 5.4% in the week ending 28 February, thetrainline.com also lost share from 4.2% to 3.3% and the thetrainlinestore.com lost share from 3.4% to 2.7%. "
Martha Lane Fox cashes in - 09-Mar-04.: "Martha Lane Fox, has reportedly sold off two million shares in the company, raising some GBP4.6 million in the process."
Cross-channel travellers 'desert' airlines for the train - 09-Mar-04.: "Eurostar says travellers are deserting no-frills carriers to take the train.
The train operators ebullient attitude came amid news of record passenger numbers in January and February. Eurostar carried over 1.02 million passengers in the first two months of 2004, an increase of over 20% year-on-year. "
The no-frills airline notched up a 12.9% share of visits to UK transport sites in the week ending 28 February. This has fallen from an average 14.4% share during December 2003.
However, the share was not taken by no-frills rival Ryanair, which remains in second spot with an 8.5% share of visits to UK transport sites. This hasn�t moved significantly from 8.3% in December 2003.
The largest gain by an airline in the top ten was made by Flybe, which came seventh in the table with a 2.8% share. It previously had less than 2% of the share of visits and didn�t make the top ten. Two other airlines increased their share of visits. BA went up from fourth place to third place with a 6.7% (it was 6.3% in Dec 2003) and bmi came tenth (below bmibaby in fifth) with a 2.35% share of visits.
Three rail websites remained in the top ten but all lost share in UK visits to transport sites since December. National Rail dropped from 7.1% in December to 5.4% in the week ending 28 February, thetrainline.com also lost share from 4.2% to 3.3% and the thetrainlinestore.com lost share from 3.4% to 2.7%. "
Martha Lane Fox cashes in - 09-Mar-04.: "Martha Lane Fox, has reportedly sold off two million shares in the company, raising some GBP4.6 million in the process."
Cross-channel travellers 'desert' airlines for the train - 09-Mar-04.: "Eurostar says travellers are deserting no-frills carriers to take the train.
The train operators ebullient attitude came amid news of record passenger numbers in January and February. Eurostar carried over 1.02 million passengers in the first two months of 2004, an increase of over 20% year-on-year. "
BW Online | March 9, 2004 | Google's Ads -- and Minuses
BW Online | March 9, 2004 | Google's Ads -- and Minuses: "commerce and conflict sit poorly on the same Web page. Likewise, control and transparency often exist as opposing forces. How Google, the world's No. 1 search engine, balances these tensions could change the shape of the Internet.
'Google can make choices about what people see and what they don't see, and how it's ordered,' says John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. 'As more and more people use Google to access the Internet, that definitely raises some important policy questions.'"
Google has also been selling contextual advertising that associates specific ads with content, regardless of whether a keyword has been purchased. For example, in Google's AdSense program, an article about the Copacabana nightclub might draw ads from Brazilian resorts -- even if none of them had purchased the keyword Copacabana. This means that Google could be exercising editorial policy on third-party sites that are unaware Google is making these choices for them
'Google can make choices about what people see and what they don't see, and how it's ordered,' says John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. 'As more and more people use Google to access the Internet, that definitely raises some important policy questions.'"
Google has also been selling contextual advertising that associates specific ads with content, regardless of whether a keyword has been purchased. For example, in Google's AdSense program, an article about the Copacabana nightclub might draw ads from Brazilian resorts -- even if none of them had purchased the keyword Copacabana. This means that Google could be exercising editorial policy on third-party sites that are unaware Google is making these choices for them
Monday, March 08, 2004
Google PageRank Lunacy
Google PageRank Lunacy: "The quest by some to improve their Google PageRank score seems to have reached the point of sheer madness. Even common decency may be abandoned in futile attempts by desperate (or simply less educated) online marketers and others who will seemingly stop at nothing to try and gain links in hopes of seeing more green in their Google toolbar...
Programming a spam bot to relentlessly seek out guest books and comment areas to dump links back to your own pages is a "brute force" method that will produce little search engine gains, in my view.
But even if you don't believe me and my writings about effective link building (PDF), are you really prepared to commit yourself to the virtual desecration of someone's memorial site and bring pain to their loved ones to sell a ring tone? If so, then why not head out to your nearest cemetery with a can of spray paint and plaster your URL's on the tombstones. Your actions in the virtual world of the web are the same
"
Programming a spam bot to relentlessly seek out guest books and comment areas to dump links back to your own pages is a "brute force" method that will produce little search engine gains, in my view.
But even if you don't believe me and my writings about effective link building (PDF), are you really prepared to commit yourself to the virtual desecration of someone's memorial site and bring pain to their loved ones to sell a ring tone? If so, then why not head out to your nearest cemetery with a can of spray paint and plaster your URL's on the tombstones. Your actions in the virtual world of the web are the same
"
The future of search engine technology
Future...
The future of search engine technology: "Google?Ds AdSense can provide the contextual ad technology that would scan an email?Ds content to determine which ads are the most relevant to display.
With this technology in place, a simple provision within any Google Email Terms & Conditions would give the world?Ds largest search engine the necessary permission to serve up relevant ads to all users of its free email service"
The future of search engine technology: "Google?Ds AdSense can provide the contextual ad technology that would scan an email?Ds content to determine which ads are the most relevant to display.
With this technology in place, a simple provision within any Google Email Terms & Conditions would give the world?Ds largest search engine the necessary permission to serve up relevant ads to all users of its free email service"
Search engine news, on Web searching and search engine optimization
Search engine news, on Web searching and search engine optimization: "Google remains No. 1
(February 24 2004) According to a survey made by Nielsen/NetRatings, 39 percent of active US Internet surfers (59.3 million unique viewers) searched the Net using Google in January.
Right behind come Yahoo (30 percent) and MSN (another 30 percent). Next came AOL (15%) and Ask Jeeves (8%).
However, given that Google is no longer powering Yahoo's searches, this has really been a month of falling ratings for Google."
Google tops the search charts | CNET News.com
Google tops the search charts | CNET News.com: "In January, 39 percent of active Internet surfers--or 59.3 million unique viewers--used Google to do searches, while the search tools at Yahoo and MSN attracted approximately 30 percent each, according to data released by Nielsen/NetRatings on Monday. Yahoo had 45.7 million unique users, and MSN, 44.6 million...
Overall, 39 percent of Americans, or 114.5 million people, used a search engine during January, Nielsen said. That accounts for about 76 percent of the active online population. Each person spent about 40 minutes using search engines during the month. "
(February 24 2004) According to a survey made by Nielsen/NetRatings, 39 percent of active US Internet surfers (59.3 million unique viewers) searched the Net using Google in January.
Right behind come Yahoo (30 percent) and MSN (another 30 percent). Next came AOL (15%) and Ask Jeeves (8%).
However, given that Google is no longer powering Yahoo's searches, this has really been a month of falling ratings for Google."
Google tops the search charts | CNET News.com
Google tops the search charts | CNET News.com: "In January, 39 percent of active Internet surfers--or 59.3 million unique viewers--used Google to do searches, while the search tools at Yahoo and MSN attracted approximately 30 percent each, according to data released by Nielsen/NetRatings on Monday. Yahoo had 45.7 million unique users, and MSN, 44.6 million...
Overall, 39 percent of Americans, or 114.5 million people, used a search engine during January, Nielsen said. That accounts for about 76 percent of the active online population. Each person spent about 40 minutes using search engines during the month. "
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