Search Engine Optimization [10]
6th edition of my SEO ebook just released
I've just released the 6th edition of my SEO ebook; Search Engine Optimization Strategies: Top 30 Search Engine Optimization & Submission Strategies For Dummies. It offers 30 additional pages of new and updated content, including 4 insider tips on how to profit from the recent Google AdWords Affiliate Policy change that rocked the affiliate world.
WebPosition Gold 3 is released
WebPosition Gold, a popular search engine optimization software suite, has been revamped and released as WebPosition Gold 3. The latest version offers more than just a few new features. It sports a totally new look. And now offers keyword research from Wordtracker and integration with WebTrends, a popular web traffic analytics service. For more information, visit WebPosition-Gold-Pro-Software.com.
Overture Launches Site Match
Overture has launched Site Match, a paid inclusion program that guarantees inclusion, 48 hour reindexing, and performance tracking of web pages for Yahoo!, AltaVista, AllTheWeb and other sites that are part of the Yahoo! Search network. Results are based on relevancy. Overture will offer programs for large and small advertisers. Large advertisers submitting more than 1,000 URLs for inclusion pay a fixed cost-per-click fee of up to $1, while smaller advertisers pay an annual fee, in addition to a cost-per-click fee of 15 or 30 cents, depending on the category of the content.
Commission Junction Launches Search Engine Marketing Service
Commission Junction launches CJ Search, a managed search solution that combines the expertise of a CJ Search specialist with a network of experienced pay-for-performance search publishers and best of breed offers for paid search, paid inclusion and organic search. Whether you are in Commission Junction's network or not, a CJ Search specialist will create and manage a customized program designed to meet your specific goals. They will handle everything — from developing ad copy, creating keyword lists, leveraging your publishers to daily managing your search engine relationships — all while providing complete ROI reporting, analysis and constant program refinement. [Full story: CJ Search - Commission Junction]
Investigation Reveals That Paid Inclusion Does Influence Search Engine Rankings
Here's an interesting article on paid inclusion and its effects on search engine rankings--An investigation by BusinessWeek, based on more than 30 interviews and analysis of dozens of Internet searches, suggests that customers that pay for their web pages to be included in search engines, such as MSN and Lycos, frequently fare better than those that don't. Out of 20 advertisers and online marketing pros interviewed by BusinessWeek, 10 had experienced firsthand a boost in search-engine rankings when they signed up for paid inclusion. [Full story: Web Searches: The Fix Is In - BusinessWeek Online]
76% of Marketers Rate Search Engine Marketing As More Successful Than Banner-Style Ads
Search engine optimization will continue to be the hottest segment of online marketing into 2004 according to new research from Jupiter Research. According to Jupiter's research 76 per cent of marketing executives that used search engine marketing rated it as more successful than banner-style advertising and 64 per cent plan on increasing their spending--And about time too!
Discovery.com's Search Engine Traffic Rose 300% After Optimizing its Homepage
Discovery.com saw a 300% increase in shopper traffic it received from search engine Google.com after it redesigned its home page based on analytics information gleaned from Omniture, Inc.’s SiteCatalyst analytics tool. Data from SiteCatalyst, which was implemented by Discovery.com late last year to gather visitor data and improve performance and revenues, revealed that the store’s traffic from Google was far below an industry average of 35%. Determining that this was the result of its dynamic home page design, a format not easily recognized and grabbed by Google’s engine, Discovery redesigned the home page in a standard HTML format and saw the increase in traffic in just 30 days. [Full story: Analytics boost Discovery.com’s search engine traffic by 300%, sales by 35% - Internet Retailer]
Big Sites Lining Up to Sell Google PageRank?
Here's an interesting discussion about a major web site selling direct text links, which some people think is another way of selling Google PageRank ratings -- Looking at the FoxNews website, I noticed peculiar looking links on the front page under the "advertising links." Many of these are direct links to business sites. One can look at them two ways. Fox is selling PageRank or they are, in fact, just selling small text link ads. My gut tells me more is going on here than just selling text ads. For one thing, there's one link there that says - "Buy This Link" The wording on that raises eyebrows. Also notice that the second link in the left column has a PR7 thanks to Fox's PR8. However, only 14 backlinks show up for that site. There are more examples of this among those links. According to the company that is selling these links, and it is listed among them as 2 different but similar urls, links are being sold for $500 to $5,000. However, that company has a Gray Bar on both of its sites. Maybe Fox is not intentionally selling PageRank, but this company which is contracting the sales of these links know what they are doing when they are selling these links. [Discussion thread: A PR8 site selling pagerank? - WebmasterWorld]
Macromedia Creates Developer Tool Kit to Convert Flash Web Sites
Macromedia, the maker of the popular Flash tool for Web animations, is courting search engines in a bid to raise the visibility of Flash-created content, which is frequently passed over in Web indexes. Macromedia has created a developer tool kit to help fix some of the stumbling blocks to reading graphics-laden pages versus text pages. The tool kit is designed to convert a Flash file's text and links into HTML for indexing. So far, Fast Search & Transfer's AllTheWeb has announced support for the tool and started indexing Flash pages. Google has said it can extract links from Flash pages but has not adopted the developer kit Macromedia issued. [Full story: Translating Flash for search sites CNET News]
Google Changes Ranking Algorithms for Expired Domains
A Google rep said in the WebmasterWorld forum that this month' update introduced some "algorithmic improvements for spam issues." He continued, "One resulting improvement with this index is better handling of expired domains--the authority for a domain will be reset when a domain expires, even though dangling links to the expired domain are still out on the web. We'll be rolling this change in over the next few months starting with this index. This basically means Google won't take pre-existing links of expired domain names into account anymore. You can get that domain into Google. You just won't get credit for any pre-existing links. [Discussion thread: Good news about expired domains - WebmasterWorld]