"Search Engine Journal" - 7 new articles
- Is Link Building Worth Your Time?
- 5 Reasons Why Link Building through Guest Posts is Bad Strategy
- Search Soliloquy
- Top 10 Google Buzz Kills : Privacy, Noise & Clutter
- 4 FireFox Addons to Give You Website Statistics at a Glance
- Google Maps Gets the Labs Love
- Google Gets Into The SEO Consulting Business
- More Recent Articles
- Search Search Engine Journal
Is Link Building Worth Your Time?
You have proposals to write, meetings to attend, strategies to devise and posts to blog – where does building links work into your daily routine? I want to know.
If your work week is anything like mine, you probably don't spend time building relationships with PR execs, journalists, bloggers, and webmasters across a mind boggling range of industries in the hopes that one day this relationship will results in a link for a client. Many of the link building blog posts I read do promote relationship building in the real world to facilitate link oriented relationship building online, a logical strategy.
But unless you are a full time link builder, I can't see where SEO consultants have the time to do this. The clear answer is have someone with link building knowledge do the work for you.
Queue the "Gasp! Buy links?!", look of shock, and head shaking. I've bought links and I know many SEOs (who would be horrified to be named) who have done the same. What I can't agree with is this attitude that paid link building is for the cheaters and spammy SEOs.
The preconception that buying links is dishonest and "cheating" the system prevails, it's ingrained by industry leaders and SEO blogs that genuine organic links are the only answer for strong "long term results" (is anything long term in SEO?). In my experience buying links can aid in jump starting a new campaign, so if it's a cost effective use of my time to have someone else link build for a fee – why not?
And I'm not the only one doing this, I just feel like the only one who will admit to it. Major companies like Text Link Ads wouldn't be popping up at industry events if their target audience wasn't responding like we do – so let's shake off this holier-that-thou façade.
When it comes to putting down £ for links, I think the best way to go about it is avoid the major link selling companies and go straight to the webmasters and bloggers. This still takes time, but if you have a decent client site and a bit of £ is involved, chances a webmaster will return your email improve greatly.
The big danger is buying spammy links, often from foreign agencies. But I have worked with some small Eastern European link building consultants who got some great links with high PR.
What do you think about buying links? Whether it be through an agency with a backlog of sites or an independent link consultant – I think the activity warrants a better reputation than it has. So starting with me, I buy link building services; I'm proud of it because it means I better optimise my day to focus on more important consulting activities.
Chelsea Blacker is a London based search consultant currently working at Base One Search With a background in SEO & PPC cultivated at Promediacorp in NYC, Chelsea focuses on engaging B2B brands in social media and online PR. If you want to further procrastinate from getting on with your real work, check out her current Marketing Pilgrim post You Know You Work in Search When… or say hi to her on twitter @ChelseaBlacker
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.
Is Link Building Worth Your Time?
5 Reasons Why Link Building through Guest Posts is Bad Strategy
Guest posts are a popular way many SEOs build 'valuable' links to their website. But this strategy may not be as valuable as you think.
Since Google is such a logical monster, those links you're building might not be as valuable as you think for the following reasons:
- Expertise vs. True Relevance – those links prove that you have thought leadership in your realm of expertise, but they do not prove that your website is relevant for certain search terms and deserves to rank higher in the SERPs because the links aren't always from a strict editorial about you or a highly relevant mention
- Website Semantic Irrelevance – the guest posts are not always on domains that are relevant to what your website is all about (i.e. im posting on an SEO website, when my company makes custom men's dress shirts)
- Page Semantic Irrelevance – the keywords within the guest post are not always optimized for keywords you want to rank on, so that random backlink with optimized anchor text isn't as powerful as it can be
- It's a Cheap Tactic – with good copy, and decent knowledge of a certain space, it's not hard to guest post anywhere. Google may see this as a cheap tactic because of how easy it is for an SEO to guest post on a high-PR blog without that post being an unbiased editorial or mention of your company
- Duplicate Content Complications – the byline with your self-serving links might be seen as 'duplicate content' (if you copy and paste your signatures for guest posts) that was plugged into all these other websites, therefore devaluing the links' power. But this can be easily resolved by creating a unique byline each time which takes little to no effort.
Now, I'm not saying that backlinks through guest posting are worthless. In fact, I love using guest posting as an SEO tactic. I'm even doing it for this post. But I just wanted generate a conversation about SEO weight for guest post backlinks. Not all links are equal, and guest post backlinks aren't always going to hold a lot of weight.
Any thoughts on this? I'm up for a good dialogue.
P.S. I admit that the backlinks to my websites are semantically irrelevant, but I still use this as part of my link building strategy because Google will definitely let me have some link-juice.
This post was written by Danny Wong the Lead Evangelist for Blank Label, a provider of custom dress shirts consumers design with Blank Label's virtual dress shirt design app.
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.
5 Reasons Why Link Building through Guest Posts is Bad Strategy
Search Soliloquy
"It's time to go inward time to be still
If I don't do it now I don't believe I ever will
My mind is like a chatterbox whose noise pollutes the pathways
to my soul."…Rodney CrowellFor the last few months, I have to say that I've been in a slump when it's come to thinking up ideas to write about. Post such as this and this were built on pretty flimsy premises IMO and felt "forced" to me and even when I had a good idea, I felt the execution left something to be desired. Unfortunately, for the first time since I started writing about search marketing, many of my ideas that have arisen in my consciousness have felt like something I've already written about. Even if the people that have read my stuff haven't seen the original post or even if I could I can give the idea a fresh spin, something about self-plagiarism feels inauthentic and I've been trying to resist the urge to do it.
You see, long ago, I gave up blogging in the "traditional way" on search marketing topics because it didn't feel natural to me nor did it pique my interest. I figured out I had a zany creative streak and if I were to overlay it upon the sorts of material that people find relevant and interesting, maybe people would start paying attention. It's certainly worked at some level…I feel unconditional acceptance from the community of which I'm proud to be a part of and enough folks seem to want me to contribute to their publications.
Yet, when I was writing another post that you might see soon on a "rival publication"…the sort of post that I used to be able to blow out in 30-60 minutes sounding great…I couldn't get it to work right for the longest time (and whether it ultimately works I'll leave for others to decide). It was a pretty basic idea…watching a scene in a random movie triggered an idea that lead me to purchase a "smart" domain worth IMO far more than its registration fee cost no matter if I resold it or developed it.
However, with that particular post as well as some of my other recent ones, I think I'd been getting too clever with the aesthetics of the final product at the expense of the message I wanted to communicate. Cool pictures, super obscure intro quotes…they have, do and will continue to work for me but they shouldn't be forced…sometimes I need to eschew them when they get in the way of the ideas.
During this writing process, I did have a bit of an epiphany that I will hopefully be able to use for by benefit in the future. Minutiae matters. Too many articles in this industry are written to cover big concepts that are very skimpy on the details. If the person reading the piece doesn't have previous familiarity with the topic, they aren't likely to be able to get any good takeaways from something too general…and if they have the familiarity, they still won't get any takeaways because they already knew what they just read.
By contrast, when someone writes an industry-specific article with a very narrow focus, omitting the general outline in favor of a specified narrative, their story would probably be lost on somebody with no background. However, if the subject matter jives with something the reader has already experienced, it could have allegorical relevance and the reader then can then perhaps overlay it upon their current situation and find the sort of actionable information that can yield tangible results.
Will I evolve out of my slump? Probably. I made commitments to write here and elsewhere and I'm "duty bound" to come up with material that will hopefully pass the muster with the people giving me this platform to write + their audience. Most importantly, I want to insure that everything I publish feels fresh and relevant to me. I take a lot of pride in doing this and I want to give it my best.
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.
Search Soliloquy
Top 10 Google Buzz Kills : Privacy, Noise & Clutter
As of this minute, Google said that there has been more than 9 million buzz created two days after Google Buzz was launched. This could probably has grown to more than that figure by now. Interestingly, the sudden surge of users happened even with the prophecy of doom coming from critics and analysts. Google Buzz is a buzz kill, too noisy, too disorganized … yada yada yada.
As much as I like Google Buzz (especially Buzz for the Nexus One), I'm afraid I have to do this post (not only because Loren asked me to) but because I believe that GBuzz is a potentially great social sharing service if only Google would address these top 10 Google Buzz Kills. Your comments are highly appreciated. But please be gentle with harsh ones.
1. Privacy Concerns
Obviously this is the major concern raised by those who don't seem to like Google Buzz and who are so concern about privacy. Yes, Google Buzz discloses various information that you declare on your Google profiles as well as discloses who you are contacting with in your Gmail account. And if you're not careful, you're buzz could actually be read by people who follow you as well as those you follow. So, Google Buzz is definitely not for private conversation.
But Google just addressed this issue by highlighting several ways by which you can protect your privacy on Google Buzz.
2. No Facebook Integration
When a friend wondered why Google Buzz does not connect with Facebook, I immediately replied that Google of course has no love for it. The point here is that Google is posing Gmail Buzz as a Facebook competitor. Google has so long wanted to challenge Facebook's dominance in the social networking sphere and finally they have found the answer – Google Buzz. That is also the reason why Google decided to release Buzz as part of Gmail because that assures them of instant userbase. Will Google Buzz connect with Facebook, I don't see this happening soon, or perhaps never … especially with Facebook sleeping in the same bed as Microsoft & Digital Sky Technologies, two of Google's largest competitors.
3. Noise, noise, noise
When I woke up this morning and checked my Gmail Inbox, the first thing the caught my attention was the Buzz counter – 100 new buzz! Google Buzz is certainly making my Gmail noisy.
And I'm afraid that's how those who don't like Buzz will see this service – a noise maker. So, I decided to scan through the new buzz and found that very few of these "buzzes" are automatic feeds of people's websites or blogs. The majority of the buzzing were genuine conversations created by people, and I consider that not noise. But what I am afraid of is once hackers get into Buzz and come up with a way to make you follow people who follow you. The same way that these "auto-bots" are doing to my Twitter account. Now, that will make Google Buzz a true noise maker.
4. Total Buzz Kill
Daniel Lyons's article on Newsweek gives a very nice attack on Google Buzz considering it as Google's way of killing Twitter and Facebook. According to Daniel, Google is threatened by both Twitter and Facebook's popularity hence the need for another noise-maker such as GBuzz.
5. Formula for Spam
It hasn't started yet but I'm pretty sure spammers are already working double time finding out ways to spam Gmail Buzz. Hopefully, I don't get too many followers that I didn't approve later on. But giving it a second thought, aren't all social sharing sites, spammy in nature?
6. Automatic Site Postings
Much as I would like this feature since it promotes Google Buzz's dictum of being a social sharing site, how I wish that sharing can only be done manually rather than automatically. I'd love to read about my contact's blog posts once in awhile but not all of them.
7. Too Much Like Friendfeed
Don't get me wrong here I love Friendfeed but I don't need a copy cat although I see myself using Google Buzz more than Friendfeed now. Actually, Google Buzz is not only too much like Friendfeed but Twitter and Facebook as well. Somehow, Google's decision to put Buzz inside Gmail is a welcome respite for not having another social networking profile to maintain.
8. No Buzz Categorization
Hopefully Google finds a way to enable users to categorize the buzz they post. In other words, give us some buzz management tool, please.
9. No "Re-buzz"
I haven't tried re-buzzing a buzz, have you? It's good that you can add comment, "like" and email buzz but it would be nifty if you can just re-buzz a buzz containing new blog posts of people you follow, right?
10. No "New Buzz" Indicator
When a new buzz is posted by any of your followers, the Buzz link on your Gmail Inbox shows a count of how many new buzz have been posted. That's nifty. But the problem is when you open GBuzz, You have to scan and guess which are the newly posted buzz. And if you've got several buzz in your main interface, that could be a problem – that Google needs to resolve fast.
Have you had any issues with Google Buzz?
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.
Top 10 Google Buzz Kills : Privacy, Noise & Clutter
4 FireFox Addons to Give You Website Statistics at a Glance
Sometimes we just don't need anything fancy: we only want to be able to evaluate the web site power quickly, as we browse.
Here are 3 FireFox addons that will help you to: just have them installed and active and see each page / domain SEO stats while you open the pages:
1. WebRank Info
WebRank Info works as a toolbar and currently includes:
- Google Pagerank
- Alexa Rank
- Compete Rank
- Quantcast Rank
- Pages indexed in Google
- Pages indexed in Bing
- Pages indexed in Yahoo
You can click on each button to get more information about rank or pages indexed:
2. SEO Toolbar
SEO toolbar (experimental) shows:
- PageRank,
- Alexa Rank,
- Popularity Index Rank
3. SEOquake
SEOquake is mentioned as #3 just because I've shared it so many times already that it is unlikely to be new to you. The SEO-at-a-glance feature can be in the form of an SEO toolbar (a regular FireFox toolbar) or an SEOquake bar (the transparent bar appearing on the page itself. It can be toggled by default).
SEOquake has plenty of data to show including:
- Google PR;
- Number of indexed pages in Google, Yahoo and Bing;
- Age of the domain;
- Backlinks to the domain and page (via Yahoo SiteExplorer);
- Delicious bookmarks, etc:
All these stats sources an be turned off / on or customized via preferences (which can be accessed via the icon in the status bar or "TOOLS" menu):
4. SEOBook Toolbar
SEOBook SEO toolbar offers a quick access to the following third-party stats:
- Google PR;
- Age of the domain;
- Backlinks to the domain and page (via Yahoo SiteExplorer);
- Compete rank:
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.
4 FireFox Addons to Give You Website Statistics at a Glance
Google Maps Gets the Labs Love
Tipped off by a reader to Philipp of Google Blog0scoped is a new Google Maps feature that we are all familiar with – Google Maps Lab. If you check out Google Maps right now, you can see the familiar New Labs Icon. Clicking that icon will bring up the Google Maps Lab currently containing 9 experimental features.
Like Gmail Lab, features in Google Maps are opt-in, that is you can select only the features which interest you. Simply enable and you can enjoy that feature on Google Maps. So far, I've tested the "Where in the World Game" a fun game where you need to guess the name of the marked country on the satellite imagery map.
The other experimental features in Google Maps Lab are:
Rotatable Maps -Tired of North always being up? Add rotatable map types and give East, West and South a fair go.
What's Around Here? – Adds a second search button that searches for "*", returning the top results in the current view. A great way to browse the map.
LatLng Tooltip – Displays a tooltip next to the mouse cursor showing the latlng directly underneath it.
LatLng Marker - Adds an option to the context menu that lets you drop a mini marker showing the latlng of the position that the cursor was pointing at when the context menu was evoked
Smart Zoom – Ever zoom in too far and get the message "We don't have imagery at this zoom level"? Ensure you don't see it again, with Smart Zoom, which will check in advance what imagery exists, and ensure you can't zoom in beyond it.
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.
Google Maps Gets the Labs Love
Google Gets Into The SEO Consulting Business
Twitter went wild today on rumors that Google decided to actually begin offering SEO consulting services. There's even a couple articles out that make this ridiculously dumb claim in their titles, and yet it's all due to a post on a Norwegian AdWords blog, which does NOT say that Google is getting into the business of SEO Consulting, nor as one article claimed, getting into the business of Validating SEO work.
At one point people started ranting about getting tested by Google like they offer for AdWords. Can you imagine? "Certified SEO Professional"?
The English translation that is relevant to this panic-riddled rumor:
After the success with siteclinic on our spanish webmasterblog, we´ve decied to do something similar for the Nordic markets. A site clinic is where we go through the website you submit, provide feedback on them and share tips on how they can improve.
Hello People. Where in that statement does it say that Google will either be offering SEO consulting services or certifying SEO consultants?
Site Clinics are NOT SEO Consulting services. And just because a clinic MAY either validate that previous SEO work was done properly, to one extent or another, that does NOT translate into the notion that Google is going to be certifying anyone in our industry for SEO.
Please – let's all get a grip, pay attention to the facts, and chill out.
Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column here at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month.
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.
Google Gets Into The SEO Consulting Business
More Recent Articles
Your requested content delivery powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 9 Thoreau Way, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA. +1.978.776.9498
sábado, 13 de febrero de 2010
Search Engine Journal - 7 new articles
Suscribirse a:
Enviar comentarios (Atom)
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario