Live Blogging SXSW: RIP Jeff Goldblum, Truth Vs. Web BS
Mediagazer’s Megan McCarthy is presenting a short talk called RIP Jeff Goldblum: Truth vs. Web BS
. With computer in hand, here’s a live blogging of it, with some tips for those trying to ferret out truth from fiction.
On June 25 last year, Farrah Fawcett died. Then stories on Twitter and elsewhere about Michael Jackson [...]
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via Search Engine Land [Saturday 13th of March 2010 03:42:19 PM]
Google Looks To Shutter China Search Operation As Talks With Government Reach
Yesterday I speculated about whether Google would be able to have it both ways: to remain in the Chinese search market and still live up to its bold proclamation that it would no longer comply with Chinese government censorship rules. The Chinese, all along, have given no indication that they intend to change their hard-line [...]
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via Search Engine Land [Saturday 13th of March 2010 10:55:05 AM]
Live Blogging SXSW: Can The Real Time Web Be Realized
I’m here at SXSW waiting for the Can the Real-Time Web Be Realized? panel to begin. I’ll be liveblogging what happens, so stay tuned.
Search engines have certainly jumped to add in ways to find real-time content. This panel features reps from three of them talking: Google, Microsoft and [...]
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via Search Engine Land [Saturday 13th of March 2010 09:00:42 AM]
Why Good Link Builders Fail: Reason Four
Table of Contents Ten Reasons Why Good Link Builders Fail (Introduction) Reason One: Self-Doubt Reason Two: Not Learning Best Practices Reason Three: Not Expanding Education I don't think I know a single industry that doesn't struggle with this. You get...
via SEO Speedwagon [Saturday 13th of March 2010 06:09:43 AM]
Should I Buy Links to Improve my Rankings
Mark Cook, over at Further.co.uk has written a thought provoking article on why buying links is a dumb idea As someone who offers clients a linkbuilding service using web content it would be a “of course he would say that”, kinda thing if I said don’t buy links. I’m not an expert on buying and selling [...]
via Cornwallseo [Saturday 13th of March 2010 05:58:54 AM]
12 Tips on Live Blogging
So here I sit in the DFW airport hanging out with David Berkowitz and Joe Morin waiting for my connection to Austin. What better way to spend that 45 min than to write a helpful blog post? A big part of my “mission” for SXSXi is to create content after all. I have several other [...]
via Top Rank Blog [Friday 12th of March 2010 07:10:16 PM]
Yahoo Adds TV Shortcut on Search Results
Its TV Portal is one of Yahoo's strongest verticals. I personally check it out to get my fix of entertainment news from time to time. So, it is but logical for Yahoo to try to maximize the potential of Yahoo TV to generate site traffic and engagement to its site. Enter the Yahoo TV Shortcuts right smack into your entertainment-related…
Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.
Yahoo Adds TV Shortcut on Search Results Page
via Search Engine Journal [Friday 12th of March 2010 02:07:36 PM]
Bing Picks Up Yahoo's Drop In Febuary Search Volume
The Hitwise report for search volume for Febuary shows Bing gaining ,2 percent market share (11.5) while Yahoo (16.8) dropped the equivalent amount. Google gained 0.1 percent that same amount Ask dropped.
via Search Engine Watch Blog [Friday 12th of March 2010 01:54:52 PM]
I HAVE DESIGN
This blog post is continued from my last post, “I Have Call-to-Action…Now What?” In that post, we discussed how SEO and a great call-to-action don’t do much to convert sales unless you also have a clean, sleek and intuitive design to match it. The main thing to take away from that post: don’t make your [...]
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- New “Ask an SEO” Help Section from SEO Design Solutions
via SEO Design Solutions [Friday 12th of March 2010 01:52:43 PM]
Yelp
ClickZ is running an article today about Yelp’s current legal troubles. I’m quoted in the article (at the end) and I come across as a staunch defender of Yelp. While I do admire the loyalty they’ve built up amongst users, I’m actually more in the middle than the article portrays. I really believe Yelp needs [...]
This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.
Yelp’s Trust Problem
- Yelp Lets Me Add New Business Data
- AT&T: Good Luck with Your Yelp Competitor
- Inc. Magazine Goes Deep on Yelp
via Small Business Search Marketing [Friday 12th of March 2010 01:15:31 PM]
Italian Govt. Now After Google Adsense For Antitrust
Seems the Italian government is not finished investigating Google. Last month three Google executives were convicted of privacy violations and received suspended six-month jail sentences over a video showing a teenaged boy being bullied.
Antitrust investigations over Google's impact of the newspaper industry were started in Italy last year, but this is the first announcement of the government's examination of Adsense.
Translating the news from il Giornale:
- Google is not obliged to comunicate how the payments are calculated;
- The payments are calculated exclusively from data that Google holds;
- Google can modify at any moment the price determination and payment structure at its discretion.
Speculation has already started on whether Google would just stop offering Adsense in Italy - but the likeihood that other EU countries could do the same suggests they would fight the action.
via Search Engine Watch Blog [Friday 12th of March 2010 01:14:08 PM]
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 12, 2010
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web....
via Search Engine Roundtable [Friday 12th of March 2010 01:00:00 PM]
Leftovers: 9 Items to Read During Halftime this Weekend
Or while waiting for panels at SXSW - if you can get a signal.
Click to read the rest of this post...
via Search Engine Watch Blog [Friday 12th of March 2010 12:32:33 PM]
What will be the Top Stories at SES New York 2010?
I've been out talking to journalists and bloggers about SES New York 2010, which gets underway the week of March 22nd. One of the questions that I'm frequently asked is: "What will be the top stories at the event?"Click to read the rest of this post...
via Search Engine Watch Blog [Friday 12th of March 2010 12:12:47 PM]
AOL Updates Social Aggregation Service
It's nicer, but not yet as comprehensive, as FriendFeed.
Click to read the rest of this post...
via Search Engine Watch Blog [Friday 12th of March 2010 11:52:52 AM]
Yahoo Goes Hollywood With New TV, Celebrity Shortcuts
Citing the popularity of entertainment-related searches, Yahoo’s search results have gone Hollywood with the announcement of new search shortcuts for TV shows and celebrities.
The TV shortcut shows the title and a short synopsis of the next episode, along with video clips and links to see photos, the show’s schedule, and an episodes list. All of [...]
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via Search Engine Land [Friday 12th of March 2010 11:46:59 AM]
Stefan is Back Which Means
Ok…so I know last week you were all wondering where Stefan was. To be honest he doesn’t remember and I am not in the business of keeping tabs on him anymore, so alas there was no video. However I still had Free T-Shirt Friday and we did have two winners from the week prior and last week! So if you are listed below I will follow you through the @bing twitter account so that all you need to do is Direct Message (DM) us your mailing address and your shirt size and we will get them to you as fast as we can get them from the Bing Shirt Shop (that doesn’t really exist but you know what I mean).
· Free T-Shirt Friday Winners – Them “The Academy Awards”
@hectorsm - "Penelope Cruz, my friends :) RT @bing: "Who will walk away with an Oscar this weekend? http://cot.ag/aykwtX #FTF #Oscars #Academy Awards ^KM"
@brandonm80211 - "RT @bing: Who will walk away with an Oscar this weekend? http://cot.ag/aykwtX #FTF #Oscars #Academy Awards ^KM - James Cameron for sure"
· Free T-Shirt Friday Winners - Theme "Jolly Old England"
@udazzle - "@bing http://bit.ly/9AN0j0 God of cricket #FTF" - his entry is an image search of "Sachin Tendulkar" a famous cricket player. (view tweet)
@joeleyba - "@bing http://bit.ly/aH0Trg #FTF" - his entry is a search of "historic London pubs" (view tweet)
This week Stefan is back and took some questions from the forums as well as talked about some interesting stuff that the team is up to down at SXSWI, Mix as well as some cool stuff he saw over at Cray Inc. the Super Computer Company yesterday and he also gives us the #FTF theme for the week. Ok, the theme part ended up on the editing room floor on accident (my bad) so the Free T-Shirt Friday theme for the week giving a shout out to our friends down in Austin, TX for SXSW is “Music Groups.” Go to Bing and search for your favorite band, singer, indie rock group whatever is your thing and send us the result URL to us @bing via twitter and hash-tag (#) it FTF.
(Please visit the site to view this media)
Happy Friday!
Kristin Meldahl
via MS Live Search [Friday 12th of March 2010 11:42:00 AM]
Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: March 12, 2010
It has been two weeks since my last video recap, but I have been doing text recaps - so check those out. Why did I miss the video recaps, I was in Israel for both pleasure and business. I...
via Search Engine Roundtable [Friday 12th of March 2010 11:30:00 AM]
Yahoo! Adds TV Series Shortcut
One click to comprehensive info on your favorite shows on the telly.
Click to read the rest of this post...
via Search Engine Watch Blog [Friday 12th of March 2010 10:43:45 AM]
Crafting SEO Landing Pages
The landing page, in terms of SEO, went out of fashion.
Landing pages, which tended to be mass-generated, near identical pages pointing to one money page, became a target for the search engine spam filters.
However, the type of landing page we should take a closer look at is the type of landing page used in PPC - a page carefully crafted to lead a visitor to desired action. SEOs can benefit from applying the same techniques used for creating effective PPC landing pages to their organic pages. After all, we all want visitors to arrive at our pages, and take a desired action.
All Search Is About Connecting With People
Our pages may rank well, but if the visitor doesn't do something that ultimately leads to more money in our pockets, our sites won't last long.
In the past, ranking well has led to a pre-occupation with factors like keyword density i.e. repeating keyword phrases often.
However, the search engine algorithm's are no longer quite so stupid. The need to slavishly repeat keyword phrases in order to rank pales in comparison to other factors. It's no longer necessary to forsake good copy writing in order to please machine algorithms.
To make our rankings work for us, we must connect with people. This means our pages must talk their language and focus on solving their problems.
A fail in SEO is not missing out on the #1 ranking. A fail in SEO is a visitor clicking back. Do everything to avoid the back click.
Talking People's Language
People couldn't care less about you or your company.
People care about themselves.
Take a look at your pages. Do they talk about you, or do they talk about your audience? For a page to work well, it must connect with your audience, and the easiest way to do this is to talk about their wants and desires. If a page doesn't grab a visitors attention, they won't persevere, they will click back. What's a #1 ranking worth if visitors click back?
Here are a few guidelines on how to grab a visitors attention:
Title Tag Text Should Match Your First Headline Or if not matching the phrase exactly, it should be close to it in terms of topic. This reassures to the searcher they are in the right place.
A Search Is Invariably A Question Keyword terms often aren't phrased as questions, but they are all questions. When people type "buy DVD online", they're really saying "where can I buy a DVD online". Try to determine searcher intent. Decide what the visitors question is, repeat it, then answer it.
Create A Clear Call To Action - what is it you want the searcher to do next? Sign-up? Buy something? Click on Adsense? Make that action clear and obvious.
People Scan - Use big headings. Often. If you're vague about visitor intent, you can use a number of different headlines, or images, that grab people's attention in case your lead hook fails.
Use The Word "You" A Lot - it's all about them. Their problems, their sense of self, their language, their wants and needs. Relegate all the stuff about you, unless they specifically ask for it, or you're using testimonials.
Every Page On Your Site Is A Landing Page
Every page on your site has potential to pull in visitors.
Even if a page only receives one visit a month, it's still a landing page. Given that SEO strategy involves building a lot of content, it's easy to think of "junk" pages low down in your domain structure as unimportant.
However, if people land on those pages, then that's half the battle won. Those pages will be winners if they lead people to the pages you want them to see. Therefore, every page on your site should contain a clear call to action - leading visitors to the one thing you want people to do.
The Difference Between SEO Landing Pages & PPC Landing Pages
In PPC, the page must be tightly controlled, stay on message and lead a visitor to desired action. Failure to do so means blowing through money.
With SEO, we have more leeway. We can include a variety of text content on pages, as it increases the likelihood of catching long tail phrases. This casts a wider net, and at negligible cost. However, we still need to structure the page well enough so people a) won't click back and b) will take the desired action.
It's a good idea to structure a page so - rather obviously - the most important stuff comes first. Make the call to action, wherever it is placed, clear. Relegate superfluous text, which targets long tail variations, below the fold and/or into side links.
Most likely, a few pages on your domain will be doing the gruntwork. Most of your visitors will come in on your home page, or a small collection of well linked pages on your site. Pay careful attention to these pages. They should be as crafted as tightly as a PPC landing page in terms of language and call to action.
Test these pages. Are they converting? What is the abandonment rate? Whilst it can take a while to test and alter SEO pages, it's worth doing, as incremental gains on a few pages can lead to huge changes when rolled out over an entire site.
What happens if you make a heading bigger? Paragraphs shorter? Reposition page elements? Change the language and pitch? You can also test these variables using a short PPC campaign, of course, and then roll your findings into your SEO strategy. Once you've got a winning formula, you can roll it out to every page (landing) page you create.
via SEO Book [Friday 12th of March 2010 10:42:27 AM]
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