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24 December 2009
Marc's special SEO Christmas wish list
Photo by ercwttmn via Creative Commons |
Well the silly season is upon us, the year is winding down with all matter of festivities (the Bruce Clay Christmas party was most enjoyable) taking place. Having decided to go the Christmas shopping online route and not run the gauntlet shopping with the heavy crowds, I have become pretty adept at making wish lists. So to end off a very successful year of the Bruce Clay Blog, I give you Marc's very special SEO Christmas wish list:
1. Please clean up your results Google: The other day I was doing some searches for a fairly generic name, which also happened to be a celebrity, all of a sudden I had SERPS that looked like a taxi dashboard, there were videos, pictures, real-time results and PPC results, oh and a small smattering of regular organic results. If Google is using click behaviour to implement personalised search, then surely they can observe I hardly ever click through to videos and images in my results and provide more organic results and less of the 'fluff'? Next time I have a purely information query perhaps Wikipedia will be my first choice.
2. Matt Cutts: Not just Matt Cutts mind you, but Matt in full Santa regalia sliding down the chimney and asking for me to come away with him on his sled (eco friendly of course) to the Googleplex in Mountain View to personally review the algorithm and give my very valuable insight. This is only slightly less likely than me being asked to play professional soccer for Tottenham Hotspurs, but a guy can dream can't he.
3. Don't kill the Yahoo link command: Since Google stopped supporting the link command and Microsoft never really did, there has only been one (excluding pricey programs, many of which rely on the Yahoo link command anyway) real tool for SEO newcomers to conduct competitive link analysis, the Yahoo site/link command. With the 'sale' of Yahoo to Microsoft, there air has been thick with rumours that the Yahoo link command may also stop working, please let it live, purty please!
4. A better way to leverage Twitter: Currently the real-time results for the search engines aren't that great, I find them annoying and don't see them as adding value. Lisa Barone has also shown how spammy real-time search can be. I think that, if leveraged correctly, real-time search results can be great, but I think in a rush to outdo each other, the search engines jumped the gun on this one.
5. A Eureka moment: Not really the kind that Archimedes had in his bathtub but really a kind of singularity moment where everybody in the world suddenly has an epiphany and all of a sudden knows exactly what search engine optimisation is. Im a little bit tired of friends and family asking me what I do and when I reply SEO, I'm generally met with a blank stare in return. If in the extremely unlikely scenario that this singularity doesn't occur, perhaps some better worldwide publicity and education regarding SEO would be great.
6. SEO Report: Not just any report mind you, but a fully automated tool that creates client specific, customised rankings, traffic and SEO KPI reports that provide intelligent, actionable insights for both Bruce Clay and our clients all at the click of a button, first time, every time. I dont think there's an app for that.
7. Make Google Analytics real-time: There is a lag in reporting statics within GA of about 3 hours between the event occurring and GA reporting on it. If Google can implement real-time search, surely they can get real time reporting right too. Oh and while we are on Google Analytics, the ability to transfer ownership of profiles between accounts would be greatly appreciated.
8. Make it easier to report spam: Currently you have to log into your webmaster account to report any kind of spam, this makes it an inconvenient and long process, if there was an easier way to do this, (say putting a 'report spam button' next to the SERPS whilst logged into your account) more people would report spammy sites and the search engines indexes would be alot cleaner.
9. Better competition for Google: It is said competition drives innovation and for a while (in search anyway) Google has had no real competitors; they had 65.6% of the search market share in November. I am hoping that Bing will soon integrate all the Yahoo search technology and this jump-starts a search engine conflict that will drive up quality control, features, relevancy, useful features and value add to both Google and Bing.
10. Charlize Theron's phone number: It's for SEO I swear, just wanted to let her know that her website should have unique title tags for each page and that she should have a robots.txt and sitemap.xml file :)
Hope you enjoyed my wish list (was just kidding Charlize, but seriously my email is on the blog :)). The Bruce Clay Australia office is closing tomorrow until Monday the 4th of January. From all the folks at Bruce Clay, have a great festival season and a grand New Years. See you on the other side.
Marc
Posted by Marc Elison on 12/24/09 at 9:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Fun Friday SEO
10 December 2009
Google Search Updates
Photo by dannysullivan via Creative Commons |
Over the past week or so Google has released a slew of updates to its search operation. Some of these are somewhat controversial (personalised search) and some are just aesthetic changes (minimalist homepage) but Google seems to have ramped up their refinement process for the coming festive season. Here are just some of the new updates.
Google Personalised Search
From around the beginning of December, Google will start tailoring your search results based on previous browsing history, whether you are logged into your Google account or not(This review assumes that you are logged out). In order to allay privacy concerns you can opt out if you wish but most people using Google will be using personalised search by default. Google accomplishes this finding your favoured sites (indicated by which ones you most often click through to) and ranking sites from that brand or theme higher in your particular search results. This means Dymocks might be top of the SER's for the keyword 'books' while for another person the same search will yield Angus & Robertson as the top positioned site. This doesn't mean the other ranking factors are simply ignored however; they are simply used in conjunction with the personalised result factors. With this version of personalised search ( signed out of Google account), Google can only guess at your preference from what you click on, clicks are what your personalised search is based on, not search history or surfing habits.
Now you may think this has doom and gloom implications for search engine optimisation, well it doesn't, not yet anyway. First, Google is going to have to collect huge amounts of click data in order to understand and use your preferences within the SERPS. Good structured pages with terrific content, correctly used HTML attributes and links will still play the majority role in the ranking of sites, whether personalised search takes effect or not. We're not sure how much weighting the personalised search factor will have within the entire Google algorithm, but I wouldn't be surprised if people get near identical SERPS, regardless of their click history and habits. I have a feeling they may use the old Google 80/20 rule when implementing personalised search, i.e. 8 'normal results' and 2 results impacted on by personalised search for each SERP.
Google's New Search Page
Now unlike some of the other tweaks and updates that Google has implemented over the past month or so this is pretty much a purely aesthetic change. When the search page is first loaded, you only see the logo, search box and the search buttons. When you move your mouse the rest of the search page 'fades in'. This is something that Google has been testing for a while, for example it only worked on Chrome for a while and then periodically for other browsers. The only reason I can think of for this change is to funnel more people to start searching right away, rather than exploring the other links on the page.
Google Real-Time results
Google also announced that Google Real Time search has been rolled out. This feature is going to be rolled out in an incremental process over the next few weeks. Essentially Google is going to start indexing tweets, Facebook status updates (where made publicly visible by the Facebook user and this feature will be rolled out at a later stage) and other forms of real-time information. According to Google, they are processing over 'a billion documents a day' from the real-time web. In order to activate this feature you need to click on the show options link just above the results. This opens a whole heap of options, in order to activate the Google real-time results click on latest link. Then just sit back and watch new results blend into the top of your SERPS. Below is an example of my search for Obama, note the time next to each result.
Now with the advent of Twitter, 'real-time' seems to be all the rage, with everybody wanting instant gratification. I think the problem Google and the other search engines may be at the juxtaposition of real-time and relevancy. How do you rank a tweet in terms of relevancy to the subject? Is something that is 'real-time' better than something that is more relevant? Well, I don't have answers to these questions but with a couple thousand PHD's just sitting around thinking up answers to these questions im sure the big G has it covered. The following sources of real-time information will be indexed:
- MySpace
- FriendFeed
- Jaiku
- Identi.ca
- Fresh press releases or blog posts
Google Mobile Updates
Google announced a whole raft of search capabilities for mobile phones (and in particular android enabled phones). In terms of Google Voice search, Japanese, Mandarin and English are all now supported as well as several more phone models, including; Blackberries, Android powered mobiles and Nokia's.
Search By location is a really interesting feature. According to the Google announcement, people with Google Maps on Android 1.6+ devices, can just press on the map for an extended period and ten of the closest points of interest (restaurants, shops etc) will be revealed to you. Nice feature, especially if you are bored and stuck somewhere for an extended period.
Now this is a feature that really interests me, If Google can pull it off correctly it is going to be massive! This feature is currently a labs product that only users of Android 1.6+ devices can use. Essentially, you take a picture of an object, send it to Google and if they are able to recognise the object it returns relevant search results regarding the object.
According to Google, Goggles will recognise the following objects:
• Books
• DVDs
• Landmarks
• Logos
• Artwork
• Businesses
• Products
• Barcodes
Google has also released the following tips for making Goggles work better:
• Take photos in areas with good lighting.
• Zoom in as much as possible.
• Use your phone in "left landscape" orientation (with your right thumb pressing the shutter).
• Hold your hands steady, and use the on-screen shutter button.
Imagine the capabilities, you are in a foreign country, you are doing the
touristy/sightseeing thing, you want more information on an odd relic you are perusing so you take a picture and voila, all the information right on your mobile, very cool.
There are some other features like Google living stories, news rendered in a new and dynamic way. Updates to the Google Web Kit, including ways to speed up web apps. Loading time/web site performance is slated to be a big indicator in terms of search results in 2010. Martin has written a great post on Google and speed. As a result of the speed factor, Google has added another tool in Google Webmaster Tools where you can check the performance of your site. Google has also announced that extensions for Chrome are also now available. Wow, Google has been busy and I for one am looking forward to playing around with these news features and figuring out how they benefit me and the SEO I perform.
Posted by Marc Elison on 12/10/09 at 1:15 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Industry News
4 December 2009
SEO is so Postmodern
Photo by tew via Creative Commons |
Oh, people love throwing this label around. Being called Postmodern is totally zeitgeist and will definitely increase your buzz on the street. It's worked for architecture, business, novels, music, the arts, even specific human beings. You're just not modern unless you're Postmodern. Therefore, for a bit of Friday fun, I've ventured into theoretical territory to see if SEO (the Bruce Clay way) can proudly wear the postmodern jacket.
Postmodernism and Search Engine Optimisation are young in terms of their respective fields. No one is sure what either one really is, both have this mysterious appeal. You may feel you know what they are, but you'll never be entirely sure. Moreover, as is the nature of them both, once you stop to reflect, you've fallen behind.
Both have a shady past. The Postmodernism grew out of the Modernist movement, which it thought of as an overprotective parent. Whereas SEO has it's black sheep of the family (or is that hat).
However, to find any real similarities, you'll need to look at the core of SEO, optimising websites. The first ranking goal of any website is to become equal among the ranking leaders, which means finding the best keywords for your target market and recording the finer details of the sites leading those rankings. This gives you an idea on how to match the highest ranked sites. Once the site is equal with the best, the design can then develop into a unique style.
Similarly, the Postmodernist examines the nuances of conventions. The conventions (the ways others are doing things) need to be learnt, experienced and aced. Only then can they create a unique style, something that sees through the conventions and challenges them to change.
SEO and PM emphasize the little things, taking time working through the nuances. Get prepared to hear lots of 'nothing to report today'. However, if you've done things correctly, it'll eventually come together.
Both take an unusual approach to spoken truths. PM is renowned for its mistrust of theories. They would rather experience and come to their own conclusions, living and dying by their own sword. SEOs on the other hand, as a colleague of mine stated, are better rewarded for taking a 'do as we do not as we say' approach to search engines. SEOs have learnt over the years that search engines can intentionally set you off on the wrong path. The answer is to look for the finer details and understand their own language, commonly referred to as Googlespeak.
I think the similarities between to two are the result of something inherent in them both. Both are a never-ending process. PM doesn't believe in finishing. In addition, technically SEO does have a definitive end, the algorithm; our goal is to be lest imperfect. What 'imperfect' is however, is what we dont know.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Posted by Matthew Geale on 12/ 4/09 at 12:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Fun Friday SEO
3 December 2009
Comment Spam
Photo by dok1 via Creative Commons |
Being an avid link builder myself, I get frustrated by the hundreds of spam emails from people offering "Great Link Building Services" and finding out their methods include "commenting on dofollow" blogs.
Not that I read any of these emails, as 99% of them use the same software and 100% of the time they end up in my spam folder :)
The thing that has concerned me for a long time, and something that still makes no sense to me is the fact that webmasters of websites often hire these "link profile destroyers" to build a large quantity of links in an attempt to gain higher rankings. The only way to get a large quantity of these links is by spamming comment fields on blogs. Why? Because 99% of all blogs allow users (sometimes even anonymously) to comment and leave, their name and website address behind.
As you can see, this becomes very tempting to make a quick comment and leave your link without too much effort. As a result, many comments on blog posts are ridiculous (For examples check out Marc's rant about spam )or are generic no-value adding comments like "Thanks" or "Great post".
According to Google,
"..You are tarnishing other people's hard work and lowering the quality of the web, transforming a potentially good resource of additional information into a list of nonsense keywords."
I could not agree more, especially in the SEO industry where we often create blog posts for which we want to rank (or at least try to). When your perfectly crafted blog post is picked up by Google, and you start ranking for the keywords (isn't it a great feeling!) you know you did a great job.
Waking up the next morning to see your post suddenly having vanished from the index because these self-proclaimed link builders have polluted your comment section with so many spammy comments that now your most prominent keyword on the page is "Cheap Viagra".
Google has finally announced that they are able to determine the links that come from spam commenting and de-value these. In fact, you could possibly harm the quality of not just the site you are commenting on but also your own site.
Now, I see this as potentially opening the flood gates for people to see this as a measure of lowering the quality of their competitor's blogs/websites. Therefore, Google has come up with a couple of ways you could avoid this from happening.
You could:
• Disallow anonymous posting (People can still leave false information on your website, but at least it's better as the name of the poster appearing as "anonymous")
• Implement CAPTCHA checking when making comments
• Turn on comment moderation (So when someone comments on your blog, it has to go through an approval process)
• Use the "nofollow" attribute on links in the comment section
• Disallow link dropping in your comments
• Block comment pages out using your robots.txt or meta tags
Now, whenever you get another spammy comment on your precious blog, before you delete it, think about the person sitting behind his computer trying to come up with more ways to comment on as many blogs as possible and think about what a big waste of time it is... It is something that should bring a smirk to your face; I know it does for me!
Posted by Mike van der Heijden on 12/ 3/09 at 1:05 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
See more entries in Linking Strategy
Marc Elison
Kate Gamble
Martin Orliac
