Google Trends Comes to Websites
Google Trends is an amazing tool when it comes to researching linkbait and seeing what's popular on the Net. However, Google seems to have one-upped their tool by adding Google Trends for websites. You can now search for website addresses, as opposed to just searching for trends by keyword. In addition, when entering in a domain name, Google will return traffic, search, and geographic visitation data.
AP and Google - A Match Made in Internet Heaven?
The Associated Press have begun threatening to sue (and have been suing) websites that quote more than four words from any of their stories, even if it falls under their "fair use" policy. However, in reporting the story, the AP quoted twenty-two words from Michael Arrington's TechCrunch blog, violating their own policy. Wired.com have envisaged a Google buyout of the AP. Who would this benefit though?
Link Building With Relationships
Building links and developing inbound traffic can be a time consuming process. However, there's one part of the process that you may be overlooking - developing relationships. With linkbait being a hot SEO topic recently, so much of the focus involves the result rather than the method. The Search Engine Guide agrees, and goes so far as to say that building relationships in your link building process can actually increase the value of the link and the following conversions.
Raven Recap
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Yahoo! Strikes Deal With Google as Microsoft Talks End
In a deal that was widely anticipated by a lot of people in the search industry, Yahoo! has agreed to let Google sell some of the ads it runs alongside search results. It is thought that the deal may add an estimated $800 million a year to sales. The deal is apparently so huge, that the companies have delayed implementing the program for three and a half months to allow the U.S. Justice Department to review it.
More Work Less Talk in the SEO World
Whether you're a white hat, black hat or blue hat SEO, you're responsible for the reputation and future of the search industry. Websites such as SEO Rip Off only cater to the negativity surrounding the SEO world. Let's not give them that chance. Gonzo SEO recommends that we stand up and be counted, focus on what we're good at, and get back to marketing.
Research for Linkbait
Creating an effective linkbait piece requires decent researching skills. The information is out there to craft some really good linkbait, but the information could be a little... suspect. You should research your linkbait by subscribing to Google Alerts, reading RSS and news feeds, reading comments and monitoring the social networking sites.
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New Firefox — Favoritism toward Google?
Firefox had a new release candidate out this week, and whether we love or hate Google, do we really need to have our search choice forced upon us? If we revisit some recent history, we will find that Google fought to pressure Microsoft so that no search provider was the default in IE7. Surely there should be some form of parity between new versions of browsers? If Google is going to be the default search engine, shouldn't we as users should be the ones to make that choice?
Wikia Search Starts Making Sense
The concept behind Wikia Search is to put the user in charge of the results. While this leaves room for spamming and manipulation, there is hope that the community will keep the spammers in check, while providing the most relevant results. Is this where search is headed? If so, is it a good thing? Unfortunately, concepts like Wikia struggle to index a large amount of pages, but the idea makes a lot of sense. Until it happens, we'll have to make do with algorithms.
Top Level Domains — Worth the Money?
The name of a domain represents your business in so many ways, but just how much is it worth? Careful consideration should always be given when making a domain name choice, but don't be held to ransom when making a selection. The Search Engine Journal has several ideas that may help you when choosing a domain.
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Google Updates Their Favicon
It's amazing when an image barely big enough for most people to notice, can have such an impact upon the internet community. A favicon can be as small as 16px by 16px and Google's old favicon consisted of a multicolored capital 'G'. This morning, the all blue lowercase favicon was revealed and all is not well. I've yet to talk to anyone who likes the updated favicon rather than the original. Only time will tell if this is a temporary measure.
The SEM 2.0 Pyramid (SEO + SMO + PPC)
You've heard of the healthy eating pyramid, now we have the SEM 2.0 Pyramid. With all of its ingredients, it can make for one crazy diet. Throw in a little web 2.0, social media optimization, pay per click and search engine optimization and you will soon be full up. Learn to manage your SEM overindulgence by following the three key areas: audiences, keywords and messages.
Will Linkbait Ruin the Internet?
Has a recent linkbait furore made us all change the way we should approach linkbaiting? Jill Whalen certainly thinks so. Recently a completely fabricated piece of linkbait was used to drive traffic. Some SEO's applauded the efforts for a job well done — some are of the opinion that we are morally obligated to make sure that linkbait we use in our campaigns has at least some element of truth to it. Google's Matt Cutts has even weighed in on the situation by saying that links obtained through deception would most certainly go against their webmaster guidelines. Jill has a valid claim, our industry has a bad enough reputation without us all being tarnished with the 'fraudulent linkbait' brush. Avoiding that may prove to be the bigger obstacle.
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