I still see companies offering search engine submission as a service, but it’s not really necessary. You’d be better off spending your time and money on other Search Engine Optimization activities.

The reason search engine submission isn’t necessary is because every search engine has a spider, or bot, that crawls the Web constantly. The bot’s job is to crawl through links and analyze web pages so that the search engine can index them properly. In order to get the most out of that process, you need to understand what search engines look for. The following Search Engine Optimization elements are particularly important to ensure a good ranking at the search engines:

• Web page title tag
• Meta description
• Keywords meta tag
• Page heading
• Content on your web page
• Keywords
• Links between your website’s web pages
• Inbound links with relevant anchor text
• Alt tags
• Title attributes in your links
• Video description and alt tags

Getting ranked in the search engines is not about submitting your website. That used to be a big part of it, but it isn’t any longer. If you do all the right things on and off your web site then your pages will get ranked. You are much better off building links to your web site through blogging, article marketing, social bookmarking, and other link building and Search Engine Optimization efforts. Those inbound links, if placed strategically, will do more to get the search engines to your website to crawl it than any submissions ever will. I do, however, recommend directory submissions.

A SiteProNews article highlights five ways to rank in Google’s Universal Search. It’s an alright article, but I have a few things to say.

I found this paragraph tucked into the middle of the article:

If your site isn’t already properly optimized for organic rankings, that would be the place to start. You want to make sure you have clean, search engine friendly code and a solid foundation, as well as on-page Search Engine Optimization. This would be the starting point, without this in place you have no hope of competing in the engines - with or without Universal Search.

It’s a bit of a no-brainer really, but if you do your job as webmaster correctly then you should rank well for your keywords. Keep in mind that ranking well could take some time depending on your niche. If you are in a highly competitive industry then you’ll have to keep plugging away with content until you hit a respectable ranking - then you want to keep going. Website optimization is an ongoing process. It starts with great content but doesn’t end there.

Imagine someone does a search for what you have to offer, and in the Universal Search results your webpage comes up. In the same search your competitor’s site comes up PLUS your competitor has video, images and Blog posts as well. A searcher is more likely to click on your competitor’s site since more of the total number of results that come up will belong to your competitor.

That’s not necessarily true. It doesn’t really matter how many times a web page appears in the SERPs. What matter are the elements on the SERP page and how they are written. Just being optimized doesn’t guarantee that someone will click on your listing. The most important elements for any web page appearing on a SERP are the title tag and the description tag. You’ll want to ensure that every page you write has a title tag and a description tag that includes a call to action - the action is to click. Make them salivate and they will want your content.

The other factor is the layout of the results page. We don’t know yet how it will play out. If Google mixes all the results together (ex: videos, web pages, Blog posts, images, etc all come up intermingled) that creates one scenario. It means you aren’t competing apples to apples for the top spot. It could be video in the 1st position and you are hoping to get your web pages ranked in the 1st position.

True and very insightful. It’s still up in the air as to how Google’s Universal Search will appear on the page. It seems that every time a search is made (right now) the elements are different. Google could continue that or settle on a specific format at some time in the future. The SERP page layout could very well determine how important each vertical is.

Another way of delivering the results would be to group them by category. They could list all the Blog results, then all the video results under that, and then all the image results under that, etc.

If that is the case, you want to have something listed in each category section because if you happen to have a ranking in the last category section but nothing higher on the page, you are not likely to get a click.

The point here is that the more ways you rank and the more ways you give Google the rank you, the more likely you are to appear in the SERPs for your important keywords and the more likely searchers looking for your kind of information will find you. Make it easy for them by giving Google a lot of great content in each content category to crawl and index. How the layout of Universal Search is now or will be in the future doesn’t really matter if you are doing this.

Top 5 Ways To Participate in Universal Search

1. Google Image Search: It has always been a good idea to use images on your site for illustrating your products and services. Now customers can find your site via Google Image Search. Optimize your images with descriptive, keyword-rich file names and ALT tags. Use accurate descriptions of your image files for the benefit of those who might need to view the site in text only format.

2. Google Video (beta): Use descriptive, keyword-rich file names for your video files. Also create a keyword-rich title tag, description tag, and video site map.

3. Google News: Submit your press releases for display as news, and also as a new content page on your site.

4. Google Maps: AKA Google Local - this has been included in Google search results for a while. Give your site a local presence through the Google Maps Local Business Center where local businesses can get a free basic listing to extend their reach in the SERPs.

5. Google Blog Search (beta): Use social media and Blog engines to drive traffic to the site. Submit to the Google Blog search and have your Blog help boost you in the new world of Universal Search.

This is a good list, but there is one vertical left out. Google also has a Shopping vertical. It may not be included in Universal Search at this time, but I’d expect it to be in the future. People are, more and more, beginning their shopping for anything and everything online. By listing your products in Google Shopping, you are giving searchers one more way to find you. Whatever your product, you would not be hurt to be listed in Google Shopping and it could help with your overall Search Engine Optimization efforts.

I agree with Roderick Ioerger on Gabriel Goldenberg. What Goldbenberg really means is that webmasters need to develop an independence from search engines, but I really don’t know how that’s possible. Search engines and Search Engine Optimization is the primary source of traffic for almost every webmaster. If you replace Google with Facebook, StumbleUpon, or any other site then you’re faced with the same problem: A simple change in policy could seriously hurt your web site traffic. I think, personally, that past search engine behavior can be a good predictor of future search engine behavior and if you study the former then you can place your bets on the most likely direction of the latter, which is what webmasters should be doing anyway.

That said, I take issue with Goldenberg’s initial maxim:

* If knowledge is power;
* If information is knowledge;
* And if Google is organizing - and, more importantly, distributing - the world’s information;

Then isn’t Google the single most powerful organization in the world?

What he left out is a fourth point, namely, that IF most of the world’s information is online …. But, of course, it isn’t. Which means Google is not the single most powerful organization in the world. And, last I checked, Google’s primary business is not the distribution of information, but the organization, or indexing, of information. So Goldenberg’s initial premise is the first step in the wrong direction, but I do agree with a lot of what he says.

The five things he says webmasters need to do to be free of search engines (ie Google) are:

1. Use alternative search engines for your own searching.
2. Find alternative sources of traffic.
3. Develop alternative sources of revenue.
4. Create sites you’re passionate about.
5. Look at offline tie-ins and monetization opportunities.
6. Bonus (always underpromise and overdeliver): Block Google’s robot.

All of these points are good and there is something to learn from each of them. Goldenberg does a good job of explaining that webmasters need to diversify and not place themselves entirely at Google’s mercy. One point he does make about AdSense, giving his own experience as an example, is that you can’t expect to earn a lot of money from AdSense on blogs. Well, duh!! Blogs are not good for AdSense, but static web sites are great. If they weren’t, no one would be making any money on AdSense and Google AdWords would not be a good advertising model for advertisers.

One final note: Roderick Ioerger makes the best point about secluding the Googlebot from your site. You really don’t want to do that. It’s risky business. I totally believe in targeting specific search engines based on your product or service and tailoring your Search Engine Optimization efforts to each search engine, but I don’t see any benefit from excluding a specific search engines from crawling your web site in most cases. This is especially true for beginning webmasters. You should only take that step if you know that you can get traffic from other sources that will pay you for your webmastering and Search Engine Optimization efforts. Otherwise, you’ll just be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Matt Cutts finally got around to making his predictions for 2008. Aside from the disclaimer, I thought they were pretty interesting. Here’s what Matt Cutts think will happen this year:

2008 will be the year that hacking and search engine optimization (SEO) collide in a major way. By the end of the year, a nontrivial fraction of blackhat Search Engine Optimization will involve illegally hacking sites for links or landing pages. One webhost will get a significant black eye as hundreds or thousands of customers’ websites are hacked. The growth of illegal-blackhat Search Engine Optimization will leave traditional blackhats with a difficult choice: risk doing something illegal or sit out.

That’s a very interesting prediction. I can see it happening, but I don’t get the “doing something illegal or sit out.” Is he saying the only way blackhats will be successful is if they do something illegal because search engines will have figured out a way to shut them down from using legal, but “unethical”, tactics? That’s not likely, but I can the webhost getting hit with penalties due to a large number of blackhats acting like, well, like blackhats.

Someone will write a book or ebook about how to run a small start-up or internet business on a shoestring budget. The book will discuss how to squeeze the most value out of Google’s products and will also touch on Amazon’s web services.

If only I had the time.

Someone will launch a “baby startup” that gives advice on baby names, then offers to register a domain named for the baby. For $100, the start-up will power the baby’s domain for several years and will host baby pictures and baby videos. The baby’s domain will be protected by a password, but can be shared with family members.

And a new industry will be born: Cradle to grave reputation management.

A top-level domain (TLD registry) will offer domains for under $4. The result will be another TLD blighted by spammy domain registrations.

Yeah, and no doubt they will cater mostly to blackhat SEOs. I think this one might have some kind of tie-in with the blackhat Search Engine Optimization deal above.

Over 1000 people will begin recording the audio of their daily life, every day, all day.

Oh, yes. Then visually impaired people will be able to listen to audio blogs that describe their favorite non-celebrity’s eating habits in minute detail while hearing the background noise of the street workers’ jackhammers, the baby crying, and grandpa on the crapper. Can’t wait to miss that one.

The 2008 presidential election will capture much more interest in the U.S. than in recent elections. Most election drama will play out on TV and the campaign trail. We’ll see a few tie-ins with search, but internet-related issues won’t play the vital role in the election that the blogosphere would like it to.

Well, that one’s pretty easy to predict. If Obama were running against Ron Paul then the Internet might be a bit more relevant to this election. Instead, he’s running against John McCain, who has as much knowledge and experience of the Internet as he does in being a POW - no, wait! He’s actually got more experience in being a prisoner than the Internet. Don’t count on the Republicans using the Internet for electioneering until they lose a significant election as a result of their opponent using the Internet successfully. That likely won’t happen this year. Good call, Matt.

Matt had other cool Search Engine Optimization predictions as well. You can see them here.

Did you know you can convert your HTML to XHTML and allow your website visitors to subscribe to your content with RSS? Maybe you knew that but didn’t know how. Well, it’s really not difficult if you have the right Search Engine Optimization tools.

First, the difference between XHTML and XML …

XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. It does not, like HTML display data on a screen. Rather, it carries data from one place to another. That’s why it is used for RSS feeds. Another difference between XML and HTML is that you have to define your own tags. They are not predefined.

You can’t just convert your HTML documents to XML and be done. You don’t throw away the HTML once the conversion takes place. You still need the HTML so that site visitors can see the data that they are subscribing to. The XML file is used to transport the file to the subscriber once they’ve decided to subscribe. Then they will be able to read it in HTML again in its final destination.

XHTML stands for Extensible Hypertext Markup Language. Unlike XML, it is designed to replace HTML. That means, when you do create your XHTML document, you no longer need the HTML so you can throw it away. It is almost like a hybrid. While it looks like HTML, it is much cleaner than HTML and is also has the properties of an XML file. So your visitors can read the XHTML file in their browser while it sits on your server, just like an HTML page, AND they can subscribe to it and read it in its final destination just like an XML file. XHTML is essentially the equivalent to the latest version of HTML - HTML 4.01.

So the question is, how do you convert your standard HTML documents to XML or XHTML? Well, you need one simple open source software solution and it will do all the work for you. It’s called HTML TIDY. There is a GUI version and a Command Prompt version. I recommend the GUI version as all you have to do is upload your HTML document and TIDY will do the conversion in a second. The Command Prompt version requires a little bit of memorization and finger work. You can download the GUI version of TIDY here.

After you convert your information to XHTML, all you have to do then is provide your visitors with a way to subscribe to your feed that will help drive visitors and Search Engine Optimization. And that’s it. Simple.

Yahoo! Maps has updated its functionality. According to the Yahoo! Maps Blog, some of the new features include:

• New Neighborhood Data at lower zoom levels with:
• 300 cities with new neighborhood data added throughout North America, from Palo Alto, to Chicago, to Toronto, etc.
• 12,000 new neighborhoods added, from “Lower East Side” (New York, Milwaukee, Bridgeport) to “Lower Collegetown” (Ithaca)
• Expanded Worldwide Coverage with much improved coverage, especially throughout Eastern Europe
• New POI information - highlighting Schools, Rest areas, Ski Resorts, etc.
• Additional shaded relief levels worldwide
• City label density increased for better usability
• Style improvements such as Hybrid Road and Label colors adjusted for better legibility
• Lighter map tiles – with an average of 30-60% reduction in size

These are definite improvements. I really like the highlighted POI information. That means if you are looking for a specific type of facility in a local area then you’ll be able to find it more easily. I’ve always thought that Yahoo! did a good job with its local maps feature. It’s an area that they’ve managed to compete in and where Google does not have a huge advantage. I think there is a lot of potential for Yahoo! to be a major player in the local search market as they already are. More improvements can only make their local features more desirable.

You’ll hear all kinds of advice about content management systems, or CMSs and if they are Search Engine Optimization friendly. Some Search Engine Optimization experts say don’t use them and others say it’s quite OK. But I’d be leery of any Search Engine Optimization expert that says any CMS is as good as the next. It’s just not true.

Some CMSs are good. Others are questionable. If I were to use a CMS I’d go with a free open source CMS like Joomla or Drupal before spending thousands of dollars on a system that might perform. But whether one uses a free open source CMS or pays to get a custom-designed on, you want your CMS to be search engine friendly. Keep these points in mind if you are shopping around for a content management system:

• Never, ever use a free web-hosted CMS like Geocities; these are the worst systems in the world and you’ll never get your website ranked in the search engines. Some industries sell local business owners websites hosted on their domains and I highly recommend that you don’t do that.
• Make sure that your CMS does not automatically generate meta tags; systems that do this usually generate the same meta tags for every page and that won’t help you at all - it will hurt you in the search engines.
• Take careful note that your title tag on every page uses your most important keyword, preferably at the beginning. Some CMSs use the name of the CMS as the title tag on every page and it’s the first word or phrase in the tag. Steer clear of those content management systems at all costs.
• Do you get to write your own page descriptions? If not, pass.
• How are your keywords generated? If your CMS generates your keyword tags site-wide then it isn’t helping you. You want unique keywords in the keyword tag on every page of your website.
• How much code does your CMS add to the content on your pages. This one is important. Some Java-based CMSs add extra code to every page on a website. If yours does this then that extra code could prevent your website from being crawled.
• Do graphics come with alt tags? If not, don’t use the CMS, especially if you are building a graphic-intensive website.
• How often are you allowed to edit pages? If you can’t edit your pages any time you want then don’t sign on with any service. They’re a rip off.
• Is your content original or are you buying “off-the-shelf” content? If you are buying off-the-shelf content then it is likely PLR and will be duplicate content, which won’t do you any good. Only original content will benefit you.
• What kind of add-ons are you allowed? Can you add a blog easily? What about a forum? Find out if you can add widgets and other elements to your website. You may not want to do that now, but what about 2 or 5 years from now? Think ahead and see what you might want to do down the road.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for Search Engine Optimization for a CMS. Many new website owners don’t have any idea about what they need to do to get online and be ranked at the search engines. A Search Engine Optimization friendly website is the most important website you can have. If your CMS is standing in the way of that then it’s time to ditch it.

Do you have your own customized search engine? Should you?

A customized search engine can do three things for your website:

1. It can allow your site visitors to find what they are looking for on your website more easily
2. It can be used as a marketing tool since you can opt to have your custom search engine be listed in the public search engines index
3. It can assist your site visitors in finding the information they are looking elsewhere if your website doesn’t have they are looking for

A custom search engine can benefit your site visitors in a number of ways. If you have a large website, or if you have several websites with similar themes, then you can help your site visitors find what they are looking for with a search box on your website. Your custom search engine can also be used as a branding tool that will display your company logo and/or header at the top of all of your search results on the search results page as people use it to conduct searches. You can also monetize your search engine through Google AdSense.

There are two types of custom search engines. The first one is free and Google ads are required. But you can earn commissions on those ads. The second type of search engine costs you a little bit of an investment and does not include ads, but you can use it to monetize your website by charging other website owners a fee to be included.

Should you start a custom search engine. The decision is yours, but I see tremendous benefits for webmaster who have the time to manage a search engine. It does take time, but it can also be another source of revenue besides your Search Engine Optimization efforts.

Often times, businesses do not know where to begin with their basic Search Engine Optimization efforts. The first step in this process is to submit your website to the three major search engines. In the video below, we help you achieve this goal by guiding you to do it properly. This will be the first of a weekly series of SEO Videos presented by Brick Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Journal - feel free to subscribe to them.

One of the biggest controversies in blog Search Engine Optimization is whether or not comments on blogs should be no-followed or do-followed. Currently, Blogger.com has strict comment policies and WordPress software comes with all comment links no-followed. If the blog owner wants to take the no-follow tag out and allow commentators to get some link juice from their comments then he will have to install a do-follow plugin. Some bloggers do that. Other bloggers don’t. But should you?

That’s a question every blog owner will have to answer for him or herself. You will likely get more comments if you install the do-follow plugin. But you’ll also likely get more spam. Then you’ll find yourself instituting strict comment policies like Michael Martine. But for every policy that you implement you’ll also have to spend time adminstrating. You’ll need to decide if you have the time to do that or how worth it is to you to pass on Search Engine Optimization benefits to your readers. There are pros and cons either way.

Pros of installing do-follow:

• More comments from readers
• More readers
• More content on your blog
• More trackbacks and possibly more traffic as a result

Now, the cons:

• More spam
• You’ll spend more time approving comments and filtering through spam
• Complaint handling from your readers
• Fewer readers and fewer visitors to your blog

When it comes to deciding whether or not you want to use do-follow links in your blog comments, you’ll have to figure out what Search Engine Optimization values are most important to you. When you do that then you’ll know whether you should install the plugin or not.

Yesterday morning, Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land wrote a blazing obituary of the search engine Ask.com.

What strikes me about this is the anger, bitter tone in which he writes. Yes, Ask.com had some innovation going on. There were a lot of people rooting for Ask. And they might have survived if Barry Diller had shown some stick-to-it-ness. Especially if Yahoo! does end up going by the wayside. Assuming that Microsoft does end up with Yahoo! in its lap, that would effectively make Ask.com No. 3 (I’m not counting AOL, which is just an aggregator), and then Diller and Co. could have focused on chasing Microhoo and outcompeting them. He might have succeeded there.

But, that didn’t happen. Instead, Ask.com went soft. They started talking about being a search engine for women. Restructuring. Yada yada yada. Yeah, as Danny says, we know. You’re all but dead, Ask.

It’s too bad, too, because I was secretly hoping that Ask would be somebody some day. It seems that Ask had so much potential, so much going for it, but what happened? Profits got in the way of greatness. Sad, sad, sad.

If you’ve been watching search engine and Search Engine Optimization news lately then you know it’s a volatile market. Yahoo! is laying people off and looks to be in major trouble. Having shrugged off a hostile takeover bid from Microsoft, the company is searching for other options, including a possible partnership with AOL. But that’s not likely to happen. Ask.com is also laying off employees even as it partners with Digg to add stories to its new social news site.

The question begs to be answered: What if Yahoo! does get sucked up by Microsoft and Ask.com moves on to other things? That would leave a Google vs. Microsoft world where the former still dominates. On the other hand, if Yahoo! partners with AOL and gives up its search presence to Google (because Google owns 5% of AOL) then that would make Google a more-than-dominant player. Add 60% to 30% and Google will own 90% of the search market. That would effectively make them a monopoly. There is no way Microsoft and Ask could compete with that even if they teamed up together. Newer search engines might see it as an opportunity but would likely not be able to eat into the Google monopoly at all.

If Google did own that much of the search market, almost anything the search engine did would be seen as a monopolistic threat to everyone else. Ubiquity has its problems. Like Microsoft a few years ago, Google would have a public perception problem (albeit one not entirely of their own doing). The question is, would Google escape anti-trust consequences as Microsoft has or would the courts turn back time to the Standard Oil era and force Google to ditch some of its properties in a forced breakup. If that happened, which properties would Google lose? Would its pay-per-click advertising business be forced to stand alone, or would it be something else?

I think there is little doubt that one of the search engines will go under by the end of this year. It looks like it will be Yahoo!, but it could be Ask. It likely will not be Microsoft, which still has the funding of Bill Gates behind it. If Yahoo! goes, all fair play will likely go with it.

This article by Frederick Townes has some great stuff in it, but you don’t have to wait 30 days to achieve Google rank. You can do it in less than a week. Here are some real gems from Frederick’s first 25 of 50 tips for getting ranked at Google within 30 days:

50. Build your own or move to Wordpress. Wordpress is a blog platform that’s open source (free), robust, extensible and easy to use. Add Feedburner, which equips site owners to broadcast RSS feeds and develop user metrics. Next, synch up Google Analytics and a sitemap plug-in to simplify populating the blog and developing useful, actionable metrics. Also, make sure your blog is pinging www.technoratti.com and other social-ranking sites like www.digg.com.

Yes, WordPress is the king of blogging platforms. I wouldn’t build a blog without it. I would add to all of this that you should include the AddThis plugin and put an AddThis icon in your sidebar as well as at the bottom of every post.

44. Remember Search Engine Optimization basics. Use provocative, keyword-rich title tags, meta keywords and descriptions, and only link to high-quality sites. Never over do it. Keep your posts relevant, natural, accurate and, above all, current.

Every blog post you write is a separate web page. Just as you would Search Engine Optimization a web page, Search Engine Optimize your blog posts too. Pick keywords that you will focus on for every blog post and write your blog with those keywords in mind. Don’t stuff your blog posts with keywords, but do write with keywords in mind.

42. Submit your URL to blog directories. There are “best of the web,” and paid directories, like Yahoo, and free directories like the Open Directory project at www.dmoz.org. Every directory listing is another link to your site and another way visitors can find you. Just google them to find more.

DMOZ isn’t going to get you there in 30 days. Chances are you won’t even get listed at DMOZ for at least six months from the day that you submit your blog. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t submit your blog there. Just don’t expect it to help you any time soon. That said, there are hundreds of blog directories out there to join. My favorite are MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, and BlogHub. There are a lot more. Just Google ‘em.

41. Create blog categories that contain keywords, i.e., Ecommerce, Search Engine Optimization Journal, Affiliates, etc. for use with a “site hosting” or “site design” blog.

Absolutely! Every blog category is useful for helping you rank. Using keywords in your category names will boost your Search Engine Optimization and get you crawled a lot faster.

40. Content quality counts. Research topics about which target readers want to learn. Write something new, useful and relevant. And don’t forget to regularly update older posts. Things change fast on the web so last year’s “next big thing” is this year’s hackneyed cliché.

Another big point. Quality of content is always one of your most important elements, whether we are talking about blog content or website content.

32. Ensure the blog is optimized for Technoratti. Claim your blog, set an avatar and pings, use tags where appropriate and be sure to ping various blog tracking sites.

Increase your ping list to more than just one website. Technorati is good, but it isn’t the only gig in town. There are over 50 ping sites you can join. Get the list. Start with Pingomatic.com. It’s a great way to get the word out about your website. And I would add that you should join a few syndication networks as well.

29. Ignore Alexa. A lot of new site owners rely on Alexa for site metrics but remember, Alexa is a popularity metric since only Alexa toolbar users contribute data – and that’s a less-than-universal test population.

I agree. Alexa is way over rated. The only people who use it are people who don’t know it’s over rated or don’t care. Most people don’t use it. That’s reason enough right there not to rely on Alexa.

28. Build credibility. Publishing authorities on your site’s topicality usually does the trick. Once blog credibility is established, identify trends, solve new problems and gradually expand the topic range of your blog.

When you build credibility into your blog posts the traffic will naturally come. People want to read the best, the latest, the most provocative. Interview a celebrity and you will see a rise in your traffic in no time from the Search Engine Optimization.

I can narrow this list down to three things:

• Quality Content
• Great Search Engine Optimization
• Linkability

Content will get your readers coming back over and over again. Great Search Engine Optimization will get the spiders to your website to crawl it. Linkability will encourage other bloggers and webmasters to link to you, which will get the spiders to your blog more often and more traffic from those other bloggers.

These things apply equally well to static websites. Stick with the basics and you can’t go wrong.

One final note: At the beginning of this blog post I said you can do it in about a week. You absolutely must get links to your blog on Day 1. It is imperative that you get crawled quickly in order to appear in the search engines quickly. Here’s how you can do that:

• If you own other websites, link to your blog from those sites on the first day, even if the sites are not relevant. Don’t nofollow them. You’re going to remove the links before it matters. Right now all you want to do is link to the blog to get it crawled. Linking from a site that gets crawled on a regular basis and that has already built up authority will get you crawled much quicker.
• Build a blogroll from Day 1. Link to other blogs within your niche and when you do send an e-mail message letting them know that you’ve linked to them and that you’d like a link back. Most bloggers will return the link. If you do that with enough relevant blogs within your niche and with a variety of authority statuses then you will get crawled and ranked quickly.
• Comment on other blogs within your niche. Especially comment on high traffic and high authority blogs within your niche. Even if those blogs use nofollow links in their comments, you’ll still get traffic and the more traffic you get the more it will help you with your Search Engine Optimization efforts.
• Links are very important. Start building them as soon as you can. Even before your site goes live, if possible. I’ve seen websites and blogs get crawled on the first day because links were built to a parked site before it was live. If you own several websites and you have a domain name parked then I believe your authority from your other sites will benefit you. Start linking early and when you go live you’ll see your authority rise faster.

Yahoo!s most innovative idea yet has to do with cell phones.

The idea is called OnePlace and is a bookmarking site for mobile phones.

OnePlace, to be launched in the second quarter of this year, allows users to mark links, news feeds or search results that lead them to fresh information on favorite topics when clicked.

OnePlace is supposed to look a bit like del.icio.us, also owned by Yahoo! It at least will have a similar interface and will allow users to bookmark their favorite news items and links. One feature that I like about OnePlace, due to roll out in the second quarter of this year, is the syncing ability between PC and cell phone. I guess that means you can migrate your bookmarks from PC to your cell phone. Cool, huh?

For a society that is increasingly mobile, this is an idea whose time has come and I for one think it will make a great product. Now, if mobile content producers can use it as effectively for marketing and Search Engine Optimization as Internet marketers are currently using social bookmarking then it will truly prove to be a useful tool.

Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, claims that 1/3 of all blogs are splogs:

(Source) Maybe you’ll be comforted in knowing that this statistic was derived based on the number of registered Wordpress blogs (2,523,000) and the number of splogs that Mullenweg has said the company has had to purge (more than 800,000), according to Web Pro News.

The originator of this story was WebProNews.

I think, frankly, the figure is low if Mullenweg is going by Akismet numbers. Counting Akismet purges and saying that represents the number of sploggers online is just too conservative because everyone knows that Akismet doesn’t catch all spam. Some spam, as every WordPress user knows, makes it past the Akismet filters and must be manually deleted. That means the figure is actually higher than the 31.7% as reported by WPN. Just how much higher? No one knows.

Search Engine Optimization Blog Spam has always been a big problem. E-mail spam resulted in legislation early in the Internet’s life, but spammers have largely ignored the law. It is likely that blog spammers don’t much care about netiquette either. It seems that splogs are big business. If they weren’t then sploggers wouldn’t be doing it.

The big question is what should real blog owners do to curb the spam. Or can we?

If you own a blog, I recommend the following when it comes to dealing with spam:

• Make sure you have an effective spam blocker like Akismet installed on your blog
• Set your blog comment approvals on administrator approved only
• When you approve a comment or trackback, visit the website of the commentator to see if it meets your approval - if it looks like spam, it probably is
• This measure may be a bit too strict for some as it will discourage real commentators from commenting on your blog, but you can enforce a policy of having all your commentators sign up and be logged in before being allowed to comment on your blog

Combatting spam is everyone’s responsibility. You have to decide how strict you want your comment policies to be on your blog. With a little bit of defensive splog strategy, you can kill the spam before it kills you and your Search Engine Optimization efforts.