Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Monday, 22 of September , 2008 at 9:53 am Leave a comment
A little while ago we wrote about video transcripts and submitting them to Google. It seem that Google have gone one step further and started doing the job themselves. Google Labs are testing Google Audio Indexing. At present it is only political videos stored on YouTube that are being indexed, however the results are impressive.
Google labs are indexing the content and providing a search function based on keywords. Rather than listen to the whole political statement, you can enter a search term and have the broadcast jump to the location of that keyword.
If this leaves Google Labs and becomes mainstream, all video content will be indexed, not by what you tell the search engines, but from what they can hear within the recording.
With this in mind, will there be any long term effects to SEO and keyword optimization? I think there will be several issues that come to light. The first will be to ensure the voice recording is clear and does not contain too much jargon or non-english words.
The other issue is that if (or perhaps when) Google start indexing audio content, the content does match what the alt tags indicate, and the page it is on - in other words, the video really is relevant to the page.
There is no indication as to how long they will continue to index audio or if podcast will also be included. Search engines are trying to catch up with times. This is just another example of the change we are going through.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Sunday, 21 of September , 2008 at 9:57 am Comments (2)
Many website owners scour the web looking for decent sites that can link back to them. Sometimes, the best links are those right under your nose, or at least, next door. SEO relies on backlinks as a corner stone of search rankings. Backlinks in theory should be relevant - but relevant to what? Keywords? Content? What about location?
If you have a bricks and mortar business then you should be listing in the various local directories. They should also be one of the first places you look at when it comes to link building. There are several non SEO activities may also help you link building strategies.
We talk about being social and getting involved with social media. Sometimes, the key is being active and social in your local community. It could be regularly participating in a local chamber of commerce association. Sponsoring events such as school, church, arts or sporting. These all help to increase your profile within the community.
If you include a blog on your site that broadcasts these activities, you may find a lot of local bloggers linking to you. You will certainly find many of the local organizations linking to your site. Once you have developed a profile within your community, asking other local businesses for a link should become a breeze.
While the links may not be strictly content related, ’support your local community’ type links may deliver the same benefits. SEO relies on links to develop search rankings; your local community may be able to help you.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Sunday, 21 of September , 2008 at 8:31 am Comments (4)
The online world is becoming dominated by blogs; at least it seems like it. For a website owner, you may wonder if backlinks from blogs actually help in your overall search engine optimization strategies.
There are two ways to look at this question. Are blogs simply valueless sites that contain little in the way of value, or are blogs just an extension of a website and contain valuable content. The reality is somewhere in between I am sure. However, when it comes to SEO considerations, if a blog ranks well for a particular keyword then the value of any link is little different to a standard web page (if that exists anymore?).
Google indexes a lot of blogs, do they place high importance on them in the current algorithm? Probably no higher than any other page. However sidebar or blogRoll links and blog posts which lead to relevant content can be of high value. Almost every section of Google has a blog, often in several different languages.
Google could hardly consider Blogs as useless since they use them to broadcast new information. In fact many search engine marketing operators watch these Google blogs for hints to changes in the way Google ranks pages. Yahoo! also likes blogs, but not to the extent as Google. Like Google, Yahoo! uses a blog to make announcements.
Blogs often offer value as they are generally written by related industry bloggers. Blog links should not be discounted and should be a part of every SEO campaign. As with any website, treat each blog on its merits, there are good and bad websites, there are good and bad blogs. Obtaining a link from a well ranked blog can offer real value to your SEO link building strategy.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Saturday, 20 of September , 2008 at 9:04 am Leave a comment
The rumors are rife that Best Of The Web (BOTW) is considering purchasing DMOZ from AOL. If you can manage to get your site listed on DMOZ then you will have very important link pointed to your site. Since DMOZ is a free directory, all the link juice on offer is sent your pages/site.
BOTW also have a directory, one that costs around $250 for reviewing the site prior to lsiting. If the listing is denied you will still lose your $250. BOTW is similar to Yahoo! as they are both paid directories but have escaped Google’s link selling penalties.
If BOTW does buy DMOZ, what implications are there for SEO? There are two ways to look at this issue. The first is whether or not the buyer can speed up the review process.
The second problem could be the reverse. If BOTW decides to charge to have a site listed on DMOZ , will Google change they way they view the links - will they be considered paid links?
[source]It is unknown whether a sale would change Google’s use of Dmoz for its own directory or would prompt Google to reconsider how much weight it gives the sites linked within Dmoz. For those who don’t know, Google is still relatively cozy with Dmoz in that it maintains a Google Directory that is a duplicate copy of the dmoz.org content. Dmoz also is still considered a great place for your site to be listed to gain premium Google link power that helps your PageRank.
Something has to crack at DMOZ soon. The rate of approval is terribly slow - in excess of 6 months for some categories. If BOTW can speed up that process without compromising the quality of the link, then that can only be a bonus to SEO.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Saturday, 20 of September , 2008 at 7:54 am Comments (1)
One of the mantra’s of SEO is link building. The real key is to it as quickly as possible, but not too quickly. If you acquire a rush of links, search engines, particularly Google, will quickly smell a rat and brand your site spammy, result, no indexing.
News around the grapevine the last few days has confirmation of Google’s approach to spamming for links and a little bit about to detect them. SERoundTable has a good rundown on what Google has to say on the matter. However the following statement sums up Google’s approach:
A typical, “legitimate” document attracts back links slowly. A large spike in the quantity of back links may signal a topical phenomenon (e.g., the CDC web site may develop many links quickly after an outbreak, such as SARS), or signal attempts to spam a search engine (to obtain a higher ranking and, thus, better placement in search results) by exchanging links, purchasing links, or gaining links from documents without editorial discretion on making links.
Building back links slowly does not always sit with website owners all that well. However, given the choice between a slightly slower indexing and ranking speed and no indexing or ranking, I know which directions I would prefer.
It is hard to impress upon owners the need to slow down on their search engine optimization activities sometimes. It often needs a statement like this one from Google to reinforce ‘the rules’ and reduce some of the aggressive activities.
It does leave me to wonder on aspect of quick link building. The spammers that attack sites, particularly blogs, try to build hundreds of links each day. Perhaps we should leave the comments for a month or two and see if Google then drops them from the index. Then we could remove the offending comments - but then, who has the time.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Friday, 19 of September , 2008 at 9:41 am Leave a comment
Search rankings are nothing more than a popularity contest based on chosen keywords and the number of pages linking into yours. The role of an SEO consultant is to dress up the model to try and win that contest.
Link popularity, generally measured using PageRank as a base, is one of the most talked about aspects of SEO. Link popularity is a measure of quality of peer recognition of a page. It is not the only form of popularity.
Social popularity is becoming more important and over time may become of the most important keys to a sites credibility. Add to this niche popularity, a measure of how many other sites from your niche link to you and the formula becomes complicated.
Click popularity has been important and into the future will take on a broader importance. At presence most click popularity comes from either PPC or generic search responses. Into the future, the users habits will also be taken into account.
Trying to determine rankings is impossible. Trying to determine what value each section has is even harder. Most links fit into one of those key areas, and together help to determine the search value of your page for any given set of keywords.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, 18 of September , 2008 at 7:22 pm Leave a comment
No matter where you go in the world, age does matter. In the search engine optimization world, age also matters, however, it’s not the age of the SEO consultant, and it is the age of the various components that go into ranking a page.
There five areas where age may have a bearing on your overall search rankings. No one can say for sure what effect they have, however general consensus is that age can be important. These five areas are:
Domain Age:
The longer a domain has been registered and the length of time a domain has before renewing or expiry is taken into account. Search engines, particularly Google, are looking for some validation of the site. If the domain is six months old and only registered for 12 months, it can be hard to treat with any credibility. On the other hand, a site that is five years old and has another two or three years left on registration can appear to be more credible. However;
Site Age:
Site is different to domain age. You can have a domain name registered for a long time, however the site itself may only be six months old.
Page Age:
The longer a page has been around, obviously the more links it should have. Older pages tend to carry more authority than new pages.
Link Age:
The age of a link is also important. A link that has been in place for a long time will naturally carry more weight than a new link.
Link Origin Age:
The age of the page that links in can also be importance. As you move along the link origin page, each reduces in importance, page, site and domain age seem to .
There is no known formula for these age factors; however age does in to calculation when the search engine algorithm assesses your page. Some things cannot be changed. Some can be planned. For example, if you are planning an online involvement in the future, registering a domain name now help may offer some aging point down the track.
The other area that may be influenced by your SEO strategies is in the selection of sites to link into yours. Select domains and pages that have some history and they may add a fraction more to your rankings.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, 18 of September , 2008 at 2:38 pm Leave a comment
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Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, 18 of September , 2008 at 7:34 am Leave a comment
As time moves along, search engines like Google become more sophisticated. We are told that the future of search will rely more on that searchers history, so, when a search term is entered, Google will match their search term with the searchers history, then find the most appropriate results to display. This may not be bad news for SEO; it will certainly make life tougher - particularly when reporting back to clients.
The recent mini-war between SEO tool producers and Google left many website owners in a spin. They couldn’t use the tools to provide information like search rank. What has been forgotten is that they survived. They found other ways to measure the success of their work.
We often rely too much on this data as it can, and does, affect people’s view of their own websites. If you have worked hard to optimize your pages for search, and you appear near the top in the search pages, you have done your job. There is little else you can do - we certainly cannot influence peoples search habits, at least for now.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Wednesday, 17 of September , 2008 at 7:37 pm Leave a comment
Google have published a set of guidelines that should be followed when submitting your business to Google maps. In the past, the guidelines appeared to be fairly lax and revolved around one business location, one submission. The guidelines are far more stringent now.
The basic premise of each listing now is that it should mirror your business exactly with information such as business name, address, phone number and website details.
One area that Google looks like getting tough on are multiple listings where businesses that have a physical presence in one location, but service several different locations, try to get listed in each service location. The other area that Google will not accept is where the one business address has several different specialties and tries to list under each of those specialties. Both of those options are closed and attempts to list will see all listings excluded.
This policy still matches the one business, one location, one listing policy. It is however spelled out more clearly now.
One option that is now available is the re-inclusion request. If your site has been removed for some reason, you can request to be re-included. Be sure you follow the guidelines carefully. As ever, Google suggests that if you are in doubt, err on the side of caution.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Wednesday, 17 of September , 2008 at 1:33 pm Leave a comment
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Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Wednesday, 17 of September , 2008 at 9:25 am Comments (2)
If you know how often your pages, and which pages, are crawled by the search engines you may get a fair idea as to which pages are important. This is an important statistic when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of your SEO strategies.
Gray Wolf’s SEO Blog has a post that discusses the issue in some depth. The most difficult part of the concept is getting reliable crawl rate data. It’s not impossible and Gray Wolf’s post details one method.
The comments section offered more advice on how to get these statistics. For those who are serious and are trying to get that little bump up in the search results, they may find crawl rates interesting and worth chasing.
For most website owners, there are for more important tasks that should be done first. On page optimization follows a standard formula these days. From titles, URL’s and content - the SEO concept is fairly standard. Make sure they right before worrying too much about crawl rates.
Off page SEO tasks should be your next task, ensuring every area has been tackled and is working in the right direction. This means building good quality links back into your pages.
Crawl rates are important and if you can gain access to those numbers, you have an indication of which pages need further promoting and which ones are being visited on a regular basis. This information is fine as part of your SEO, however, try not to get bogged down in it until the rest of the on and off page search engine optimization tasks have been completed.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Tuesday, 16 of September , 2008 at 7:03 pm Comments (2)
Videos have become an extremely popular addition to web pages and much has been written about how to optimize them for search results. One little used option is to include a transcript of your video. As part of your SEO strategy you can submit the transcript to Google.
A thread on Cre8asiteforums discusses the use of transcripts. Google have a preference for including time stamping in the transcript. Those who participated in the thread doubted the user benefit of the time stamping, and for most users I tend to agree. I cannot see how time stamping can help with the videos indexing - since, from a search and SEO perspective; it is the content that is important.
One option that was mentioned in the thread included:
The transcript is actually a proper HTML page of text and still images (from the video) with the video offered as an alternative choice.
This makes more sense and, from a user perspective, is value adding. The user can see the contents of the video first, if it appears to answer their query, they can then watch the video. There is still a degree of dilemma in the search engine optimization world about videos and how best to optimize them. Providing a transcript in the form of a web page may be the better option. However, it is still the page that is being indexed, not the video.
Submitting the transcript to Google will at least have the content accurately indexed, even though it is a video. The only question left is whether or not you have the time to transcribe your videos.
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Tuesday, 16 of September , 2008 at 6:12 am Comments (7)
For the second or perhaps third time, Google have published a post on duplicate content and how it effect on SEO. Quite simply, Google does not penalize for duplicate content. In fact, reading the post, they are rather clever in their treatment of duplicate content.
Google’s post really does put the issue beyond doubt. Are there penalties? For sites that scrape content - yes. For sites that get scraped - no! Sites, particularly blogs that have duplicate content because of the structure; for example, categories, archives, and perhaps renamed URL’s. Will it affect your SEO, yes, but not because of penalties. Let’s look at how Google handles duplicate content on a site:
- When we detect duplicate content, such as through variations caused by URL parameters, we group the duplicate URLs into one cluster.
- We select what we think is the “best” URL to represent the cluster in search results.
- We then consolidate properties of the URLs in the cluster, such as link popularity, to the representative URL.
The third point is important. If you have site issues that produce duplicate content including multiple URL’s, Google will group those URL’s together and send any link juice to the group. From and SEO point of view, this is actually beneficial. Links going to URL A and links going to URL B will be combined and sent to the best URL.
Where this can harm your search engine optimization is when Google’s idea of best URL differs to yours. There are other issues, for example, if Google cannot consolidate URL’s they may not be able to select a representative URL.
Duplicate content should be avoided as much as possible. However, if you have a blog for example, and someone insists you install a plugin to avoid this duplicate content, think about it first. Plugins can slow down your blog or make other alterations you may not want. It can become a trade-off. From the SEO perspective, you don’t have to have that plugin - it’s just nice if you do.
Google’s final words on the subject are important:
- You typically don’t need to submit a reconsideration request when you’re cleaning up innocently duplicated content.
- If you’re a webmaster of beginner-to-intermediate savviness, you probably don’t need to put too much energy into worrying about duplicate content, since most search engines have ways of handling it.
- You can help your fellow webmasters by not perpetuating the myth of duplicate content penalties! The remedies for duplicate content are entirely within your control.
I think perhaps Google is sick of hearing about nonexistent duplicate content penalties!
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Monday, 15 of September , 2008 at 7:25 pm Comments (2)
Jill Whalen has written a post on SearchEngineLand calling for the correct use of SEO terms. I wholeheartedly agree with the concept behind her thoughts, however, until the SEO industry can agree on a set of standards, you will never get a common use of SEO terms.
The term SEO has so many different meanings these days. Is it search engine optimization (optimisation) or search engine optimizer (optimiser)? Does SEO include SEM, social marketing and/or web design?
Unfortunately we will never get everyone using the correct terminology until there is some agreement on what that terminology means. As an industry, search engine optimization has grown with no controls and certainly little in the way of common standards.
There are no official qualifications so anyone can hang an SEO shingle on their website and start taking money. A simple look at the fly-by-night problems is ample evidence of this. The industry has almost evolved into one which cannot be standardized. The first question that everyone will ask is who is going to set the standards? If you were to set up a standardizing committee, how would you assess the suitability of the members?
If we leave it to the search engines to collectively come to some agreement on a set of standards, they would be accused of self interest (and probably confuse things more). If Jill were asked to set up a committee, who would she select as members and on what basis would she select them? Again, the accusation of self interest and selecting like minded SEO experts would arise.
There is no doubt that a set of standards and a common glossary of terms are required. The big problem will be, who, in the SEO industry, should set those standards?
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