Should You Ask Permission Before ‘Scraping’ Content?
Content scraping has a bad reputation, but it isn't necessarily bad ALL the time. Before you decide to use a blog post or content from and RSS feed for your own website you should first think about the implications. Not every webmaster will appreciate it. RSS feeds were established to allow for easier content distribution. The idea is to distribute your content to readers without those readers having to visit your website to do so. Therefore, it seems, you should be able to use content from an RSS feed on your own website without asking permission. Right? Actually, that is technically correct. But there are some courtesies that you might extend. First, never, please, NEVER, use someone else's content, even if from an RSS feed or article CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...
What To Do If You Have Bad Inbound Links
A reader asked a question on another blog post that I could all readers of this blog could benefit from so I'm going to address it now. Here's the question: Quick question about SEO - I was ranked in the top 3 for over 120 of my target keywords and a “SEO Company” offered to do a free niche search engine submission for free if I would take a look at their services. A week after that happened my rankings dropped on all but about 30 keywords. Any ideas why this would happen? That's an excellent question and there's no easy, quick fix to a situation like this. I would begin by asking the other search engine optimization company to give you a list of places they CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...
The Different Shades Of SEO
Effective SEO comes in different shades. There is black and white, gray, and a myriad of colorful colors. Sometimes they contrast, sometimes they compliment. But SEO is not simply optimization. It never is. It's always something else hiding under an SEO hat. (In case you are wondering, I tend to stay on the "what hat" side of things!), anyway... If that seems a little mystical to you, that's because it is. It was intended to be mystical. SEO is not a trick or treat. It's not some magic bullet or fairy dust. There is always a point beyond the keywords and links. In other words, there's more to it than meets the eye. Here's what I mean: If you are building a site for AdSense, you will CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...
Do You Know Your SEO Weak Spot?
Brilliant! I thought this was brilliant: If I sit down with you and you can tell me one reason why you rank the way you do, that right there is your weak spot. There should be no singular reason why you rank. [Ed: Emphasis added, because relying on a single point makes you easy to reverse-engineer and means you have no barrier to entry...] From an interview with Ruud Hein. That's pretty smart stuff. If you can say with any definition why you rank so well then you should be looking over your shoulder. Because if you can tell why you rank that well then your competition can figure it out. And if your competition figures it out then a lot of other people are going to CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...
Has Google Improved Its Blog Search Feature?
It seems that Google has improved its blog search function and made it more competitive with Technorati, Techmeme, and other blog search services. Competition is always a good thing. The thing with Google Blog Search has always been its lack of relevant results and often older results. I guess the domain age part of Google's algorithm was a bit too dominant. According to an article in Mashable recently, Google fixed those issues. I certainly hope that's true. So I thought I'd test it. I searched for "search engine optimization" using Google's Blog Search. The first thing that popped up were results for relevance. That's no good if I want to know what the latest information is. So I clicked on the "Sorted by date" link CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...
Microsoft Live Starts Powerset Podcast Series
On the same day that Google introduced Rich Snippets, Microsoft Live introduced a podcast series on Powerset and semantic web technology. While the initial video isn't very deep informationally, it is interesting that Microsoft is stretching to become more competitive with Google regarding this type of technology. Google has been using semantic technology for a while now. Of course, that's not to say that they've advanced to the point that artificial intelligence is a reality. But Google has been able to discern what a web page is about semantically by looking at a text document. Powerset has attempted to take semantic technology a little further and that's what has Microsoft Live personnel so excited. I believe they actually believe this technology will make CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...
Paid Search Declines, Organic Search Increases
First up, then down: (Source) Hitwise data indicate that the share of search traffic coming from paid listings is decreasing at the expense of organic traffic. Could this decline be related to advertisers spending less on advertising, or is there something larger going on here? The article above concludes it is due to cutbacks in marketing spend and I'd have to agree. So if consumers aren't finding what they need with paid search, they'll get it through organic search. That pretty much says that these companies were throwing away revenue on paid search, doesn't it? I mean, if searchers find you through organic search then why pay to get found? Of course, there is the argument that paid search can boost organic search engine optimization campaigns CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...
The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Journal is Written by SEO Expert:
Nick Stamoulis
Tel - 781-999-1222
nick@brickmarketing.com
Brick Marketing - SEO Company
