Google’s webmaster guidelines are a great reality check for newbie optimizers when it comes to separating the wheat from the chaff. Recently, Google added some information on Link Schemes to their webmaster guidelines that is worth a read. In a nutshell:

• Create Good content - make your site ‘link worthy’
• Use common sense when linking out - ask yourself - will this benefit my site users?
• Build a quality site and link to quality sites
• Avoid ‘exchanging links’ just to ‘get’ a link. If it doesn’t make sense for your site to link to that site - don’t.
• Avoid building partner pages solely to exchange links without any benefit to your site user

There are so many ways to build quality links today, that the old ‘link exchange’ is hopefully soon dying… and good riddance. It worked once - just like keyword meta tags did in 2001 - it doesn’t work so well now … so move on. Let common sense be your guide. If it doesn’t make sense for you to link to this site and for that site to link to you - then don’t. Focus on your site, ‘market’ yourself, and the links will likely come to you!

The comScore for June 2007 reports that Live’s search share has gone up while Google’s goes down. It is likely that the launch of Search Club is responsible for this near 3% increase in search share. Should Google be worried? It appears to be a normal decline, seasonal.

“Google has a tendency to see share declines during the summer, driven in part by vacations, fewer work days, and reliance on academia from its core user base,” - Read article

While Google’s search share has declined this month, the overall picture is not a decline in searches for Google - just its percentage of the pie. The actual numbers went from 3.6 billion in May to 4 billion searches during June.

The FCC plans to free up the 700 MHz spectrum that is no longer being used in an auction that could shake things up with how we connect to the Internet, and give more choices for who we connect with. It doesn’t just apply to wireless connectivity either, the 700 MHz spectrum is fully capable of penetrating buildings bringing broadband technologies into homes and businesses. Google seems very interested.

“The world sees Google as a Web search engine with ads,” he said. “But Google is poised to become a supra telephony platform. It already has next generation [telephony] infrastructure.” In addition, he noted that while Google has a telephony infrastructure in place, it isn’t hampered by FCC regulations that must be adhered to by telephone firms like AT&T and Verizon. He said Google is challenging traditional telephony technology through its “engineering and infrastructure.” …Read article

Rumors fly about new plans for second tries in the social networking arena. Orkut didn’t fair so well for Google, but now it looks like they could be hitting the SocialStream…

Google already has a social network (orkut), but it’s only popular in Brazil and India

…while Yahoo’s second attempt (the 1st being 360) is in the Mosh pit.

It’s likely this would replace Yahoo’s 360 social network service, which has never really gotten traction.

You probably know that Google will group two results together when they are both from the same site—indenting the second of the two results indented beneath the first one. Let’s say, for sake of argument, that a competitor of yours is ranked #1 and #2. But did you know that the listing ranked #2 is most likely not actually #2, rather something between #3 and #10? The second, indented result could very well have as its “true” position #10.

Learn how to discover the second (indented) URL’s “true” position and develop strategies to possibly bump them out - if it’s your competitor…

Matt Cutts, a senior software engineer for Google, says that piling links onto a competitor’s site to reduce its search rank isn’t impossible, but it’s extremely difficult. “We try to be mindful of when a technique can be abused and make our algorithm robust against it,” he says. “I won’t go out on a limb and say it’s impossible. But Google bowling is much more inviting as an idea than it is in practice.”

Read the article…

Meat and Potatoes

“Content is King!” I’ve heard it, you’ve heard it, we’ve all heard it. And, it’s the truth. We are pretty sure that search engines reward websites with high rankings for good, unique, relevant content that is all your own! Web crawler’s spider your website to know what it’s about – therefore, beef up your content to make the spiders understand what your site it about.

Study the trends in keywords, use keyword tools and implement your top keywords into your site. Quality content is information rich, not -necessarily keyword rich. Do not be fooled - the only thing you’ll get if you stuff keywords into the head tags and the body is poor results…you could even get kicked out of the search engines! Rather, be smart about your keywords. Implement your top keywords in a fluid fashion and make the content flow.

Writing for the Search Engines AND the User

Update your content by adding new pages and tweaking existing copy with pertinent keywords and keywords phrases. Focus on the broad and long phrase keywords. The more niche your keyword is, the more likely a sale will happen. What do your customers want to read about? Make sure to put yourself in their shoes and include interesting facts about your products or services.

It’s your time to shine! Make your company appealing – you’ve put time into making your site look good, now it’s your chance to sell yourself. By including dense information like case studies or by explaining your services in detail, you might not only get a conversion or two – but ultimately the search engines will see you as “The Expert” in your particular field. People tend to trust those who know what they are talking about. Likewise, so do search engines.

The Long of the Short

Even if your site has weight in the search engines, has excellent page rank and includes decent inbound and informational links, it is still necessary for you to devote time to freshening up the content on your site. One of the things that make websites stand or fall is the clarity and brevity of your content. Make it unique – make it fresh – make it your own.

If you provide more than one service or sell more than one product, should you have more than one domain name?

Thank you for your question. Without further details about your business, I will answer this from a few different angles.

If you have a large company with hundreds or thousands of products, it is not uncommon to have a central domain name and then branch out to additionial domains in an effort to keep things organized and structured. Doing this legitimately and with the intention of making the purchase process clear for the searcher is reasonable. This can also be done with subwebs - which is a more current or up to date method of organizing a large company.

But several years ago, this same idea was used as an optimization strategy to try to saturate YOUR business within the search engines. The idea was to populate the search engines with more than just one position for the same keywords. From the perspective of the search engines, this looks like an attempt to pull a fast one on them! There are ways to do this properly and not get penalized - but from a general standpoint, this strategy can be shortsighted. It is much more plausable to work hard on one domain name then try to manage and optimize multiple domains.

It’s amazing how the underlying motive for the strategy becomes present in the final outcome of the campaign. If you are considering purchasing multiple domains, ask yourself what the purpose is. If a business can be managed with one domain name, it should be. If the products that are being sold are compatible, then it is reasonable for them to stay within one domain.

I hope this information helps!

Can you tell me what Google’s Website Optimizer is and if one should bother trying to figure it out or not. In essence, what’s it all about and what can it do for me?
Thanks, Andrew

Hello Andrew,

Google Website Optimizer is a tool that allows you to test the copy, headings, calls to action, and images that are used on landing pages to assess what works best to convert visitors and maximize your return on investment. Website Optimizer allows you to test multiple variations of a landing page so you can see what your website visitors are responding to the best. For example, you can test whether people respond better to a graphic image or a photo. See what headlines drive the most conversions. Google will then provide you with a report that will help you determine what changes should be made to your website based on what people are favorably reacting.
Website Optimizer can test any page of your site, including the landing page for pay-per-click campaigns.

Google Website Optimizer is currently in its beta stage and you have to be considered to participate in the test. If you are accepted, there are a couple of steps you must take. First, you need to pick a web page that you want to test. Then, you will choose a page that is going to represent your conversions. Do you want someone to fill out a contact form? If, so this would be your conversion page. Once you have determined these pages, make variations to your test page and set up your Website Optimizer account. Once you have launched the “experiment”, Google will begin doing research. Once they are done collecting date, they will provide you with a report of their findings. The report will display the different page variations and show you what worked best at converting.

In order to use Website Optimizer, you will need to set up a Google AdWords Account and Google Analytics. If you do not currently have Analytics, this will be set up automatically when you set up a Website Optimizer account.

Should you bother to try Google Website Optimizer? If you don’t have a web analytics program that allows you to test your website, and you were able to enroll, I would say yes. Heck, it’s a tool that is going to take SOME of the guesswork out of what is helping to convert visitors and what can be improved. Testing is going to give you a better grasp of what visitors are attracted to and what they aren’t. You can then use this data to create better performing landing pages. After all, what you THINK may be a great landing page, may not be!

We need to know if we can get top positions in a blog?? How (long) would you need to get good results in Google/Yahoo/MSN… Our blog has not been made yet, first I need to know if it is possible to get good positions…blog will be for hotels and online bookings. I will be awaiting your comments. Thank you & best regards from Spain!!

Hello - It is possible to get “top” positions for a blog, but it will not happen over night. There’s no time line on when you would be able to get results in a specific search engine, especially if it is a new site/blog. In Google it could take up to a year or longer to start being found. If you are dedicated and like blogging about the subject then you should do just fine. Blogging means a commitment. You should not just be focusing in on what position you are in, but are your readers enjoying your blog. Word of mouth can spread your site faster than a number one position in Google. Try joining other blog conversations related to your industry, create a feed, be proactive within your community.

Optimizing a blog is not that different than optimizing any web page. The Title tag is usually controlled by the actual title of your entry. Optimizing and capitalizing on a good title can go a long way. The body of the blog entry can be fortified with keyword rich content and interspersed with anchor text links. Use common sense, don’t spam, don’t write about jibberish, do your keyword research, link with other respectable blogs / websites, keep up with your entries and with time you will gain positions and readers.