Always fresh SEO Related News about different search engine and Algorithm changes and new rules and regulation.
December 24, 2009
As of December 1, 2009 the new Federal Trade Commission rules will probable change everyone's online experiences. Fedreal Trade Commission FTC is targeting blogs, website Social Networking with the scamm contents.
In order to comply we need to have: Privacy Policy-Explaining users how we use their informations Terms of use Affiliate Disclosure Testimonial Disclosure explaining where this testimonial is comming from? Is it a testimonial of an avarage person-person with avarage skill targeting your product?
FTC is the most after: Deceptive Advertising-Fake advertising: "How to lose 30 pounds in 10 days", "Work with Google" and similar.
Let's see in detail:
Blog
Some Bloggers are receiving small fees for reviewing a particular product or writing a blog post about it. FTC require all Bloggers with this kind of practice to have disclosure about receiving a fees for reviews or blog posts. If a Blogger is receiving a free gifts: gadget, books or other products or services, they need to include a disclosure about it.
With other words :If you receive any gifts, money or other type of compensation from manufacturers or vendors you have to disclose it. Testimonials or reviews you must clearly disclose the typical results someone can expect to get from using that product-What result can expect an average person using that products?
Social Networking
It's unlikely the FTC will be interested in you and your post about your business, but if you make some testimonials and have a large amount of Twitter followers or Facebook friends, it might be a good idea to disclose your affiliations.
Chat Rooms, Message Boards and Commenting
Don't post comments that undercut your company's competitors unless you make it clear who you are. This one is especially important to follow, since the FTC has dealt with this before.
November 21, 2009
On the last Search Marketing Conference held in Las Vegas Matt Cutts (Google Software Engineer in charge of WebSpam) gave some tips that can greatly affect search results of users and webmasters. Here are some key points:
Google Caffeine. Per Matt Cutt Google Caffeine will be launched after Holydays. New search engine will be faster, much faster to display search results and much friendlier for readers. In my opinion SEO requirement will be in accelerating website loading time and providing more information and richer content for reader's satisfaction.
Site Speed-Especially with new Caffeine Search Engine. Faster your site loads better experience for users, higher positioning.
Google Closure Tools Many websites have JavaScripts codes and files that make websites load slow (Forms, Tracking …). Google find a free solution with it’s own high speed loading Closure Tools
Webmasters are encouraged to follow and learn about social search with Google Experimental
No more Duplicate Content Google now support a format that allows you to publicly specify your preferred version of a URL.
Google is trying to implement some new features in Google Webmaster Tools like: sending e-mails to webmasters about some errors in Site map or "Fetch as Googlebot. Fetch as Googlebot will provide webmaster access to see what spyware are on their websites or better how Googlebot see it and recognize it. Great feature isn't it! Many websites are banned because of excessive spyware on their sites.
Google Analytics- Included in Algorithm or not? With the answer: "I don't think so but we will come back on this later" I am almost sure they will include Analytics too which is not bad at all. Google Analytics is actually your measurement of your profit.
November 3, 2009
After 5 months of debating and brainstorming about using the pattern for displaying the search results finally Google was granted patent from U.S. Patent Office.
What that means?
Depend of your searches (keyword phrases) or better multiple searches at the particular time Google search engine will try to determine the pattern of your searches and display results accordingly. Let’s say you are searching for: grapefruit, banana, melon. Google will recognize it as searching for fruit and that will result in displaying all kind of fruits.
New headaches for SEO Professional.
October 26, 2009 Yahoo “Search submit” ends
Yahoo has announced that they are closing paid inclusion at the end of this year.
There was a lot of polemics and criticism about Search submit Basic and Search submit Pro (PPC),especially about accepting money-charging annual fees for website inclusion in“Natural”, “Organic” search -We know that should be free as it is on Google.
As Yahoo is commenting they are focusing on providing best customer satisfaction-better experience with increasing ad relevancy which will increase user engagement and ROI for advertisers.
August 29, 2009
As Google says, "We use more than 200 signals, including our patented PageRank™ algorithm, to examine the entire link structure of the web and determine which pages are most important. We then conduct hypertext-matching analysis to determine which pages are relevant to the specific search being conducted. By combining overall importance and query-specific relevance, we're able to put the most relevant and reliable results first."
All those algorithms serve as filtration system to clean a web from garbage website, spam and massive contents that has absolutely no value to consumers.
One of Google most important algorithm is PageRank. PageRank is an independent measure of Google’s perception of the quality/authority/credibility of an individual web page. It does not depend on any particular search phrase. For the public (you and me), Google conveniently reports this as a number from 0-10 (10 being the best). So, assuming for a second that your web page and your competitors web-page has the same relevance – then whoever has the higher PageRank gets the better ranking – and shows up at the top of the results page. This is why PageRank is so important. Your relevance is based on your content. Your PageRank is what counts. July 30, 2009
Yahoo redesigned it Homepage, featuring colorful icons for search topics, mails, social media sites and so much more. All menus can be customized by the users. The question is: How much customization do users inquire in reality?
The center stage of redesign took Third party applications (Nasdag:Yhoo), Facebook, MySpace, eBay. Users can add or subtract the applications they want to see on Yahoo Homepage.
Homepage is cleaner then old Homepage version. In the center there are boxes with 16 images presenting news, sports and entertainment stories (emphasis on entertainment), recipes and consumer tips rotate through in groups of four on the page. There's a box to the right showing the top 10 Yahoo search topics, another smaller box with rotating images and headlines, and the standard grouping of nine or 10 text news headlines. After three years Yahoo's first homepage is redesign and its content has been trimmed down.
Google (Nesdag:Goog) improved its Homepage adding a few links to other services (Microsoft Nesdag-MSFT).
Bing has landscape pictures worthy National Geographic and a few more links different than Google.
Editor of “Search Engine Land” Greg Sterling made a comment that there is a history of people not using enough a customization options. They do not spend a time customizing their Homepages maybe because they are too busy or too lazy or they don’t find it useful for their purposes. He said also that Yahoo will make distinction between constant users of My Yahoo and other less engaged.
The site redesign will get a beta launch for mobile users over the next week, along with the PC beta for users in the United Kingdom, France and India. Mobile users are in demand and they will make heavy investments in this field.
July 22, 2009
Various companies and major search providers are working to make better search experience.
My primary search engine is Google and I am overall satisfied with the results. But often I must explore several links or a few pages to find what I am looking for.
Searching with any primary search engine you often have to insert a lot of different keywords orkeyword phrases in order to get the information you're looking for. Google or Yahoo typically won't answer your question directly but will try to point you to a Web page that will provide answer for you.
Maybe we can expect high-profile and better search experiences from Microsoft and new Bing search engine. Comparing Bing and Google there is a similarity, but Microsoft has added a few interesting tweaks.
In a column to the left of your results, you get a list of search history and links to recent searches you've done. And if you position your mouse over one of the text results, Bing will display the first several sentences of information from the linked page. That will save you some time.
To get the same information on other search engines, you usually have to click on the link, go to the Web page and then click back to the search results if the page wasn't what you were looking for.
On another hand Google has improved search experiences with Web + Show options (on the top left hand site) with the same keyword phrases searches in different categories and related searches. This is an excellent tool for keyword researchers.
Another new site is Wolfram Alpha. It’s not only a general Web but also search engine that generates information from databases and try to answer questions directly.
Say you wanted to get the population of Virginia Beach. A Google search points you to the Wikipedia page and gov. sites or city's homepage. Wolfram Alpha gives you immediate result: a number (438,514 people as of 2008) and displays a graph illustrating the city's growth over time.
Similarly, if you're trying to find out what your monthly payment will be on a $300,000 loan with a 5.9 percent annual interest rate, a Google search would lead you to a loan calculator. But Wolfram Alpha will make the calculation for you, estimating not only what you'll pay each month but also the total interest you'll pay over the life of the loan, and how much principal you'll pay each year.
The idea is to cut out mediator steps. You get your answer immediately, rather than having to find the right page that might have the answer.
All search engines have some improvements and weaknesses. We need a search engines that will provide“real time” information.
Lately the most interesting development in search is Twitter.
Many people first heard about Michael Jackson's death on the microblogging.com site and some of the first reports about the plane crashing into the Hudson River came from the site.
Making such Twitter reports easier to access could be a real boom for news, stock, marketers, emergency personnel and more.
July 6, 2009 Twitter results showing up on Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing. Launched just last month, Bing has begun indexing popular Twitter feeds. This means that a search of the names of a few thousand famous people will bring up their Twitter feed on the results page in addition to the more standard search results. Microsoft said the tweets will be indexed based on popularity and profligacy of tweeting, and include technologists as well as more well-known names like Al Gore and Ryan Seacrest.
Bing has been running an aggressive campaign of advertisement, new features, and partnerships with social media (Facebook, Twitter), video searches, travel companies.
The blog post mentioned that the current Twitter indexing plan is only a first step and could eventually include every person on Twitter. More immediate access to tweets, essentially real-time individual news updates, could be just what Bing needs to drown out the sound of its competitors’ success.
June 30, 2009
Combined, foreign language markets can be worth more than your domestic market. Need proof? Look at Google. The dominant search engine in all but a handful of countries, Google derives 52 percent of its revenue from the foreign language Internet.
Putting together a foreign language Internet site may sound daunting, so here are a few things to keep in mind as you begin planning your strategy.
Develop your understanding of the market. If you have customers abroad, or domestic clients with links abroad, ask them whether they think your offering might be attractive internationally. Ask for contacts that can validate your ideas and perhaps become your first customers.
Check out the competition. Google’s automatic translation tools can help you quickly determine what your competition is up to.
Evaluate the demand. Use Google and Yahoo’s tools to identify the key phrases you need to target in your foreign markets.
Have your site professionally translated. Google’s translation program is adequate for understanding content, but completely unreliable for a company website. Use a professional translation company to get the message right for your customers.
Market your siteonline. The principles are the same as in English. Build links through partners; use pay-per-click; and try to get mentioned on sites your potential customers frequent.
Following these steps (and repeating the process in other languages) can result in a larger, better-diversified business.
June 26, 2009 A common problem for those who have already optimized their website, and have created a wide array of content across social media outlets and networks is how to fight the traffic stagnation that comes after the initial launch of your comprehensive search engine optimization and online marketing campaign. The key to fighting this is as true in traditional marketing as it is in search engine optimization and management. This key is relevancy.
Whether you are selling a product or service, promoting a mission, campaigning for a politician, or just pushing for internet PR, you must cater to the impeding change of focus from static content of websites to fresh content available on blogs and social networks. Each of these topics at the title came from Google Trends today, and represent different approaches to making your constant need of traffic relevant to changes. This is not about using black hat techniques, but legitimately connecting your project to the topics of the day. June 15, 2009
There is currently a trend among search engines (translation: at Google) to derive search results snippets from the content that's right there on the page, rather than <description> metatags. That makes for meatier, more relevant snippets, but some sites that optimized for a different search sensibility -- sites that the search engines interpret as simply long content-free lists of products, for instance -- are finding the change dismaying.
Many webmasters will be upset upon preferable and better placement of sites with reviews, techniques, articles, giving customers and readers most pleasure. That means that customer and reader will determine which site will be higher ranked.
Going by what's revealed in the white paper, Rosenbaum says that Microsoft is taking an even more aggressive approach to scraping sites for content. "So," he says, "sites that are upset that search engines are giving readers and prospects 'all the good stuff' will not be made happier by Bing."
Site's with long and rich content will take over higher positions, because they more completely answer the prospects' questions. It seems to be already in place. If you put any keyword phrase in search bar, you will encounter that reviews, articles, wikizines are already taken first position in search engines.
June 13, 2009
MSN Live search evolved into Bing search engine.
Just released a new white paper titled, Bing: New Features Relevant to Webmasters. Key features from the perspective of webmasters and publishers
New Crowler software should replace human adCenter but I noticed that the language of the white paper was very human-agency-oriented -- I'm sure they're trying to automate as fast as they can,
There's no direct discussion of the algorithm, nothing about inbound links; the paper sticks strictly to matters of on-page SEO (that is, what's actually on the page being parsed by the crawler).
