The Rank Magic Blog

Google Bombs Mostly Defused ... Or Are They?

February 28, 2007 ::: Google has announced that they have defused most Google bombs via an algorithmic update. For most sites, this should have no effect. But if you've been amused by Google bombs (such as the George Bush Google bomb on "miserable failure", you may enjoy an extensive blog post by Scott Goodyear. He defines what a Google bomb is, what sites may have to worry in case Google becomes more aggressive about defusing these bombs, and some potential "SEO Karate" that sites may want to use if they've been Google Bombed.

Plan Your SEO for the Long Haul

February 23, 2007 ::: In her latest ClickZ column, Short- vs. Long-Term SEO Shari Thurow proposes that most SEO firms can be divided into two groups – depending on whether they employ short-term or long-term strategies. Short-term "algorithm chasers" are fighting a losing battle, she says, trying to get the best results at the moment and scrapping everything when an algorithm changes. Thurow outlines the short-term pattern like this:

Instead of having a reactive strategy like that, Thurow suggests that SEO practitioners should instead take a proactive approach, by building a keyword-focused, search-friendly, user-friendly Web site. That strategy can also help increase conversions and attract inbound links. She also points out:

Here at Rank Magic, we have always followed the long-term approach. In fact, the first web site we ever optimized (a tutor for kids with learning disabilities) back in 1999 still ranks #1 in Google for "NJ Tutoring" – and it hasn't been modified in at least 5 years.

Title Tag: Don't Overlook This Critical Item

February 19, 2007 ::: The title tag is one of the most important factors in achieving high search engine rankings. The title tag is in the HTML code of each of your web pages, and it appears not on your web page anywhere, but in the title bar of your web browser: right next to the Internet Explorer logo or the Firefox logo at the very top left of your browser window.

Sometimes, just fixing the title tags of your pages can improve your rankings a lot. We see this especially in web sites developed by novices. If you've created your own web site, you may not have thought about the title tag. If that's the case, your title tags may all be the same -- saying something like "Home Page" or "New Page 1". Title tags like that will only help you if you sell "home pages" or "new pages".

You need to have your keywords in your title tags -- different title tags for every page because you should have different target keywords for every page. You can include your company name on some or all of your title tags, but keep in mind that the search engiens only read the first 10-12 words or 60-80 characters, so if your page is focusing on critical keywords, make sure they're within the first 60-80 characters of your title tag

The words in your title tags show up as the headline for your listing in the search engine results page (SERP), and changing them to be more appealing or informative to potential customers may result in more clickthroughs as well as higher rankings.

Why Links Matter

February 15, 2007 ::: Rae Hoffman, an SEO consultant whose company is called Sugarrae, has written a pretty good introduction to the importance of links, oriented to small business owners who might decide to try and build their link popularity themselves. If you're considering doing that, her blog entry should help you understand the basics. She wrote:

Top 10 Key Search Factors in 2007?

February 12, 2007 ::: A search engine professional started an interesting thread on Search Engine Watch, introducing it like this:

"What are everyone's top 10 factors in search marketing to watch out for in 2007? And not
just marketing, but helping users find the correct content. This could range from
continuing existing good practice, to something entirely new like video search."

He went on to itemize his top 10:

The Most Common Reason for Dropped Rankings: Duplication

February 8, 2007 ::: SEO consultants complain that they repeatedly have to explain that using duplicate content negatively affects search engine rankings. And rebuilding rankings after being penalized for duplicate content isn't a quick and easy process. Ross Dunn, the founder and CEO of StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc. in Victoria, British Columbia has written an article for Site Pro News that covers the bases.

Some people register multiple domain names and have the same web site available at each of them. Well, there's a  right way and a wrong way to do that, and sadly most people do it the wrong way. Others copy content from other web sites (sometimes even with copyright permission) but that may run afoul of search engine duplicate content filters, too. And some poeple have web sites created by "conetne management systems" that cater to a specific industry like real estate. Many web sites created by those folks will have identical calculators and even much of the same content as each other. How can you tell if that's a problem for your web site? And what can you do about it? Ross' article explains it all quite well.

Algorithm to reduce Googlebomb impact

February 5, 2007 ::: Googlebombs are attempts to influence the Google rankings of a page for humorous or political intent. (See a fuller description on Wikipedia.)A famous example was cited in our August 2005 blog: a search for the phrase "miserable failure" brought up the official White House biography of George W. Bush as the first result. That's because so many people had created links on their web pages that pointed to the President's biography with link text that said "miserable failure". Since the technique doesn't only work on Google, the more generic term for it is a "linkbomb". David Letterman might call it a "stupid SEO trick".

Now, it seems that Google is trying to spoil the fun for those pranksters. They've modified their algorithm to detect and disregard such Goglebombs. You can read a good overview of this, including lots of blog responses on the Google Operating System blog. If you prefer to get the information straight from the horse's mouth, you can read Google's take on it in the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Senduit to Share Large Files Easily

February 2, 2007 ::: Sometimes it can be a challenge to send large files as email attachments. Many mail servers place limits on the size of attachments they will permit. Others will refuse certain file types, most notably executables. And sometimes even if you zip up an executable file to get past that barrier, the mail server may be wise to that trick and still forbid the attachment.

Senduit to the rescue. Here's how it works: navigate to Senduit, find the file you want to share with someone, upload it, and then Senduit gives you a URL where your file can be accessed - that link goes inactive after 30 minutes unless you tell Senduit to keep it active for longer. Give the URL to the intended recipient and they can retrieve your file.