Search Engine Optimization

You can now get transit directions on Google Maps for most large cities in North America.

Here’s how to get from Days Inn Hotel at 215 boulevard René-Lévesque Est Montréal to our head office at 465 saint-Jean ST. #505, OLD Montreal, QC H2Y 2R6, Canada (SEO Internet Marketing Inc).

Google details how to walk to the station, how much the fare costs, which stations to exit, how to walk to another designate stop and eventually to your destination.

Interface is confusing, but since Google has no feature rivals at the moment its still a winner.

Google is Killing Map Quest, Live Maps and Yahoo Maps.

Google Maps is the second most popular product from Google after Search and its gaining up against AOLs Map Quest. It kills all other map services with cool features and transit one is big!

Getting around Toronto, I have to look where the location is on the maps, and then use “TTC ride guide” to learn shortest route to the destination. Now Google Maps can do all that work. Nice.

Map Quest better catch up with their features cause Google is like a predator.

Microsoft’s Live maps and Yahoo Maps are trailing behind Map Quest and Google, who are local map leaders. Live Maps are the weakest.

Google has released wiki style search results page for select Google users. You can delete results and move them up or down.

Watch this video to see it in action.

I have this feature on my end for google.com. It’s not featured on Google.ca. I am a very frequent searcher of “seo topics” and “search related topics” so this might be the required qualification (just a guess). I am also logged in. Feature goes away if you’re logged out.

More blogs on this topic.

• Justin Hileman
• Garett Rogers
• Alex Chitu
• a German blog
• Search Engine Roundtable
• WebmasterWorld

Wikia Search

Wikipedia entered search engine game with “editable results” card, and so far did not create much following.

What’s big G is up to?

I think Google is keeping it’s eyes wide open and is willing to try anything that can work, because if it works, competitors can steal away market share. A good example is Google’s cloud computing. I am not sure if Google was the first one to offer remote office suite, but the idea caught on in Washington, and now all DC government offices are switching from Microsoft Office to Google Docs. Microsoft is got to play the catch up game now, because they did not see that coming and in reality, Washington’s acceptance of Google Docs is HUGE signal to all corporate giants (who can save millions).

Wiki style search results are not likely to be appreciated by majority users, but it might stick with select few, and it’s better be Google who offers it the select few who want it, instead of direct competitor.

It’s a smart move on Google’s side and it indicates that the company is sharp on it’s senses with serial killer mindset under the “do no evil” thing.

SEO Game?

We have to look at it from the perspective of the mass search market. How many people do really give a whit for search results, other then convenience of information?

My personal perception is - most people want BEST info fast, and they want someone else to do the work of sorting everything out.

I might be completely wrong, and once adopted on mass scale it can become the new thing. The only way to find out is to test.

There are also the savvy crowds who might find this feature cool and use it from time to time. One blog post mentioned that results can be used as bookmarks. Once you find what you’re looking for, you can bump the listing up to the top and then search with the same keyword to find the result. Pretty useful.

Spam - a heaven.

SEO - search engines are moving more and more to the behavioral data? The Microsoft’s browse rank, Aaron’s countless predictions and Danny’s Search 4.0 all point out to it.

User behavior is going to affect search result more and more.

Take this development as a cue that behavioral influence of search results is close. Google will keep all the link algos to put best websites at first 1 - 30 spots, but might apply the behavioral data algorithms to sort those 30 results (example) in order to figure out best ones..

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have agreed on a common set of principles governing how they intend to do business in countries that restrict free speech and human rights. All three companies have been criticized by rights groups and the US Congress in the past for putting profit over principles and human rights, in China in particular. - Search Engine Land

In the deceivingly titled article “Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Set Common Voice Abroad” wall street outlines the agreement.

• Under the new principles, which were crafted over two years, the technology titans promise to protect the personal information of their users wherever they do business and to “narrowly interpret and implement government demands that compromise privacy,” according to the code. They also commit to scrutinizing a country’s track record of jeopardizing personal information and freedom of expression before launching new businesses in a country and to discussing the risks widely with their executives and board members. - Wallstreet

What You Won’t do Dough?

• China has executed close to 100 million of its own people in the last 100 years, which is more then the number of people who died in World War 2. They are the record holders. That’s 3 Canadian populations or 1/3 of US.
• China is the largest slave labor camp in the world, where masses are reduced to poverty through financial control. Poverty creates dependency on the little resources there are, which are controlled by the state.
• China’s internet is a separate body of it’s own. Bloggers and users who dare to criticize government are tracked down, beaten, imprisoned and possible executed.
• Anyone who opposes the government is imprisoned or killed.
• China is the biggest market for human organs. Organs are taken from prisoners in concentration camps, who get executed right after an order is placed. Watch it.
• Chinese workers work 13 - 16 hours shifts for 3 - 10 cents per hour. Watch it.

I know China is a growing market, where business presence is rather a mandatory strategic move then a choice…

But that’s how capitalism operates and Google, Yahoo and Microsoft didn’t invent it.

Wonderful ehh.

When doing our internal project I did a lot of research to put down 4 different personality types together. The stuff below is not original and is scraped from around the web, but I think it’s put together very nicely, so go ahead and use it in your marketing development. I should give credits, but I don’t feel like going through all the research again, so if you know the source, drop a line and I’ll add the link to be fair.

A lot of material is borrowed from Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing which is a must read if you’re in marketing

http://www.personalitypage.com/four-temps.html

• Methodical (SJ) (The Guardians)
• Spontaneous (SP) (The Artisans)
• Humanistic (NF) (The Idealists)
• Competitive (NT) (The Rationals)

Myers Briggs

Methodical (SJ).Methodical types need to be prepared and organized to act. For them, task completion is its own reward. These individuals appreciate facts, hard data, and information presented in a logical manner as documentation of truth. They enjoy organization and completion of detailed tasks. They do not appreciate the “personal touch,” and they abhor disorganization. They fear negative surprises and irresponsibility above all. Those who are Methodical have a strong internal frame of reference. They prefer to think and speak about details and specifics. They compare everything to a standard ideal and look for mismatches (what’s wrong or what’s missing).

This personality is strongly independent. Don’t rush things - plan to give the person plenty of breathing space and thinking time. If your suggestions stack up, the person will come round to your way of thinking. Putting everything in writing (along with lots of juicy statistics) can be good idea. Above all, don’t even think about misleading this type of person - it will be spotted instantly.

Power words that work well include: proof, evidence, facts and figures, research, logic, tried and tested, safe, reason.

People in this category are analytical. They have to analyze everything to death. They will miss millions of dollars in opportunities because they take too long to make a decision. They want nothing but details and they think they are the smartest people in the world. You will not sell them so don’t even try. They have to sell themselves. They have to analyze things at their own pace so don’t even try to interrupt them. Leave them alone, let them go through everything and just answer all their questions. They will get back with you when they are ready to start. They make up 35% of the population.

• Not assertive, not responsive.
• Precise, orderly and business-like.
• Rational and co-operative.
• Self-controlled and serious.
• Motivated by logic and facts.
• Not quick to make decisions.
• Distrusts persuasive people.
• Like things in writing and detail.
• Security conscious.
• Critical, aloof, sceptical.
• Excellent problem solver.
• Likes rigid timetables.

Negotiate

• Take action rather than words to demonstrate helpfulness and willingness.
• Stick to specifics . Analytical expect salesmen to overstate.
• Their decisions are based on facts and logic and they avoid risk.
• They can often be very co-operative, but established relationships take time.
• Consider telling them what the product won’t do, they will respect you for it, and they will have spotted the deficiencies anyway.
• Discuss reasons and ask why? questions.
• Become less responsive and less assertive yourself.

Spontaneous (SP). Spontaneous types must live in the moment. Their sensing preference makes them most grounded in the immediate world of the senses. This, coupled with their perceiving preference, helps them to remain poised and present in any situation. They are available, flexible, and engaged in a personal quest for action and impact, which defines who they are. For the Spontaneous, integrity means the unity of impulse with action. These individuals appreciate the personalized touch and are in search of new and exciting experiences. They dislike dealing with traditional details, and are usually quick to reach a decision. They fear “missing out” on whatever life has offer.

Expressive like to be liked and appreciated. They need people around them and are anxious to develop and maintain relationships. Be prepared to steer and control the conversation.

Power words that work well include: fun, appreciate, enjoy, convenient, trouble-free, and inexpensive.

People in this category just want to have fun and are the most creative. They will jump from plan to plan looking for fun. They aren’t interested in the big picture nor do they need all the details. They want instant gratification. You have to be excited when talking with them. Talk about things that are fun, things they like to do that excite them. They make up 15% of the population.

• Assertive and responsive.
• Reactive, impulsive, decisions spontaneous, intuitive
• Placing more importance on relationships than tasks
• Emotionally expressive, sometimes dramatic.
• Flexible agenda, short attention span, easily loved.
• Enthusiastic.
• Strong persuasive skills, talkative and gregarious.
• Optimistic; takes risks.
• Creative.

Negotiate

• Seek opinions in an area you wish to develop to achieve mutual understanding.
• Discussion should be people as well as fact oriented.
• Keep summarising work out specifics on points of agreement.
• Try short, fast moving experience stories.
• Make sure to pin them down in a friendly way.
• Remember to discuss the future as well as the present.
• Look out for the impulse buy.

Humanistic (NF). Humanistic types have a tendency to put others’ needs before their own and are often uncomfortable accepting gifts or allowing others to do anything for them. They are very creative and entertaining. They enjoy helping others and highly value the quality of relationships. They are usually slow to reach a decision. They fear separation. Those who are Humanistic are good listeners and are generally willing to lend a sympathetic ear. They focus on acceptance, freedom, and helping. They generally prefer the big picture. They greatly value human development, including their own.

Often have a long record of poor decisions. They are, therefore, suspicious and slow to accept new ideas. Take your time; nurture the relationship and work hard to gain their trust. Be prepared to provide ample proof and guarantees that your ideas will pay off. Power words, that work well include: security, safety, guaranteed, reliable, popular, tried and tested, fail-safe, proven.

People in this category give from the heart. They are always giving to others and they never have time for themselves. They don’t like to be sold, nor do they like people who are pushy or aggressive. They see excitement as hype. The best way to approach them is to just visit with them and get to know who they are. Talk about their family, their kids or even their vacations. They make up 35% of the population.

• Not assertive but responsive.
• Dependent on others.
• Respectful, willing and agreeable.
• Emotionally expressive.
• Everyone’s friend; supportive; soft-hearted.
• Low risk taker, likes security
• Group builder.
• Over sensitive.
• Not goal orientated.

Negotiate

• Work, jointly, seek common ground.
• Find out about personal interests and family.
• Be patient and avoid going for what looks like an easy pushover.
• Use personal assurance and specific guarantees and avoid options and probabilities.
• Take time to be agreeable.
• Focus discussion on .how.
• Demonstrate low risk solutions.
• Don’t take advantage of their good nature.

Competitive (NT). Competitive types seek competence in themselves and others. They want to understand and control life. Driven by curiosity, a Competitive is often preoccupied with learning and has a deep appreciation for challenges. They enjoy being in control, are goal-oriented, and are looking for methods for completing tasks. Once their vision is clear, they usually reach decisions quickly. They fear loss of control. Those who are Competitive are highly motivated, success- and goal-oriented, hardworking, image-conscious, good planners, and good at promoting their ideas. They are able to subordinate their present needs to develop future success. They can be intense, very persuasive about getting their own way, and are particularly irritated by inefficiency.

Present your ideas in ways that boost the person’s prestige. Genuine praise can work wonders. Use power words such as: best, biggest, unique, powerful, fast, money, first. Go for a decision, quickly and often.

People in this category are money motivated and focused. They are not coachable and they have big egos. They order people around and make demands. Don’t even bother trying to mentor them because it’s not going to happen. They know it all and you can’t tell them anything. They make up 15% of the population.

• Assertive but not responsive
• Task rather than people oriented.
• Decisive and determined
• Controlled emotions
• Set on efficiency and effectiveness.
• Likes control, often in a hurry.
• Firm, stable relationships
• Stubborn, tough.
• Impatient.

Negotiate

• Plan to ask questions about and discuss specifics, actions and results.
• Use facts and logic.
• When necessary, disagree with facts rather than opinions. Be assertive.
• Keep it business-like, efficient and to the point.
• Personal guarantees and testimonials are least effective, better to provide options and facts.
• Do not invade personal space.

Questions each personality type asks.

Methodical

Different modes are likely to lead with different types of questions, which reflect their information priorities and the pace of their deliberations. Those who are Methodical focus on language that answers HOW questions.

• What are the details?
• What’s the fine print?
• How does this work?
• What’s the process you use?
• Can you take me through this step-by-step?
• How can I plan ahead?
• What are the product specs?
• What proof do you have?
• Can you guarantee that?

Spontaneous

Those who are Spontaneous focus on language that combines WHY (and sometimes WHEN) questions.

• How can you get me to what I need quickly?
• Do you offer superior service?
• Can I customize your product or service?
• Can you help me narrow down my choices?
• How quickly can I take action and achieve my goals?
• How will this let me enjoy life more?

Humanistic

Those who are Humanistic focus on language that answers WHO questions.

• How will your product or service make me feel?
• Who uses your products/service?
• Who are you? Tell me who is on your staff, and let me see bios.
• What will it feel like to work with you?
• What experience have others had with you?
• Can I trust you?
• What are your values?
• How will this help me strengthen relationships?

Competitive

Those who are Competitive focus on language that answers WHAT questions.

• What are your competitive advantages?
• Why are you a superior choice?
• Are you a credible company?
• How can you help me be more productive?
• How can you help make me look cutting edge?
• What are your credentials?

Customers have different buying processes based on demographics, psychographics, and topologies. Terrific. But just knowing that different customers buy in different ways isn’t enough. You have to sort out those buying modalities so you can accommodate them in your persuasive system. And you have to turn those “modalities” into “personas” you can actually understand and relate to. You must feel you know these personas personally.

Psychographics in perspective

Examples of Copy writings:

Selling ship cruises to different personality types:

Methodical

Mary

• Methodical
• Planner
• Detail oriented
• Will book way in advance
• Wants best value
• Wants full itinerary
• Wants to know what to pack
• Wants to know all documentation necessary
• Is there a medical facility on board?
• Escape means curling up in a lounge chair with a glass of Iced Tea and a pile of mystery books

Mary: Dinner reservations planned for every night – check. A complete daily itinerary slid under your door every morning.– check. Ground transportation and excursion activities pre-arranged and confirmed– check. XYZ Cruises has it all covered. Attention to detail is our specialty. All you have to do is relax. The only unpleasant surprise is who killed the butler in your whodunit. Escape with XYZ Cruises – we’ve thought of everything. Really.

Spontaneous

Cat

• Spontaneous
• Loves to shop and enjoys exciting activities like gambling
• Impatient, quick to make a decision
• Wants dates, destinations, shopping possibilities
• Wants to know all about on board spa services
• Wants a way to book quickly and easily
• Will respond to last minute specials
• Escape means non-stop fun with no time schedule

Cat: Black Jack in the casino, karaoke on the Captain’s lounge; spit-out-your- Margarita -funny comedians in the Vista Theatre; shaking what your mama gave you in the starlight disco. The only thing more exciting than the nights are the days. 5 different ports, water sports and shopping til your credit cards are exhausted. Can you say hot stone massage? Our world-class

Humanistic

Helen

• Humanistic
• Cares about relationships/friends/family
• Want lots of social activities
• Wants testimonials
• Responds to pictures of people laughing and interacting
• Who else will be on board?
• Wants to make sure her family can contact her when she is at sea
• Escape means spending time with people you love and making new friends

Helen: “Sarah and I met on a cruise last year. We were sitting in a thatched roof bar on the beach. We got to telling stories and laughing so hard the locals almost had us committed. We’ve been great friends ever since.” You never know where you’re going to meet your next life-long friend. Is life so busy you’ve forgotten to take time to enjoy what matters most? Our cruise is about memorable ports, memorable meals, memorable entertainment, and memorable people. You’ll come home with a suitcase full of stories you’ll never get tired sharing. Check out our online discussion boards and meet your future friends before you set sail. Reconnect. Escape with XYZ Cruise and have the time of your life.

Competitive

Connie

• Competitive
• Fitness nut
• Type A personality
• Wants to experience/learn new things
• Wants cruise line with best reputation
• Wants to see cabin amenities
• Wants to see activities on board and at ports of call
• Wants to know about any VIP services
• Internet access on board?
• Escape means having new life experiences

Connie: It’s only half way through the trip and you’ve ordered gourmet meals and a fabulous bottle of wine in 4 different languages. When you went to bed last night you were in Greece. This morning, you woke up in Italy. 7 days, 5 destinations, 4 cultures, 3 on-board seminars, 2 VIP receptions including lunch with the captain, one life changing experience – Escape with award-winning XYZ Cruises.

To give you a clear perspective of how to create websites with those personas in mind, watch this video:

http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/26/trust-and-credibility-screencast/

Frustrated with limited link data provided by search engines, SEO Moz Rand Fishkin took matters into his own hands. He and his team developed their own Moz-web-crawler, bought some storage servers, and built an index of ~30 billions webpages.

• The end result is called LINKSCAPE.

Linkscape is a new killer link analysis SEO tool. On top of showing links that may be hidden by Yahoo and Google, Linkscape uses page rank and trust rank algorithms to determine approximate ranking value of those links.

Linkscape Measurements

mozRank™-   The raw link popularity of a URL or domain based on analysis of the links pointing to it (similar to global link popularity metrics used by the engines)

mozTrust™ - An estimation of how trustworthy a URL or domain is in the eyes of the search engines based on the quality and quantity of trusted links pointing to it.

The above algorithms are basically copies of Page Rank and trust algorithms used by Google. Trust algorithms include Trust Rank, Hilltop and a number of other more recent algos.

Linkscape gives a computed score for both measurements on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best score.

You can use Linkscape tool to run analysis on any website of your choice, but link results are limited to 2500.

And! ….there’s another a more important feature here…

Anchor Text Analysis

SEO moz has keys to the best SEO intelligence in the world. Those bastards know links and anchor text of all links pointing to any website (at least to sites that matter) on the web. They know trust links, anchor text of those links and can explore actual pages to see positioning and text surrounding the links!

Cost

It costs around $800 per year to use this tool. If you can allocate part of the budget for this tool – do it. It’s a killer machine and a possible game changer. I am personally jealous of Rand!

Link Building Tips for Your Website

Visibility of your website on Google depends on links. If you not have links, you will not be found on Google for any keywords, no matter how your on-page optimization is. In this article we outline link building tips.

Directories.

Submit your website to different online directories. Only submit to worthwhile directories. Ignore the spammy ones. You can search for directories with this command “keyword + links”, “keyword + related websites”. Put in link in local directories, global directories and niche based websites.

Trade Links With Websites

DO NOT trade with every website. Only with FEW authority websites in your field.

Interviews

If you can get interviews from authority figures  in your field – do it. Bloggers will award you with a couple of in post links. Just be sure to tell the world about interview if you don’t have broad readership.

Link out

Link out to websites and bloggers you read. With services like Technocrati, bloggers will notice you and might give you a link back.

Write a Guest Post

Do a guest post in your niche. This way you can select the anchor text of your links and get authority outside links to the post(which pass the PR to your website)

Ask webmasters what they want

If 20 website in your niche tell you they want a specific guide or a tool, it is likely they will link to it. This is considering only webmasters you asked. Consider other, smaller sites. Link potential is very high if you produce something that everyone needs.

Teach

If you teach other on a topic, you will get links. Make sure you’re in position to teach and really know your stuff. If you’re in a saturated market, pick a specific sub-niche. For example in SEO, there are authorities in link building, keyword research, patents, news etc.

Comment on blogs / networks.

This is way to build more readership to your website. Bloggers always read comments and explore co-bloggers. If you provide insight, people will be interested in you and your website. At some point they will link to you.

Create a contest

If you have enough readers, create a contest. Participants will link to you from their blogs.

Compile Resources

If you have a lot of bookmarks and know a lot of “dark” spots on the net, no so easily found, compiling them into one list can get you link from appreciative readers.

Controversy

Create controversy in your field. Say something barbarous, funny or mind altering. Confused, hating, angry and readers with a sense of humour will link.

Here’s a little cheat sheet I made a while ago on writing. Use it to make your writing more alive.
Active Voice:

subject >>> verb >>> direct object

— in active voice you identify an “actor” (for instance, a person or organization) and what the action is.

As a rule, avoid making one passive depend directly upon another.  

Always talk about the subject at the forefront. Identify the subject of each sentence and make it affect all other elements in a sentence.

• First, look for a verb phrase containing a form of the verb to be plus the word by. If the actual word by isn’t present, try to mentally insert it. “Seniors are covered.”  . . .. “Seniors are covered by. . .”
• Second, identify the verb before by. In our example, that verb is “covered.” A form of “covered” will become the active verb in the new sentence.
• Third, ask “covered by what? or covered by whom”? In this example, the answer is Medicare. Medicare becomes the subject of the new sentence in the active voice: Medicare covers seniors.

 “ . . . We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. . . .” He didn’t say: “Engagement will take place on the beaches, action will be seen on the landing grounds, in the fields and on the streets . . . Giving up is not an option now or in the future. . . .”  

Bad: Walking slowly down the road, he saw a woman accompanied by two children.

Good: He saw a woman, accompanied by two children, walking slowly down the road.

—-Put statements in positive form.

Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language. Use the word not as a means of denial or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion.

Omit needless words.

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.  Many expressions in common use violate this principle:

Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form.

Cut

It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy. It is easier — even quicker, once you have the habit — to say In my opinion it is not an unjustifiable assumption that than to say I think. If you use ready-made phrases, you not only don’t have to hunt about for the words; you also don’t have to bother with the rhythms of your sentences since these phrases are generally so arranged as to be more or less euphonious.

OPERATORS OR VERBAL FALSE LIMBS. make contact with, be subjected to, give rise to, give grounds for, have the effect of, play a leading part (role) in, make itself felt, take effect, exhibit a tendency to, serve the purpose of, etc., etc. with respect to, having regard to, the fact that, by dint of, in view of, in the interests of, on the hypothesis that; greatly to be desired, cannot be left out of account, a development to be expected in the near future, deserving of serious consideration, brought to a satisfactory conclusion

PRETENTIOUS DICTION. phenomenon, element, individual (as noun), objective, categorical, effective, virtual, basic, primary, promote, constitute, exhibit, exploit, utilize, eliminate, liquidate, are used to dress up a simple statement and give an air of scientific impartiality to biased judgements.

MEANINGLESS WORDS. In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning(2). Words like romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural, vitality, as used in art criticism, are strictly meaningless, in the sense that they not only do not point to any discoverable object, but are hardly ever expected to do so by the reader.

• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
• Never use a long word where a short one will do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
• Never use the passive where you can use the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous

Google Trust Rank is an algorithm incorporated into Google in about 2005.

we propose techniques to semi-automatically separate reputable, good pages from spam. We first select a small set of seed pages to be evaluated by an expert. Once we manually identify the reputable seed pages, we use the link structure of the web to discover other pages that are likely to be good.

The mechanism behind Trust Rank is very simple and requires human input. Human editors identify “seed pages”, which are high quality, editorial, unaffiliated pages. Links from the “seed pages” are considered trust links that pass trust score.

Trust rank calculates trust score from those “seed pages” and distributes it in a similar manner as Page Rank.

For example if an .edu seed page links to A, B and C, trust rank is equally distributed between A, B and C. If A links to X, Y and Z than the trust rank acquired by A from the seed page is distributed between X, Y and Z. When Z links to other pages Trust Rank flows in a similar manner as it did with A.

• The farther a page is from the original seed the less trust rank is passed.
• The more trust links are pointed to a page the higher its overall trust score
• Most powerful trust links are from seed pages

Examples of seed sites: Wikipedia, Microsoft.com, Stanford, DMOZ.

Tapping into .edu and .gov domains

SEOs have long recommended getting links from .edu and .gov domains since those are highly trusted sources likely to be seed pages. Try getting the .gov and .edu links.

The Weak Part of Trust Rank

Trust rank requires humans to identify seed pages, which is additional cost to Google. Other than human cost I think it’s pretty effective.

Google already uses quality raters to rate pages suspected of quality issues, so several dozens of “seed identifiers” won’t hurt the bottom line.

Learn More about Trust Rank:

• Google Trust Rank Paper

Was waiting for a bus when a saw a Mini painted in Yahoo colours. Pics with blackberry pearl. Click on image to enlarge.

Google Hilltop is quite an old algorithm implemented by Google in ~2003.

• Read Google Hilltop Paper

Google Hilltop was released to solve relevancy problem with PageRank, with which any websites could rank on search results as long as they got high PR links, without regard for topical relevancy of those links.

Hilltop partially prevents pagerank flow between websites that have little topical relevance. Pagerank still passes, but the effects are reduces.

…we propose a novel ranking scheme for broad queries that places the most authoritative pages on the query topic at the top of the ranking. Our algorithm operates on a special index of “expert documents.” These are a subset of the pages on the WWW identified as directories of links to non-affiliated sources on specific topics. Results are ranked based on the match between the query and relevant descriptive text for hyperlinks on expert pages pointing to a given result page…

DMOZ, Yahoo Directory, .edu and .gov domains may be considered non affiliated expert documents that Hilltop white paper mentions. It’s far harder to manipulate Hilltop than PR, since it considers topical relevancy between documents.

Paper also mentions that it places emphasis on page Titles and page headings when calculating topical relevancy, which indicates that Hilltop is in active use today, because page title and H tags are 2 of the most important on page SEO elements.

Optimization for Google Hilltop requires you to get links from “expert document” from around the web. Those expert documents are usually .edu and library domains, which are hard to manipulate.

To search for library or expert topical directories you can set up Google alerts. Enter this command:

-yoursite site:.edu

Set one alert for the web and another one for comprehensive.

This way Google will notify you each time it spots an .edu domain that relates to your site and doesn’t have a link to it yet.

Filtering Results:

• Google Hilltop also filters authority values from links that come from affiliated or the same domains.
• It filters links that come from geo-specific domains (sony.com, sony.ca, sony.co.uk, etc)
• Pages that come from the same IP neighborhoods

Hilltop requires at least 2 expert document to consider a page as “voted for”. If there’s only one expert document linking, vote is discounted.

You can learn in-depth about Google hilltop from those document:

• Analysis and Implications of Hilltop Algorithm
• Hilltop white paper

read part 1 here

Search engines analyze each webpage and look for keywords within text. If a certain keyword is repeated in the heading, first paragraph, second paragraph, second headline, fourth paragraph, etc, search engines consider that page related to a particular keyword and thus value it.

You must make sure your writing includes targeted keyword throughout the entire text.

For example, if you target keyword “digital camera”, make sure that your title looks something like “Digital Camera Products Buy, Review and Comparison”.

Follow up that title with an opening paragraph that instantly mentions the word “digital camera”. Then write naturally and let it flow. Go back and plug the keyword where it fits.

Include synonyms, like “photo camera” since search engines look for synonymous words.

Don’t stress about having many keywords. Search engines do not value on-page content as much as they used, since it can be easily manipulated. The power is in links. Just focus on writing natural, go back and plug the keyword in titles and other places where they fit.

Ignore “keyword density” measurement – it doesn’t work.

Link Building

“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value.” - Google

A link from site X to site Y is considered a vote by site X for Y. The more votes a website has the higher it will rank in search results.

Websites with high number of quality links are awarded with “PageRank” and get propelled to best search engine rankings. This means that if your site has high number of links, Google will trust it and you will have good rankings.

Take Wikipedia for example. Since it has so many incoming links, Wikipedia appears for a good chunk of all competitive searches, like “mortgage” or “computer”.

Not all links are equal. A link from highly trusted website, for example Wired.com, is better than 10 links from generic low quality directories. The emphasis is on quality. Search engines, especially Google, are good at determining quality of links.

Links must also come from related websites. If you have an electronics shop and get links from flower sites, those links won’t count.

Another big factor is anchor text. To give you an example, this is anchor text and the page where the link leads to is the address. So the anchor text is the text that you see, and the address is the actual link.

If a link from an outside website has your targeted keyword in the anchor text, this tells search engines exactly the keywords your site must rank for.

For example, if you want to rank for key phrase “laptop”, and outside websites links to you with anchor text “laptop”, this tells search engines your site must rank for keyword “laptop” in search results.

To demonstrate you power of links in search engine optimization, consider this story:

Search engine professionals not happy with Bush administration decided to pull a prank on the White House. They got many links from websites with anchor text “failure” and “miserable failure” pointing to the address www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html (official bush bio)

As a result, when you searched for “failure” or “miserable failure”, White House and Bush came up at #1 spot.

Though presidential website did not have keywords “failure” or “miserable failure”, it still ranked #1. Google defused this since, but the point is - links make or break your search engine optimization strategy.

Ways to Build Links

• Submit to quality directories. High quality directories, with human editorial review are great at gaining search engine trust. Submit to Yahoo Directory, DMOZ, Business.com and others. List of directories
• Use link bait. Link bait is a concept of using high quality tools, information or sources to entice other websites to link. For example: you write a highly informative, interesting article in your industry, which is so good that webmasters just gotta link to it. (example) Or you offer hard to find, very valuable information, which again, causes others to link. (example). Develop tools, compile resources or write something controversial.Once you get the job done, contact webmasters and bloggers(related to your field) and let them know about your new tool / article. If it’s good, links will flow.
• Exchange links with related websites. Effects were greatly reduced by Google, but it still gets you value if you exchange with a quality site.
• Buy links. Google declared war against paid links, but you can still buy links and get away with it. In fact all efficient SEO experts buy and sell links. This takes expertise and practice.
• You can hire a company to build links for you.

Should I Hire an SEO Company?

If you don’t want to learn, have no time, nor desire, I suggest that you do.

I don’t do SEO, but know some. Hiring quality expert will take out the hassle and worry of your back, since you can spend months just learning. If you intent on selling electronics, SEO will eat up too much time, so hiring makes sense. I recommend SEO Expert.

Search Engine Optimization Resources

• Beginners Guide to SEO
• Rewriting the Beginner’s Guide
• How Search Engines Work: Search Engine Relevancy Reviewed
• Google Ranking Factors
• SEO Book
• Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone
• SEM Research Topics

Books and Learning Membership Portals

• SEO Book
• SEO Moz
• The Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing

Keyword Research

• Search Engine Guide: Keywords
• Keyword Research for Bloggers: A Comprehensive Guide (also good for your market research)
•  The Professional’s Keyword Research Guide
• Eight Keyword Research Mistakes That Are Costing You Money
• Master Your Keywords, Part 1: Organize Your Keyword Research
• Keyword Research Video
• Keyword Research and Selection

Link Building

• Link Value Factors
• Experts - Link Love
• 101 Link Building Tips to Market Your Website
• Search Engine Guide: Link Building
• Link Building Secrets Revealed by Top Linking Experts
• Linking Q&A
• Advanced Link Building Strategies
• A Big Roundup Of Link Building Tools

Forums  

• Webmaster World
• Search Engine Watch Forums
• Digital Point Forums
• Cre8te Site Forums

Blogs

• SEO Book
• SEO Moz
• SEO by The Sea
• Search Engine Journal
• Wolf Houl
• Online Marketing Blog
• SEO Theory - SEO Theory and Analysis Blog
• StuntDubl
• Blog Strom
• DoshDosh
• Wiep.net
• CornWallSEO
• Stone Temple

Search Marketing News

• Search Engine Watch
• Search Engine Land
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Marketing Pilgrim
• WebProNews

Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay Per Click is easy to learn. You sing up for an account, select the keywords you want to target, bid on the keywords, set maximum daily limit and let campaign roll. Of course there are advanced strategies and you will learn as you pick up experience.

Major Pay Per Click Networks:

• Google Adwords
• Yahoo Search Marketing
• Microsoft Adcenter
• Ask.com Sponsored Listings

Some advertisement from Google Adwords also show up on Yahoo and Ask.com due to their partnerships.

This SEO tutorial is introduction to search engine marketing and search engine optimization.

Search engine marketing is huge. Google makes around $5 billion per quarter (4 months), which is around $30,000 per minute.

If you want to have a website, you will need to take care of search engine marketing, because search engines own internet traffic. No search engine visibility – no visitors. No visitors – no buyers and no money.

If you plan on making an online shop, I suggest you incorporate search engine optimization into your marketing strategy. In fact, make it number one priority over design, graphics and technology. A site that gets 1000 visitors per day with “OK” shopping cart and “OK” design is better than a site that sits in “no man’s land”, with expensive design and mega high tech shopping cart.

Prepare to invest in either search engine optimization or pay per click, above design.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search engine optimization is an adjustment of website elements that affect your visibility on major search engines. When users search, they put in queries, called “keywords”. Search engine return websites relevant to the keywords.

Search engine optimization ensures that your website shows up on the first page for keywords that are searched by your customers.

For example, if you sell computer memory, your site will benefit from visitors that search “buy computer memory” on Google.

What is Pay Per Click (PPC)?

Pay per click is exactly what it sounds like. You pay money per each click you receive on your advertisement.

The advertisement is showed in “Sponsored” section of search results.

Price per each click is determined by bidders. As an advertiser, you bid on keywords that you want to show up for on search results. Highest bidder gets the first spot, second highest bidder gets second spot and so forth. Prices ranges between $0.01 per click for non-competitive keywords, and up to $20 for consolidated markets (mortgage, credit cards).

Search Engines

There are currently 4 leading search engines in North America those are

Don’t even worry about Ask.com and Microsoft. Shoot for Google above all. I suggest you even throw Yahoo out of the equation. In 4 years Google doubled its market share from ~35% to ~70% and is predicted to become a monopoly at 90%. To you this means that if you establish Google presence now, you’ll get more customers later on. If you worry about Yahoo, you may hurt Google rankings, which is a bad move.

I don’t like monopolies, nor Microsoft, but Google is becoming a monopoly fair and square. They’re too good. If you research, you will also find that buyers interested in electronics are fairly savvy, and savvy crowds use Google.

How to Optimize A Website?

Let this beginner guide explain everything (recommend very much).

Below you will find basic introduction (to get the concepts grasped) and many resources to help you get to the next level.

Let’s clear some myths:

• Forget about submission to search engines for $20 per month. Pure scam. Period. Submit here for free. You don’t even have to submit to Google, because it will find you on its own if you have incoming links.
• Optimization for $200 bucks. Quality SEO comes at very least for $3000 for a few competitive keywords. If anyone tries to pitch you anything less, they’re either starving for clients or just aren’t good enough. Save up some money and invest in expert search engine optimization, it will return tenfold.
• Get you first place. If anyone pitches you that, run away and block their email. They’re either full of it and want to steal your money, or do “Black Hat SEO”. Black hat SEO is the dark side of optimization, and sites that get caught are banned from search results. If you want a long term business, stay away from black hat, because you’ll get caught eventually. There are very few optimizers who practice true “black art” and those don’t share their secrets, because it would stop working.
• Optimization in 1-2 months. Optimization takes 3-6 months, so don’t buy into it(assuming you go after competitive terms). Whoever tells you they can get you up in 1-2 months will be probably optimizing for keywords that have no competition and that no one searches with, meaning it’s worthless. What good is a search engine ranking, even #1, if no one searches with that keyword? No searches, means no traffic.

Keyword Research

Search Engine Optimization starts with keyword research. People head out to search engines and use keywords to find information of their interest.

Search engines store those keywords on their servers and allow marketers to see what people search and how many times. This way you know exactly the keywords you need to target on search engines.

How to use the tools: simply search for your keyword of interest and the tools will give you related key-phrases that people used. For example “mortgage”.

Google Keyword Tool

Wordtracker

Keyword Discovery

Yahoo Search Marketing (need account)

SEO Book

Ebay Market Research

Ebay Pulse

Ebay Research Labs

AOL Yahoo Deal

TechCrunch reports that Yahoo and AOL are in merger talks. According to the article, merger could happen this month. If it does, merger will not include AOL’s dial up business.

Time Warner, parent company of AOL wants to dump America Online due to its declining revenues which fell 16%, to $1.1 billion in the most recent quarter (according to this article). If the deal goes through:

Time Warner’s AOL headache is gone, and they have a stake in the world’s most valuable chess piece in the Google/Microsoft search and advertising war.

TechCrunch says that deal structure is currently in discussion between Yahoo and AOL boards. If merger goes through Time Warner will invest 1/3 stake in the new YahOL business.

Yahoo’s founder Jerry Yung made it very clear - he does not want a deal with Microsoft, but as company’s stock hits lows, merger seem to be the only move that can help keep struggling company together. Carl Icahn, corporate takeover shark who joined Yahoo’s board on August 8th, has been very outspoken that Yahoo needs a deal.

This can be the merger everyone is waiting for and odds have gone up since the initial Microsoft bid for Yahoo.

Anti-Trust Email Concerns, Yahoo – AOL deal

Yahoo mail and AOL mail are 2 of the biggest products companies offer. According to Comscore, combined they will have 48% of all email market share. They will also hold #2 in instant messaging with 39% worldwide share (AOL messenger and Yahoo Messenger).

Microsoft + AOL and Yahoo

There’s much speculation that Microsoft will swallow an even more attractive entity Yahoo+AOL and there are a lot of good strategic reasons supporting those rumors.

According to August, 2008 Comscore report AOL holds 4.3% search engine market share. Yahoo is at 19.6%, Microsoft at 8.3% and Google at 63.0%. Combined Yahoo and AOL search engine market share will give additional 23.9% to Microsoft, making a combined 32.2% - something Microsoft is desperately craving for.

Microsoft’s “consumer bribery” in form of Live Search Cashback program failed to make a dent in search engine market share. According to Comscore stats reported by TechCrunch, after initial launch of the program Microsoft market share went up from 8.5% in May, to 9.2% in June, but in July slipped back to 8.9% and we can see from August report it went even father down to 8.3%.

Microsoft has tried everything to become a serious player in search, but nothing seems to work. Yahoo does not want to be a part of it, searches don’t care for cash-back incentives and even it’s browser efforts don’t make a difference.

Microsoft learned by now, there’s no easy or cheap shortcut to search engine market share. They can either continue improving Live Search (which frankly sucks) and compete with Google and Yahoo on user experience ,or they can buy ~30% market share at around $50 billion from Yahoo+AOL.

Interesting point by Matt Marshall:

Of all the players, AOL is the most desperate, and so it’s entirely possible this surfacing of a potential Microsoft mega acquisition is being sponsored mainly by AOL and its bankers in order to whip up enough frenzy to make sure something happens.

Google AOL Deal

Google supplies search results and advertisements to AOL search. AOL relies on Google for a large chunk of their revenue. If the deal goes through, Yahoo may swap Google search for it’s own, but keep adwords in tact to make more money. With recent Google-Yahoo deal, Google is already on the roll to search ad monopoly.

Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo or Yahoo+AOL isn’t such a bad thing from advertiser perspective.

Google-Yahoo Deal

Google also struck a deal to supply PPC ads to Yahoo – an agreement which will be shortly reviewed in Congress. This relationship with Yahoo is a potential stepping stone to Google’s monopoly in search engine advertising.

Yahoo’s stock is at $19 because of the extra money Yahoo says it’s getting from Google partnership. But as Yahoo continues to rely on Adwords, they give more incentives to advertisers to use Google instead of Yahoo. First, Adwords provides greater ROI, second, if Panama does not perform as good as Adwords, and by using Google advertisers can get exposure on Yahoo, why bother with Yahoo Search Marketing at all?

Partnership also reinforces Google as Yahoo’s daddy, making latter reliant for revenue.

Techcrunch makes another importnat point. Test results showed that Yahoo can increase their cash flow by simply using Google ads instead of its own. The more Google ads Yahoo shows, the more money it makes. Shareholders are greedy creatures, so it’s not hard to guess what strategy the company will select. Yahoo will be able to make more dough by simply showing more Google ads. Each time they do it, they undermine and erode their own advertising platform.

Yahoo will be making constant cost benefit decisions weighing short term cash flow v. long term competitiveness. Human nature and simple financial market psychology tells us unequivocally that cash will win and Yahoo’s ad network will lose.  Yahoo’s ad network will continue to erode further as they choose cash over competitiveness, creating a viscious downward cycle. As the fiscal quarters march relentlessly on, Yahoo will rely more and more on Google to make their revenue and earnings numbers.

Google Near Monopoly Status. Microsoft Yahoo+AOL Acquisition Seems as the Only Solution.

Google has all its competitors locked in for cash flow except Microsoft.

• Ask.com relies on Google ads to generate revenue
• AOL relies on search and ads from Google to generate revenue
• Yahoo, if the deal goes through Congress, will be financially reliant

The only force that can prevent Google from becoming a monopoly in search advertising is Microsoft. As much bad publicity it gets, it’s the only guardian angel that can save us.

With monopoly comes price fixing, because once monopoly status is reached, there’s no competitor to undercut with lower pricing.

Big G is already spiking up minimum bids and fixing prices on it’s auctions. Keywords that were 10c per click, spike up to $5 minimums. Google is able to do this with 70% search advertising market share. What will happen when it reaches 90%?

The only contender that has enough resources to take large hits at the cost of long term prosperity is Microsoft. It can afford to make less in search, but focus on client and market share acquisition. We can’t say that about Yahoo, which is desperate at the moment.

Ask.com and AOL are out of the picture.

There’s More To Search Battle Between Google and Microsoft

The real game is between Microsoft and Google. If YahooAOL deal goes through, Microsoft will have no choice but to purchase the new entity, here’s why.

• AOL search is 4% advertising market share, which Google controls
• Yahoo search is 19% advertising market share, which will keep declining in Google’s favor.

If Microsoft acquires both, it will win a large chunk of advertising space and become a real contender to Google. If Microsoft does not make a move, Google will be one step closer to total market dominance.

Of course there’s a good possibility that Yahoo may make a comeback with it’s PPC platform, taking on big G head on and leaving Microsoft with crumbs. In that case software giant will be in a much messed up position.

First, Microsoft is taking large hits from open source community, which keeps on pressing on all possible fronts. Second, it’s Google.

It was important that our strategic aspirations be relatively under the radar – Eric Schmidt, from article The Google Hive Mind

One of the strategic aspirations was Google Chrome, which was kept secret since 2001. Eric said company wasn’t ready for browser war, but now Google is more bald.

If big G manages to monopolize search advertising, either by fair market share game or by locking competitors into financial dependence it will be in a position to make even a balder move – OS battle.

We can be sure that Eric, Sergei and Larry have thought and discussed this question for countless hours, just like the Google browser.

Danny Sullivan made the following statement in his article, in response to above quote from Schmidt:

So one of Google’s strategic goals was to have its own browser, but that had to be kept secret and in fact publicly denied? That leads to the next question — what else is Google planning strategically that we don’t know about? Will that Google operating system finally emerge, for instance?

It makes all the sense for Google to shoot it’s biggest competitor in the foot, but before it can do that, it must tighten up the defenses, increase the cash flow, get more market share and tighten up all possible bolts in search. It must become stronger, build up more muscle.

I personally think if Microsoft allows Google monopoly in search, OS and Microsoft itself will be next Google target.

Search battle is about safeguarding it’s monopoly over OS for Microsoft. Search battle is about entering into OS battle for Google.

Just my thoughts, tell me what you think.

Feel like sharing some thoughts todays, so here they are:

“Whatever mind can conceive it can achieve” – Napoleon Hill

Your business starts in your mind with a thought. That thought develops into a plan. That plan develops into action. That action manifests as physical reality.

It all starts with a thought, an idea.

Whatever is inside you – manifests on the outside. If you’re negative, angry and unhappy you attract negative circumstances, angry people and unhappy life. If you’re positive, happy and grateful you attract positive people and great events. Look around you. People who talk of being broke are broke. People who talk of sickness are sick. People who complain about something get it in abundance. Yet those who talk and think rich - live rich. Those who speak of love, get love.

If you hear this for the first time it might seem like rubbish, but study masters of success such as Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Frank Winfield Woolworth, John Assaraff, Theodore Roosevelt and you will see a pattern. They all talk about the same law, the same unseen force that guides your life to the heights or to the lows. It’s like gravity – it work’s whether you’re aware of it or not.

Whatever is inside you, at the deepest level, at deepest of beliefs, in the unconscious, is a direct representation of your life, right now, at this moment.

Look around. Your current life is a representation of your beliefs.

Who I am to speak of such outright “barbarous” concepts. Don’t listen to me. Go out and do your own research. Read Napoleon Hill, “Think and Grow Rich” who spent over 20 years of his life studying over 500 American millionaires including: DR. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL, THOMAS A. EDISON, WILLIAM WRIGLEY JR., WILBUR WRIGHT and more…

The feeling of victory is sweet. Nothing is sweeter. Nothing at all.

Also watch movie “http://www.thesecret.tv/”.

and check The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - I haven’t finished it yet, but its a killer.

With love…

Online Trade Directories

Internet Crime, Fraud, Scam and GetRichQuick is a multi-billion dollar industry. Up to 70% of all sellers on trade directories are scammers.

Keep that in mind.

This article is your guide to online trade directories like Alibaba, Made-in-China, TradeKey, EC21 and many others.

If any seller, mentions Western Union – delete their email. Western Union is your indicator to run and hide. Period.  It’s a scam 100% of the time, all the time, everywhere.

“Gold”, “Platinum”, “Trusted” and other trust indicators simply mean that a company paid $500 - $20,000 dollars to buy that status. Trade directories will try to convince you of their background checks which are worthless. A savvy enough scammer can easily buy an “identity” from hackers and operate under stolen name and fake company. Trade directories can’t spot that, especially in China, Indonesia, Nigeria and other countries.

On top of weak verification, trade directories make a lot of money by selling “trust” certificates, so it’s in their interest to sell as many as possible. Yahoo bought Alibaba for around $1 billion, so founders cashed out and are having fun with their money. Yahoo shareholders are as  greedy as Halliburton, so don’t expect anyone to care for quality if it affects the bottom line.

A gold member once pitched me cell phones for a believable price. I took his info to a background verification company and he turned to be bogus. Search around the net, you’ll find plenty horror stories with “platinum” and “gold” suppliers.

Scammers know that electronics sells, so expect scam rate to be around 85% in computer and consumer electronics field. Apart from pure scams there are also many fakes. Seller might offer Sony cameras, but ship you cheap fakes that wouldn’t sell for half you paid.

Just not worth the risk in my opinion. If you wanted bag of rise that’d be a lot easier.

Known scammers.

• Suspected Fake Company Sites 5700+ sites
• Suspected Fake Chinese Sellers 2300+ sites
• OFFICIAL LIST OF FRAUD/SCAM COMPANIES IN ALIBABA
• Complaints Board | Alibaba Scams
• Alibaba Gold Member Scam - The Wholesale Forums
• TradeKey - Scam Companies
• More Scammers

Nick Bolton wrote a wonderful guide on how to spot fake sites and trade scammers. Read it from start to the end.

Useful Resources:

• So you wanna deal with a website in China
• The 12 Due Diligence steps for making money
• Alibaba Messenger Scams
• Scam Email Checker
• Anatomy of Chinese Scam
• Fraud Watchers

You can also check different forums and ask around. Scammers are generally smart, so expect to get a dose of “help”:

• Alibaba Forums
  • Due Diligence Alibaba
• The Wholesale Forums
• Fraud Watchers Forums
• The Trading Forums

Trade Directories

• Made in China
• Aliababa
• Esources
• Canadian Trade Index
• Trade Key
• TTNET
• AsianNet
• Wand
• EC 21
• Global Sources
• EC Plaza
• Rusbiz
• Importers.com
• Trade India
• Fuzing
• Offer 21