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Wednesday, July 28th, 2004

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Highlights of the Week: The Top 10 Worst SEO Tactics

I think it is fair to say that Internet users love change, in fact I imagine that many of them embrace the concept wholeheartedly. After all, there are not many mediums guaranteed to keep you engaged and on the tip of your toes learning new things on a daily basis.

Top 10 Worst SEO Tactics

#1: Doorway Pages
#2: Invisible Text
#3: Content Misrepresentation
#4: Redirects
#5: Heading Tag Duplication
#6: Alt Tag Stuffing
#7: Comment Tag Stuffing
#8: Over Reliance on Meta Tags
#9: Duplicate Content
#10: Automatic Submission and Page Creation

Top 10 WorstThe changes that have occurred on the search engines since I began StepForth in 1997 have been remarkable and very characteristic of the ever-changing environment that the Internet embodies. In keeping with such change, it stands to reason that the techniques required to achieve top search engine placements will change as well. The prerogative of search engines has been and always will be to advance their technology in an effort to provide better and more effective search results for their users. Such effective search results require the identification and ultimately the complete eradication of manipulative SEO tactics often equivalent to Spam. This quest for the Holy Grail of search results necessarily requires that search engine marketing tactics change and grow with the new technology. Unfortunately there are many SEO strategies still being used by webmasters that were put to bed a long time ago. In many cases, these SEO strategies are not only ineffective but are now considered Spam which often has dire consequences for rankings. The following is a listing of what I consider to be the Top10 worst search engine optimization tactics:

#1: Doorway Pages (aka Gateway Pages, Leader Pages, etc.)
Definition: Create multiple web pages that are devoid of useful content but heavily optimized for search engine rankings. Each page is optimized for a variation of a keyword phrase or for completely different keyword targets. The essence of this concept was to fool the search engines into thinking that these pages were highly relevant and provide top rankings for them under their targeted phrase. When a surfer stumbled on the page they were often shown a “Click Here to Visit Joe’s Pizza” link that the surfer had to click on to actually arrive at the legitimate website.

Once among the most popular methods of attaining multiple search engine placements, doorway pages were widely used until 2000 by many webmasters. Since then, Doorway pages have become the most obvious form of Spam that a search engine can find and the repercussions are dire if such a tactic is employed. Unfortunately, I have seen many sites still employing this tactic and occasionally we even get calls from potential customers wondering why they have dropped off the search engines for using this technique. We also continue to receive requests to perform this tactic on a daily basis.

#2: Invisible Text
Definition: Invisible text is implemented in a variety of ways in an effort to increase the frequency of keywords in the body text of a web page. Some of the implementation methods are: making text the same color as the background of the web page, hiding text behind layers, placing text at the very bottom of over-sized pages, etc.

This tactic is perilously old and obvious to search engine spiders. It constantly amazes me when a web site utilizes these methods for placement. Invariably, placements are the last thing that a webmaster will get when using this tactic. Invisible text had its heyday from 1995 to 1999. This not to say that invisible text didn't work after 1999 but the majority of web sites were not using it by this time as the search engines began implementing automated methods of detection and penalization.

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by Ross Dunn, StepForth CEO
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Major Player Updates: Lycos Sold :: Google IPO :: My Doom Shutters Search

LycosLycos Sale Approved
Terra, Europe's third largest Internet Service Provider has found a buyer for the venerable US-based search engine Lycos. Terra acquired Lycos in May 2000 for $12.5Billion in an all stock deal. On July 22, Terra's board of directors approved the sale of Lycos to an unnamed South Korean firm at a price ranging between $95Million and $125Million. Lycos is considered to be worth approximately $95Million. As part of the deal, Terra will retain approximately 30% of Lycos Europe and will continue to run its Spanish language portal for Latin American users in the United States. Lycos was originally put on the sales block in April with an asking price of $175Million

GoogleGoogle IPO
Google's management team has set the starting share price for its long-awaited Initial Public Offering of Google stocks ranging between $108US and $135US per share. Listing under the symbol "GOOG", the search firm is expected to raise as much as $3.3Billion by opening 9% of the company to public ownership.

The IPO is expected to open sometime in the next two weeks. Google has set the price high in order to warn off smaller, individual investors who may not be financially or emotionally prepared for returns resembling a roller-coaster ride. Like most analysts, the executives at Google expect to see share prices drop shortly after the Dutch-Auction closes. Institutional investors are in a better position to absorb short-term losses on the way to what should be long-term gains.

Worms Shutters Google, Yahoo, Lycos and AltaVista
Google Server ErrorGoogle, Yahoo, Lycos and AltaVista were all temporarily offline across much of the globe on Monday following a massive direct assault from the MyDoom.O worm virus. Effectively creating a denial of service (DOS) attack, MyDoom.O prevented search results from being displayed across most of Canada, the United States, UK, Europe and Asia. Isolated pockets in all regions did not perceive the problem and were able to view and use their favorite search tools, however most others were not. All of the search tools targeted are operating properly at the time of this writing. Norton Anti-Virus maker Symantec has rated the dangers of MyDoom variants with a SEVERE warning.

by Jim Hedger, Senior SEO
PPC Quick Tips: Descriptive Descriptions Deliver

I recently received a phone call from a client who has a problem getting qualified traffic through their PPC campaign. Her situation is similar to that of many others. I’ll create a similar, yet, hypothetical situation based on this phone call.

Say you’re a small company based in Seattle and you sell widgets. You only ship widgets within the United States, but want to target your services worldwide. Now you may not ship your products to Japan, but you want someone searching in Tokyo with plans of buying a widget and having it shipped to their friends in Miami to see your ad and make the purchase.

Using a keyword such as widgets is certainly relevant, however, you may have many wasted clicks from people in Tokyo wanting that widget for them selves, getting to your site, and being disappointed.

One solution is to find numerous keywords using geographic modifiers: ‘Seattle widgets’, ‘Miami widgets’, ‘Chicago widgets’ etc. Now this will of course help, but you still want to also use the keyword ‘widget,’ and eliminate much of the unqualified traffic. So where do you go from here?

The answer is in the title and description. Two of the most important factors in any PPC campaign are well-targeted titles and descriptions. By focusing very closely on your ad text and being very specific about your product or service you will be able to weed out much of the unqualified traffic.

Make sure that your descriptions and titles not only are written to draw attention from prospective clients or customers, but also have them highly related to the landing page within your site. A simple example of this would be, if you have an ad for ‘red widgets’ direct that ad to the ‘red widgets’ page, not your index, or flash introduction. Taking the searcher directly to what it is they are looking for will significantly increase the chance of making the sale.

There is no way to fully eliminate unqualified click through’s, but with properly written and well targeted ad copy and titles you will be able to make a significant difference and increase your return on investment.
by Scott Van Achte, PPC and Link Building Expert
Not to Miss! Software Feature PR Prowler

» PR ProwlerPR Prowler

While this is a recent find by the StepForth staff it's certainly been a welcome addition to our link building arsenal. With PR Prowler you enter the minimum PageRank site you want to exchange links with, the search terms you would like to use to find them ("health submit" for example) and let it run it's course. Once it’s done "prowling" you'll have a great list of high PageRank sites that contain the word "health" and "submit" (i.e. it’s about health and contains the word "submit" which will help weed out high PageRank sites that don’t have a submit feature.
In the Client Spotlight this Week:  St. Michaels University Collage - Victoria BC
St Michaels University School

Nestled in the beautiful north end of Victoria, St. Michaels University School is a private co-educational, independent day and boarding school of 870 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12, preparing students for higher learning and for life.

The main aim of St. Michaels University School is university preparation. Between Kindergarten and high school graduation students are going to learn a great deal about the world, about other people, and about themselves. Above all, St. Michaels cares deeply about the kind of people their students become.

You are very welcome to visit the school and get to know us as well as you can.
BILL’S BARK: Who Says You Can't Get Something Worthwhile for Free

A popular Microsoft slogan says, “Where do you want to go today?”. Well, every morning I wake up with anticipation and excitement not knowing where in the world I’ll be going!

My workday begins by hooking up with my special tour guide – or rather I should say, my email program. Among the hundred-plus emails I receive overnight are several requests from webmasters, web designers and owners of companies from all over the world. They are all requesting reviews of their websites. You see, one of the many services we provide at StepForth Placement is a FREE review of your website. Who says you can’t get something worthwhile for free?

And what fun this can be. I have the unique opportunity to view creative ideas from a myriad of businesses and industries promoting information, products or services. I see cultural and geographic differences in content, presentation and in the use of language.

What is in a review? Before I do anything I try to get a ‘feel’ for the site; an overall impression of the appearance and thought that went into it. Is it focused and easy to navigate? Are the images clustered, how much text is on the home page, and do the graphics work? I try to understand if the website is geared for a local audience or for a broader, more global one. This is important because often the spelling of words changes from country to country, and even continent to continent: the Queen’s English versus American English, and Canadian English which blends the two. A keyword, which is geographically specific, is very sensitive to this. Take for example, a potential customer who types into a search engine program the word ‘flashlight. Or is it a ‘torch’? Similarly, the Canadian and UK versions of many common words such as color and flavor often include what must appear to American readers as an extra vowel, “u”.

Next, I ask myself, how timely is the request? With the Christmas and Chanukah season just around the corner many of the requests are about companies wanting to tune up, focus, and target strategies for their fall campaign. The timing for this cannot be more perfect.

I see so much creativity and ingenuity spent on web design. However, overlooked in the development of the site has been the conscious attention to keywords and link development. Pretty pictures and graphics are one thing but how effective is this in getting traffic to your door?

Generally, I address a number of areas that may include:
Optimizing:

  • The content on your pages for maximum search engine relevancy
  • The unique and descriptive titles on each page in the site
  • The unique Keyword and Description Meta Tags on each page in the site
  • A text-based navigation map at the bottom of each page in the site
  • A Site Map
  • Keyword to non-keyword ratios on each page to target the optimal ratio
  • Optimization of Alt tags
  • Body text site architecture

Link Building

  • Link popularity & link relevancy

Due to the massive influx, I cannot fulfill everyone’s request for a review as quickly as I would like to. Sometimes I won’t do a review due to the site’s nature and content or simply its industry type. Often I suggest a paid consultative approach with our SEO's as the most efficient remedy.

FREE UTILITY PROGRAM ALERT!
Here is an excellent utility program from a client who forwarded this to me from Gizmo Richards. He calls it “The Best Bookmark Cleaner”. I have used this program. It is small, fast and easy to use. You can find it at http://aignes.com/press/deadlink140.htm

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
Many people responded to last week’s article. Thank you for the warm wishes and encouragement. This weekly feature is an opportunity to have an informative interactive column. You can email me at bill@stepforth.com and send along any particular questions, comments, feedback, tips, and/or ideas.
by Bill Stroll, Sales Manager
The Net Reality: CopyScape + 5 Minutes = Busted Plagiarists & Better Business

Writing is a difficult task. Finding the correct words, placing them in the right order and constructing sentences that make sense takes a great deal of time and dedication. A good writer might rework a single paragraph dozens of times to be certain the copy is just right. It often takes days (and in some cases, weeks) of reworking copy for the StepForth website before Ross the Boss is comfortable enough with the phrasing to allow it to be posted live to the web. That accounts for a lot of person hours which translates in to company time and money. Aside from the cost to the company I identify with and which keeps my cats fed, I take pride in my writing as, for the most part, writing is my work. Needless to say, I feel quite put-out when that work is taken and used on a competitor's website.

A few weeks back, we featured the website COPYSCAPE in this section. Being a rather curious chap, I decided to see what would happen if I entered the StepForth URL into Copyscape... Wow, I felt rather put-out. Literally dozens of SEO firms had lifted copy directly from the StepForth website! Most of these companies appear to be new but a few that I found there really surprised and disappointed me. I have included a link to the search results. Please note, some of the companies cited the bottom of the results DO have permission to display our content, or are simply directories that cull content to use as a description of the site. Also, the list was longer before I started chasing down offending webmasters.

I have taken it upon myself to personally call each of these companies and ask them politely to remove the content. Before calling, I compile as much evidence as possible including taking a screen-shot of the offending pages. I then take a few minutes to find out as much as I can about the firms. I check the WHOIS section of Network Solutions to see who registered the site and where it is hosted. I check the WayBack Machine to see previous versions of their website. Then I find the contact information for as many of their clients as time or resources will allow. Thus far, I have been 100% successful in having stolen content removed from competing sites. I strongly suggest you take similar action if you find your content has been lifted without your permission. Duplicate content can damage your website's search engine placements. Plagiarism is theft, pure and simple and theft is always bad for business.
by Jim Hedger, Senior SEO

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