StepForth SEO News Blog

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Labels: Google, SEO News, SEO Tips, Video

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Matt Cutts Explains Canonical Tags on Video

Thursday, July 24, 2008

• Optimizing page content for specific keyphrase(s) to ensure a visiting search engine bot will correctly perceive the page's topic.
  
  
• Using keywords within internal links to pass link juice from page to page; only applicable for sites where the Flash pages are broken down onto separate URLs.
  
  
• Providing emphasis (bolding) to particular words may help to emphasize keyphrase(s); but I am reaching here... it is unknown if this new technology provides text-importance recognition.
  
  

1. Single URL Flash Websites: Many websites I encounter still incorporate all of the website in a single Flash file; in other words as a user navigates the site they are still using the same URL but different pages appear. In such an instance the search engines will index the content and potentially drive traffic to the site but as Google cannot link to content within a Flash file all users will be sent to the beginning of the file. That type of indirect search result is likely to infuriate many searchers who have come to expect immediate results.
   
   Here is a quote from Google's comment area on this topic:
   
   "We’ve heard requests for deep linking (linking to specific content inside file) not just for Flash results, but also for other large documents and presentations. In the case of Flash, the ability to deep link will require additional functionality in Flash with which we integrate."
   
   That last line is interesting because it leaves room for interpretation. Do they mean Adobe will have to add the "additional functionality" to Flash or that Google needs to beef up their indexing technology to take advantage of the existing Flash functionality? Perhaps some Flash gurus out there could weigh in on this one. It is definitely an ambiguous way for Google to answer the question.
   
   If you need a work-around to deep-link single SWF files Adobe notes a solution: "you can create multiple HTML files that provide different variables to the SWF and start your application at the correct subsection. By creating multiple entry points, you can get the benefits of a site that is indexed as a suite of pages but still only need to manage one copy of your application."
   
   
2. Text in Images is Not Indexed: Many Flash websites inexplicably incorporate a great deal of textual content within images and currently search engines cannot index text in images; I expect that will remain true for at least another year or two. As a result, a Flash website that includes a vast amount of text within graphics will not see a noticeable benefit to this enhanced crawling technology.
   
   
3. Resource-File Based Content Not Indexed: I noted this in Google's comment area from their support team: "At this time, content loaded dynamically from resource files is not indexed. We’ve noted this feature request from several webmasters -- look for this in a near future update."
   
   

1. "Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript. So if your web page loads a Flash file via JavaScript, Google may not be aware of that Flash file, in which case it will not be indexed."
   
   
2. "We currently do not attach content from external resources that are loaded by your Flash files. If your Flash file loads an HTML file, an XML file, another SWF file, etc., Google will separately index that resource, but it will not yet be considered to be part of the content in your Flash file."
   
   
3. "While we are able to index Flash in almost all of the languages found on the web, currently there are difficulties with Flash content written in bidirectional languages. Until this is fixed, we will be unable to index Hebrew language or Arabic language content from Flash files."
   

1. At a certain point a threshold can be met where significant incoming links can push even the most un-search engine friendly website to the top rankings. As a result, it is highly likely that some Flash websites with a decent incoming link support structure will see vast improvements in rankings when their content is finally considered thanks to this new crawling technology.
   
   
2. In less competitive arenas (obscure keyphrases or keyphrases with little competition) the basic search engine optimization capabilities opened to Flash may very well be all that is needed to attain top search engine rankings.
   

Labels: Adobe, Flash, Google, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips, Yahoo

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Flash is Still Too Flashy for Competitive SEO

Friday, April 11, 2008

Labels: Google, Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Matt Cutts Pipes in on Google Spidering Forms

"Only a small number of particularly useful sites receive this treatment, and our crawl agent, the ever-friendly Googlebot, always adheres to robots.txt, nofollow, and noindex directives. That means that if a search form is forbidden in robots.txt, we won't crawl any of the URLs that a form would generate. Similarly, we only retrieve GET forms and avoid forms that require any kind of user information. For example, we omit any forms that have a password input or that use terms commonly associated with personal information such as logins, userids, contacts, etc. We are also mindful of the impact we can have on web sites and limit ourselves to a very small number of fetches for a given site."

Labels: Algo, Google, Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Google Now Fills Out Forms When Spidering

Monday, April 07, 2008

StepForth SEO News Blog - (Welcome back!) Since 2003 the StepForth blog has covered a range of search marketing industry news and sets a great standard for SEM blog writing. Kudos to Ross Dunn for a great job.

Labels: SEO, SEO News, StepForth

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: StepForth Named One of the Best Blogs on the Net

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

"takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next. In our collections, you can access gigabytes of photos in seconds, view a scene from nearly any angle, find similar photos with a single click, and zoom in to make the smallest detail as big as your monitor."

Evidence 2) PicLens by cooliris
PicLens is a fantastic plugin that allows searchers to navigate a 3d gallery of images associated with the topic they are searching. The user can also surf related images by simply clicking on a small play icon that appears on images anywhere in their browser (the icon appears on the image when the user's mouse hovers over it for a moment). So where does PicLens get its content from? PicLens has complete access to the image caches of: Google, Yahoo, Flickr, SmugMug, Photobucket and DeviantArt.

This free, incredibly useful software is available now and it represents a new way for the masses to think about search; instead of showing information in a ranking format, PicLens makes browsing images as simple as a flick of your mouse (momentum will actually allow the images to move by). Right now PicLens is naturally designed for images but who says it needs to stay that way?

Evidence 3) SearchMe
When my colleague showed me the preview of SearchMe I knew I had the linchpin for this very article. SearchMe is a new search engine in private Beta at the moment but this next generation search engine has finally married image search in a manner that will get many tongues wagging.

As the video below outlines in detail SearchMe allows searchers to type in a search and then define the intended topic of their search in order to provide the most relevant results. Once the user selects their topic they are provided with a slick but simple page showing pictures of each resulting web page that can be scanned through in a manner similar to PicLens.

Now these are not images in a classic sense, since they are actually just screenshots of the existing web pages, however, the technology is extremely similar and it seems natural that the final version of SearchMe's image search option would utilize the same technology.

Tying it all Together
What is the one thing that all of these concepts have in common? The answer is marvelously simple; they all focus on the simple concept that a picture is worth a thousand words. Why show a snippet of content in a search engine result page when a complete image could say so much more about the destination?

Are You Excited Yet?

1. Web pages will have to be designed with a tighter focus on usability and simplicity for screenshots to appear interesting/relevant enough to click on.
2. Images will always need to be appropriately tagged and described.
3. Web site images will have to be picked with more care from stock photography sites in order to capture the eyes of image-surfing prospects.
4. SEOs will find it useful to include sales-oriented information in images but not at the expense of the image.
5. Content around images and the overall page text must be extremely relevant to the image and the description and tags that are attributed to it.

Labels: New Tech, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Images are the Natural Evolution of Search

Thursday, February 14, 2008

1. 2006: Rumors abounded that Yahoo and Microsoft were in talks about working together and that an acquisition was possible. However, nothing substantial was revealed at the time but we later learned that Yahoo refused to work with Microsoft.
   
   
2. May 4th, 2007: The rumor mill was working overtime that Microsoft was quietly trying to acquire Yahoo for $50 billion. I was elated :-)
   
   
3. Jan 22, 2008: The New York Times reports that Yahoo is expected to layoff hundreds of staff in order to boost profitability and share prices. The quarterly earnings report is eagerly anticipated on Jan 29th.
   
   
4. Jan 29, 2008: Yahoo's quarterly earnings fall short of shareholders expectations.
   
   
5. Jan 29, 2008: The New York Times relays news from Yahoo that the search giant has confirmed it will layoff 1000 employees by mid-February.
   
   
6. Jan 31, 2008: Microsoft officially offers to acquire Yahoo while the iron is hot for $44 billion which is roughly equivalent to $31 per share.
   
   
7. Feb 1, 2008: Yahoo announces its Board of Directors will evaluate the unsolicited offer from Microsoft.
   
   
8. Feb 3, 2008: Google's David Drummond weighs in on the hostile bid by Microsoft citing concerns that a potential purchase of Yahoo by Microsoft "raises troubling questions". He goes on to ask "Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet?" Check out this hilarious interpretation of Mr. Drummond's blog posting by Kara Swisher.
   
   
9. Feb 11, 2008: Yahoo's Board of Directors deny Microsoft's offer on the grounds that the proposal "substantially undervalues Yahoo!" Here is a link to the common questions and answers page that Yahoo created for the media.
   
   
10. Feb 11, 2008: Microsoft promptly responds to Yahoo's rebuff with a 'gloves are off' tone. In the letter Microsoft says it will "ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal."
    
    
11. Feb 12, 2008: The first lawsuit was filed against Yahoo by shareholders unhappy the company didn't agree to the Microsoft buyout.
    
    
12. Feb 12, 2008: The first of the 1000 Yahoo layoffs begin.
    
    
13. Feb 12, 2008: Yahoo exec Bradley Horowitz leaves Yahoo and moves to Google. Bradley was head of Yahoo's Advanced Technology Division and his departure is only the beginning of a long list of talent that is likely to leave Yahoo over the coming months. See Bradley's bio and you will see why this respected man's departure will hurt. To his credit, however, Bradley insists his departure was not directly due to recent events.
    
    
14. Feb 13, 2008: Yahoo writes a letter to shareholders trying to drum up excitement in companies future without Microsoft.
    
    
15. Feb 13, 2008: Yahoo announces an acquisition of online video company Maven Networks. Why? "Video is projected to be the fastest growing segment of the online ad market, and Maven will significantly help advance Yahoo's strategy, expanding the video opportunity for publishers and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness for advertisers."
    
    Sniff... sniff... I smell desperation! This is yet another rallying cry from Jerry Yang to help keep Yahoo from the slobbering jaws of Microsoft... unless of course Microsoft offers $35 or $36 a share at which point OKAY.
    

Labels: Google, Microsoft, Ross Dunn, SEO News, Yahoo

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Yahoo's Road to War - The Bumps and Scrapes in Sequence

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Labels: Interviews, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips, Tutorials, Video

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: How to Avoid an SEO Horror Story on Your Website

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Dear Ross,

Responding to your invitation at SiteProNews, I am an author at Citizendium (http://en.citizendium.org.)

We believe the world needs a more reliable free encyclopedia. We are creating a trusted general reference work by giving people a place to work under the direction of experts, and by expecting personal accountability, professionalism and by requiring the use of real names. Our goal is to capture humanity's multivariate understanding of reality, and thereby to paint a maximally broad and detailed portrait of our universe as accurately as we understand it. An indispensable means to this end is the involvement of many experts who will help guide and, ultimately, approve many of our articles. We expect our approved articles to be, in the long run, as authoritative, error-free, and well-written as encyclopedia articles can be expected to be.

As to quantity, we hope to grow to hundreds of thousands of articles within a few years, and millions a few years after that. This is not the traditional goal of encyclopedias, which has been to offer up only mainstream views of the most important aspects of the most important topics. Cheap disk space and bandwidth, and the potential of participation by ultimately millions of people, means that we can capture humanity's understanding of reality with far more nuance and detail.

We are also creating a new sort of online community. We welcome experts as well as the general public; we will be built not by top-down orders but as and where contributors wish to work; and we will be organized as a republic governed by a rule of law. This means that there will be no "dictators," but a regularly changing group of people tasked to manage a public trust in conformity with a relatively stable code of rules. It also means that we will have very little tolerance for the sort of immature disruption, abuse and gaming that plagues so many other Internet communities.

On a personal note, I left Wikipedia, because whilst there are a number of competent editors there, the combination of anonymity, people gaming the system, an overemphasis of 'style' over 'reliable content', and a lack of interest in the management to manage, leads to endless unproductive arguments. In part, it's success is due to exactly those factors - contributors start writing a few articles and are then seduced by the politics - see <this Wikipedia link> as just the latest appalling example - people either burn out become 'wikidrama' addicts.

Not for me I'm afraid.

Kind regards,
Russ McGinn

Labels: Interviews, Other Engines, Reputation Management, Ross Dunn, SEO News, Social Marketing

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: An Introduction to Citizendium by Editor Russ McGinn

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Labels: Coupon Codes, Other News, PPC, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: WordTracker Promotion Extended

Monday, October 29, 2007

Labels: Google, Ross Dunn, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Matt Cutts Confirms Reason for PageRank Drop

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

• For now here is a short list of affected sites that Rand Fishkin over at SEOMoz compiled today.
• Here is TechCrunch's view on Google's update
  

Labels: Algo, Google, Ross Dunn, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Google PageRank Update Could Punish Many

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Labels: Google, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Google Provides More Control Over Search Results

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Microsoft Corp. today announced the final updates to the fall release of its Live Search service, introducing a broad array of new services and features to its local and mobile search offerings. The new features and enhancements are designed to make it easier for people to find what they need at home or on the go through significant innovations in mapping, imagery and driving directions as well as new services to make the mobile search experience easy and powerful.

Labels: Microsoft, Ross Dunn, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Microsoft Releases New Live Search Features

Labels: Ross Dunn, SEO News, StepForth

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: StepForth's Weekly Newsletter - Important Bulletin

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Ask’s portion of the search market is a mere 4.3% (src. Hitwise) so it is understandable that optimizing for Ask is a low priority in the eyes of many webmasters. That said, despite the company’s rather infamous advertising campaigns Ask has some incredible and unique features that I believe will slowly but surely steal search share from its more popular brethren. Consequently, it seems appropriate to provide some tips on how to optimize for Ask without sacrificing rankings on the other search engines. To that end the following instructions are supplementary to the recommendations provided in my “How to Optimize for Yahoo” article.

ASK OVERVIEW

Ask differs from the other search engines because it has fully rolled-out universal search. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term universal search is the integration of results from a variety of sources (i.e. images, video, local information, news, blogs, etc.) into a single results page. Although Google has implemented universal search to some extent Ask is the first search engine to leap head-first into these complex waters and they have done a great job of it. Since universal search is slowly going to be rolled-out across Google, MSN and Yahoo, Ask is a great place to prepare for the competitive world of universal search. The areas I will cover are images, blogs and feeds, local search and mobile.

ASK IMAGE OPTIMIZATION

Just how do you get an image to show up within Ask.com’s universal search results? The key is to remove any doubt of the image’s relevance to the keyword you are trying to achieve rankings for.

1. Alt tags need to be created and must clearly represent the topic of the picture while utilizing the target keyword.


2. The content nearby the image should be relevant to the picture and for best results should include the keyword used to describe the picture in the Alt tag.


3. The filename of the picture should utilize the keyword.

ASK’S LOCAL SEARCH: ASKCITY

AskCity is Ask’s local portal where various maps and locally themed content (such as event news, theatre tickets, etc.) can be readily found. AskCity was launched in December 2006 as a far superior upgrade over Ask Local and it remains a solid leader in the growing and highly competitive local search marketplace. Fortunately having a presence at AskCity only requires that your business is added to their database if it is not already there.

How to Submit Your Business to AskCity

Submit your business information to askcitybusiness@help.ask.com with the subject line “Ask City Feedback – Business”. Ensure the following information is added to the email:

• Business name and complete address
• Phone number
• The category your business best fits
• The website URL
• A contact person’s email address

According to Ask the turnaround time is no more than 28 days.

Tip! You might notice that your business profile (once it is online) has a rating system attached to it; shown as a five star system. If you wish to influence your rating then I suggest sending your happy customers to CitySearch, Yelp.com, and Insiderpages where these results are drawn from. Once they are there have them find your listing and provide a positive review of your business.

MAXIMIZING VISIBILITY IN ASK BLOGS & FEEDS

Ask is the proud owner of Bloglines which is one of the foremost news aggregation tools on the web and happens to be the database behind Ask Blogs and Feeds. To ensure that your blogs and feeds are included in this system I suggest creating an account at Bloglines and be sure to include your feed within the profile.

In order to have any chance of influencing your position within Ask Blogs and Feeds you need to be aware of a couple things. First, the order of results within Ask’s Blogs and Feeds is determined by a combination of Ask’s ExpertRank algorithm (their intensive search engine algorithm) and Blogline’s vast 12 million plus blog database. Ask uses this combination to create the first order of results which is dictated by relevance; not by date which is the most common first viewing at Ask’s competitors. Consequently, it is important that you pay close attention to the relevance of the keyword density in your title, body and links within each post you write on your blog. By keeping your ideal keyword ranking in mind while writing your posts you will have a better chance of obtaining a ranking based on relevance.

Secondly, aside from ordering results by relevance and date (noted as “most recent”), Ask also offers a sorting by popularity. I can only postulate how this works but it makes good sense that a popularity ranking is derived from a mingling of Ask’s monitoring of the stickiness of certain articles (how long users stayed at an article before returning) and how many times a feed and/or a post is accessed within the multitude of user accounts at Bloglines. Considering these factors it stands to reason that creating a sticky blog post is the clearest and most obvious first requirement. The second requirement would be to get active in the Bloglines community and try to spread the word about your quality blog(s) throughout your community. The more people that add your blog feed to their Bloglines profile and interact with it, the better chance you have of achieving a top spot when results are ordered by popularity.

ABOUT ASK MOBILE

Ask Mobile utilizes ExpertRank and appears to be based on Ask’s standard website database. This may seem odd at first. After all, how can Ask provide mobile users with full size websites? The trick lies in their use of Skweezer technology that squeezes normally unwieldy websites into more digestible one column sites for mobile users. It may seem that there is nothing that can be done then to influence mobile rankings at Ask. Not true, the answer lies within the fact that Ask Mobile is focused on providing local results to cell users while they are on the go. With that in mind it makes sense that you improve your website’s odds of being found by ensuring it has a comprehensive listing in AskCity.

Tip! If locally based results are extremely attractive to you then I also suggest adding your physical address information within the footer of every page so that Ask and other locally focused search engines have a better chance of associating your website with a region.

SITEMAPS ARE CRITICAL

Ask’s spider is the least active of the big 4 search by far. When reviewing client spider reports I see Ask visiting websites 50% less or more than MSN, Yahoo and Google. In fact on many websites that have not yet added a sitemap or have less than ideal site structures Ask often does not even index pages deep within their website(s). As a result, submitting a sitemap to Ask is critical if you want your deep content to be properly indexed.

1. First create a sitemap. On StepForth’s recommended SEO tools page we noted our favourite tool currently: Vigos Google Sitemap Generator. Download this free utility and have it spider your website. Once it is complete set whatever custom data you want (info is provided within the program) and then generate the sitemap.xml file. Place this file within the root of your website and move to step 2.
   


2. To submit your sitemap to Ask you have two options: add a link to the sitemap into your Robots.txt file or simply inject your sitemap.xml address into the following URL and then visit it:
   
   http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=http%3A//www.the URL of your sitemap here.xml
   
   Of the two options I strongly recommend going the route of adding the sitemap auto discovery link to your robots.txt file because this is now an agreed method of submitting a sitemap amongst the major search engines. Just place the following code on its own line within your robots.txt file:
   
   SITEMAP: http://www.the URL of your sitemap here.xml

USING ASK AS A RESEARCH TOOL

Ask has a helpful resource included in its universal search layout called “narrow your search”. Try typing in your keyphrase in Ask and then take a look at the narrow your search section of the page. There you will see popular searches that are relevant to your keyphrase. Record this information when conducting keyword research because it is a valuable glimpse into what Ask’s ExpertRank algorithm considers closely relevant and it may also show what users are actually searching for.

OTHER INFORMATION

There are a few personality traits that you should be aware of when working with Ask that are quite unique:

1. Ask does not currently support the “nofollow” tag which could mean that any link leaving your website is considered a vote of confidence for the destination site.
   


2. Ask utilizes a site/content preview window for each listing it presents; represented by a binocular icon. Since users may use this tool to get a glimpse of your site before visiting it is more important than ever to ensure the content above the fold (that appears first without scrolling) is enticing to users and relevant to their search.

CONCLUSION

I am solidly impressed by the technology at Ask and its successful foray into the realms of universal search. In fact, my research for this article has moved Ask from a bystander in my set of daily search tools to the forefront. I highly recommend utilizing Ask for your search needs and to keep an eye out for future technology additions to this solid search engine. In my opinion Ask is cutting edge enough that we can expect many search engines will be copying their successful implementations in the future.

Now… if only Ask could get the positive attention it deserves. If I were them I would start by creating a stronger connection with webmasters to interact with them and build awareness. That would be far more effective than the ad campaigns they are currently flooding the airwaves with.

Are you an Ask fan? If so, what do you think they need to do to improve their visibility? Post your thoughts by commenting on this article and perhaps Jim Lanzone and his crew will get a helpful tip or two.

by Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.
Celebrating 10 Years of Web Marketing Excellence

Labels: Ask, Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News, SEO Tips, Tutorials

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: How to Optimize for Ask

• Monthly discount: us-affiliate-monthly-2007 (link)
  
  
• Annual discount: us-affiliate-annual-2007 (link)
  

Labels: Press Releases, Ross Dunn, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: 15% Discount on WordTracker - Compliments of StepForth

Friday, September 28, 2007

Last week I discussed the best tactics for achieving rankings in Yahoo, the web’s number 2 most popular search engine. Now it is time to pick on the third most used search property – MSN, which has 6.6% of the search market (src: Hitwise) and is currently found at www.live.com. MSN’s ranking algorithm has its own nuances which will be noted in this article but in many cases the rules of optimization may be the same as Yahoo’s in which case I will occasionally duplicate information from my “How to Optimize for Yahoo” article or source it for more information.

WEB SITE OPTIMIZATION
Except for the following elements, optimizing for MSN is identical to optimizing for Yahoo.

Fresh Content is King: I suppose technically this is not an element of ‘optimization’, however, this article would not be worth its salt if I didn’t express how highly MSN regards fresh content. If your site is in a competitive marketplace and you are finding it difficult to get a leg up on your competitors in MSN then write original content in order to build up your site and reputation. MSN appears to elevate websites that regularly update their content and a blog is a great way to post this content for others to read and favour you with links. If you would like some information on how to get a blog up and running from start to finish then I suggest reading Blogs 101.

Themed structure: this topic is identical to that of my Yahoo article, however, it is vital enough to mention it again. Construct your website using a themed structure where core site topics (themes) have their own unique section of the website to themselves. When the search engine spiders index the content within this section they will be given absolute clarity as to what the section is about. For more information see the example within the Yahoo Optimization article.

Basic optimization principles hold true: take out your SEO basics handbook and follow the rules when optimizing for MSN and you have done the best you can. Specifically focus on inline links (links to pages within sentences) and the use of heading tags to fortify rankings at MSN.

Navigation: pages with text navigation which lends itself to simpler and more relevant indexing are performing well.

WEB SITE SUBMISSION
Unlike Google and Yahoo, MSN does not yet have a fully operational Webmaster Central for webmasters to submit sitemaps and to acquire insight into their website profile on MSN; it is currently in private beta so it is not available yet. That said I feel that submitting a website sitemap is extremely important. Fortunately there are two known ways to get your sitemap submitted to MSN:

Option 1) The best method for submitting your sitemap is by adding a sitemap reference in your Robots.txt file using the following format:

Sitemap: http://www.xyzname.com/sitemap.xml

Option 2) A back-door strategy can be used to submit your sitemap to MSN through the news aggregation service called Moreover. To submit your sitemap substitute the bolded text with your own information in the following URL:
http://api.moreover.com/ping?u=http://www.xyzname.com/sitemap.xml

LINK BUILDING
MSN places a great deal of weight on incoming links and does not appear to apply as many filters to the links that Google or Yahoo do. As a result, ethical or not, many link building strategies such as reciprocal link building and paid links appear to pay dividends.

It is also noteworthy that MSN’s spider is very active so any incoming links that you receive will often be spidered within a week. Furthermore, MSN’s link filtering systems are not as bogged down as the other search engines (less traffic perhaps?) so incoming links appear to affect rankings faster which tends to help when tweaking a campaign and measuring the value of links.

CONCLUSION
As you can see there is little to report on the intricacies of optimizing for MSN because, quite frankly, MSN is fairly predictable and by the book; write good original content, optimize it well using the techniques outlined in the Yahoo optimization tutorial and ensure to submit your sitemap to MSN. If you combine those elements with a solid link building campaign then you are sure to move into a ranking where you can continue to tweak your optimization until you reach the top.

Labels: MSN, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: How to Optimize for MSN

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

One thing is for sure... Facebook nay sayers should definitely take a step back and reconsider their standpoint because I am in good company believing that Facebook is poised to be the Google of social media.

by Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.

Labels: Google, Ross Dunn, SEO News, Social Marketing

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Today Facebook Opens the Gates to Search Engines

Friday, August 31, 2007

Labels: Jim Hedger, Other News, Ross Dunn, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Jim Hedger Leaves SiteProNews

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Labels: Google, Ross Dunn, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Google Will Resume Sending Penalty Notifications

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Labels: Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: SEO is More Important Than Ever

1. All is well; your website is www.xyzname.com and it is currently listed in the top 10 in Google for 'xyz'.
   
   
2. A hacker comes along and decides that your listing for 'xyz' needs to be removed (perhaps for competitive reasons or out of spite). So the hacker gets Google to spider your website through a proxy. The address that Google would be given to index might look like this:
   www.proxysrus.au/proxy/www.xyzname.com/
   
   
3. When Google indexes this new URL it looks legitimate and Google's filters will soon recognize that the content being indexed is exactly the same as www.xyzname.com. As a result, in the cases that have arisen so far www.xyzname.com loses its ranking and the freshly indexed proxy URL has effectively eradicated the competition.

1. When the proxy URL is requested the server would have to provide the search engines with zero suspicion that a proxy was delivering the information. This includes URL syntax, URL length, server header information and latency.
   
   
2. The proxy URL would have to appear authoritative.
   
   
3. The proxy would need to be able to thwart the proxy hacking prevention measures that Dan has laid out within his informative article. At this time it appears the only proxies that are having some success are the ones that strip all browsing information so that the 'hack proof' sites cannot tell whether the traffic is legitimate or not. If they can't tell then they will not know to block Google from spidering their site through the wrong URL. Again even that attack has been rebuffed by Dan and his team by enabling noindex and nofollow tags on his client's sites UNLESS a verified search engine is visiting.

Labels: Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Google is Being Hacked Using this Technique

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Labels: Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News, SEO Tips, Yahoo

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Yahoo Search Assist Aids Visibility

Monday, July 16, 2007

• Google Maps
• Yahoo! Local - here is the link to Yahoo Local Canada
• MSN Live Local
• SuperPages here is the link to SuperPages Canada
  
• YellowPages - SuperPages and YellowPages have the same listings in Canada so just use the SuperPages Canada link above.
  
• Switchboard - this directory does not appear to have a Canadian version. Even if it did it would be populated by YellowPages information which you can edit using SuperPages Canada.
  
• CitySearch - it appears that Toronto is the only Canadian region covered.

Labels: Local Search, Mobile, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Increase Your Visibility in Local Search

Friday, July 13, 2007

Labels: Google, Ross Dunn, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Google Adds Additional Control for Webmasters

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Labels: Paid Inclusion, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips, Yahoo

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Banned from Yahoo? Just Pay to Get Back In

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

• Rand Fishkin posted a hair-raising live example of the repercussions of a Google penalty on a real estate agent that had been using manipulative linking practices.
  
• What to do when your company Wikipedia page goes bad: reputation management is a hot topic
  
• Social media and user generated content in the Spanish space: coverage from AdTech Miami
• Andy Beal's blog shares an interesting fact on how un-linked images appear to be counting as links in Yahoo!'s algorithm according to Yahoo Site Explorer.
  
• Compete.com now offers keyword analysis by Jeremiah Owyang
• Facebook is acquiring widget startups in a manner that is very Google-esque and Josh Catone of Read/Write Web wrote a great article discussing the virtual 'Facebook Economy'.
  

Labels: Ross Dunn, SEO News, Social Marketing

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: A Sampling of the Latest Marketing News

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Labels: Google, Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Google's Vanessa Fox Discusses Duplicate Content

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

• At this time it is not known if any other search engines will follow suit.
  
• Yahoo has provided official word of this launch on the Yahoo Blog.
  

Labels: Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News, SEO Tips, Yahoo

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Yahoo Releases Robots Tag for Blocking Specific Content

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Back in January it was noted in a blog or two that Microsoft was working on creating an analytics platform in response to Google Analytics. This was a logical move after buying Deep Metrix, an analytics software company, last year. The background information on the Microsoft analytics platform code named "Gatineau" was sparse back in January and I am sad to say it is still sparse to this day. In fact, upon receiving a reply from Ian Thomas today, the lead of the project at Microsoft, I am sad to say the program appears to still be in the Alpha stage; but at least I am in the queue for testing the beta when it is available. Here is a link to the Gatineau login page; don't bother trying to login it doesn't work.

Labels: Analytics, Microsoft, Other News, Ross Dunn, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Microsoft's Analytics Program Still in Alpha - "Project Gatineau"

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Labels: Algo, Google, Ross Dunn, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Any News on Google's Integration of News in Organic Results?

Monday, April 23, 2007

Labels: Google, PPC, Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Raising Flags Over Google's Newly Inherited SEO Firm

Thursday, April 19, 2007

• Having and maintaining a business blog will have additional benefits.
  
• Blogs that have been accepted by Google News as a news resource will now have the potential to attain a massive increase in traffic when they appear in search engine results.
• There will now be even more benefit to writing quality blog posts that are on the cutting edge of news.
• Google will most definitely make friends with the Press conglomerates by providing extra exposure. This strengthening of ties may open up different sources of media-rich content for Google's users.
  

• Having and maintaining a business blog will be more important than ever. Why is this a con? Maintaining an active blog requires significant resources.
  
• Search result pages may now be longer and force users to scroll farther down to see the complete top 10 listings. As a result, having top 5 rankings will become even more important.
• The future potential for news SPAM will increase astronomically. After all, these sought after rankings will be prime targets for spammers that don't mind creating false news to generate clicks.

Labels: Algo, Google, Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: NEWS FLASH - Google to Add News to Main Search Results

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The following video is an excerpt from the 2007 Search Engine Strategies Keynote discussion between Danny Sullivan and Windows Live Chief, Steve Berkowitz. In this excerpt Steve Berkowitz explains that "it is not ever satisfactory not to be number one" in the search engine industry. He further explains that Microsoft's first goal is to reach critical mass from an advertising standpoint and how Microsoft's search platform will continue to evolve.

This video was shot by Ross Dunn, CEO and Founder, StepForth SEO Services and was originally posted at The StepForth SEO Blog.

A special thanks goes out to Matt McGowan of Incisive Media for allowing StepForth to tape segments from Search Engine Strategies New York 2007.

Labels: Conferences, Interviews, Microsoft, MSN, Ross Dunn, SEO News, StepForth, Video

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: SES NY Keynote Video: Windows Live Chief Steve Berkowitz

Monday, April 16, 2007

At the 2007 SES New York, Google's Shuman Ghosemajumder responds to the question: (abbreviated) "How is it possible for Google to identify click fraud when an aggressor utilizes rotating proxies?". Shuman responds by discussing the Clickbot A botnet case and how Google deciphered the click fraud in that situation. This video was taken during the "Auditing Paid Listings and Click Fraud Issues" seminar that took place on April 12, 2007.

This video is courtesy of the StepForth SEO Blog. Video taken by Ross Dunn, CEO of StepForth SEO Services. Special thanks to Matt McGowan of Incisive Media for allowing StepForth to record this footage.

Labels: Click Fraud, Conferences, Google, Interviews, PPC, Ross Dunn, SEO News, Video

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: SES NY - Google's Shuman Ghosemajumder Discusses Click Fraud

Friday, April 06, 2007

Labels: Algo, Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News, Yahoo

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Bulletin - Yahoo Weather Update

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Labels: Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Weighing-in on Search Engines and Flash

Monday, March 26, 2007

• Barry Schwartz at The Search Engine Roundtable wrote that Yahoo removed directory shortcuts found under its search engine result pages (SERPs).
  
  I checked this myself from Canada to see if it was a regional alteration but no dice; Canada has been affected as well. I have mixed feelings about this change. On one hand, the link to a directory listing was a great indicator that a website was 'verified' by Yahoo staff since human review is required for directory inclusion. In essence that made the directory link in results an added incentive to pay the price of directory inclusion. On the other hand, removing the directory link has saved 10 lines of valuable screen property on every Yahoo result page. I am unsure what Yahoo will do with this free space but considering their lust for profits (see Yahoo reinvents paid inclusion) I wonder if some additional advertising or another form of profit generation might be forthcoming. If this newly freed space is to be used I just hope it is done creatively.
  
  Also, Barry Schwartz noted this may be a step towards folding the Yahoo Directory. This may very well be true, it would certainly explain the result alteration. That said, I hope Yahoo's Directory sticks around because at this point it is the only directory that has any real validity these days. After all, DMOZ (the Open Directory Project) is a complete mess and I don't honestly know of any other directory other than DMOZ and Yahoo that has any reasonable clout. To put it simply, Yahoo would be foolish to drop their Directory but they do need to reinvent it. I think they should intertwine social media with their directory to give it some freshness and potential energy.
  
  Thinking off the cuff... Yahoo could offer directory listing owners the opportunity to make their listings more robust and they could provide a listing of the most recent articles associated with a company listing. Heck another option that comes to mind is a social media tagging system where any site that met a confidential threshold would get a free review and ultimately a free or discounted listing in the directory. The key is to get the big players in the directory again and make it more attractive and interactive. Personally I could spend ages brainstorming this, it would be a blast... unfortunately it is up to Yahoo to make it work.
  
  As a final note, I was horrified when I could not find a single link to the Yahoo Directory on Yahoo!'s home page. I guess it is true... the directory is being put on the backburner. Does anyone have any sure insight on this topic?
  
  
• According to Search Engine Land, Google has been caught testing new navigation formats. From the screenshots on Search Engine Land and the adjoining articles it seems Google is attempting to find the right way to include more personalized navigational elements such as Google Calendar, email, etc. into their main navigation. I look forward to seeing the result. I for one, would be very happy to see a quick access link to my Google Calendar or GMail.
  
  
• Are you still a little fuzzy on social media networking and what affect it has on the web? If so, I expect this review of Digg, one of the more significant social media websites, will provide you with a great introduction.
  

Labels: Google, Ross Dunn, SEO News, Social Marketing, Yahoo

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Yahoo Drops Directory Links, Google Experiments, and Digg's BBC Expose

Friday, March 16, 2007

Labels: Online Statistics, Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: How Many Prospects See Your Ranking If You Are Not in the Top 10?

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Labels: Google, Link Building, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Google Finally Provides Decent Backlink Data

Friday, January 26, 2007

Labels: Algo, Google, Ross Dunn, SEO, SEO News

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Google Bombing Will Be No Longer Says Google

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Repeatedly my sales and consulting staff find themselves explaining that using duplicate content can and will negatively affect search engine rankings and it is heartbreaking to see clients having to rebuild rankings due to such a simple mistake. As a result, I felt it was time to write this article and hopefully dispel many misled website owners.

Why write an entire article on something as simple as duplicate content? Well probably because it is not as simple as it sounds and many website owners find themselves in the grey area of duplication; where they don’t know for sure whether they are risking rankings or not.

The following is a sectional breakdown of the most common duplicate content issues we see defined from the standpoint of a question – hopefully making this article a little easier to read. After all, I have no illusions that reading up on duplicate content rules is exciting.

Duplicate Websites

Definition: a duplicate website is a website that has many if not all of the same pages as another live website.
Note: the following questions are based on a person who owns two websites that are duplicates.

Q: “Why is a duplicate website such a bad idea?”

A: The major search engines are constantly trying to improve the quality of their search engine results in an effort to provide the best quality content for users. When duplicate content is indexed by search engine spiders, valuable time and processing power is wasted. As a result, search engines have blocked sites that used duplicate content from their database, ultimately favouring the site that either had the content first, or I believe, the one site that has the greater online history. In addition, the major search engines have a bad taste after dealing with so much duplicate content created by spammers over the past several years. As a result, posting a duplicate website is an offense that can quite literally blacklist a domain; there are few things the search engine properties dislike more than being gamed by spammers.

Q: “What should I do with my duplicate website then? Just delete it?”

A: Deleting the site is the only option unless you want to create an entire new website with unique content and a unique purpose. That said, by deleting the website you can still ensure the effort you put into promoting the old site does not go to waste by pointing the domain to your new website’s domain using a 301 redirect. A 301 is a term used to describe a server protocol which Google and other search engines will ‘see’ when they visit the old site. The protocol essentially says that your content from the old site can be found on the new site and that this is a permanent forwarding of all traffic. 301 redirects are by far the best way to minimize your losses from shutting down a website that just might have traffic or inbound links.

Q: “Which website should I shut down? Is there anything I should consider first?”

A: Yes, it is very important that you keep the website that has the most backlinks and has been online the longest. The reason I say this is that Google tends to favour entrenched websites; they have been around a while, are well backlinked and overall appear to have a positive history.

Whatever your decision is, it is vital you understand switching a website to a new domain is a dangerous step. This is because of Google’s famed ‘sandbox’. The ‘sandbox’ is really only an overused turn of phrase that represents a portion of the Google algorithm which considers the age of the domain as a signifier of trust. Generally, new websites will require 6 months to a year before substantial rankings are evident; this is kind of a right of passage that Google appears to be enforcing on the average website. Sites that are obviously popular and quickly gain a load of legitimate link popularity will easily avoid the sandbox (because Google can not afford to miss a ‘great’ website) but this is not the common scenario.

Q: “Will using a 301 redirect pass on the benefit of the deleted site’s link popularity?”

A: Link popularity is passed onto the other website when a 301 is used but how much this pass-over will benefit the website seems to fluctuate on a case-by-case basis. Usually the fluctuation is only present when popularity from one domain is passed to another with differing content/topic. In this case, since the link popularity is being redirected to an identical website I expect the benefit to be virtually lossless.

Duplicate Content

Definition: content appearing within a website that is duplicated elsewhere on the same website or elsewhere on the Internet.

Q: “I need content for my website; can I just copy content from industry journals and benefit from that quality content?”

A: No, aside from the copyright concerns of using content that is not yours, your rankings (if they exist) would suffer because it is highly likely the major search engines would detect the duplicate content. As a result, the page that you create may get flagged as duplicated and it would be ignored at the very least. The page could even devalue your site’s overall credibility. Credibility is a critical component of Google’s algorithm so sites with less credibility tend to have a harder time staying (‘sticking’ if you will) in a particular ranking.

Q: “I use a content management system to manage my site and it uses a particular set of templates. These templates have some duplicate content within them and they are spread all throughout my website. Should I be worried?”

A: No, in most cases the amount of duplicate content used within a template in a content management system (CMS) is negligible. If, however, you have a large number of pages created using a page where 90% of the text is duplicated and only 10% is unique you do have a reason to make some changes. In my opinion it is crucial that every page within a website be composed mostly of unique content with the exception of catalogues and shopping carts where text simply has to be reused over and over.

Whatever your situation make certain that your site contains a large number of pages composed of unique content that has been well optimized by yourself or your search engine optimizer (SEO).

Q: “How much of my page should be unique? Is there a standard ratio or percentage you can share?”

A: There is no industry standard formula but if I had to state a percentage I would say a minimum of 70% of the page should be completely unique to thwart any concerns of duplication. You may be able to get away with less than 70% unique content but I would suggest this is playing with fire. Either way, this statistic is moot since every page you create needs to be created with the intention to provide a powerful resource; after all search engines are only a small part of the plan – you do need visitors to like what they see and buy your product or service!

Q: “My blog currently has many different ways to find content and depending on the route a visitor may find the page is actually shown on a different URL (i.e. archives, search by label, etc.). In this scenario am I not in danger of a duplicate content penalty?”

A: Yes and no. Yes that this is duplicated content but no you are not likely to be penalized by this simply because a majority of blogs offer these additional methods of finding content so it would be detrimental if search engines penalized this application right now. That said, search engines do have to have some way to handle this duplicate content. I expect when Google (picking the most advanced search engine) finds duplicate blog postings on a website its algorithm chooses the most popular posting as the primary page to provide in its ranking results. In other words, the posting URL that has the most number of inbound links or was spidered first will be the page that attains rankings.

For those unfamiliar with blogs, the following is an example how a blog can easily have 3 duplications of a single article. In this scenario, I recently posted an article on our SEO Blog called “SEO Answers #12”. Upon posting this article was immediately posted in 3 places: once on the home page (because it is the latest article), second on its own page for permanent linking purposes, and third within the label “Local Search” a topic related to this posting.

1) SEO blog home URL: http://news.stepforth.com
2) Permalink URL: http://news.stepforth.com/blog/2007/01/
seo-answers-12-my-couk-domain-lost.php
3)"Local Search” label URL:
http://news.stepforth.com/blog/labels/Local%20Search.php

In the future I expect blog systems will offer an option to specifically add a NO INDEX tag to the top of posts located within the labelled search section. After all, every additional label I added to this article created a duplicate version which is something that I expect search engines will soon either ignore or require a NO INDEX tag.

Conclusion

I am sure I didn’t cover every question regarding duplicate content but I am fairly certain I touched on the most common questions we see at StepForth. If you would like to submit a duplicate content question or any other SEO question please go to our submission page and I will endeavour to respond as soon as possible; likely in an article format or SEO blog posting.

by Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc.

Labels: Google, Link Building, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: The Most Common Reason for Dropped Rankings: Duplication

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Labels: Analytics, Google, Other Engines, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Search Engines Paying Users - Advertisers Beware!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

With the Internet growing so rapidly do you ever wonder if you are missing a new trend or technology that could boost your bottom line? Well, there just happens to be a piece of the Internet that I bet you haven't made the leap to yet and it is going to be BIG. This new space is mobile search and mobile Internet surfing.

I know, I know, mobile Internet use has been around for a while, but even now it is very much in the infancy phase of development. After all, it was only over the past year that a W3C working draft appeared that allows web designers to create mobile sites compatible with the many mobile phone browsers. I have tried to use the search and navigation abilities on mobile phones and I have not been impressed; clunky is a nice way to put it. That said, there is no question in my mind this is a market that will explode over the next couple of years. To back up my lofty claim here are just a few of the notable headlines on the build-up to mobile search and advertising published over the last 30 days:

• Vodafone and Yahoo to Launch Advertising on Mobile Devices (Yahoo)
Mobile technology is way ahead in Europe and Vodafone is currently “the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by turnover and has a market value of about £86 billion (November 2006)” ( according to Wikipedia ) . Yahoo has signed a deal which will provide Vodafone users with carefully targeted advertising in exchange for cheaper phone options.

• Google Testing Mobile Ads in Eight More Countries (MarketWatch)
“The ads apparently will appear whenever someone in those countries use a cell phone's Internet capability to access a site or to search via Google's engine.” The article also states that Google is “… also going after the $11 billion that advertisers are expected to spend on mobile marketing by 2011, according to a recent report by the telecom division of Informa Group.”

• Google and Microsoft in Mobile Search Race (Financial Times)
This article notes that “ Google announced a deal to put its search function on 3mobile's handsets”, and “Sprint Nextel, the US carrier, said it would place Microsoft's search engine on its mobile phones.”

So we know from the articles above that the mobile web is poised to really take off. However, did you know that it already has to some degree? For example:

• Google Mobile has an option that will only provide results from sites that were created mobile-friendly. ( link )

• On November 28, 2006 the Webby's, which are labeled the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times, added a new category specifically for the mobile web: “ Webby Awards Join With dotmobi To Launch Webby Mobile Awards. ”

In short, there is a huge amount of positive growth in the mobile marketplace and I recommend taking a slice of it before your competition does. So what do you need to do? Get a dotmobi domain, build a mobile version of your website and promote it by adding it to various mobile directories and sites.

1. Get a .Mobi Mobile Domain
Just this year a consortium of major players including Google, Microsoft, Vodafone, Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia sponsored a new domain meant specifically for a new mobile web: .mobi . Opened for general registration as of September 26, 2006, the .mobi top level domain “is the first and only top level domain dedicated to delivering the Internet to mobile devices” says the official “ What is dotmobi? ” page).

The idea of the .mobi domain is to create a mobile version of your website so that users can simply type in your .mobi address and be assured of a streamlined viewing of your company website on their mobile device. It really is quite brilliant in my opinion and it has a good chance of becoming a popular address with such monsters as Google and Microsoft on the list of supporters.

If you wish to register your dotmobi domain here is a list of registrars provided by the dotmobi website. From what I can tell, however, GoDaddy is providing the best annual .mobi registration price of $15 per domain (min. 2 yrs).

2. Build Your Mobile Web Site
Designing for mobiles is not exactly new but as it is still new to me I cannot provide a great deal of first hand knowledge. That said, StepForth will be creating our own mobile site in-house so I know my Senior Designer and I have a learning curve ahead. Fortunately, to this end, a little research and patience led me to some great resources that I recommend. The following sites will take you in the right direction:

- MobiSiteGalore.com : if you are looking for a simple cookie cutter approach to creating your mobile website you can develop it for free using this website's mobile compliant website builder. I watched the demo movie on how a website is created and I must say I am very impressed with its functionality.

- Official .mobi Development Standards : If you would like to custom design your mobile website so that it stands out from the rest then this is the site for you. Develop a mobile website to meet .mobi guidelines at the .mobi development website . The .mobi development site appears to be designed to make the move to mobile as easy as possible – thankfully! The development site even offers a free course to put your designer through so that he/she can understand the needs of a properly designed mobile website. In short, I am very impressed with this website and I expect it to provide all that StepForth needs to get our own mobile website online (it will be stepforth.mobi when it is complete).

Additional Mobile Resources
Here are some sites that provide some great additional information but they would likely be a bit too technical for the average site owner. These are, however, great for your designer to check out:

- Mobile FAQ: a mixture of general and specific questions for understanding the mobile phenomenon and designing a mobile site.

- W3C Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group: this is not light reading but your designer may find it interesting.

Check Your Final Product
Once your mobile website is complete you need to verify that it is completely mobile compliant. The .mobi development site provides a “ MobiReady Report ” which will check your site for compliance. This is a great way to be sure that your designer has done a good job and that your website will be as compliant as possible across the wide range of mobile products available.

3. Optimize Your Mobile Site
Optimizing a mobile site is only slightly different than the average website. The basics of optimization remain true; be sure to create great Title Tags, Description Tags, headings, navigation, and focus your content to match page targets. The only difference is you will have less screen real estate to work with so try to keep your optimized content concise – no one wants to read useless information on his or her mobiles. After all, you can be reasonably sure that the time a visitor is willing to spend on a mobile site to find information will be significantly less than their standard visit from their home computer; thus the word ‘mobile'. In short, you will have very little time to convince a visitor to stay at your website.

Google Optimization Note: create a Google Mobile Sitemap so Google can ensure your mobile content is properly noted and categorized as mobile friendly. Will this help traffic? I would think so, here is Google's message verbatim, ‘ by using Mobile Sitemaps to inform and direct our crawlers, we hope to expand our coverage of the mobile web and speed up the discovery and addition of pages to our mobile index.' ( link )

4. Promote Your Mobile Web Site
The mobile Internet is composed of a growing exclusive group at the moment so it is important that your new website get as much visibility as possible. Here are some great tips and resources to help you do that:

- Submit your mobile site to Yahoo! Mobile for free

- Use PRWeb.com to send out a press release about your new .mobi website. Show the world that your company is cutting edge and strives to provide multiple solutions for accessing your products/services.

- Publish your mobile address on your website, business cards, and any other promotional materials. If you don't tell your target market that you have a mobile site they won't know to use it.

- Tell dotmobi about your site and it might just get some free publicity by being featured or becoming a case study.

In Summary
I think the .mobi domain is a fantastic way to provide a unique presence specifically designed for the mobile world. The fact that mobile phones are ubiquitous simply reinforces the need for the informed website owner to get their own mobile site setup ASAP. At the very least I would recommend picking up a .mobi domain of your own so that it is not snatched up when the inevitable rush to the mobile web becomes a reality.

Other Excellent Mobile Content
The following are some sites that I came across throughout the creation of this article. I found them very interesting and well worth noting:

• WAPReview.com “It's all about the mobile web”: this site is well written and includes some great tips and stories that you may find revealing – I know I did. Here is a particularly good posting that attracted my attention: “ Mobile Web (un)Usability ”

• Open Gardens : a blog that discusses the latest innovations in wireless mobility.

Labels: Google, Mobile, Ross Dunn, SEO News, SEO Tips

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Stake Your Claim on the Mobile Web