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Archives For SEO
High Accessibility Is Effective Search Engine Optimization
Text links are very important to search engines, since anchor text often succinctly labels the content of a link’s target page. In fact, many search engine optimizers consider anchor text to be the single most important factor in modern search algorithms. If a website uses an image map rather than a text-based menu as the primary navigational method, a redundant text-only menu elsewhere on the page will give search engines additional information about the content of each target page.
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External web link strategy goes mainstream with controversy
In Cape Coral, Florida - where technology is definitely not cutting edge - something as simple as a web link has caused some controversy. According to this news story, Cape cuts Web link to group:
"The Cape Coral Civic Association, a 42-year-old group that helped incorporate the city in 1970, according to its president, was specifically banned from the site's list of links late Monday night by the city council."
This has even been followed by "establishing a written policy on what it will allow on its official Internet site".
Well, I know if this kind of political intrigue over inbound links has hit Cape Coral it has definitely hit the mainstream.
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"Beware the Click Without the Conversion"
Another perspective is to envision a "click-through" as placing coins into a slot machine. You cannot win the jackpot without inserting coins yet your preference is winning with fewer coins than with more. Likewise, you need click-throughs from your paid search ads to your website to generate sales or sales leads; however, your preference should be winning with fewer click-throughs than with more. If your not focused on increasing your website conversion strategies than this gambling metaphor makes a great deal of sense, right?
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Google tests tool to aid Web indexing
Sitemaps, which is currently in beta, calls for Web administrators to place a Sitemaps-formatted file on their Web servers. This allows the Google crawlers to see which pages are present on a site and which have been changed.
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Google, take me to Yahoo Movies! (How Internet Search Became Offline Search)
Two great new services, one from Google and the other from Yahoo!, both just came out. Google Ride Finder helps you find a ride in an absolutely incredible way. Yahoo! has come out with a tool that suggests movies you'd like to watch. The idea of using one search engine to find a movie and the other to find a taxi to get there was so amusing, I thought I'd review both.
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The Sirens Call for Search Engine Marketing
Tempting as it may be to put all of your eggs in one basket for convenience sake, Google is not the only major source of quality website visitors. In the most recent search engine rankings issued by Nielsen/NetRatings in March 2005, Google was first with 47% of searches (among work and home users in U.S.); Yahoo second with 20.9% and MSN third with 13.6%. If you only focus on Google, you are missing access to over 53% of the marketplace.
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Get linked to get found on search engines
Search optimization is about getting links. The more links you get to your website, the more likely you are to get into the first page of search engine results. One of the main reasons the first 10 links are to me when you search for “Gerry McGovern” on Google, Yahoo or MSN is because I actively encourage people to republish this newsletter, once they credit me and link back to me. I have been publishing New Thinking since 1996, and it’s a great way of getting links and getting my name quoted on other websites.
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Start Your Search Campaign Right: Research the Space Before Engaging!
Any search engine marketing campaign requires research and without appropriate keyword identification the best laid intentions fail to deliver. This article studies a number of different approaches for researching the paid search space and understanding the potential within.
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Google's Tool Bar Links Stir Debate
While Google billed the feature as an easier way to gather related information, some Web publishers and technology analysts were quick to criticize AutoLink. They compared it to Microsoft Corp.'s Smart Tags technology that unraveled amid widespread criticism in 2001, saying AutoLink similarly changes Web content to the potential benefit of Google.
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Reigniting the Search Wars: The Battle for Search Bar Integration
Searchers are not interested in fancy products if they have to search to find those functions. This may sound semantic, but searchers do not want to search—they want to find. Whatever information they are seeking through the engine—maps, word definitions, phone numbers, web sites—searchers expect the engine to return it to them. The deciding factor in the search wars will be Search Bar Integration; the engine that can integrate the most useful search functions into the search bar, simply and without being overwhelming, will prevail.
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Why Search Engine Marketing Has A Passion for Web Site Usability
Believe it or not, search engines and user centered web design have a common goal. They want to provide the best experience for their web site visitor. Even better, they want that experience to be productive, satisfying and memorable.
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Unlike Search Engines, Answers.Com Responds With Data, Not Links
For all of their popularity and importance, search services like Google have a significant limitation: They don't answer questions or provide information directly. If you want to know the biography of a historical figure, the meaning of a word or the size of a city, Google and its competitors usually won't simply tell you. Instead, they will generate a list of Web sites where the answers might -- or might not -- be found.
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