Preliminary Review: SEOBook February 26, 2007
Posted by Evil Green in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing , add a commentA while back I mentioned that we purchased Aaron Walls SEO Book. I am sure Stray Dog will have a lot to say about it in the future.
Until then: I read most of the SEO book - everything that I felt was relevant to me - in about three days. Let me be the first (well I guess I am not the first, let me reiterate what everyone else has said:)) to say it is that it is a great book and worth every penny.
It’s a well written, easy reading, resource. I found that I did not want to put it down although I am pretty passionate about SEO.
The book is chalked full of useful tips and concepts, many which I have heard of or thought about and many of which I have not. There is no special tip to gaming google its just full of concepts to help you build a great SEO’ed site with a lot of quality incoming links.
I’d consider it the ultimate resource for those that are new to SEO and a great review / road map for more experienced readers.
My game plan involves reading it again soon and at that time taking notes of all tips that I need to implement then acting on them. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!
It’s probably worth mentioning that I do not have an affiliate link up and am just giving you my honest feedback on a great product.
Are Two Sites Better Than One? February 26, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google, Search Engine Marketing, Adwords, Domain Names , add a commentA “Filthy Jack” reader writes:
i’m looking for some advice…in terms of a client that has a business that operates out of two separate cities…they will have a home page that allows the user to select their city of choice for services…but what i’m wondering is for seo purposes do you think it’s in their best interest to have two separate websites? i’m thinking that one massive website should do the trick as long as all pertinent seo features for both cities is incorporated into the development…but my seo knowledge isn’t advanced–and i don’t have the answer to this one and i’m looking for advice
Evil Green and I discussed it and here is what we think:
One of Google’s key factors in search relevance is how many other sites link to a site. Further, this relevance is increased by both the quality of the site that shows up in the search results and the quality of the sites linking to it. So the question here is whether or not having two sites for the one company would be advantageous in this manner. From this standpoint I do not feel it would be.
We could also look at the domain name and how that may help. Assume we have XYZ Deck and Fence and they have a Kansas City operation and a St. Louis operation. It may be beneficial to have two domains with two sites:
xyzdeckandfencekansas.com / xyzdeckandfencestlouis.com
This would help show up in searches for deck, fence and kansas
OR
deck, fence, st. louis
This same goal could be accomplished with two sections in the site:
xyzdeckandfence.com/kansas / xyzdeckandfence.com/stlouis
However, this information in the title and meta description tag plus within the actual page content may derive the same benefit.
I really do not see a clear advantage in you doing two sites in this case. You may though want to consider if there is a benefit to the client in appearing like they are only in one city. There may be an advantage in appearing more ‘local’ and not ‘too big’. Or it could be the other way around. Some things to consider:
1. Is there a major delineation in services offered between the two cities?
2. is there a difference in pricing between the two cities?
If it is indeed pretty much the same site then I’d go with one.
If they are in a competitive field then they may want to look at a Google adwords campaign so they can precisely market to those within their trading area.
That’s my best advice given what you have provided. I may have more to offer if you want to go deeper.
I have some info for you February 19, 2007
Posted by Evil Green in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing, Ranting and Raving, Domain Names , 2commentsYou want some .info, I’ve got some .info for you. Stay away from those junky domain names. I typically only register dot-coms and maybe the odd dot-net and I think in the future I will try to buy existing sites rather than starting from scratch but I have decided that I will only buy the main TLDs (top level domains) from now on.
Here is why, so my forums are experiencing more traffic, more posts, more members, and more SPAM. I normally receive 2-5 spam posts a day and that’s with CAPTCHA Image Verification on my registration form. At least 70% of this spam comes from members who have registered with .info domain names such as xxxx@payday-loans-for-free.info or xxxx@save-on-v-iagra.info. There is no way all these spammers are not frustrating the search engines which leads me to believe they will take action by weighting them lower. I think I will avoid hyphens (“-“) as well as that seems to be common theme as well.I know I am going to try and avoid looking and smelling like spammer so I don’t get painted as one – I’d suggest you do the same.
Google Secondary Results = Results February 8, 2007
Posted by Evil Green in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google, Search Engine Marketing , add a commentSo one of my small eBay affiliate sites has received the indentation treatment. See an example below:
Since being indexed as above my traffic has increased considerably. I am guessing your listing really catches the readers eyes when it is indented as seen above.
How did I receive this secondary result? Apparently Google will combine your results if you have more than one page ranking for the search query. For example if one page from your site would normally rank 3rd and one page would normally rank 9th for the same search term Google will combine the results indenting the second below the first.
My pages are currently ranking #1 and #2 for a term that’s searched about 50 times a day. It is not a ton of traffic but its not all that bad. It is bringing in a little bit of revenue. 
Negative Broad Matches Exact Phrase February 6, 2007
Posted by Stray Dog in : Search Engine Marketing, Contextual Advertising, Adwords , add a commentWhat the $&*@??
Just looking at the keywords for one of my AdWords campaigns and recalling that one purpose of Filthy Jack was to provide a forum for Evil Green and myself to sort out the things we were learning. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to write about the matching possibilities that Google will use to trigger the appearance of your ads (or at least my understanding thereof…).
Broad Matches
I like analogies… a lot. And I thought I’d come up with one here. Matches are kind of like aiming to hit a target. How you aim will produce different results. A broad match (broad aim) will place your shot all around the target but not necessarily give you a bullseye. For example a search for Filthy Jack using a broad match would show the ad where Filthy Jack, or Jack Filthy, or Filthy, or Jack is queried. Ads will also show for pluralizations and variations of Filthy Jack (Filthier Jacks, of which I suppose there very well could be). Broad match keywords are entered as just regular text in the Campaign Management area of AdWords: Filthy Jack
Phrase Match
More precise and aiming more for the bullseye in terms of user queries matching your keywords. Your ads only appear when the phrase queried for is matched. Note that the query can contain other terms but it must contain your phrase in the order you have indicated. This means that Filthy Jack would match for the query Filthy Jack as well as a query for Filthy Jack is a cool SEO site. Phrase match keywords are entered with quotation marks around them in the Campaign Management area of AdWords: “Filthy Jack”
Exact Match
The truth and nothing but the truth. Aiming for the dead center of the target each and every time! An exact match means that your ad may appear when the user has entered in a query that contains ONLY the keywords you have indicated and nothing more and nothing less. A query of Filthy Jack would show the ad in this instance but not a query for Filthy Jack site. Your ad may not appear as often with an exact match but the clicks you will receive are much more apt to be looking for your specific product or service. Exact match keywords are entered with square brackets around them in the Campaign Management area of AdWords: [Filthy Jack]
Negative Match
Look the other way, aim and shoot. This prevents your ads from appearing if a users search contains a negative keyword. Although Filthy Jack may sound like it belongs in the realm of adult entertainment we may wish to steer those kinds of queries away. To do so we may set words and terms like porn, xxx and sex as negative matches. Negative match keywords are entered with a minus sign before them in the Campaign Management area of AdWords: -porn
Blog Post Purchased - Links Coming December 20, 2006
Posted by Evil Green in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing , add a commentSo, in an effort to get more quality incoming links to my classifieds site, I purchased a blog post on another site. The author recommended my site and included three links within the post. All of this for $20.00. His site gets a fair amount traffic and its home page is 3 or 4 on the PR scale. I don’t expect it to drive much (or any) traffic but I am hoping it is a nice incoming link in the search engines eyes.
As mentioned earlier I did cancel my adwords campaign in an effort to spend more money on initiative such as the one mentioned above.
For those that are curious I found this over at Digital Point.
The Link Affect December 12, 2006
Posted by Evil Green in : Uncategorized, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google, Search Engine Marketing , add a commentAffect or Effect? I never get that right.
Anyway, I am going to spend some time over the next few days attempting to get a few quality incoming links.
My classifieds site which receives about 2 uniques a day (not counting Adwords traffic), recently scored a good incoming link which provides about 3-5 more uniques a day and is obviously of value for SEO purposes.
This has motivated to me to look at getting more incoming links. I plan on emailing a lot of related sites suggesting a link and cancelling my Adwords campaign ($60.00 per month) to purchase a couple of decent incoming links.
I think the value in getting these links is for SEO purposes more than traffic however a 5-10 links providing 5 uniques a day adds 25-50 visitors a day and this often has a slow compounding affect (or effect).
Here is to link building!
My Goal - $96.77 per day December 11, 2006
Posted by Evil Green in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing, Ranting and Raving , add a commentOn Friday I talked about the two things that I feel are ever so important in the SEO game. This post is regarding item #2, setting goals and working towards them.
My goal is to earn $96.77, in other words $3000.00 in a 31 day month. As I work towards it, I will talk about what I am doing and its effects.
In November I earned an average of: $7.93 per day (equivalent to $245.91 in a 31 day month) however most of this was made as an eBay affiliate and I expect revenue to be about 30% less in December and January due to November being a good month for online Christmas shopping.
So that’s what I am working towards, I will keep you posted on the progress.
And here I go! December 8, 2006
Posted by Stray Dog in : Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing , add a commentI’ve been developing web sites for approximately 7 years and have been involved with multimedia development for over 10. One aspect of web development that I am quite novice in is search engine optimization and marketing. Not to say that I don’t know anything. I know the buzz-words and can talk relatively intelligently on concepts relating to optimizing sites for SEO. BUT — This is not a topic that I have had any true first-hand experiences with. So enough is enough…
With so many already out there being so knowledgeable on the topic and readily sharing it with other developers you would be a fool not to pull up a stool and listen to what is being said. So, with virtual stool pulled up to the WWW I’m ready to learn!! And as I learn and what I learn I will be sharing here with the readers of this site. Good luck to us all!