Search Engine Relevancy (SER): News and Updates

New SER Design and Services

Relevancy — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:30:00 +0000

SER is going to launch a new site design along with a whole range of services. Keep your eyes open.

Trusted Links or Nothing

Relevancy — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 16:59:00 +0000

With Google removing deep pages if your site does not have sufficient inbound linking, it is more important then ever to build natural trusted links. Link building with crap directories and with reciprocal links is dead for Google. Go out and get trusted deep links or dont do anything. If you choose to do nothing then build the best possible site you can and provide something worth while to draw natural links. If you are going to do link building you need to do natural link building.

Big Daddy = Band Aid for IT Crisis

Relevancy — Sat, 06 May 2006 00:33:00 +0000

Google's Big Daddy update was supposed to fix many url problems, but it is turning out to be a big mess. Instead of fixing things, it is turning out to be a band aid for Google and their immdediate capacity problem. Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt says "Those machines are full," he said. "We have a huge machine crisis."

Follow the theories Here at WMW http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum30/34147.htm or at SEW http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?threadid=11407

Big Daddy Attacks Back Links

Relevancy — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 18:16:00 +0000

Google's latest monster update; Big Daddy is now appearing to attack link building. 2 major things are happening now.

First Google is now dropping Dmoz clone sites from it directory. No longer will we see tons of duplicate dmoz sites in the index. This is a good thing because the amount of clones was getting out of control.

Second thing that is happening is that link building in general seems to be affecting PR. Many people are seeing a drop in PR on the home page or higher PR on internal pages then the home page. This can only mean Google is attacking link building in some way since most links acquired point to the index page of a site. There is a good discussion or at SEW on this topic. http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?threadid=10917

This along with dropping of internal pages is causing a lot of headaches for webmasters. Hopefully it wil sort itself out soon.

Big Daddy is Still Hurting

Relevancy — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 18:15:00 +0000

It appears the Google "Big Daddy" algo update is still working its way through the web. While some of the effects are getting rid of a lot of spam sites from showing up in the top rankings, it is still causing indexing problems for other sites.

It seems to be putting a lot of 3rd level (3 clicks from the home page of a site) and lower pages into the supplemental index. I believe it is doing this because of Google strong attack on poorly linked pages. To Google if the page is not linked to internally or externally then it is not important. I believe they are strongly looking at similar anchor text on the links pointing to your pages. If they only way to get to a page is from a side nav that is the same on the entire site then that shows Google that the only links to those deep pages are using the same anchor text and therefore they must not be as important.

Crosslink and diversify your anchor text on your internal linking!

MSN's New Rankings

Relevancy — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 20:07:00 +0000

MSN has been rolling out updates to their algorithm and it appears to be helping for search engine relevancy. 6-8 sites that I am associated with have seen nothing but improved rankings on relevant terms.

I am thinking that this update is attacking over optimized sites that focus on too many terms per page. You need to not force as many keywords on a page as you can to broaden your keyword theme. You need to stick to the terms that are relevant for the page and keep the visitor in mind.

MSN Search Forum Talks

It's All About Who's the Best Link Builder Now..Still!

Relevancy — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 06:25:00 +0000

With all the improvements with Google it still comes down to who has the best links and content is secondary.

With TrustRank there came a better judging of link power and quality. This helped with spam, but didn't help new sites or great informational sites being found that don't want to mass-link build. Sure any business is about marketing, but a search engine's organic results are based on the best information available. It shouldn't matter how many links you have. If your site covers the topic in the most detail and with the best internal theme then you should be seen as the best content resource.

Yes I know this is impossible for a robot to crawl a site and understand the content more then just a ramble of words in a certain density, but search engines should be working towards that more then the most popular kid in school gets all the traffic.

Get Something by Doing Things for Free

Relevancy — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 22:39:00 +0000

Marketing seems to be going the Google way now-a-days, where you offer your services for free either for information gathering purposes or by being able to advertise on the free service.

You can take advantage of this new methodology with your site as well. Simple give to get.

1: Give away software, services or other goods for relevant links to your site. This is a great way to gain relevant link popularity.

2: Have people submit dedicated content articles to help your readers learn more and in exchange you give them a link on your site to theirs. This build your site relevance and content base with no effort on your part other then giving a link out. Just make sure you don't just add crap to your site and forget about your visitors. The site should always focus on your visitors first.

3: Create an advertising model of giving everything away for free and support your business on other peoples advertising dollar. Just like how Google gives so much away for free by advertising on that free service or product.

This process will gain traffic as well. If it is free the masses will come. Take advantage of it.

Kobe Goes for Keyword Popularity! 81!

Relevancy — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 18:23:00 +0000

All Laker and Kobe Bryant related sites just got a traffic and keyword boost form Kobe's scoring outburst last night. Kobe made laker and NBA history by scoring 81 points against the Toronto Raptors.

Get your revenue model updated for this new surge of temporary traffic.

Make Money off Traffic Relevantly

Relevancy — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 04:21:00 +0000

One thing most web site owners over look is the ablility to convert traffic into money. Any site that brings in a good amount of traffic can make a nice chunk of change with little investment if any.

Lets take the example of a hobby site such as a craft making site. This site brings in tons of new and repeat visitors due to the fresh how to craft guides. The site is free and runs on the owners interest in the hobby alone. Sure it is rewarding to share your knowledge to eager visitors and get some fun positive feedback, but why not supplement your annual income with your hobby?

It is easy. Three ideas your can use are Contexual ads, affiliate products and referral commissions.

Contexual Ads such Google AdSense or Yahoo Publisher Network are great for presenting related text ads on your site that bring you a commission for each "real" click you get from your visitors. These ads can blend into your site and not look like overwhelming banners.
Realistic potential Earnings: $50-$500 a month

Affiliate Marketing such as Linkshare or Commission Junction are a great place to find companies that give you a commission for each of their products or services you sell. All you have to do is sign up for this free services and put products or links with site IDs on your site and bam you can earn any where from 3%-15%+ on what you sell.
Realistic potential Earnings: $50-$500+ a month

Referrals are a way to send visitors to sites or companies that need related services or products. Difference between affiliate marketing and referrals are that you establish the relationship with the companies that will be advertised on your site. This way you make more money because there is no middle man and you choice what is on your site exactly.
Potential Earnings: ???

Bottom line is you can make money with little effort and no cost to you.

The Relevancy of Blogs

Relevancy — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 20:18:00 +0000

Blogs are a great way to keep your site fresh and seen as a relevant source for your topic.

Not only do Blogs keep your visitors up to date on site and industry news, they are also a great way to help your site get in the Google fresh index. Simply by posting to keep your visitors caught up once a week, you are providing fresh content to the engines. The SEs gobble this up and come back for more. A static site will lose its flavor to the search engines after awhile. Keep yourself in the good graces of the SEs by giving them regular content.

Blogs are easy to use as well. Once setup any one with the password can post to your blog. This leaves out the hassle of having to edit code when you want to put new content on your site.

The free blog SER prefers is www.blogger.com.

What Should Search Engines Look at?

Relevancy — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 01:44:00 +0000

We all stratigize and research all day long about what the search engines look at with their algorithms, but we don't always give our opinions at what they should look at. SER now tries our hand at playing relevant search engine.

What search engines should look at with on page factors

Poor Titles

Relevancy — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 23:41:00 +0000

I recently have been playing around with an old site of mine. I noticed that I had created really horrible titles. I was using all the tactics that SEO's are using today. I guess back then my techniques for proper relevant titles was more about identifying the page tooooo much. Here is an example of a bad title I was using back in the day.

Miami Heat, Basketball Uniforms, Replica Jerseys and Sports Apparel. - My Site Name

As you can see it looks like I was trying to stuff too many keywords in, but really back then I was just trying to identify the page as much as possible. Not to mention I used punctuation marks such as a period. This is not good for a title tag.

I decided to clean up my tags. here is what that page's title tag is now:

Miami Heat Basketball Uniforms and Authentic NBA Jerseys - My Site Name

Doesn't look much different but it does wonders for relevancy.

First off I got rid of the keyword list comma look. I stuck to a sentence structure. I removed the punctuation marks as well. Finally I cut down the theme and clarification of the title. I used the most relevant terms to describe the page. Simple, shorter and to the point.

The idea is to not force anything. Be simple and clear while being relevant.

Gaining Trusted/Authority Links

Relevancy — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 22:39:00 +0000

With Google it is now all about trusted and authority site back links. For them it is a way for them to be sure your site is not a spam site simply for the fact that if these tops sites are linking to you then you must be real.

For you its about traffic and if you are a new site it is about breaking free from the Google Sandbox or "aging delay".

How do you gain trusted links? As natural as you can.

1: Submit and try your hardest to get in to dmoz.org. This is a trusted Google controlled directory.

2: Offer related charity .orgs or .edus something free or donate something to them and see if they can link back to you. What better way to help yourself then to help others. It is much better then spamming or do shaddy business practices.

3: Build free resource tools on your site. Draw the attention of many by giving away something free and useful. News sites might pick up on this and link to you or write about it.

4: Try to get on college web bulletin boards. If your site is relevant and useful you might succeed.

In other words make your site useful and relevant and you will build trusted links to your site. Also remember to spread the word about your site on forums (do not link spam them), with press releases, blogs and other regularly updated sources.

Urchin Now Free

Relevancy — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 08:26:00 +0000

Google has re-tooled Urchin and are now offering it for free.

http://www.google.com/analytics