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Ray “Catfish” Comstock | Nov 29, 2010 | 0 Comments

The world of SEO can be intimidating for anyone who is just jumping into the game at this point. Terms like PageRank sculpting, temporal analysis of links, canonicalization, and a multitude of other esoteric terms are constantly being bantered around the industry.

For a new practitioner, it’s easy to see why many people view SEO as some kind of voodoo. And truth be told, there are a lot of small details that can have profound effects on SEO, so the reputation isn’t completely undeserved.

However, as much as these arcane bits of knowledge might be, the difference for some websites in ranking in the top three for a particular competitive search phrase (the art of SEO) really isn’t about black magic, but more so, it’s about the study of the user that you’re trying to target.

The reason I say that is because ultimately the user decides what the profile of a top ranking site should be. Google, Bing, and other search engines have historically spent millions (if not billions) of dollars on trying to create the best information retrieval system for humans who are looking for information based on search phrases.

They spend an immense amount of time, energy, and resources trying to understand what these users want based on the words they type. And the more successful they are at providing those users with what they want, the more money that they make.

And so it is the users of the search engines that drive the algorithmic refinements that continue to evolve what factors are used in determining which digital asset is the best asset (web page, video, PDF document, etc.) for a particular user for a particular search.

Understanding the User Is Key

As SEO practitioners, our job is to understand the subset of these Internet users we’re targeting, what keywords they’re using to find what they’re looking for, and what information we can provide them that will make our digital assets the best choice for those users.

Additionally, we must then be familiar with the signals that search engines use to make that determination and to ensure that the site we’re optimizing is effectively sending those signals to Google and Bing. But many SEO practitioners spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on trying to send signals to the engines that they deserve to be listed for certain keyword phrases without spending enough time ensuring that the site meets the criteria of actually being one of the best resources for the users they are targeting.

The first question that any SEO practitioner should ask when targeting a particular keyword phrase, especially a competitive one, is “what information is the user looking for and does my site provide that information in way that differentiates it from all of the other websites competing for the same phrase?”

Another way to frame this is “why would a user searching for the term in question think that my site provides a superior digital experience and is the depth of the information provided sufficient enough that my site truly deserves to be in the top 10 of Google or Bing for this term?” Deserving to be ranked in the top 10 for a particular search phrase of course doesn’t guarantee that you will be there, but it does makes the process of getting there much easier.

Is There a Content Strategy in Place?

The second question that needs to be answered in the optimization process is to define the ongoing content strategy. This strategy must allow for production of new and authentic content that will augment the position as an industry leader for the term(s) that are targeted.

Getting to the top of the search rankings is only half the battle. Staying there in the face of your competitors takes a persistent effort that is focused on constantly providing users with the most up to date and relevant information that satisfies their query and does so in a way that is superior to the competition. Defining an ongoing content production strategy given the resources available for the project is a key step in creating a winning foundation for your SEO campaign.

By addressing these two questions upfront in the optimization process, the rest of the SEO equation will become much clearer. Having superior content that succinctly addresses the needs of your users allows you to get links from credible sources, makes your social media activities more compelling with higher engagement levels, makes your press releases much more likely to be picked up by significant distribution, and augments your brand by providing your users with a better overall digital experience.

Ray “Catfish” Comstock is Senior Search Strategist at BusinessOnLine, a pioneer in the interactive marketing space with a 14-year track record of successfully leveraging the interconnectedness of the Internet to help companies grow their digital presence. Ray has more than 12 years in the search marketing industry, specializing exclusively in organic search engine optimization and social media strategy. He has presented at numerous industry conferences, including Search Engine Strategies (SES), PubCon and the Online Marketing Summit (OMS). He is also a contributing author to the BusinessOnLine SEO Blog – syndicated through WebPro News – and is quoted extensively in trade and business publications.

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SEO information, search phrase, SEO practitioner, user

Gary-Adam Shannon | Nov 24, 2010 | 0 Comments

There’s no denying that, from time to time, I’m a little dirty. Yes, I dabble in some questionable techniques when it comes to Internet marketing.

Having said that, I think many of us dabble in some sort of “questionable” technique from time to time; the only difference is perception. What is black hat to me is different than your perception and vice versa.

Some golden rules shouldn’t be broken, and what can be learned from the rest of this article certainly crosses the line. It isn’t something I would ever do nor would I suggest anyone do. If you learn one thing from this, it would be to ensure you’re protected and always try to be one step ahead of your competition, if you can think of a weakness they could exploit — fix it.

One thing I always try and do, however, is make something valuable — something the user will love. I strongly believe this is key to success online. It’s the willpower, not the tools, right?

I talk to a lot of people online in the *hat world — I mentor, I learn, rarely am I shocked. Until recently.

Getting Your Competition Kicked Out of Google

Not possible, right? How could this be so? Well, it’s actually quite easy to do, unfortunately.

According to Google:

“If you find a page in Google search results that lists personal information such as your social security or credit card number, let us know using the links below. Google will contact the site’s hosting company to request that the page be taken down from the web. We’ll also take steps to remove the information from our search results.

You don’t want this information to be anywhere on the web. So even if Google removes it from our search results, make sure to contact the webmaster directly and tell him or her to remove your information immediately.”

Most of this information can be found here, and here.

See where we’re heading here? According to one of my black hat buddies, the following described tactic is something he has exploited routinely to devalue his competitors’ websites and gain positions in the search engine results page.

Note: I don’t condone this at all, by any means, I find it quite scary that this technique could be used to destroy someone’s income stream. A similar technique was just recently used against one of my websites, which resulted in a catastrophic deindexing.

Exposing Your Personal Information

The basic outcome is simple, you actually want your own personal information published on a competitors website. This can be achieved a number of ways, all illegitimate and possibly quite illegal.

CMS injection: With so many vulnerable CMS platforms out there, it’s entirely plausible that one of your competitors could crack your CMS and inject their own personal information somewhere into your website. Heck, a bad guy could even cloak and only show these personal details if Google was looking! It would then be quite easy for the attacker to report your website, claim they have attempted to contact you and before you know it your hosting provider has shut down your service or Google has deindexed your content.

Comment drops: Injecting your personal information into a comment entry form could even be a simple way to achieve this. Possibly a flawed mechanism, but plausible.

Starting an argument with your competitor: This works surprisingly well. Apparently if you tick someone off enough, they can react by putting your details on their website in some form or another.

Removal Request Abuse

Google makes it quite easy for someone to report these problems. On this page you can find links for all sorts of removal requests.

Social Security number: A website that has your social on it can be deindexed quite easily.

Bank card or credit card: A website that has your bank card details on it can also be deindexed easily.

Your handwritten signature: A website with an image of your signature on it? Go on, deindex that one, too!

What Google provides here is a good service — if used right. Unfortunately, it isn’t used entirely right. If it were, I wouldn’t be hearing stories of how people have gotten their competitors deindexed in days, hours, etc.

This method seems surprisingly successful and has almost definitely been victim of many false positives.

Massive Attack Protection

So what could Google do to deny this type of “attack”? A lengthier investigation process perhaps? Direct verification with the site owner to ensure contact has ever been made?

After having a site of my own personally attacked in a similar fashion, practically deindexed in itself, these techniques aren’t something I would recommend anyone utilize — karma is, after all, a bitch — you don’t want something like this happening to your money site.

If you’re an operator worried about this potential attack, button your security shirt up, ensure your platforms are up to date, moderate and vet your comments thoroughly, and don’t be stupid enough to post anyone’s personal details on your website.

Originally from Australia, Gary-Adam Shannon started his web career at the age of sixteen by figuring out ways to monetize chat-room traffic with programmatically dark arts, today known as “blackhat”. Gary has worked for large domain portfolio monetization companies, lead generation businesses and has a broad range of skills ranging from system administration, to programming and all facets of internet marketing. After spending a couple of years in the UK honing his blackhat methods, learning whitehat and everything in between, Gary now lives in Las Vegas, NV where he heads up a small team of professionals that specialize in SEM for high end domain portfolio owners that cover an assortment of verticals. Gary maintains a blog and has been known to unleash secret source from time to time.

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SEO Black Hat, google, information, personal information

Four Ways To Get Visitors To Your New Company Blog

November 21st, 2010 by Peter

Writing a blog can be extremely useful when running an online business. A blog can help you to get your business noticed and provide potential customers with relevant information about the products and services you offer. If regularly updated and if it features well-written content, a blog can also help bonds between businesses and their target audiences to develop. The result of a bond like this is an increased interest in the company and the greater potential for the blog reader to visit the website of the company and explore it a little more thoroughly.

If you are just beginning a blog, you may be unsure of how to actually get your blog noticed and read. It is one thing creating content for your blog but if others do not know it exists, they are not going to visit it and read the information you have provided. There are a few simple things you can do when launching a blog to drive traffic to it.

The first thing you can do is direct traffic from your website to your blog. Your blog may be within your website or may not. Regardless of this, let those visiting your site know about your blog and provide a link to it too. When exploring a website, potential customers like to find out as much information as possible and a blog can be informative.

Another thing you can do is create a press release about your business and your blog and include a link to it. Information like this is often featured in press releases and can be a great source of exposure and traffic. Let others know about your blog and provide them with a quick and easy way to access it to.

Sending newsletters to those which have displayed an interest in a business and have requested to be kept up to date with company news is still an effective SEO technique. If you do send out a company newsletter by email, informing your followers of your blog and providing them with a link to it is an excellent way to get more attention for your blog. Those which receive your newsletter will already have an interest in your business so will likely find your blog appealing too.

The fourth way to help encourage traffic to visit your blog is by providing a little information about your blog and a link to it in all of the emails you send on behalf of your business. Those which you are interacting with via email may find your blog useful so including information like this is fully acceptable. Dont be pushy or let this information dominate your email but including a short sentence at the end of your email and an appropriate link to your blog can be helpful.

We at SEO Consult create and develop blogs for a number of clients. We know what a blog needs to be successful and know how to get appropriate traffic visiting a blog again and again. Let us help you to use blogging successfully.

If you want to link to this blog, copy and paste the following HTML code to your website.

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