Last week Danny Sullivan twittered he was looking for a creative commons image to use. Christine Churchill poked a little fun at me wondering how I was able to get that so quickly. The trick is using search shortcuts, and I’m going to show you how to do it.
How to Build an Affiliate Website Google Doesn’t Hate
Post Updated: September 21, 2016 - By
In over a decade of working on websites I’ve see a lot of affiliate websites. Some were good but a lot were very bad. In this post, I’ll share my experiences about what I think Google is looking for and the common traits of things I’ve seen fail.
How Google Plans to Steal More of Your Traffic
Post Updated: June 24, 2016 - By
At the SMX Advanced Conference in June of 2014, Danny Sullivan had a Question and Answer session with Matt Cutts. During this session, Matt did a live search demo that, in my opinion, demonstrated that Google wants to take the search traffic it’s currently sending to other websites and keep it for themselves.
How to Get Reviews For Your Website
Post Updated: June 22, 2016 - By
Reviews are an extremely powerful asset for many websites. They can provide a continual stream of fresh, new, and unique content that is good for the users, which is ultimately what everyone wants. However, there are some upsides and downsides to reviews, and there is the big hurdle of figuring out how to get reviews and integrate them. In this … [Continue reading How to Get Reviews For Your Website]
Why Big Brand Media Sites Are The Real Cesspool of the Internet
Post Updated: April 22, 2016 - By
Eric Schmidt of Google famously remarked last year that “The internet is fast becoming a cesspool where false information thrives” and that brands were the way out. Well Eric I’m going to show you not only did you get it wrong , but you got it very wrong, not only are big brands just as responsible for the pollution of … [Continue reading Why Big Brand Media Sites Are The Real Cesspool of the Internet]
Why Simple Websites Will Always Lead to Better SEO
Post Updated: August 15, 2013 - By
Earlier this year it was discovered that Google was having a problem crawling Apple’s website and, as a result, direct links to apps weren’t showing in the results. The next few days involved lots of finger pointing, blame shuffling, and hang wringing; but, a few non public changes later, things were sorted out. This, however, set a very bad example that … [Continue reading Why Simple Websites Will Always Lead to Better SEO]
How Google Continues to Kill Organic Results
Post Updated: August 13, 2013 - By
As someone who has been involved in the search industry for over a decade, one of the things that really bothers me is how Google is slowly but inevitably taking all of the “above the fold” organic search result space and giving it to paid results, Google web properties, and to the Google Knowledge graph.
The Role Social Media Plays In Crawling a Website
Post Updated: February 19, 2013 - By
There have been many debates about the value social media plays in having content rank. While nothing has been definitively resolved, it has been shown to be beneficial in the short term. In this post I’d like to take a look at a different aspect: the impact social media has on crawling and indexing.
The Importance of Testing in SEO
Post Updated: February 15, 2013 - By
As a WebmasterWorld Moderator for the Google SEO section I am asked questions everyday and honestly most of them really upset me. I don’t mean a little upsetting, I mean like turning into a big green monster that starts saying “me hulk smash tings”. Why am I so worked up? Because the questions are simple and already answered? Nope. Just … [Continue reading The Importance of Testing in SEO]
How Google’s Javascript Bot Can Kill Your Website
Post Updated: February 13, 2013 - By
In recent years due to developers misguided attempts to make the web a more interesting place with things like JavaScript and Ajax, search engines have had to come up with new tools to make the content that’s hidden behind these technologies accessible. While I’m sure the people at the Googleplex have nothing but the best intentions behind developing these advanced … [Continue reading How Google’s Javascript Bot Can Kill Your Website]
Google FINALLY Admits That GWO Could F*** Up Your Rankings
Post Updated: September 19, 2012 - By
Google’s official line on their Google Website Optimizer (GWO) A/B testing tool was that using it would not make your site trip a cloaking filter (since essentially A/B or MVT testing shows different versions of the same page to different people). They claimed it was SEO-safe in other words. BULL****.
How Google is Filled With Hypocrisy and Will Steal Your Intellectual Property
Post Updated: September 4, 2012 - By
If there is one thing Google is good at, it’s framing themselves and their actions as being “good for the user” and for the benefit of others while playing down how their actions are self-serving. However, those of us who have been around the block a few times know that Google plays fast and loose with rules, employing them when … [Continue reading How Google is Filled With Hypocrisy and Will Steal Your Intellectual Property]
Tips to Prevent Negative SEO
Post Updated: July 26, 2012 - By
In mid July of 2012, Google sent out a wave of “unnatural linking warnings” to many webmasters. They later said you could ignore these warnings. This was followed up by a Microsoft clippy style passive aggressive letter saying they were going to discount the “unnatural links” but that you should file a re-inclusion request anyway. The whole situation is insane … [Continue reading Tips to Prevent Negative SEO]
The Epic Failure of Google+
Post Updated: February 27, 2012 - By
In the past, I’ve not been shy about hiding my dislike for some of Google’s practices. In fact, I’ve called them everything from an arrogant bully to an incestuous circle jerk, trapped in a filter bubble world . But recently I’ve been reading all of the press and counter press about how Google+ is growing faster than the waistline of … [Continue reading The Epic Failure of Google+]
Why Google Thinks SPYW is a Good Idea and You Probably Don’t
Post Updated: February 3, 2012 - By
In a recent statement Larry Page said if you don’t get SPYW then maybe you shouldn’t work at Google. To understand why he thinks this is such a good idea–and why the rest of the world thinks it isn’t–we need to revisit the concept of filter bubbles and why they are such a bad idea.
Why Google Wants to be in Your Wallet and Drive Your Car
Post Updated: October 20, 2011 - By
When I talk with people who aren’t involved with internet marketing about Google, I’m surprised by the amount of trust they put in Google and how they feel Google is making the world a better place … for truly altruistic reasons. It’s not until I point out how Google will gladly provide all the services “for free” because the data … [Continue reading Why Google Wants to be in Your Wallet and Drive Your Car]
Will Google Author Accounts Become the Next Spam Tactic
Post Updated: September 9, 2011 - By
In the last few weeks, Google has announced its support of Google Author Profiles. While the rollout and acceptance has been limited, for those of us who have been around the block a few times, it’s easy to see that this will become the next big spam tactic like link exchanges, article directories, guest posts, and page rank sculpting.
Facebook and Google+ Competing For Your Attention
Post Updated: July 28, 2011 - By
With the launch of Google+, the inevitable tech fan boys preaching the downfall of Facebook–because a new shiny cat toy caught their attention–was laughably predictable. As SEO’s, internet marketers, and social media consultants, we have to be involved in these games, or we risk losing our competitive edge. However, what we really need to understand is that this is a … [Continue reading Facebook and Google+ Competing For Your Attention]
Google Throws Publishers Under Bus with Prerendering of Pages
Post Updated: July 7, 2011 - By
Google recently announced they will start to pre-render pages in Chrome to “improve the user experience.” IMHO this represents nothing more than the latest effort by Google to throw publishers under the bus to gain market share for one of their products and ultimately give them more data about their users to better target their advertising.
Filter Bubble Book Review
Post Updated: May 23, 2011 - By
The Filter Bubble is a new book by Eli Pariser that addresses the subject of how personalization of sites like Google and Facebook are sheltering us from information that doesn’t agree with our world view. Instead of the Internet being a window to new experiences and viewpoints, it becomes a mirror, reflecting back only what we already believe.
