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Video Interview: Dave Roth of Yahoo

Written on August 26, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing, seo

Dave Roth works as Director of Search Marketing at Yahoo. That means Dave is a Search Engine Marketer that works for a search engine. I’ve known Dave for several years and we finally decided to do a video interview. Watch the interview below to learn what a search marketer that works for a search engine does, especially the challenges and opportunities in communications on search marketing performance in a large company.

Of course, we couldn’t talk to someone like Dave at Yahoo without mentioning the transition of search results to Bing over on the Yahoo site. What does this mean for SEO? What does it mean for Paid Search?  What’s the fate of Site Explorer and where does it fit within Bing Webmaster Tools? Is SEO good or bad for search engines? How much of a signal does social media provide search engines? We discuss these topics and more.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks Dave!

Blog: Industrial Strength SEM
Twitter: DaveRothSays

The video is available in 480 and 780 formats as well, just click on the size drop down.

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5 Actionable Takeaways from SES San Francisco 2010

Written on August 24, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, chat, marketing, seo

Posted by jennita

Last week I covered SES San Francisco for SEOmoz. Every time I attend a conference, I try to go to sessions that will have information I can bring back to the community. Sometimes I look for sessions that aim to answer questions we see a lot in Q & A or that I notice popping up in comments on the blog. Either way, my focus is usually to find information that will be helpful to the community.

Now and then I get a little greedy though, and attend sessions that will benefit me in my job. Luckily I hit the sweet spot at SES and found a little of both. Rather than straight up regurgitate what speakers presented, I thought I’d take their insights and show some examples specific to SEOmoz.

1. Who are the specific people sending you traffic?

At SES I was reminded about my problem with A.F. (analytics forgetfulness) and a few things that I personally should be doing to not only be better at my job, but to help the company and community. Marty Weintraub from aimClear was the one that initially got me thinking in the “Deep Dive Into Analytics” panel on the first day.

How often do we look at traffic sources and focus on which sites are sending traffic… ok always. But what about looking at the actual people from those sites that are sending traffic. Let’s take Twitter for example. When most people are tweeting they’re usually either in an app or they’re on the web looking from their own page, which shows up as “/” for most referrers.

But sometimes, people are viewing a specific person’s twitter page and THEN click your link. In those instances, Google Analytics will show the actual twitter user page as the referrer. This is a quick and easy way to find out WHO is sending you traffic. This person is also probably someone who is an influencer in your community. Finding who the top referrers are is the first step, next you’ll want to use Klout (or another service) to see what their actual reach is. This doesn’t only work for Twitter though, check out the example below that I found looking at delicious referrers.

This is a list of referrers from delicious.com. Let’s see what Chris Brogan, an influencer in the Social Media space bookmarked.

Solving Duplicate Content And Multiple Site Issues

Written on August 24, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing, seo

More and more website owners are concerned that they might get penalized accidentally or overtly because of duplicate content.  For example, if you run mirror sites, will search engines ban you? If you have listings that are similar in nature, is that an issue?

What happens if you syndicate content through RSS? Will other sites be considered the “real” site and rob you of a rightful place in the search results? This Search Engine Strategies San Francisco session looks at the issues and explores solutions.

Moderator:
Adam Audette, President, AudetteMedia, Inc.

Speakers:

• Shari Thurow, Founder & SEO Director, Omni Marketing Interactive
• Kathleen Pitcher, Senior Manager, Acquisitions Marketing, Pogo.com/Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Michael Gray, Owner, Atlas Web Service

Shari Thurow, Founder & SEO Director, Omni Marketing Interactive

What can happen with duplicate content?

It lowers the indexation count on Google, which means the best converting pages might not appear in search results.

Web pages from your shared-content partners’ sites may actually end up getting better search visibility.

What duplicate content does to a searcher, is they end up seeing duplicate pages over and over again which translates into a poor user experience.

How do you deal with duplicate content?

1.  Information architecture, site navigation and page interlinking

• Are URLS linked to consistently?
• Are the links labeled consistently?

2.  Robots.txt file

• Are you preventing the web page from being spidered?

3.  Robots meta tag

• If articles are shared across the network of sites, are you implementing noindex, no follow appropriately?

4.  Canonical tag

5.  Ensure redirects are good (301s)

6.  Use of webmaster tools

The idea behind all of this is consistently.  Don’t say one thing in webmaster tools and then submit a sitemap that says the opposite.  Be consistent with search engines and they will reward you.

Kathleen Pitcher, Senior Manager, Acquisitions Marketing, Pogo.com/Electronic Arts, Inc.

What does duplicate content look like?

There are two camps when it comes to duplicate content.  The first is the malicious, bad kind of duplicate content.  The second is the good kind that serves a purpose.

Good:

• Find content on different URLs
• Print
• RSS
• Blogs
• Forums
• Retail site with products in multiple categories

Bad:

• Same content and multiplied across your site
• Blatantly stealing content from other sites

What are the consequences?

There are no specific penalties, but you may notice your organic search visibility slipping.  I.E. – content could get filtered into their supplemental index.

Learning’s and best practices

1. Determine if you have duplicate content

2. Leverage resources

• Talk to other departments
• Consult with your agency
• Research industry sites
• Review webmaster forums
• Talk to industry peers

3. Be proactive

• Write unique page content
• Identify authority pages
• Be aware of engine updates
• Manage syndicated content

4.  Manage syndicated content effectively

• Allow ample time for your content to get indexed
• Require links back
• Require condensed versions
• Use generic meta data

And don’t forget not to freak out, there are always solutions.

Michael Gray, Owner, Atlas Web Service

As opposed to the other presenters who shared how to fix duplicate content, Michael discussed how to make it work for you.

There are some circumstances duplicate content is a good thing if you use it as a weapon.  When you syndicate content, many will take it “in whole.”  Use this as an opportunity to gain links, especially if the sites picking up your content are more trusted and authoritative.  Try to set up arrangements with people in your space (blogs, magazines, etc.) so they will pick up your content.

How to potentially outrank someone for their own content:

• Take content or a data feed that someone else has legally syndicated or allowed to be re-used
• Place that content on a different domain
• Build in-links with very keyword focused anchor text to the content
• If you can build more trust than the original website, you may be considered the originator in the eyes of Google
• This is a very common tactic in shady/aggressive affiliate industries

Why I love web scrapers

Most web scrapers are stupid.  They search for keywords and leave whatever links they find in posts in place.  You should use this as an advantage by linking to yourself with high value focused keyword anchor text in every post.

As long as you offset these low value links with high quality links this works to your advantage.  Always insert links back to the original website and/or original page.

Further, change the anchor text, link and surrounding text of links inserted after your content (i.e. from something like Yoast’s RSS footer plugin) every 3-4 months so you’re getting different links to different parts of the website.

Takeaways:

• Look for opportunities to syndicate your duplicate content, gain attention, trust and links
• Refine your copy to target more keywords
• Be on the lookout for people who may be reusing your content who aren’t helping you
• Allow your blog and RSS feed to be syndicated with self-referencing and keyword focused links to commercial pages.

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Enterprise Level SEO Is Not For The Weak

Written on August 24, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing, seo

Thanks to Ray ‘Catfish’ Comstock for providing the title of this post with his opening remarks during the session.  Joining Comstock on this panel, moderated by Seth Besmertnik, CEO, Conductor, Inc.:

• Crispin Sheridan, SES Advisory Board & Sr Director of Search Marketing Strategy, SAP
• Bill Hunt,  SES Advisory Board & President, Back Azimuth Consulting
• Guillaume Bouchard, SES Advisory Board & President, Back Azimuth Consulting

As a good writer and analyst, I have to ask ‘why’ for even the most obvious problem posed.  So why is enterprise level Search Engine Optimization (SEO) not for the weak? The obvious answer: a lot of people, a lot of content.  Enterprise is difficult because management of a lot of content and people is difficult to scale.

A recurring theme at the SES sessions I’ve attended this year is the importance of communicating SEO in a language that non-search professionals (high level executives) will understand.  TopRank CEO Lee Odden even offered the presentation ‘Selling Search to the C-Suite.’

Let’s identify the problems a C-level executive may have with a fairly basic statement that illustrates the positive results of an SEO campaign:

“Our SEO efforts have helped decrease bounce rate 40% over the last 90 day from visits generated by organic keywords.”

• What is bounce rate?
• What do you mean by ‘organic’ keywords?
• Why are you not talking about revenue?

Let’s say the same thing a little bit differently:

“SEO recommendations made to our small business software page have helped decrease the amount of traffic that immediately abandons this page by 40%.  As bounce rate has decreased, the amount of visitors who have converted to sales has increased 75%.”

A great line from the movie Adaptation (which I am probably getting wrong) is ‘Get them in the third act.  No matter what else is wrong with your story, you’ll win if you can get them in the third act.’

Communicating a direct effect on revenue is a great capper for any communication with a C-level and a great way to get buy-in for other SEO tactics you KNOW you need to implement.  For example:

• Cleaning up duplicate content
  The more duplicate content we have, the fewer results search engines will show from our site.  Fewer webpages basically means we have fewer salespeople online.
• Creating content
  There is a huge gap in content for this topic between our site and our competitor’s site.  Here is a graph showing all our potential customers that are going to our competitor’s website.
  
• Internal linking
  Every link we add to our pages is like a ‘vote’ for this content to search engines.  Every vote ranks us higher and puts us in front of more customers.

You may notice that many of the tactics described above match recommendation shared in previous posts.  Ultimately, SEO best practices are SEO best practices.  All enterprise adds is the need for prioritization and the need for buy-in.

And the path to both is the path to revenue.

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SES San Francisco Keynote: BJ Fogg On The Power to Change Behavior

Written on August 18, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing, seo

BJ Fogg, Director, Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University gave the opening keynote on day 2 of Search Engine Strategies San Francisco.  BJ is perhaps best known for promoting the concept of “captology,” a word he coined to describe the overlap between persuasion and computers.

In his book, “Mobile Persuasion,” BJ proposes the theory that the mobile phone will soon become the most powerful channel for persuasion, more influential than TV, radio, print, or the Internet.

A visual explanation of captology:

Following is a summary of BJ’s key takeaways from his keynote – Hot Triggers: The Power to Change Behavior:

The other day, BJ was in his office at home checking email and an email came across with a message that he had been tagged in a photo on Facebook.  He thought “awesome Facebook, I’ve been tagged in a photo.”  He went in and checked it out – but got lost in Facebook and spent a lot of time there, more than he planned.  How did this happen?  He was “triggered.”

BJ thought, well, let’s look on the bright side of this.  Facebook is doing something right – the way they are triggering our behaviors is through the following formula:  put “hot triggers” in the path of motivated people.  This has become his design mantra and is one of the most powerful formulas for marketers.  However, it’s actually not new.  Putting hot triggers in the path of motivated people is how it’s always been.

More and more, technology can deliver these triggers at the right time in a way that can be measured.  If you look at Facebook, for example, as a platform that triggers behaviors you’ll notice they have evolved the platform in a way that does this.  Facebook is (love it or hate it) the #1 persuasive technology of all time.

BJ taught a class on Facebook a few years ago and it was all about getting students involved.  In 10 weeks and with no budget, they were able to create student project applications which attracted 16 million organic users.  Their success was due to putting hot triggers in the path of motivated people.

What triggers via Twitter?  Short links being shared of the best information.  If people are following you, they are interested in some level in your content.  Email is the grandfather of hot triggers.

Today’s tech dramas are all about control over the hot triggers – all companies want to be the ones who have that power.  The cycle is as follows:

People who control the platform can offer triggers to users, those triggers can control behavior, and when you control the behavior you are in a position of power.  Once you control the behavior you can create new platforms and control new platforms.

• Twitter evolved from texting.
• Facebook evolved from email.

Older platforms offer opportunities for new.  Will new platforms like Foursquare become successful?  We’re not sure yet, but you know you’ve got a platform when people pay you to put hot triggers in the path of users.  It’s true for Google – look at AdWords for a simple example.

Considering the social sciences…

The landscape of behavior change is messy, convoluted and confusing.  In the social sciences, things are messy and this is a reality.

The question is:  what actually motivates people?  The good news is that most humans are (fairly) predictable.  It is the context surrounding us which makes us seem complicated.  A lot of psychologists might think I’m wrong, but it’s my theory.

The 3 dimensions that motivate people:

1.  Pleasure/pain

2.  Hope/fear

3.  Social acceptance/rejection

If you try to motivate too much, it gets ugly and can backfire.  Use the lightest touch that works for success.  Example companies using this well are eBay feedback numbers or LinkedIn connections.

MAT is the model:  motivation, ability and trigger.  All three must be present at the same moment for behavior to occur.  If one is missing, behavior will not happen.

Also a key point:  increase ability by simplifying, not by training.  Making behavior super simple is how you’ll achieve success.  Make it so easy people can’t move forward without doing what you’re trying to do.

Simplicity has the following elements:

• Time
• Money
• Physical effort
• Brain cycles
• Social deviance
• Non-routine

The user needs to be motivated and able to do what you asked them to do, but that’s not enough.  You need to have a trigger as part of the path.  Live with this concept, look at behaviors in your life and try to understand behaviors in terms of the MAT model.  It’s not just accurate, it’s a practical way of looking at the world.

Technology always changes, but human psychology stays the same.  Study human psychology in tandem with technology so you’re able to recognize how to achieve results.  Consider what’s working in successful platforms from a sociological standpoint and how can you integrate them into your projects.

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Google’s Norvig: After The Top Result, There’s No Right Or Wrong

Written on August 6, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object

In light of this week’s news that Google Wave has crashed, plus Danny Sullivan’s follow up piece about Google’s other failures, it’s somewhat ironic that Slate magazine this week published an interview with Peter Norvig about … being wrong.
Norvig is Google’s Director of Research and has been with the company for almost ten years – [...]



*** Read the full post by clicking on the headline above ***

Original post:
Google’s Norvig: After The Top Result, There’s No Right Or Wrong

Create a Link Building Team Within Your Organization

Written on July 25, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing, seo

Posted by RobOusbey

At a small or medium sized company, you might be part of a very small team with responsibility for SEO, or you may the only person - and it might not even be your full time job.

Fear Doesn’t Stop Social Media Users from Revealing their Location

Written on July 16, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

Susan is having coffee at Starbucks in Santa Monica. Mike is seeing a movie at Edwards Fashion Island. Cynthia is at Home feeling Left Out!

Geolocation applications are taking hold of the social media world thanks to the proliferation of smart phones and wifi hot spots. Now it’s not enough to Twitter what you had for lunch, you have to have an application that announces the exact restaurant for all to see. It’s a strange trend, given the number of people that are constantly taking aim at Facebook’s privacy issues. What’s even stranger is that, according to a survey by cyber-security firm Webroot, 55% of people who use geolocation applications are actually concerned about the lack of privacy.

Yes, you read that right. In an article published by SFGate, it was noted that 45% of social media users said they were afraid that burglars might use location information to rob their homes while they’re away. 49% of women, said they feared that the information could be used by stalkers.

These are real fears, and yet these same people continue to tweet their locations and strive to become the mayor of the Fifth Street Playground on Foursquare. 29% of the people surveyed admitted to sharing their locations with people other than friends and one in nine used a location-based tool to meet a stranger (digitally or in person).

Jeff Horne, Director of Threat Research at Webroot says,

“People often get excited about the new features available on social networks and forget about the power of the Internet and the amount of valuable information they give away through the simple act of updating their status and ‘checking-in’ at their current location.”

Most of the people who use geolocation applications say they share that information only with friends. Unfortunately, companies with better security than Foursquare have had major data leaks, so any information shared via social media is at risk of falling into unintended hands.

Now that Twitter has added an option to show your location when you tweet, there are even more ways to tell your friends, and your enemies, where you are at any given moment. And you’ll do it, even though more than half of you worry that a simple tweet might steer you right into trouble.

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Fear Doesn’t Stop Social Media Users from Revealing their Location

Tags: a-simple-tweet ,a-strange-trend ,community ,director ,location ,mayor ,proliferation ,research ,social ,starbucks

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