Web Site Marketing Newsletters from HandSubmit.COM

The Best Directories and a Back-door to Google Supplemental

2008-02-24T15:01:00.007-05:00

This newsletter will expand upon my comments last week about the value of a broadly based approach to linking including the inclusion of several directories in your link building program. I’d also like to revisit the issue of the supplemental index, discussed at some length in previous newsletters.

But before any of that, I want to share with you one of the comments posted by Don Reid following last week's newsletter. It really speaks to the essence of that newsletter:

Hi Ken

That was a really interesting and informative newsletter.

Prior to the calibration my site was a PR4. I then joined your program and some other stupid ones that gave me thousands of links.

I remember complaining to you about a year ago how my PR had dropped to 2. It then even dropped to 1.

You told me the problem was the thousands of incoming links and to get rid of them...finally I listened.

The site is back to PR3 :)

Thanks for taking the time to write to us, it's easy to make time to read valuable information

Kind regards

Don

Google's Supplemental Index

The Supplemental Index contains pages that have been indexed by Google but are not considered important enough to appear in search query results. Search query results come from web pages listed in the Primary Index. The supplemental index is Google’s response to an ever-expanding Internet and the reality that many webmasters make their sites large just to exploit the value of internal link popularity.

Most of the time, when we think about link popularity we think about the number and quality of external sites pointing to our website. But part of your PR score is determined by internal links. Internal link popularity is the PR your site’s pages give to each other. I guesstimate that these days, internal links might account for as much as one PR level. For example, pages that are part of a site-wide navigation menu bar will link to one another and give quite a bit of PR (relatively speaking) to one another. Pages that I call orphan pages, pages which receive few internal links, usually several levels down in the website, have low PR or no PR. The home/top/landing page usually has the most PR since usually every page on the site links back to the home page. Of course, the home page also benefits from many more external links.

One of the factors in the almost exponential growth of the Internet was the calculation by webmasters that if they made their sites bigger they’d get more PR as it was fairly obvious that huge sites often had a good rankings, even in the absence of many external links. There are websites out there even today that are creating thousands of new pages every day via automation. So, Google had to reconsider the degree to which it rewarded size. It decided to figure out which pages on a site were important and which were unimportant. It decided that pages with PR would end up in the Primary Index and pages with no PR would end up in the newly created Supplemental Index. Google also started placing pages with duplicate content in the Supplemental Index along with pages that have duplicate title and metatags.

For some time, you could go to Google and type in

site:www.mywebsite.com/

and you’d see all the pages indexed by Google from your website. And, if you looked closely you’d notice that some carried the tag Supplemental Result.

Well, that no longer exists. You can still do the above search to see which of your site’s pages have been indexed. but you can no longer distinguish between the pages that are in the primary index, and hence eligible to display in response to search queries, and which pages are in the supplemental index. Google doesn't want people knowing which pages are in the primary index and which are in the supplemental index.

Knowing which of your pages are in the primary index is useful info. Pages in the primary index have a chance to be returned in response to a search query. You should know which pages they are and you should make sure those pages carry some optimization. They have enough PR to rank but you may not be able to exploit that if those pages are not optimized. Meanwhile, you may waste time or money optimizing pages that are not in the primary index and that, at least at this time, have no chance to rank.

Well, bless the hearts of people at webmasterworld.com. They have found a backdoor that seems to work.

First, do this search at Google:

site:www.mywebsite.com/

You will see all the pages from your website indexed by Google. You won’t really know which are in the primary directory and which are in the supplemental index. But note the number of pages displayed.

Then do this search:

site:www.mywebsite.com/*

The asterisk at the end seems to do it. I don’t know if Google will close this window but it seems to be working right now and has for several months.

You will see a much smaller sampling. Those appear to be the pages that are in the primary index. Those are the pages that have a chance to rank.

To test the accuracy of this you should be able to go back to the original search and take one of the pages listed there that you believe is not in the primary index. Copy its url and paste the url into the search box. Search for that page. All of a sudden it won’t appear. Why? Because what appears when you do a search (apart from the site:www.mywebsite.com search) are the pages in the primary index, the ones that have a chance to be listed in response to a search query. Supplemental pages do not appear though I’ve heard that occasionally they do, which might reflect Google playing with things.

How can you use this knowledge? Make sure that any of your pages in the primary index are optimized. Every page listed in the primary index should be bringing a modicum of traffic to your site. I have so many clients that settle for being one trick ponies. They have dozens of pages sitting there doing nothing many with exactly the same optimization as the home page, which also increases the likelihood that they’ll end up in supplemental.

And, work on moving more pages from supplemental to primary. How? By getting more external PR to your home page (or to the lower level pages themselves) and by improving your sites internal navigation architecture so that selected supplemental pages get more PR from internal sources. Be selective especially if you have a big website. The amount of PR a page can pass on (called link juice) is limited by its PR level and the number of out-bound links on that page. If you try to target 100 of your supplemental pages by linking to them from one of your primary index pages, like your home page, you may not have much PR to pass on to so many pages. If you target ten you just might be able to move them from supplemental to primary where they’ll have a chance to rank (assuming they have some optimization). Later, as your PR grows from external sources you can target more pages. Know which of your pages are in the primary index and make sure they are optimized to bring you traffic.

Remember too that some of your pages may be in the supplemental index because they do not appear to offer unique content. If they have the same title and meta content as your home page, so often the case, then they may have been dumped into supplemental for that reason.

The Best Directories

Directories may be a valuable sources of PR or link popularity. Directories are valuable because the sites approved for directory inclusion are editor vetted and so they carry more weight on crawler-oriented search engines like Google, Yahoo engine, Msn and Ask. Simply, a website that is considered worthy for inclusion in a web directory, is considered more credible by a crawler-based search engine and that can translate into more PR or trust. But because of that, the credibility of the directory itself becomes an issue. Which directories are reputable? The problem is that few directories are considered legitimate these days as many are considered simply glorified links programs. They have been penalized. Stay away from any service that offers to submit you to directories. Find a few good directories and submit for yourself. It’s not only cheaper but you’ll learn a lot more about your competition.

The inspiration for this discussion on directories comes from an evaluation of directories rendered by Bob Mutch. He rated directories based on their age, how many edu and gov links they have and whether or not they themselves are listed in the DMOZ and Yahoo Directories. He came up with a top 40. If you were to submit to them all it would cost you about $4000. But keep in mind that most also have annual renewal fees (though often discounted). So, this sis not just about initial cost but ongoing costs. One directory I’ve sometimes recommended, BOTW.org, has a one time fee of $240 and then an annual renewal fee of $79. I was a member there at one time but never got around to renewing. Now if I want back in there I have to pay $240 again. Doh!

But let’s use Bob’s study as a springboard for discussion. I think his study might be 1-2 years old so I want to examine what he came up with before providing you with the link to his results. I want to talk about the top five directories, the free directories, and then the rest of the directories.

According to Bob, the top five directories are:

Dmoz (Open Directory Project)
Yahoo Directory (not Yahoo search engine)
Librarians Internet Index
Starting Point Directory
Business.COM

DMOZ and Librarians Internet Index are free so let’s talk about the free ones first. I mention DMOZ in every newsletter. It is important as it functions as Google’s Directory. Getting into DMOZ helps you rank on Google, no doubt. But it takes forever to get in there and many sites never make it.

The Librarians Internet Index is oriented to non-profit type web sites so they seem to reject business oriented sites. I’ve submitted my blog there as it is an information-only website and I mentioned to them that my information is not only relevant to small businesses but non-profit websites that require better rankings, such as my new client at

http://www.PreventMedicalError.org

The other free directories are:

Jayde
Mavicanet
Illumirate

Jayde has been around forever (so it’s a good bet) but they are all worth submitting to. Hey, they're free.

Back to the top five. We’ve already discussed DMOZ and Librarians Internet Index. Yahoo is a must and if you invest in one directory only then it should be Yahoo. Google will even credit you for that. Be aware that the Yahoo Directory is not the same as the Yahoo Search Engine. Even today I got an email from someone who marveled that his two websites were in the directory even though he'd never paid. Of course, they were in the Yahoo search engine, not the Yahoo Directory.

Bob rates Starting Point ($99) fourth and Business.com ($199) fifth. For myself, I’d definitely reverse the order.

Starting Point may be the 4th ranked directory but its home page is presently a PR4. The 4th most important directory yet its home page is a PR4? That should give comfort to some of you living in the PR3/PR4 realm. Here’s one way of accessing whether it might be worth the $99 annual fee they request. Go to this page http://www.stpt.com/directory/, a PR4 page that's one click away from their home page. Let’s say that you are an SEO like me and you want to find their Search Engine Optimization category so that you can submit your website. There’s no such category listed on their categories page so you click on Web Design as the most likely alternative category. Now you are three levels down in the website (home/categories/web design). You are on a PR3 page. Not unusual since often pages at the second or 3rd level are one PR level below the home page PR. On this page you see that there is a subcategory for Search Engine Optimization. So, you click on that and end up here. Hmmm, you are now four levels down in the directory on a PR0 page. Is it really worth $99 to buy a link from a PR0 page? In fact, this page is not even in the Google primary index. Remember how we searched for pages in the primary index?

When you search site:www.stpt.com you see that there are 613 web pages indexed. I know my Search Engine Optimization directory page has been indexed as I also searched site:www.stpt.com/directory/internet/web_design/search_engine_optimization/ It’s right there.

But when you amend the search to narrow it down to what’s in the primary index by doing this search: site:www.stpt.com/* you find that there are only 191 listings. Scrolling through those listings reveals that the Search Engine Optimization page is not in the primary index. Yes, it is indexed but not in the primary index. So, again, why would I spend $99 on this directory? I’d end up on a page that’s in the supplemental index, not even in the primary index. If category pages aren't indexed, they have no ability to pass on any link juice to your site.

Access the page you are going to be listed on to determine whether or not the fee is worth it. It’s not so much the PR level of the page that concerns me, it’s that Google may never know that I believe enough in my business to invest in it by submitting to Starting Point. One of the reasons the Yahoo Directory carries so much weight is that Google knows you are willing to spend $299 on it each year. You believe in your web business. It's the same interpretation they make when you renew your domain name for 10 years. You believe in your business and Google believes a bit more in you.

I think the Business.com directory is a much better investment at $199 (though you still need to make sure the page you’d be on has enough PR to be in the primary index). It’s not easy to find the directory submit page so here it is . In my own case, I am listed on a PR3 page with about 130 other web sites in my category. So, I’m probably not going to get a lot of link juice from that page. But it may count for more that one imagines. First of all, Business.com is a directory that people actually use (few use dmoz). Business.com doesn’t come up top four when people talk about the search engines but it’s estimated that about 12% of all business-to-business searches are done at Business.com. So, quite apart from any notion of link popularity, it is one of the few directories that can actually direct business to your website. And, I think it indicates that you are serious about your business. I think it’s the second directory you should submit to if you're more of a business to business service.

One thing I want you to notice when you go to Bob’s chart is the huge drop-off in quality between the top five directories and the remaining 35. I also want to you note that this ratings chart may have been developed a while ago and it is no longer reflective of the reality in 2008.

For example, the #6 listing http://www.cannylink.com/ costs $20 a year while one that I often recommend BOTW.org, is much lower down on the list and costs $240 first year. But note that the home page for http://www.cannylink.com/ is a PR0 as are the few category pages I visited. I’ve mentioned to you that Google has dampened the PR of directories that seem to exist only to feed the links industry. This so-called directory at http://www.cannylink.com/ even calls itself a links directory. Poor marketing plan. The one I often recommend, ranked #14 by Bob, BOTW.org is a PR6. The page that would suit my listing there is only a PR3 with about 125 outbound links. I’m not sure that’s going to direct a lot of link juice to me and I doubt many really use that directory when searching but it would be my third choice after the Yahoo Directory and Business.com.

You’ll recall that I questioned above the wisdom of paying $99 to get on a page at Starting Point that isn’t even in the primary index at Google and has no PR. But I checked some of the sites listed on that page, my competitors, and noticed that many of them had PR5. As I later went through some of the other directories, guess who kept showing up time after time? Those same PR5 websites. They seem to have heavily invested in directories although they also have non-directory inbound links. Remember directory listings are a measure of your credibility (as determined by editors) but not a measure of your popularity per se (since the listings are generally bought). You still need 3rd party links. But I think a few good directories could well take you to the next level.

Note on Bob's chart that the age of some of the directories is in green font and that was done to denote the oldest directories. It is believed that older directories may carry more weight and that’s one of the reasons I’d be tempted by the 1996 BOTW.org.

In case you're not aware, when you submit to a directory you begin by finding the right category for your website and only then click on submission. One of the best ways to find your category, especially if it's not obvious when you look at the top-level categories, is to do a keyword search using a phrase reflective of your theme. When I searched for 'links popularity' at some of the above directories it didn't produce a category for Links Popularity but it did lead me to the Search Engine Optimization category and I would have realized that that was the best category for my one-way-links.com website. Also, when you submit to a directory follow their instructions very closely. Usually, they just want to know the real name of your business and a description. I would submit One-Way-Links.com as the name of my business because that is the name of my business. I could not call it Link Building Services as they would reject that. But luckily my business name is keyword rich anyway. Then you provide them with a brief description of your business devoid of all superlatives (e.g. best, original, the first, etc.). I suggest you pick one keyword phrase that you most want to rank for and use that as part of your description. But don't get too wordy. What you want is for the editor to accept your suggested description without editing. If they start editing it, you may lose the keywords you most want included. Once you've submitted to one directory, the others will be a cinch. But I strongly encourage you to submit directly for yourself. It’s a great way of learning about the competition

Here’s Bob’s Chart. Enjoy!

Your Links Program Partner Pages

Several times in the past I've provided recommendations as to how you might approach setting up your program partner pages. I've suggested that your partner pages should serve not only the interest of your partners but your own interest as well. They should carry a unique, site-relevant title tag, description tag and some on-page text relevant to your site. The objective isn't so much that the partners page rank for something itself though that is possible and I've certainly seen it. But it's about certain themes on your website transcending your website rather than simply being orphan references. If you want to rank for 'single in vancouver' then it's fine to include some optimization for that on your home page but it's also a good idea to show that that theme transcends your site. So, while referencing 'single in vancouver' on your home page you might make sure that one or two other pages on your site carry a modicum of optimization for that as well. If the theme transcends your website then there's a better chance that one of your pages will rank for it, often that will be the home page as in the case of my client at http://www.25dates.com who has a #5 ranking for that on Google. Have a look at one of this client's partner pages here. You can see that it carries some optimization for 'single in vancouver' starting with the page's title tag 'Single in Vancouver' and including some reference to Vancouver on the page itself. Only then does the client list links to program partners.

And, the above is not just good for the client but for the client's partners. It's too late to show you this now as Google has updated but last week the above client was ranked #3 on Google for 'texas property tax lenders' as she was linking to one of our brand new program partners who's optmized for that phrase. Our new program partner was not yet ranking for that as he didn't have enough PR. A week later I no longer see the above client's listing (25dates) but I see the client himself at the #10 spot for this. His toolbar PR would not have changed but his real PR has. Google works in mysterious ways but mostly it works. Do note that Google has many different data centres so what I see as a #10 might be different for you based on the data centre you are seeing. It usually takes about 6 months for there to be stability across most data centres.

Cheers
Ken

Link Spamming Poses a Threat to Your Link Popularity

2008-02-17T21:47:00.016-05:00

It's time for a long overdue newsletter. I want to tell you about the biggest risk to your PR and also mention the US court case where I have been selected as an expert witness for the defense. Ah, it's a good thing I grew up watching Canadian boy Raymond Burr as Perry Mason.

First, since we have a number of new partners in the links program I should make sure we're all on the same page jargon-wise and conceptually, and I want to address a few things I get asked about fairly often. Then we will get to the meat of this newsletter.

First of all, I think most of you know that link popularity at Google is measured by PR or Page Rank; PR is a statistic named after Mr. Page, a founder of Google. PR is an 11-point scale where PRzero indicates a web page with little link popularity and PR10 indicates a page with huge link popularity (i.e. google.com). By the way, it is a myth that PRzero is worthless (source: webmasterworld.com). The public accesses information about website PR via the Toolbar which can be downloaded to one's website or accessed via various free tools on the Internet. All the world's 9 billion or so web pages have a PR level so that means that all the world's web pages are crowded on that 11-point scale. There are millions of web pages at the PR3 level, for example.

Toolbar PR is imported (or updated) every few months. For example, there were no imports between May 1 and November 1 of 2007. But following the November 1 2007 update there was a mini-update around January 1, 2008. There is no reason to check you PR weekly or whatever. There are rarely more than three updates in one year.

Toolbar PR is not the same as Real PR. Real PR is updated continuously. The Toolbar is an unrefined tool updated only occasionally and always minimally three weeks (often 4 months) behind real PR. Toolbar PR is a simple integer. Real PR is calculated out to many decimal places. There is a huge difference between PR3.031 and PR3.949 (millions of web pages). Folks have a fit when they drop from PR3.000 to PR2.999 (seeing it as PR3 to PR2) but they don’t notice when they’ve gone from PR3.000 to PR3.945 because that information, which is beyond the simple integer, is never published via the Toolbar. Note that the loss in PR from 3.031 to 2.999 would have a negligible negative effect on rankings while the gain from PR3.000 to PR3.949 would have a substantial positive effect and yet not be noticed via the toolbar.

Link popularity gives a website buoyancy. Better PR increases the likelihood that a website will rank not only for its primary search phrase but an expanding range of smaller search phrases. A rising tide lifts all boats.

PR is not just about link popularity; it is Google's measure of how much it trusts your website. Your backlinks are a part of that but so are other factors such as how old your website is and the number of years into the future you have renewed its domain name. On the negative side, it reflects any of your practices that might be considered spammish (e.g. hidden text on the page, etc.).

Msn no longer reports back-links and the only reason, in my view, that Google keeps the toolbar alive is as a face-saving gesture to Mr. Page who unwittingly created the whole links industry by creating the toolbar in the first place. Yahoo provides the best list of back-links. The best way to check on backlinks is to type this into the search engine's search box:

link:www.mywebsite.com

While Google only provides a small sampling of credited links using this search method, you can see many more links if you sign up for a Google membership and use their Webmaster Tools function. But you have to be aware that the links you see listed there are not necessarily credited links. That tool is more for general information about who is linking to you. You may be able to mine that info for various purposes but it is not considered to be information directly related to your PR levels. In this post at Webmaster World, Google's Matt Cutts says:

Do not assume just because you see a backlink that it’s carrying weight. I’m going to say that again: Do not assume just because you see a backlink that it’s carrying weight. Sometime in the next year, someone will say “But I saw an such and such backlink show up in google’s backlink tool, so it must count. Right?” And then I’ll point them back here, where I say do not assume just because you see a backlink that it’s carrying weight. :)

So, I suggest you rely more on the link:www.mywebsite.com search method keeping in mind that at Google you will never see more than a small sampling of credited links at best.

Recent Toolbar Updates. In May and November of 2007, Google re-calibrated PR. Why did this happen? Well, one answer coming from the moderator of Webmasterworld.com (here):

...that is a very common event when Google updates toolbar PR,as they are doing right now. There are constantly more pages being added to the web, so one way to understand this is that there is less PageRank to "go around". Many pages go down by 1 in the recalculation during every update.

Most sites on the Internet lost one PR level in the re-jigging in May and November 2007. Some websites lost two levels though that is most likely an exaggeration since a drop of 1.1 could appear as two levels if a site went from PR4.000 to PR2.999. The toolbar would show it as a drop from PR4 to PR2. I assume that all partners in our program lost PR even if their toolbar display did not change. Simply, a drop from PR4.999 to PR4.000 is a significant drop even if the toolbar display remains PR4. But most SEOs saw this recalibration as harmless as few sites actually lost real rankings. That appears to have been the case in our program as well.

Just yesterday I was editing my book (The Dao of SEO) for its second edition. In the 2007 edition, I use an example mentioning that the #1 site on Google for the search phrase 'earn extra income' is a PR6 (not one of our program members). In the 2008 edition, I have edited that to convey that the #1 site for the search phrase 'earn extra income' is a PR4. That’s an illustration of just how much Goolge has recalibrated the toolbar this past year. It’s hard for many of us to get used to that but the reality is that it has largely been harmless with few sites losing rankings as directly related to that change.

Historically, I have observed that new program members go from PR0 to PR3 in about 3-4 months (about one toolbar update) and they get to PR4 within 7 months to one year. It's only rarely that I've seen sites go from PR0 to PR1 or PR2. It was though they flew right past those levels and landed at PR3. Now, with the recalibration, partners seem to get to PR2 in maybe two updates (3-7 months) and PR3 by the end of the first year.

What difference has this made to client rankings? Not much, as far as I can tell. The change really was a recalibration, not a punishment. But perception-wise it has hurt our program a bit. Just yesterday I advised a client that I would have to remove him from the program because he was non-compliant. He replied that he'd removed the partner pages because, as far as he could tell, the program had not helped; he was only PR2. He sells Feinmaster Tools. I checked Google. He is #1 for 'feinmaster tools'. The #10 site is also a PR2. Post-recalibration, PR2 is enough for him to rule his niche. Most likely his PR2 is higher than the PR2 of the #10 site. But to him he is ONLY PR2. So, dealing with assumptions and expectations in a constantly changing environment is a program challenge. (With a better understanding of this stuff, he has now restored his pages and will be program compliant.)

The #1 site on Google for 'seattle real estate' is a PR4; the #10 site is a PR3. That's the new Internet.

Folks, TBPR (Toolbar PageRank) means almost nothing. For an interesting discussion of why many SEOs would be happy to see it disappear see this article.

Spam linking and the danger it poses to your PR. In my view, the biggest danger to client PR (and rankings) is spam behaviour. But before I give you some examples of that, let me give you a prescription for success. I've always said that our program is the only 'program' that partners need. We provide roughly 200 one-way links. That's plenty. A broadly based program provides a measure of insurance or protection against the vagaries of the Internet. We might lose a few PR3 partners but pick up a PR5. Or, we might lose a PR5 and pick up half a dozen PR4s. Or, one of our partners might lose PR while another partner gains PR. Our program, due to the size of the membership, stabilizes PR in a way not possible with something like individually purchased text links. An individually purchased text link might cost $40 a month and so most small businesses can only afford a few of those. When PR is supported by only a few quality links, PR is more susceptible to changes in the PR of those supporting links. Our broadly based program is a better source of stability. And, of course, our membership club-type approach keeps costs down.

But our program is not enough. Even with the recalibration, our program can take partners to PR3 within one year. It's too early to know how long it will now take us to move partners from PR3 to PR4 although historically getting there in one year was a given (almost). But most certainly, you can get to PR4 and beyond by broadening your link base.

First, you must try to get into the dmoz.org (Open Directory Project) directory. It serves as Google's Directory. These days most folks don't even know that Google has a directory (directory.google.com/). A listing in the dmoz.org and subsequently the Google Directory helps PR. Since dmoz.org is editor-driven (rather than crawler based), Google trusts it more. A vote for your site from a dmoz.org editor is a significant one-way link. However, it's not easy to get into the dmoz.org directory. In some categories, I've heard that the waiting list is two years.

Apply to the Yahoo Directory. It is a powerful one-way link. It costs $299 annually. It is free if you are a non-commercial website. Historically, Yahoo was a directory, but a few years ago it added an engine (i.e. crawler based listings). So, today, you do not need to be in the Yahoo Directory in order to be in Yahoo. But it is a good idea. A single link from the Yahoo Directory will be worth more than 99% of the links programs out there including the links programs that promise to submit you to dozens of directories. Google views most directories as spam link programs and discounts their value. But Google takes Yahoo seriously. Again, it is about having an editor-vetted inclusion on Yahoo and the simple fact that you are sufficiently committed to your business to invest in its success.

The Yellow Pages is credible. Local geographic directories and industry specific directories are also more likely be to be considered credible. But I say that with caution. There are tons of real estate oriented directories out there that aren't worth spit. These days it seems like the world only needs 3 or 4 general search engines (Google, Yahoo, Msn, Ask), so how many general directories do you imagine the world needs? Probably, the same number. So, stay away from services that offer to submit you to hundreds of general directories. Most such directories exist only for the purpose of providing one-way links and the engines know it. You might be providing one-way links from your website but your website does not exist solely for that purpose. The engines know that, too. Your website likely has more PR than most of the directories out there. There may be a few small inexpensive general directories that will bring you some PR. Two that come to mind are JoeAnt.com and BOTW.org.

I've discussed article writing in past newsletters. Just remember that each article you write is one credited backlink no matter how many websites publish it. Actually, I just came across Work.com today. You can publish a how-to guide there for small business and get a link.

Mostly what I'm saying about getting links is to be selective and take a varied approach. Our program is a foundation that works on Google (see below). But it may not be enough. Spend your money wisely. If it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true. If it's effortless, it's useless.

Almost all backlink on the Internet are spam links. If you ask your cousin to link to you in order to help your link popularity, you are spam linking. It was the old Inktomi engine (most of you have probably not heard of it) that invented link popularity. It was Google that popularized it by inventing the tool bar. Once people became aware of link popularity as a ranking factor, they started exploiting it. That spawned the reciprocal linking industry. Google knows that almost all reciprocal links are self-serving artificial links. But Google has to assume that at least some links are sincere, but which ones? So, Google arbitrarily decided to grant a very, very small measure of credit to industry related (so-called relevant) reciprocal links. It wasn't because industry-related links were truly more relevant than other links but it was a way to rein in rampant reciprocal linking. A compromise, of sorts. However, it always has been the case that the best (most 'relevant') link for the Alaska fishing charter company is the one-way link from the banker in Iowa who recommends the service after having chartered one of company's boats while on vacation. That is much more valuable than the reciprocal link from the bait-cutter down the road. The reality is that both links might be sincere, or both links might be insincere (spam/artificial). But Google will feel some obligation to count both because the bait-cutter's reciprocal link is industry-related and the banker's link is one-way. But, the banker's link will count for much more, if my research is any indication.

This whole notion of 'relevant' links has spawned another myth and I still get emails from people asking if our links are relevant. Have a look at the PR6 (last year PR7) website at http://www.melbourneit.com.au/, a domain name registration website. Check its backlinks by pasting this into the Google search box:

link:www.melbourneit.com.au/

Notice the backlinks from the farm bureau and the stem cell research website. Relevant links, indeed! And, most of us only dream about being PR6.

We are all spam linking the engines and the engines know it. But they created this monster and there's only so much they can do to harness it. Penalties are largely a myth for all but the most egregious behavior (examples below). A lot of us enjoy a certain sense of self-importance that includes the belief that Google is after us. There are nine billion web pages on the Internet but we figure that Google has dedicated its resources just to snare us. It's just not so. Google generally ignores what it doesn't like. Just like it ignores the meta keywords tag and has ignored it since year 2000. The vast majority of links programs, over 99% as far as I can figure, use scripts. Scripts make things easy for everyone including easy for the engines to spot. Scripts deliver the links instantly. No effort required (unlike my program). Here's how the engines use this reality to catch spammers. Let's say you received three new links last week and you receive three new links next week and that's how things have averaged out for some time. But all of a sudden tonight, thanks to a script, you receive 100 new links. That's a spam alert. Google won't know if all or some of those 100 new links are spam links but since the receipt of those links greatly exceeds your average rate of receiving links Google will (most likely) ignore about 97 of those links. That's why you have to do some work when you join our program. No instant scripts. No one receiving 200 new links over-night. The fact that our program requires work on the part of partners is one of the reasons why it is fairly successful (and one of the reasons why it remains small). Our program was the first programmed approach to one-way links but most other Johnny-come-lately one-way links programs are much bigger now and richer, though of questionable value given their use of scripts.

Partners who are pretty much only in our program seem to get to PR3 within one year. A year ago, that level of achievement would have been disappointing. Today, it is quite acceptable. But there are people in our program, who after one year, remain PR0. When I see that, I pretty much know why. They have engaged in egregious spamming behaviour and they ARE being overtly penalized. Go to Yahoo and do this search:

link:www.listen-to-music.co.uk

You'll see that this site (as of February 18 2008) has 42,300 backlinks. Last month when I made a note of this example for the newsletter, the client had 40,311. Is it realistic to think that over 40,000 websites would have taken the time to sincerely link to this website simply due to its high quality?

If you do the same search at Google ( link:www.listen-to-music.co.uk ), you find approximately 80 backlinks (discounting some that are simply internal backlinks from his own site). Remember, Google only provides a sampling of credited links so this is only a sampling of an unknown total of Google-credited links. We know that altogether, this client has 42,300 links. We know that the most he could have from our program is about 200. We contribute less than one percent (.472) of his total links. Yet, 32.5 percent of the links listed (26 of 80) in Google's sampling are ours. Our program partners are doing their part; Google is accepting their contribution, but this site is only a PR1. In my view, it has been penalized for egregious behaviour. This website is hauling some heavy baggage - thousands of spam links no doubt delivered by a link farm and/or script. (Note that depending on the data-centre you access, you may see results somewhat different from the above. But the proportions should be comparable.)

Here's a site that's only in our links program, no other programs: http://www.ibuyhousesfast.ca. It's showing about 200 backlinks at Yahoo. It's been in the program just over one year. After one year, it is a PR3 and is #1 for its main targeted search phrase. Is it better to have 42,300 backlinks or 200? Is it better to be PR1 or PR3?

The above examples are NOT exceptions to the rule. I see it all the time. Every day I examine data relative to PR. Almost everyday, I see the same sort of thing.

Here's a client (http://www.christiandebtlaw.com/) who runs a modest links campaign based on our program. He is a PR3 with all of his Google credited links coming from our partners. This site has been in the program for less that one year. But the same program partner has another website that tells a different story. His other site at http://www.frequencyrising.com has been in the program going on three years . But in this past year, his PR level has dropped to PR0. He has 38,600 backlinks listed at Yahoo. When I made note of his site last month in preparation for doing this newsletter, he had only 31,000 backlinks. Is it realistic to pick up 7600 backlinks in one month (to say nothing of having 38,600 altogether)?! Less than one percent of his links could be coming from our program. And, yet a good many of the links credited for him at Google come from our partners.

When I told the client about this, he expressed shock. Later he wrote back to report that he was still being billed by another link exchange service. He didn't realize this was happening. That's true for so many. When we first start out we don't know what we are doing.

I keep mentioning PR3 partners but here's one of our many PR4 partners: link:kpropaintballnetting.com (he was PR5 before the recalibration). Google is listing about 38 external links for this client. About 30 of them are ours. The rest seem to be industry related (possibly reciprocal) links including a few from an industry source: paintballnews.com. Link popularity is like voting so 6 votes from paintballnews.com is no better than one vote from paintballnew.com. One website, one vote. Anyway, this client uses our program as a foundation (about 200 inbound links) and then more or less judiciously seeks a small number of other links partners specific to his industry (about 60 backlinks). PR4 is the new PR5; I'd like to see you all get there (or beyond).

Buying text links. Recently, I've addressed another brush fire with the announcement that Google was going after people who sell text links from their website. As important as we may like to feel, Google was not targeting our program. I do not sell text links from my website and I don't think you do either. Some people sell text links from their website either from their home page or from a higher PR lower level page. Maybe they'll sell a good PR4 link for $40 a month. This is the most difficult type of spam linking for Google to catch except for the links sellers who advertise such sales on their website. Here's what happens if you are caught. You are penalized. What happens to you if you buy a text link from a seller. Nothing. Except that the PR4 text link you bought may now be a PR0 link and you're probably not going to get a refund. I heard this directly, in person, from the mouth of Goolge's Adam Lasnick at a conference last summer. I don't think many, if any, of you sell text links from your site but if you do then don't advertise it. If you buy a text link from someone, buyer beware. But the most you'll lose is a bit of money.

Anyway, the court case. I can't tell you much about it at this stage and I can't identify the litigants. But the case contends that keywords (such as in the meta tags) are proprietary which is to say they are like private property or maybe like something copyrighted. If you steal someone's keywords, you are doing harm to their business and you can be sued. Doh! It's really dumb. The defendant tells me that the accusing litigant has now been counter-sued by two other companies and is running scared. My client's case may never get to court but he's losing money every day he's shut-down pending resolution. I have prepared a brief for the judge. I may post it as a newsletter once things are settled. Claiming keywords as proprietary is like peeing into the ocean and then trying to figure out which part of the ocean belongs to you. Well, I don't know if that is a good analogy but this has been a long tiring newsletter and the analogy just came to me.

Now I've gotta pee.

Cheers
Ken

SEO Case Study: Launching A New Website

2007-07-27T12:01:00.000-04:00

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who have bought my ebook, The Dao of SEO. Your positive feedback has been much appreciated. But selling to a captive audience is the easy part. Now I face the same daunting task as many of you, getting rankings for a brand new website. It's been years since I've had to worry about that for my own sites as they are now well established. But my book website is just another 'new kid on the block' and not likely to get much respect.

In the coming weeks, I will use this newsletter to keep you posted on its 'rite of passage' in the hope that I might at the same time share some useful insights. Some of you are probably more experienced with press releases than I am but one of the first things I did for the site was to issue a press release. I'd never done that before and frankly I still have little notion as to the ultimate value of it. But I'm starting to form a picture. Indeed, in the blog entry just below this one you will find an interview with my press release writer.

So, here's the story. I have a new website. As an SEO, I figured right off that there'd be too much competition for search phrases like 'seo book' and even 'seo ebook' might be a bit tough given how new the site is. So, I started by focusing on a fairly small search phrase 'best seo ebook'. I wasn't too surprised to see an early ranking for it on Msn, the most optimization-driven engine. Indeed, as I write this the site is number three on Msn for that phrase. But I fully expected that it would take several months to get such a ranking on Google, even for a fairly small search phrase . After all, the site is not trusted yet. It has no link popularity to speak of, no dmoz.org listing, no Yahoo Directory listing and the domain name was only registered a few weeks ago. A real 'new kid on the block' and I know that simple optimization is just not enough on Google. But I was very pleasantly surprised today, just a few days after my press release, to find I am #4 on Google for 'best seo ebook' and even more shocked to find myself #12 for the more potent 'seo ebook'. By Wednesday evening, it was #6 on Yahoo as well (best seo ebook). You can check these but they may well shift up at down at this point (keep in mind the engines have more than one data-centre so not everyone sees the same results).

But the story really begins a few days earlier. Within a couple of days of issuing the press release, the press releases themselves were making it to the front pages (e.g. here's one). On Google, I found one in the number 14 position and another article ranking number 20 for 'best seo ebook'. I didn't quite expect that. Two, page-two listings on Google may not mean a lot but it was a beginning. I wasn't sure how many organizations released the notice but I found four over the next couple of days.

But then, all of a sudden, dozens of other web sites were mentioning the book. The phrase "dao of seo" did not exist until I used it to title my book for it's been easy to check for it just by using double quotation marks around "dao of seo". I found the following:

Tuesday evening: mentions on 594 websites
Wednesday morning: mentions on 636 websites
Wednesday night: mentions on 1,490 websites
Thursday morning: mentions on 714 websites
Thursday night: mentions on 1,320 websites
Friday morning: mentions on 665 websites
Saturday morning: mentions on 541 websites
Saturday night: mentions on 3,370 websites
Sunday afternoon: mentions of 6,360 websites

Throughout this time it has steadily gone up on Yahoo, over 2,000 at this writing. You can see the 'ups and downs' above for Google; I suspect that it's because some of these web pages are fading into Google Supplemental after a few days. But I'd say that's still making quite a splash and almost certainly must account for the sudden rankings (though, of course, there wouldn't be useful, findable rankings if the press release wasn't written with sensitivity to the site's main keywords. A press release should follow optimization, not precede it. As a result of optimizing first, I was able to make sure that the keyword 'best' appeared in the press release. So, it's no accident that the site is ranking for 'best seo ebook'.

I'm not sure how long these rankings will last. They may well start to slip. It makes some sense that I would rank well if I'm suddenly newsworthy but today's news is tomorrow's trash. And, not one of the pages discussing my book and linking to my website have any link popularity. They are new pages so one would not expect them to have link popularity in the first place. But to some extent, a link is a link even if it's PRO (zero). By the way, I do have some back-links from web pages that have PR but those are due to partner links. They may also be slightly contributing to the quick rankings but my experience tells me that it's the press release that has played the crucial role in obtaining these early rankings.

Thanks for the feedback relating to my mention of the Firefox Browser. Kristin writes: "Thanks for the links for the Firefox browser. I've been using Firefox for several years now and love it. My son told me about it. It's great because you don't have all of those pop-ups." Martin writes: "Hehe... yeah. I've also learned that Firefox is a killer browser with the right plugins. Can't believe I haven't listened to others who have used firefox before. It's superb for internet marketing and SEO :)"

But if you get it, folks, add on the Groowe toolbar.

See the next blog for an interview with my press release writer Christine O'Kelly.

SEO and the Press Release

2007-07-27T11:18:00.000-04:00

As promised above, in order to better understand this 'press release' stuff, I interviewed the author of my press release, Christine O'Kelly:

Ken: “Why should one do a press release?”

Christine: "Unlike other forms of online publishing, press releases give you an opportunity to boast about the latest and greatest things happening within your company. Other sources that allow companies to publish their own content such as article database sites require that content be generic and only offer links or promotion in a small footer area. Not only do you get to promote yourself with press releases, if written and submitted correctly, your press release will appear on the first page search engine news databases within one to two days. These news stories are then picked up by many websites that provide news feeds. Press releases are a fantastic way to get news of your company in front of numerous eyes and gain valuable backlinks very rapidly."

Ken: "What are the sorts of things around which one might do a press release apart from launching one’s business? Most of my clients have launched their business months or years ago so it's a bit too late to announce that."

Christine: "Most clients that I talk to assume that they don’t have anything newsworthy enough to write a press release about – not so! There are any number of topics that are great material for press releases. Topics can include the launch of a new product or service, a relationship with a new client or business partner, the publication of a new document on a company’s website, results of a poll, activities or partnership with a non-profit organization, a free giveaway, a contest – just about anything that is “new”. You can even repackage older products and services to create something new. Many clients that I work with publish 1-3 press releases per month. Committing to a regular press release schedule challenges you to continuously find ways to make your website, products, and offer fresh for your target audience. The most effective press releases offer readers a reason to click back to the site to obtain something – this might be a free downloadable PDF, a free sample, viewing a video – the sky’s the limit!"

Ken: "Why should someone hire a professional to write and distribute the press release?"

Christine: "There are any number of reasons why a site might pick up a press release. First of all, savvy website owners know that valuable content draws visitors and search engines. For this reason, many sites include news feeds on their sites. Others will seek out your press release and publish it or a link to it on their site. Bloggers may find it and post about it. Website owners are constantly searching for information that will be interesting and useful to their readers."

Ken: “Assuming that the interest will wane as the announcement becomes ‘old news’, is there an ongoing aspect to PR?”

Christine: "Absolutely. Most of my clients publish press releases at least on a monthly basis. The headlines will not remain in the search engine news pages forever. How quickly they rotate out depends on the amount of news published in the particular industry. Because news is timely, it has to be fresh to get noticed. The great thing about press releases is that you can publish as many as you like. If you choose, you can be in the front page of Google or Yahoo news every day!"

Contact Christine at christine@createbusinessgrowth.com if you'd like to know more about the potential value of press release marketing.

SEO Ebook Release, Cool Tools, and More on Social Networking

2007-07-16T14:14:00.001-04:00

The Dao of SEO was officially launched on Sunday July 14 with much fanfare - well, me and a Twinkie. More on that later.

If you haven't read the last newsletter you may want to take a peek at that first as I want to continue to talk about social networking as a way to promote your business and get some good one-way back-links. I mentioned last time that I'll be happy to organize a group of program members who'll volunteer to go in and vote at Digg.com (maybe elsewhere) should any of our members have an article mentioned there. A number of you have joined.

The idea at Digg is to bring interesting news stories to the attention of members. In a sense, it's like members are editors of the WWW sifting through various content trying to find read-worthy content. Small business entrepreneurs can exploit that by writing content for their blog or website that may get mentioned on Digg. Of course, you can guarantee that your content gets mentioned just by submitting a mention yourself or better still having someone else do so. Then get your friends to vote for it to heighten its visibility for regular Digg members in the hope that you will get both visits and back-links. Sure, top stories will have hundreds of "diggs" but niche stories may only need a handful to get some visibility.

Here's the registration page at Digg. Once registered you're entitled to submit a commentary on something you've come across on the Intenet, just by clicking on the "Submit A New Story" link located in the upper right hand corner of the home page.

Two of our members made submissions there already. Check out here and here.

As you can see, it just takes a little imagination and once you get going on this sort of writing more and more ideas will come to you. But as mentioned last time, David Williams understands this better than I do and has taken it much further than I have so he may be the man for you to talk to. Indeed, I recently commissioned one of his colleagues to prepare my book launch press release.

To exploit social media myself, I then added the press release to my blog. Next, I asked one of my friends to register at Digg so she could then post a commentary . You can find the result of that here. Hey, but if you click it, then stay there long enough to register and vote for it and for the above two stories from our program partners (thank you!). It takes a minute as you don't have to submit a personal profile to become a member, just get a user name and password.

In the last newsletter, I mentioned the Conference I attended in Toronto recently. One of the presenters raved about the free Firefox browser and I think he was right. I downloaded it and love it. It's particularly great for its over 1,000 addons many geared to managing the Internet marketing aspect of your business and some bringing social networking right to your browser. All the tools work right within your browser allowing you to locate a variety of SEO tools all in one place. One nice little tool I found there was SeoDigger which reports on your rankings for up to 50 search phrases on Google and Msn.

I also recommend the Groowe.com toolbar as part of your browser (Firefox or IE) . In case you’re not sure what a toolbar is, a toolbar is simply a program that adds functionality and ease-of-use options to the end-user. The simple Back Button is an example of such functionality. The Groowe.com toolbar combines all in one the Google, Msn, and Yahoo toolbar along with toolbars available from other search engines. It's handy for checking your rankings across a number of engines or just doing searches. Digg and Wikipedia are on there too.

And, here's something I just stumbled upon last night while writing this. Have you heard of widgets? Those of us using Mac OS X have enjoyed them for years. They are mini-applications that sit on your desktop (called Dashboard by Mac users) that add functionality to the desktop. They are also available for PCs now. There are thousands of them (weather, clocks, cams, stock tickers, etc.). Well, you can now turn your blog into a widget that other people can place on their sites or if you have a website independent of your blog you can put your blog as a widget on your main website!! I just joined Widget Box last night and turned my blog into a widget:

What was cool is that I was able to place it at the bottom of my main optimization site at Hand Submit changing the appearance to suit the web page. Not only can such blog widgets serve as handy reference tools for site visitors but they may be super one-way links if you can get others to place your blog on their site.

You see, I think the above is such a cool tool that I'm going into Digg right now to mention it as newsworthy with the link pointing here in order to attract some attention to this very post. This is another of exploiting social media.

Is your website business-to-business oriented? Well, if it is maybe you should check out business.com, a business to business directory . It never gets mentioned when the pundits talk about the most popular search engines and that's for a good reason, it's not top three overall. But it is a big player in the business-to-business niche and apparently 12% of all business-to-business Internet traffic goes through Business.com. To get your site listed there will cost you $199 a year but in addition to possibly bringing you traffic it should be a strong one-way link.

My 'how to' step-by-step SEO ebook is now available for PDF download from http://www.dao-of-seo-ebook.com It's 142 pages and summarizes what I've learned about optimizing websites over the last seven years. I plan to issue new editions twice a year and make those available to previous buyers as free updates.

Add My Blog To Your Site

2007-07-16T01:44:00.001-04:00

2007-07-15T02:41:00.000-04:00

Press Release by Christine O'Kelly (CreateBusinessGrowth.com)

New SEO eBook Combines the Principals of Eastern Philosophy with the ‘How-to’ of Internet Marketing

Small business owners can discover new ways to boost their website’s search engine rankings in the pages of Kenneth Sproul’s new search engine optimization eBook, ‘The Dao of SEO.’

Search Engine Optimization firm founder Kenneth Sproul has announced the publication of his new SEO eBook “The Dao of SEO” (http://www.dao-of-seo-ebook.com) that combines the principals of Eastern philosophy with the practice of internet marketing.

“Small business owners tend to take too aggressive an approach to SEO. They often know techniques, but they misapply the techniques by being too aggressive; going head to head with their competitors when the key to success is to harmonize,” says Sproul.

Sproul, a Canadian College professor of Chinese history and culture, says that he became inspired to write the SEO eBook after coming to the realization that what many small business owners were lacking in their internet marketing approach was not just technique, they were missing a philosophy.

“People have a philosophy for managing their life, but don’t have a philosophy for managing their success on the internet. To become truly successful, an internet marketing strategy must be founded upon something other than in-your-face competition,” says Sproul.

The foundation of Sproul’s SEO eBook is that some philosophy must guide the application of technique. “A small business person with a new website has two challenges - two tigers to tame; competing against natural competition and working within the parameters of search engine guidelines. Small business owners usually miss the mark on both.”

Sproul says it’s not surprising that so many website owners approach SEO in too aggressive a manner because of the Western cultural understanding of marketing. “In a global marketplace such as the internet, these Western values don’t necessarily equate to success.” He explains that while Western marketing textbooks often cite three main principals of marketing, Chinese textbooks have 5 principals, the 2 additional principals centered on relationships and harmonizing with your environment. “As strange as it may sound, SEO is about harmonizing with both competitors and with the search engines.”

One way that this search engine optimization eBook relates the principals of Daoist philosophy to SEO is in the area of keyword targeting. Sproul writes that instead of aggressively attempting to rank for highly competitive general keywords and phrases, small business owners should examine their principle themes and focus on long-tail keywords in those areas.

“An important Daoist principal says that you should attack where your enemy is weak. If your enemy is strong in one area determine where he is vulnerable and attack there. Instead of fighting with competitors head to head for keywords for which they have a strong foothold, small business owners should initially target smaller search phrases and build their strength from there,” he says.

Sproul says that another ‘enemy’ that small business owners try to compete against is the search engines themselves through spamming, hiding text, and stuffing Meta tags. “Search engines are powerful. They can afford to hire the brightest minds to guarantee that searchers find quality websites. The best approach is to create a strong authority website while intelligently exploiting search engine guidelines.”

Unlike other search engine optimization books that are based on ‘how-to’ techniques only, The Dao of SEO infuses those techniques with guiding principals. In addition to a solid understanding of these principals, purchasers of the SEO eBook will also receive personalized email support and a discount on Sproul’s one way links building program.

About Ken Sproul: Ken Sproul is a college professor of Chinese history and culture and the founder of several successful internet businesses including One-Way-Links.com. His recently published SEO eBook the Dao of SEO (http://www.dao-of-seo-ebook.com) offers practical advice for small business owners on ways to improve their internet marketing results by basing SEO techniques upon a solid foundation of Daoist success principals.

Technorati Profile

2007-07-10T20:39:00.000-04:00

NOW HERE!!

2007-06-17T20:04:00.001-04:00

142 page how-to manual for SEO, email supported, visit here.

I just joined Technorati

2007-06-17T18:35:00.001-04:00

Technorati Profile

Just Back From Search Engine Strategies Conference

2007-06-17T14:47:00.001-04:00

Change always seems to come along just when you’re getting comfortable with the way things used to be. So it was that a couple of weeks ago Google announced universal search.

Hey folks, I just got back from a Search Engine Strategies conference which featured participants from Google, Yahoo and Msn. The most entertaining presenter by far was a chap from the UK, Darran Snachford, representing MSN. But young Adam Lasnik of Goolge was also good and quietly authoritative. Anyway, there are a few good tidbits for you in today’s post.

Here’s an interesting tidbit from the conference. Only Google matters? Shame on you? We all lament the power of Google (70% market share) at times but if you want to make more sales you’d best attend to your status at Msn and Yahoo. It turns out that while most people search using Google, buyers often make their purchases on Yahoo and Msn. Why? Well, there may be several reasons but Google dominates search largely through the week and during office hours with a lot of folks doing searches at work. But when potential buyers go home in the evenings or on the weekends, many are using Yahoo or Msn perhaps because they use Yahoo or Msn for their mail programs. Google never really pushed mail or chat options like the other two engines. So, the lesson, don’t ignore your Yahoo and Msn rankings. And, apparently, visitors to your site from Msn will spend more time on your site than if they arrive from other engines. Just because Google gets about 70% of the internet traffic doesn’t make them the only important engine.

Well, let’s get back to Google’s launch of universal search. It’s Google’s new architecture for blending traditional web results (i.e. web sites) with content from images, maps, books, videos, and news. This is all just in the beginning stages but to see its impact do a search for ‘darth vadar’. You’ll see the usual web results but just above that you’ll see Image Results and above that a link for Video. If you do the same search for Steve Jobs you’ll see an additional News option. If you then decide you need a nice Santa Fe Vacation your search will find the usual web results along with Google Local (which has been around for a while) and Google Maps. It’s nice to see one of our program partners (http://www.casitas.net) listed as #1 in the Google Local listing. Well, all of this will change the face of search engine optimization as you will now be advised to optimize not only your web site text but your images, video (maybe you should get one), news/blog releases and try to exploit your geographic location a bit more by joining Google Local (available to Google members). You should all be Google members.

The other thing you might consider doing is jumping on the social media bandwagon. Why do I feel I’m getting too old for this stuff. I think I kinda hoped all this stuff would just go away like a faded fad. Actually, most ‘new’ things have been around for a while. I think the first social media web site I was ever invited to join was Linkedin.com and that was years ago. A much more cutting edge one I'm just checking out now is Fast Pitch Networking. Blogs are a form of social media and I started mine in 2005 though this is my first new post since August of that year. I got lazy as the Blogger format didn't suit my Apple Mac but now it's dead easy. Though I still kinda just want it all to go away. Well, it hasn't gone away and if you haven’t heard of sites like http://www.digg.com or DEL.ICIO.US you might want to check them out as they are hot, hot, hot.

For some folks these sites might just be cool social networks but in the world of SEO they are potentially powerful ways to acquire links and traffic. You could describe it all as a way of increasing your link popularity by word of mouth. I first heard about Digg from one of our program partners, David Williams, a few months ago (he'll do a blog set-up for you starting from $395 and I know him to be 100% professional). Anyway, when he told me about Digg he asked me to sign up, read his article and vote for it. So, that's the idea. Write idea an article, post it on your site (or blog), have someone recommend it by submitting a link to it for you at Digg, ask your friends to vote for it which in turn increases the article's rankings on Digg. That will help people see it and then to visit the link where the article is published (on your site or blog) and maybe they will even link to it in articles themselves or posts themselves.

I'm going to do this for the release of my new SEO book so I will show you how it works in another newsletter maybe in a week or so. Don't worry about getting this all at once. But let me run it by you one more time as apparently Digg has been a good factor in boosting PR.

What you need is an article and a place to publish it (either your web site, a blog, or someone else's web site that has already posted something you've written). Then you get someone to (or maybe discreetly yourself) post a link to it in a Digg posting making some personal comment as to why they found it interesting. You then tell your friends to log in, read that comment and vote for the article. That will tend to heighten its visibility and bring it to the attention of other Digg members and you are off to the races. Remember, that a lot of this is self-serving. Some of the articles that people write are just comments on some other articles they've recently read. But in serving their own purposes they may end up linking to you and help you with your one way link building.

If any of you are interested in forming a group to exploit social media I don’t mind organizing it. We have around 600 partner web sites in the links program and if I collect all the email addresses from those of you interested in joining digg.com then any time you get something listed there I can forward your notice to the group asking them to go and vote for you. Of course, this all presumes that you have time to write an article or can pay someone to do it.

To give you a feeling for social media type sites, here are a couple more:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
http://www.boingboing.net

And, if you're not aware of the blog search engine check out Technorati!

I'd like to end today's newsletter with an illustration about the links program. More and more I'm getting testimonials from long term clients that the program is helping. The reality is that there are a number of factors involved with success and our program plays a role in that but other factors need to be in play as well (e.g. optimization, crawler-friendly website, etc.) But I want to give you an example from the links program. Go to Google and type this into the search box: link:www.hiddenconcepts.com

You will see that the above program partner is PR4. You will see a partial display of credited links (Google only provides a sampling). What you will notice is that every one of those links (except for one) are from our program. Now, that would not be surprising if our links program was the only one the client participates in, but do the same search at Yahoo and you will see that he has been credited with 3,091 links at Yahoo. He's been busy! No more than maybe 170 of those could be from us. Yet in the links Google displays, only one non-program links displays, the rest being ours. Of course, quantity doesn't really impress Yahoo either and Yahoo will give very little weight to those 3000 links but this does give at least some sense that our program works on Google in a way that few do. Oh, FYI MSN no longer displays credited back-links.

Look for another newsletter in about a week as I play with digg.com around the release of the new ebook.

CHEERS,
KEN