Filed under: General, Mr. Ploppy, Search Engine Optimization, Tools by Mr. Ploppy at 8:26 am, 4/18/2005
It definitely helps to think like a search engine. With this in mind, it is important to see things through the “SE perspective” (I often find myself saying “…in the eyes of the search engines”). Good SEO’s not only focus on SE perspective, but rather on SE perspective speculation…what will the engineers be thinking years from now. While the latter is difficult, it is easy to see things that the engines are able to see, or were looking at in the past to gain a bit of insight on their perspective. To understand the problems and potential remedies that will be applied to future algorithms, a SEO needs to understand the fundamentals of what is behind a search engine. There are some very good lessons to be learned from DG’s playing for parity, which is essentially what G has been doing for the past couple years to combat SEO’s. In my opinion, battling SEO techniques is a bit counterproductive to increasing relevance though they can sometimes coincide. The other point that is made from playing for parity is that seeing three moves into the future is hardly enough sometimes. The further ahead one can see in the game, the more likely they are to be satisfied with present parity. In order to play for parity, a player needs to understand the fundamentals. To understand the fundamentals…study, test, and learn.
Brand New Tool - Deep Link Analyzer Tool
Spider Tools (To make sure content is indexed)
This post brought to you by the number 9.
Tag: SEO Tools
Filed under: General, Todd Malicoat by Stuntdubl SEO at 1:21 pm, 4/15/2005
Dean is having a big blowout to dispel the myth that he is a “fictitious entity”. Okay, it’s probably just to have some fun, and I’m sure it will be. Looks like it’s gonna be time for a trip to Tennessee! Digital Ghost Fest!
When - August 20-21st, Noon to 2:30 A.M Each Day
Where - Prospect, Tennessee (details by email)
What - It’s a Party! Food, drinks, beer, tents, music and fun. (not to mention horses, hay, and the huge party in the pasture)
Why - To relax and have a good time.
Filed under: General, Google, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization by Stuntdubl SEO at 8:23 am, 4/14/2005
A bit of a precursor…one of the most long lasting and well respected documents ever written on search engine optimization is Brett’s Guide to 15k per day. It really is a fantastic architecture for long-term strategic internet marketing. It is based on fundamentals that (mostly) still hold up to this day (3 and a half years later in internet marketing time is quite remarkable). Well, G is constantly trying to change the face of the web, and whether you call it sandbox, litterbox, LSI, Hilltop or other, the simple fact is that new sites are pretty much severely handicapped by the current algorithms. This makes life a lot more challenging for SEO’s, but alternately is starting to weed out those that are less experienced and make the demand for quality SEO consulting that much higher.
I got a great laugh when I read this - Msg #22:
” A successful site in 36 months ”
-12 months sandbox
-12 months link penalty
-welcome to ground zero. - jaffstar
The laugh was mainly because it is pretty true. One of the first questions we ask now is “how old is your site”. Those that aren’t very old get asked to send us an e-mail to detail their project since the likelihood that we could get them an effective ROI in a reasonable time frame is fairly doubtful (they also get asked if they have considered PPC). Sometimes you definitely have to know when not to optimize.
So you have AT LEAST 12 months to rank for something competitive with a brand new site on Google. Don’t believe me? Check out the age of the top ten sites in your targeted SERPS. Of course there are instances where sites slip through, but they are fairly few and far between. Start writing a journal of articles and start attracting natural type-in and direct traffic from links that actually drive traffic. You will need to devise alternate methods of promotion while you wait out your time for competitive search rankings. There is always Yahoo and MSN, but with the current market shares it is tough to justify a head on SEO campaign for just the traffic from them. So here’s the first 2 year roadmap overview if you insist on going the long route.
- Buy a new (better be extremely brandable) domain.
- Build between 10 - 100 pages of good unique content
- Get one high quality on theme link to the site after site is built
- Site gets spidered
- Spend a few days each month getting about a dozen links
- Focus on getting some direct traffic
- Go out and enjoy life so you’re not checking serps constantly
- Wait
- Wait some more
- Consider buying a site now
- Continue tapered growth of links and content ad infinitum
Workarounds
Save your first year or two expenditures and buy an existing site. Get a domain that is a few years old and has a lot of wayback activity. It shouldn’t be TOO difficult to find some decent ones in any industry. If you can’t find one, pay some one for expert advice who can. The initial sticker shock hurts, but spreading hope over a few years will most likely hurt a bunch more. Time is an increasingly larger enemy of SEO’s these days. Think natural with your link development. There certainly are other workarounds, but I’d be a pretty crappy consultant if I gave them ALL away.
Tag: internet marketing
Filed under: General, Industry Stuff, Search Engine Optimization by Stuntdubl SEO at 9:30 am, 4/13/2005
This is a fantastic article written as a guide to those who want to become SEO’s. There really is a ton of BS in the SEO industry, and the way most everyone tries to distinguish themselves is by pointing out the BS of others. DG illustrates conflicting viewpoints well.
The rather disturbing point (I think) trying to be made is that SEO has unfortunately evolved from people writing good helpful information to those regurgitating information to prove how smart and qualified they are to be making big bucks. There is still a lot of friendly cooperation between SEO’s, but the mainstream popularity and explosive growth rate of the industry has made sharing top quality information in public an excercise in futility.
My two favorite parts:
Insert your comments on the importance of inbound links, randomized anchor text, Pagerank, authority sites, the Google sandbox, or any other buzzwords currently making the rounds in your favorite blogs and forums. The point here is to confuse your readers and make them unsure of their own theories.
-and-
It is time to reiterate that your service and/or product is the only method by which the reader can obtain SERP greatness. The old standby techniques of on-page optimization, reciprocal linking, meta tags, linking networks, blog-spamming, etc. (pick your favorites) are all accounted for in the latest search engine algorithms. Your brand-new, patented, and still-secret-to-the-engines method is the only path to ensure search engine greatness.
Brilliant.
Tag: SEO Consulting
I recently overheard a conversation of one of our company link developer’s mentioning how he enjoyed fishing (me too! I do my Miami Charter Fishing with Nel of the Top Gun, and my buddy Charlie Ellis), and thought I’d do a clever little analogy of fishing to link development. While I am far from master angler, I am pretty good at link hunting, and finding some of the best links available for a given site. I do enjoy fishing, so I figured I’d run with this one.
When you go fishing, you need a group of family, chums, or others. This is a group of folks you can count on to bear part of load of the trip. So when link developing it is certainly good to have friends or cohorts.
Making link buddies
1. Send out lots of e-mails.
2. Be Genuine
3. Offer advice, help, trades, or something of value.
4. Be Polite
5. Don’t expect anything.
6. Always be willing to give more than you receive.
7. Get a few messenger programs and keep in touch.
When you go on a fishing trip, you have in mind what you want to catch before you go. You definitely aren’t going to catch a Blue Marlin in the Great Lakes. When you go link hunting it should be the same. Use different tools for different jobs and you may catch a few unexpected things along the way. When you are searching for links in very niche industries you need to be in tuned to that industry. You need to find where those lunker links are lurking, and be careful not to spook them with your approach. Be prepared to offer something reasonable. Here’s a handy dandy guide to purchasing links (**WmW supporter’s forum).
Another essential quality to both fishing and link development is patience. Some of the most successful trips start with three hours of not even seeing a bite. I’ve spent hours on end searching for quality relevant links without finding a great site to contact or getting no responses from the sites I had contacted. Find a method that works well and refine it. Review and improve your techniques consistently to get better. It takes patience to practice. Add to your tools to become more effective. When it is least likely that looming leviathan link will leap out from the lurid landscape.
When you find a good fishing captain, they take you to the spots that they know where the lunkers live. If you find a good consultant, they can help you find where to start getting the monster links or volume of links that you will need to be competitive. You can figure out on-page SEO for yourself as a webmaster. If you buy SEO services, find someone who is going to help you get a lot of good quality in-bound links…they are the driving force for high rankings. Finding the big links is a secret that not too many consultants really want to share (for good reason), the same way that a good captain doesn’t want his clients to bring along a GPS device to map his good holes.
So in summary…If you want to take me fishing…I’ll probably help you market your website;) Let me know if you’re looking for lunker links. There are a lot of fish in the sea, but you have to know what you’re lookin’ for and how to catch them to use your time wisely.
If you’re fishing in Mexico, check out Javier - who runs a fishing charter in East Cape Mexico.
6 years after writing this post, I’m running my own fishing charter boat in Miami Florida. Come down and see us!
Tag: link development
Filed under: General, LSI/LSA, Mr. Ploppy, SEM Research, Tools by Mr. Ploppy at 8:02 am, 4/11/2005
You want higher rankings, but you just want to press a magical button and see the traffic roll in. The truth is you’re probably not gonna get anywere near that magic button, so you had better start building two things - content and links. Here’s some tools that will help aid in the process. Links are King! …but content is still important. Learn how to use your links wisely - lots of links - lots of deep links - lots of anchor text randomization….LOTS of quality ON-TOPIC LINKS!
Brand New Tool! - WebuildPages Query Combination Tool
Link Tools
Content Tools
Extras: A DMOZ keyword tool list
B-spam goes mainstream
These tools brought to you by the number 5 (tool that is)
If you have tools that you would like to see Mr. Ploppy list, please e-mail: ploppy@stuntdubl.com
Tag: SEO Tools
Filed under: General, Industry Stuff by Stuntdubl SEO at 10:36 am, 4/8/2005
This is really cool for those of us with poor memories and hectic schedules. Webmasterradio.fm has some fantastic shows. I often make the time to listen to the SEO Rockstars, but haven’t yet heard some of the others with the exception of Darin and Brandy Babin’s “Rainmaker” which is always excellent and has served as the catalyst for the entire ensemble.
Be sure to check out Webmasterradio.fm’s Show Archives. I’m excited to listen to some of the shows I haven’t heard yet, as I know they work very hard to provide great information and entertainment for webmasters. Thanks guys…Keep up the great work!
Tag:Webmaster Radio
