The Vizion Search Engine Optimization Blog
- 2006Nov29Another One Bites The Dust
For more than a month, the Dmoz editor section has been down. Now, Microsoft Small Business Directory is closing its doors. While it’s hardly news to anyone that follows the search marketing space that the heyday of the directory is over, it is certainly interesting that these particular directories have ended up here.
It’s no secret that the search engines are constantly trying to determine which sites to trust and which links are trustworthy. Part of determining which sites to trust involves the sites that link to them. Dmoz, SBD, Business.com and the Yahoo Directory have all been thought to garner some of that trust based on the editorial control they exert over the sites appearing in their directories.
The search engines clearly need some editorial assistance within their algorithms for text link analysis. I can’t imagine the engines ever getting so advanced that they can analyze all links without some manner of human assistance, even if the human assistance is a bit imperfect. You’ll always be able to buy links under the radar if you know what to look for and stay away from known link sellers and buyers.
So what’s the deal? If editorial control in links [...]
- 2006Nov15PubCon Las Vegas Site Structure for Crawlability Session
I had an enjoyable time speaking today on the Site Structure for Crawlability session.
I was joined by Vanessa Fox from Google, Tim Converse from Yahoo! and Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld/Pubcon fame.
First let me begin by thanking Brett for the opportunity to speak at Pubcon. This was a first for me to speak at a large event. Vanessa and Tim were most encouraging and I appreciate their kind words of support. From what I heard, I think it went well and it’s my sincere hope that anyone that attended was able to walk away with some actionable information.
There were many people who had requested a copy of my presentation. I’ve been sending emails to these folks for the past hour and a half, so I’ve decided to post the presentation here.
I’m sure that there were many people who I was not able to speak with, so feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions regarding the presentation or, of course, if our company can help you with your interactive marketing needs. My direct line is 888.484.9466 ext. 201.
I have been holding off on enjoying Las Vegas like most would, but [...]
- 2006Oct18Party Like It’s 1999?
I was just reading an article on WSJ (subscription required) about the VC funds going towards web-based companies whose business model is selling advertising on their sites.
I can remember back to the “glory days” when I worked for Lycos selling advertising and funded companies were buying everything that they could get their hands on (keyword banner/text advertising, “integrated” programs, and of course the 468×60 banners).
What makes me go “huh?” is that the same thing that caused the bubble burst in early 2000 still exists. Click through rates for banner ads, which started out WAY BACK on HotWired.com so long ago, dropped from the momentus 40% click through rate experienced on the initial days of the banner to around 0.3% on average by the time the bubble burst.
Have click through rates increased that much? Certainly, people are spending more time on the web now, and finding more – and better – ways to use the web. So, as I suspected even shortly after the bubble burst, media planners/marketers should put money where their audience spends their time. But, have click through rates increased much/any? Or, are the mass marketers getting involved and turning Interactive marketing into a medium which is [...]
- 2006Jul17To Rewrite or Not to Rewrite?
We’ve been having a bit of an internal discussion as to when do you rewrite dynamic URLs and when to just leave them alone here among the team at Vizion. Do we rewrite URLs all the time? Does it depend on the number of variables in the URL string? Does the built in authority and trust of the website factor into the decision at all?
The benefits of rewriting URLs are clear. In my mind, some of the best reasons for using these pretty URLs:
1. They’re easier for people to link to.
2. They promote usability. With a good URL hierarchy, the end user can more easily see where they are in the site.
3. The can hid what’s under the hood of your website, enabling you to change the backend, without having to change the URLs
4. They can encourage the search engines to spider pages, they might not normally mess with.So what’s the downside? The answer is: not much, if it’s a brand new site or a site that’s really not ranking that well. What if you’ve got a finely aged domain, with plenty of great links that most sites would kill for, all initial signs point to the fact that with [...]
- 2006Jul13Underscores or Hyphens for Effective Search Engine Optimization
There has been much debate on this topic, for probably FAR too long…should you use underscores or hyphens within your URLs?
I spent years defending the underscore, because I had seen sites do well on Google, but at the same time I had wondered if it was as “friendly” to other search engines. Recently, I have pushed forward on the use of hyphens and I’ll tell you why.
Our friend Matt Cutt’s (Google Search Engineer) uses hyphens within his blog, located at www.mattcutts.com/blog . Here’s an example: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/bot-obedience-herding-googlebot/ (that’s a pretty good article to read, by the way).
So, if it’s good enough for Matt Cutts, it’s good enough for me. Seems he would know Google pretty well. End of discussion.
- 2006Jul9Radical Shift in Television Ad Buying Coming
Television media buying moves closer to the online media buying model, according to this article posted on AdAge. This is going to cause a radical shake up with the Networks and smaller cable networks as well.
I don’t see people spending more time watching television. I don’t know how the very specialized/vertical channels are going to be able to support themselves without a premium paid to support the cost of production/broadcast of the programs. And, if you read the article mentioned above, the other major issue is caused by how many people will be skipping television commercials, so this will drive them from the “average viewership of commercials for a pod” (again, as mentioned in the article) to the performance-based cost model.
The “pay for performance” model works well for the web because you can place 3-10 ads on a given web page. And, if you’re Yahoo!, you have a lot of pageviews to work with because people are spending more and more time on the web. When television finally does migrate to a “pay for performance” model, it could really disrupt what we all take for granted right now…”free” programming.
Here’s what I think…advertising agencies are going to have to come [...]
- 2006May23Google Announces Click-To-Play Video Ads
Well, the future of Interactive marketing is here…
Google has launched the ability for advertisers to bid on a CPC (cost per click) or CPM (cost per thousand) model for video ads and target these against keyword searches on its content network, just as it has offered for text and image ads.
As most would tell you, video is a much more compelling medium for advertisers, especially brand advertisers. Unlike regular television advertising, there is a direct response (click) associated with this, so it should be much more appealing to advertisers.
I wish I had more time to discuss this, but let me just say…”cool”. This is certainly something that we will be promoting to some of our larger clients. That being said, as is mentioned on the AdWords Blog, this is not merely something for large marketers to take advantage of, but something that all marketers can take advantage of.
Great job, Google!
- 2006May18AOL Does Something Smart Towards Providing Quality Marketing Opportunities
As someone who worked for AOL Time Warner soon after the marriage of the two, I am glad to see them making some smart decisions. Today they announced the acquisition of Lighteningcast and while I don’t know the company, I like what I’m hearing about their capabilities.
The pace at which companies have bought into the idea of convergence and measurement of media has amazed me. Right now, you’re seeing many companies jump on the band wagon of a major shake-up in the marketing arena. Wal-Mart’s recent news of leading the charge on changing the way television advertising is bought was a major step towards what will be the future of marketing…an online marketplace where any individual can manage their radio, television, “Internet” (whatever you want to call this) and search marketing from a single console. Think of AdWords on steroids. How would you like to be able to bid on an ad placement on a radio station in Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York City upload your commercial and measure exactly how many times someone listened to your spot. Even better…perhaps there’s a way for a listener to “click through” to an offer, so that you can measure this! [...]
- 2006Apr24Google Update – Part 2
Hold on to your horses…
Google’s update is more complex than originally meets the eye. Rankings that you see now are different when you log into your Google account. Rankings that you see are probably not the same that your friend across town will see. Some of this might be attributable to propagation and, more likely, it’s the new Google infrastructure.
Rest assured that we’re gonna stay on top of this and report back any findings.
More news to come!
- 2006Apr24Google Update
I’d like to welcome SEO, Inc. back to the world of Google rankings and Page Rank: http://www.seoinc.com/ – [Google search].
I can recall the days when these guys were #1 for “search engine optimization” for a long, long time. I won’t get into the reasons why they lost this ranking, but I do think it’s at least interesting to see that they’re back in Google’s good graces.
For all of those who say that Google’s sandbox does not exist, I would like to discuss this over a cold one with you some day. The VIZION Interactive website went live in early November 2005 and is finally showing on Google: [Google search]. As you’ve most likely read in the trades, “6 months on average to escape Google’s sandbox.
I’ve also seen that my friends at Kinetic Results have seen some movement from this latest update, as well: [Google search].
We’ve also noticed some very nice improvements for our client’s rankings, so I’d like to thank Google for this update. There have been some, in the past, that have freaked me out a little bit. This one seems to be just fine.
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