Links, Links, and more Links…

When will this link thing in SEO end? Will it ever end? One thing is for sure, there are a lot of guys still trying to get links. So today I give you a copy of an email sent to me by an SEO company offering their services.

 

__________________________________________________________________

Dear Webmaster,

 

I manage several high reputation affiliate websites and would like to offer you a contextual link exchange deal, which can be done in several ways:

1) Content in exchange for links:

As a company which provides accurate content to our partners, we are now offering to provide you with FREE, relevant and original content articles at any requested field (we have dedicated content writers for this purpose). In exchange we only require 2 text links from each published article for as long the article is published and at the minimum of 2 years. Each article will have a unique content, will be only used only once and will never be given to any of our other partners.

2) Exchange of contextual links:

A simple exchange of links from within relevant text on various pages of our websites. The key words will be pre-selected. We can negotiate the number and quality of pages in which the links will be created.

3) “Partner Page” links:

A very basic level of link exchange, this way we can still establish long-term relevant links, but with lower SEO exposure.

 

Thanks & Regards,

************

Marketing Manager

Providing services since 1996 

__________________________________________________________________

HELLO! He is a spammer. Do you expect anything more than spammy links?

As tempting as it may seem, guys that spam your inbox probably aren’t the most diligent hard working individuals. They want the quick hit and runs. They want the easy way out. They look at mass numbers. You may get a lot of links, but link volume isn’t everything. The days of massive link volumes are gone. You want quality links not quantity of links.

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Completing my Google Authorship

by Thomas B.
This post is to complete my authorship tag loop for this blog.
Google

It has taken me far too long to do this, especially since it really is soooooo simple.

If you have a blog then you want to claim authorship.

What does Rel=Author Do?

Well if you search for “Thomas Ballantyne Completing Google Authorship” then you should see this:

So a nice fancy little image in the search results that’s what you get! If you don’t get that then let me know… I will knock some heads. Probably mine.

You can find more info about “REL Author=” from these sources:

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1408986

http://www.seomoz.org/q/rel-author-google-auth

http://yoast.com/push-rel-author-head/

Or watch Matt Cutts Explain it:

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List of paintings by Rembrandt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I feel about as accomplished as Rembrandt now. =)

A Perfect Google SEO Score is a Fail

Google refrigerator (Photo credit: Aray Chen)

You play too dirty… You play too clean… You play too much?

Moderation in all things is a great motto, but when you set out to build a boat you want it to float. Is there such a thing as building a boat too well? So google wants relevant content to win. They make measurements. People figure out these measurements. SEO’s adjust. The problem here with over optimization is that what Google has deemed okay in the past could now potentially be over optimized??? Is it really going to help to be “under optimized”?

So many business owners are just now coming to realize that ranking in the search engine’s isn’t a fluke. As these new business owners catch on and get a clue they will begin where so many have begun in the past, and now those tactics may hurt you?

I have long believed that Google would penalize any site with a perfect score. As the algorithm is secret, in order to score a perfect score the site owner would have to be cheating. There comes a point when people just need to stop focusing on what google is doing to tweak their algo. It’s a market of ups and downs. You invest one week in links to find their value gone the next. And then the value picks back up. You are playing a market. If you like the game play it. I believe your best bet is play by the rules that google sets and by the spirit of their law. They are pretty honest in what they tell you they want. Really the whole mess of things is pretty gray. Sadly, if Google judgement day hits, they are most likely going to quietly rule and behead you and the judge and jury remain behind hidden doors.

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Movember #SEOstache – What I Gave & What I learned.

One week into Movember.. less than cool stare.

Well the Movember Mustache is about to come to an end.

What I gave for Movember:

I gave my face. While this may not seem costly to most, I felt very out of place for the past month. I have never grown a beard before. And this is the first mustache I have ever worn. Needless to say, I was more than a little self conscious because of this. I consider this a costly investment.

I gave my voice. Speaking up about why I was not shaving proved much easier. Curious looks and my own discomfort made it easy to speak up and explain why I wore a beard/mustache. Most people had never heard of “No Shave November.” or “Movember”. Speaking up was easy. It was refreshing to share my voice and tell people that simple awareness to issues like prostate cancer can help.

I gave my wallet. Not only did I ask for others to donate, but I gave money myself. Every little bit helps. There is little time left to donate: http://mobro.co/pestcontrol

What I learned this Movember:

How I looked most of the month.

Facial hair is itchy! Having never grown out my facial hair, I had never experienced the itchiness. And after the itch came the tingle. Yes, I could feel the hairs tickle and tingle my skin with a simple smile to a cool breeze. And having discussions with other men about these new found sensations, I also learned that it itches every time you grow it back out.

Prostate cancer will hit 1 out 6 men. ( cancer stats ) Prostate Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer death in American men. 1 out of 36 men will die of prostate cancer.

There are a lot of good people in the world. It was inspiring to be part of the Manta Team which raised about $3000. I was especially impressed with Mike Halvorsen who got Matt Cutts and Duane Forrester on board. Their team “Search for the Cure” raised over $14,000. That is inspiring. Good work men.

My SEOstache

Well I wore a beard for most of the month, but I didn’t want to miss out entirely on the mustache experience, so I busted out the straight mustache for the last few days of the month… wearing it as I type this right now.

Yes… I have a hard time taking myself serious seeing my own mustache. I got a few good laughs, a couple of “I can’t take you serious.” comments, a “Is that real?” comment, and “you would be so cool in the 70’s”. My wife even said that I should have done this in October so that I could’ve used it in my Halloween costume. Although the nickname “Mario”, from Mario Brothers, seems to stick the most.

Movember Mustaches at Internet Summit in Raleigh

It was also cool to run into some great MoBro’s in Raleigh during the Internet Summit. It’s an instant connection. A brotherhood. Good people doing a good thing.

Monica Wright showing off Google+ #movember mustache

I even had the chance to show off my SEOstache in a Google+ hangout with Search Engine Land‘s Danny Sullivan and Monica Wright. Very cool that Google+ had an option to add your own #movember mustache. It actually moved around with your face while you were on screen. Captured this screen shot from my iPhone as the meeting was coming to a close.

… So long dear #SEOstache.

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BlueGlass TPA, Authority Labs, & Mike Halvorsen

What do these 3 things have in common? SEO, coolness, and CONTEST!… So does Mike really deserves to win this contest?

BlueGlass TPA

BlueGlass TPA (Tampa, Florida) search marketing conference will have a tight group of SEO professionals. Smaller group means more opportunity to brain storm with with the mega minds of SEO. (Only 20 seats left… )

Authority Labs

Phoenix based company, Authority Labs,  is offering a free ticket to Bleuglass. They are pretty cool and their software rocks SEO socks as well.

Mike Halvorsen

Manta.com employee, who fought an Epic SEO Columbus battle, and likes to speed down Seattle street ways in Aston Martins. He also played a sweet game or two of pool with Mr. Matt Cutts of google.
And if you get Mike and Dennis G. together you will bet a lot more of this…

Or we could look at this in a new light. Mike Halvorsen knows how to shoot a gun. So to Terrorist Proof an Airline, TPA, Mike wearing some handlebars is the way to go.

Who Deserves That Ticket to the Upcoming BlueGlass TPA?

<———– That was a link to Mike’s site. … click it to see his reasoning.

And here are a few take aways I got from last years Florida trip:

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Salesman Talking “TO” me or “With” me?

Okay, I feel just a little bad about this phone conversation I had yesterday.  A guy calls and says that he is with Google Places wanting to verify my info, in reality he was with “Local Splash”.  He began his practiced speech…..

<a few seconds later>

“….So we can get you on the maps!”

“Where am I currently on the maps?”

“I don’t know… Let’s look…. Humph… Well we will 100% guarantee you a position at all times on the first page so you don’t have to worry about whether your there or not.”

“But I am already on the maps…. Where did you get my number?”

“From a list at the local library…But we are a full fledged SEO service.”

“SEO service?  Do you know who Matt Cutts is?”

“Uh…Does he work for Local Splash?”

“I’m sorry, but  I’m good… But uh…Good luck with the next guy.”

I actually felt sorry for this guy as I hung up the phone…

SEO Litmus Test – Do you Know Who Matt Cutts is?

If you don’t know the name of the guy who heads up the army that could wipe your website from off the face of the cyberworld than you won’t be leading my troops into battle.  Not that Matt Cutts is really out to get everyone, but if you cross his team then you will get it.  When I started SEO I didn’t know who he was.  I hired SEO teams, I have since had to learn to evaluate those teams and the work.  I have fired SEO teams. Word of advice, if you get a call on the phone for SEO run this litmus test.  If they can’t answer that question then you are running a higher risk.

Twitter Litmus Test – How to Determine who to Follow?

The first thing I do when I get a follow: I will look through their tweets to see if they are just blasting links, or if they are actually communicating with others.  I will follow people that provide good information and links after meeting them in real life.  I will follow people that engage me in conversations via twitter.  I follow people I want to endorse.  I unfollow people I don’t want to endorse any longer.

Social Media Litmus Test – What’s the Online Conversation?

Social media isn’t for everyone and just because many companies are jumping on board doesn’t make it right for all companies.  What people are most desiring online is communication.  Social media is communication. A telephone, a fax, face to face, email, blogs, all of these facilitate a conversation.  All of these are a type of social media. Just as much as you hated a “Win a trip to Disneyland” fax blast from the past, this new age of social media is about engaging people, not blasting your horn. Too many salesmen want to just talk TO you, not WITH you. Don’t hit me up with a bunch of solicitations.  You may ruin any chance you had.  If you choose to engage me than learn to listen.  I will tell you exactly what I want.  If you say you can deliver then I will proceed to drill you on what I want and how you are going to deliver it. I have no problems with a well thought out plan of engagement and I will give some of my time to listen to you.

By the way, I am just a pest control guy.  I learned my tenacity from a spider.  I learn that better businesses listen, from books like J.D. Powers, “Satisfaction”, I learn better SEO from reading legit SEO blogs, and books like “The Blueprint to SEO” and “The Art of SEO”. I am happy to share what I can.  You are welcome to disagree, share, or joke about anything I post… so long as I know you are listening to me and not just talking to me.

PR? What’s the hype? What a pest!

Google’s Rage Pank updated last week

Google Update Page Rank

Google updated their system last week.  Websites across the board were given their new report card, or PageRank.  PageRank was used to score a website’s authority and trust-ability.  Both of these factors are part of the ranking algorithm of the Mega-tron of search engines, Google. Today Page Rank is a little green indicator that reminds me of the blinking lights of a Star Wars cockpit… it’s a movie, the blinking lights are only there for effect. Yet, link builders still obsess about page rank.  SEO guys still loose sleep over PR sculpting.  And the bugs are still crawling through your walls since you haven’t called Bulwark.  =)

Page Rank is a SEO Pest

The once ever so important PR is now a fly buzzing around the heads of the SEO cesspools.  Do a search for “Phoenix Pest Control” and you will find in the results that the page with a PR=5, Truly Nolan is not on the top, and not even on the first page. Granted it is their home page and that page is not entirely optimized for a “Phoenix AZ” search.  Bulwark’s more specific page designed around the keywords of pest control, phoenix, AZ has a PR=4, it also doesn’t rank on the top of the results. So what does PR really do for SEO? I mean really? Great I give my SEO team a pat on the back for having a dozen or so pages on my website with PR=3.  Now show me the money!  I’ve got a hand full of PR=N/A pages ahead of me regardless of a whooping PR=4!

Position and Page Rank Correlation = N/A

#1 http://www.phoenixpest.com/ PR=1
#2 blueskipest.com/ PR=3
Local business results for pest control near Phoenix, AZ – Google’s Map Section
#3 phoenixpestcontrol.org/ PR=2
#4 http://www.sextonpestcontrol.com/ PR=3
#5 http://www.superpages.com/yellowpages/…Pest+Control/…/T-Phoenix/ PR=N/A
#6 http://www.servicemagic.com › PR=N/A
#7 http://www.phoenixscorpioncontrol.com/ PR=N/A
#8 http://www.bulwarkpestcontrol.com/phoenixpestcontrol.php – PR=4
#9 http://www.responsiblepest.com/PR=2

Page Rank is Dead.

From my perspective, which is only limited by how I rank in the search engines, PageRank is DEAD.  And as of last week’s update, http://www.Twitter.com lost all of it’s PageRank.  Twitter PR=0.  Hey, if twitter can get away with a PR of zero then so can I.

Twitter Quote of Matt Cutts :

@mattcutts says”I know being a SERP I shouldn’t say this but Don’t worry about the searches” -Easy for u to say. Yes u SHOULD say it. #pubcon
Reply: @Thos003 glad I said it then 🙂

We can pretty much update that to: “DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE PAGERANK.”

Just swat that PR fly and move away from the SEO cesspool.

***UPDATE****

May 6, 2010 – Since google’s recent update the PageRank of sites were reset on google’s different data centers.  Not all data centers have been updated.  So Twitter has a PR=N/A on some data centers but not all data centers. So depending on the data center you are pulling your info from you will get different PR results.

Thanksgiving to Google Maps!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Matt Cutts for fixing your google maps! (Not sure if he deserves all the credit but he was the google employee that reassured me that this would happen).  I must say that I am very optimistic about google maps and the direction they are heading.  Here are a couple of things you may want to be aware of when it comes to the future of google maps:

1st and most important…

Google Map extends to service areas of businesses!

This is the best news I have had all week!  In fact, Matt Cutts and Google will be receiving thanks in my Thanksgivings celebration this week! I had the pleasure of addressing my concern to Matt at Pubcon two weeks ago, thanks to an introduction given by Kate Morris, an SEM Gem.

Matt essentially admitted that google was cleaning up the mess it had accumulated from mining the information that was out there for local search. He assured me that the most recent update in the google maps was that they were now pushing their own information for the map results, not 3rd party info.  I mentioned my concern in that the current maps only showed listings within the actual metro city and that this was not reflective of the service areas of many service companies, (cough “Pest Control companies” cough). Matt assured me that they were aware of this and that they were working to correct this….

Two weeks later I get this…

Phoenix Pest Control Map in Google Maps

So if you notice the map title “Pest Control near Tempe, AZ” … Go through the results and you will notice that the first listing “A” falls right on the town of Tempe.  But “C” Bulwark Exterminating is not within the Tempe city limits… Awwesoooome!

Again… Tempe results show Bulwark Exterminating… not in Tempe… Actual address…

Bulwark Exterminating – Phoenix Pest Control
10401 N 91st Ave, Peoria, AZ 85345

–
Two weeks ago this search would only give results in Tempe.  Now it gives results of companies that service Tempe but don’t fall within Tempe, AZ.  Thank you Google! FYI I have only experienced this phenomenon in the Phoenix area. But I have high hopes that this will roll out to our cities.

2ndly an update for the San Fransisco maps…

Google is currently beta testing their google maps for advertising:

Search done for San Francisco Attorney

Good? … possibly. What if I were already in the top 7, would I get charged for the click? And when they click on the map the sponsored listings no longer show.  The down side I see to this is that the sponsored listings don’t show the reviews. Reviews are huge for CTR.  I would prefer the sponsored list show my reviews and take you to the google review page. But as I have not tested this yet, I really have no constructive input. Just making you aware of what is on the horizon. Great thing about the internet is that you can always test… the bad thing is that you are always testing.

So as always… “The Future is so Bright that I’ve go to wear shades.” (Yes I am singing in my head.)

What a great day!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!