Q and A: Is a 3 word search phrase counted as 1, 2 or 3 keywords?

Dear Kalena...

Just read your fine feature article at Site Pro news in the Nov 28th issue. In your part 2, would it be possible to include the max character length, max# of keywords that you would recommend be used. Also I was wondering if a three word term such as "widgets in FL" would be counted as one keyword or two or three?

Ed

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Ed

Thanks so much for your feedback on my article. That article is actually half of a larger one I wrote a few weeks ago and you can expect to see the other half in SiteProNews shortly. I think Part 2 will answer your questions, but this recent piece by Danny Sullivan about the keywords tag might also help.

As for "widgets in Florida", there is no official standard in terms of how many keywords you should target on each page or in each tag, but it is generally very difficult to optimize a single page for more than 3 or 4 keywords or phrases. "Widgets in Florida" can be considered a single search term but also covers the individual keywords "widgets" and "Florida" and the phrase "widgets Florida" (search engines consider "in" to be a stop word) so I would describe that phrase as covering 3 or 4 search terms and I would probably stick with optimizing your page for that single phrase and concentrating on other search queries for your other pages.

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Freshbooks Free Trial Expires in 24 Hours!

Just a heads up that the free 3 month trial of Freshbooks published in our Search Engine College Industry Discounts area expires at midnight tonight, November 30, 2007.

To grab the free trial, simply sign up and enter this discount code: sec2007

In case you're unfamiliar with the product, Freshbooks is an online estimating, invoicing, project management and time tracking service that gives your business a professional image, no matter how small.

Your clients can login anytime to review their account balance, lodge a support ticket or upload a document for your review. Your staff can prepare invoices, share files, enter hours in their time-sheets, bill based on those hours, access client information, prepare and review client reports and access the support ticket area.

Freshbooks offers plug-ins for a wide range of third-party tools such as BaseCamp, PayPal and 2Checkout and the whole system is customized in your choice of colors and branded with your own logo.

Sign up for the free 3 month trial by midnight tonight and remember to enter the discount code: sec2007


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Pick up a Search Marketing Standard Mag subscription for just $4.95

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you're probably already aware of Search Marketing Standard magazine. If you're not, SMS is the first quarterly print publication devoted completely to the world of search marketing. It covers topics such as pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, web analytics, click fraud, local and contextual search. Each issue features articles and advice from leading experts in the field, interviews with the who’s-who of the industry, reviews of the most popular tools and services, latest news and trends and much more.

Yearly subscription to the magazine is usually a very reasonable $15 for 4 issues for US-based readers and $20 for international subscribers (including shipping). BUT... the magazine publishers and I have negotiated an extra special deal for readers of this blog. If you hurry, you can score an annual subscription for just $4.95 in the U.S. or $6.60 if outside the U.S. - that's a massive 67 percent discount!

On top of that, Search Marketing Standard publishers are taking this a step further and will donate $1 for every subscriber that signs up through this blog to the Toys for Tots Foundation.

To claim your discount and do your bit for some needy kids, subscribe via this link and enter coupon code HOLIDAY67. But hurry! The coupon expires on December 10. In case you were wondering, I don't make any money from this deal - it's not an affiliate link, merely a tracking URL.


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Search Industry Job of the Week: Country Marketing Manager Google Australia

Job Title: Country Marketing Manager - Google Australia

Job Reference #: Unknown

Position Type: Full Time

Name of employer: Google

Location: Sydney, Australia

Date Posted: November 2007

Position description:

Do you love Google? Interested in learning more about one of the most cutting-edge technology companies in the world? We are looking for flexible, hardworking, experienced people, passionate about Google, to analyze, measure, position, package, and promote Google's product and business offerings in Australia.

Major responsibilities:

• Build and manage a world class team to handle all of Google marketing efforts in the region.
• Lead the development of Google's marketing plans for consumer, advertiser and publisher products in Australia, working closely with cross functional teams in the region and around the world.
• Ensure the monitoring of consumer, industry and competitive behaviour in Australia and provide local market expertise to the Google team.
• Create the Australia agency strategy, solicit and evaluate agency bids, and manage agency relationships.
• Drive the implementation of marketing campaigns including: Direct marketing, affiliate marketing, online/offline advertising and promotions.
• Marketing communications materials including sales collateral, merchandise, print and online advertising, email newsletters and blogs.
• Trade shows and industry events and advise where company participation or sponsorship would be appropriate.
• Standalone Google events and workshops, where appropriate.
• Co-marketing, reseller and other third party relationships.
• Ongoing retention programs for consumers, advertisers and publishers.
• Local market research.
• Effectively champion the needs of the local markets.
• Contribute pro-actively to the overall development of Google through ideas and creativity based on solid market and sector knowledge.
• Evaluate marketing opportunities and initiate programs to increase awareness and usage of Google products.
• Oversee the Australia marketing budget.

Requirements:

• MBA or masters preferred.
• Fluent in English.
• Minimum 8-10 years marketing experience in the Australia market.
• 3-5 years Internet, online services/media industry experience.
• Minimum 4 years business-to-business marketing experience.
• Strong aptitude for determining the optimal way to position products in the market.
• Understanding of the search, online advertising, or web publishing markets.
• Understanding of Google's strategic and competitive position.
• Proven ability to deliver outstanding and highly innovative marketing achievements with limited budgets.
• A proven track record of increasing awareness, product usage and revenue through well-executed marketing efforts.
• Thorough knowledge of on/offline advertising, tracking and reporting.
• Strong leadership skills.
• Entrepreneurial and thrives in fast-paced and dynamic environments.
• Motivated and creative with the ability to self-manage.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Project management skills and the ability to multitask across projects and products.
• Demonstrated excellence with agency and client relations.
• Thorough knowledge of off/online advertising planning, tracking and reporting.
• Strong aptitude for determining the optimal way to position products in the market.
• Understanding of the search, online advertising, or web publishing markets.
• Understanding of Google's strategic and competitive position.
• Team player able to work on multi-part projects with multiple teams and able to ensure that local and global project deadlines and budgets are met.
• Strong computer application skills including PowerPoint, Excel and MS Office.

Salary range: Unknown

Closing date: Unknown

More info from: Google Jobs

Contact: Send resumes via online form Google Jobs Application Form

To see more search industry job vacancies visit: Search Engine College Jobs Board

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Q and A: Can I bug you with my personal problems?

Dear Kalena...

i like this boy at school but he is older than me (i'm 15) and sometimes he drives me home in his car. I dont wanna tell my friends because im worried that my parents will find out and tell his parents and i wont get to see him anymore. i really like him!!!!!!!! im worried coz my schoolwork is not so good coz spending all time with him and skipping homework and now my teachers are going to tell my parents. what should i do?

Becky

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Becky

There's something you must do immediately. It's very important. Scroll up to the top of this page and read what it says directly under "Ask Kalena".


That's right. It says:

"Your daily SEARCH ENGINE advice column"

Got it? Now take out a notebook and write out 200 times:

"I MUST NOT EMAIL KALENA WITH MY PETTY PERSONAL PROBLEMS. SHE ONLY GIVES ADVICE" ABOUT SEARCH ENGINES"

Ok, I feel better now.


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Q and A: Does social media marketing have a place within the media agency?

Dear Kalena...

Just found your website today (I think from Sphinn), so I thought I'd see if you can indeed answer my big question, so here it is. Does social media marketing (SMM) have a place within the Media Agency?

As the online marketing industry continues to focus on Social media, with Social Networks getting all the buzz, should traditional media agencies venture into this field? Although I continually see a need for SEO firms to embrace SMM, and forecasts for Social Networks to reach massive spends, I struggle to see how the traditional media agency (which typically manages PPC/Display/Affiliate budgets for clients) fits into social media.

Are there areas where media agencies can benefit & monetize the market? if so, what kind of services do you see them providing and how?

Thanks
Matthew

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Matthew

I should start by saying that I have never worked for a dedicated media agency. I've worked for a large Internet agency that managed media spends for clients along the lines you discuss, but not for some years. So I'm not familiar with current service trends in such agencies.

However, I would think that social media marketing will play a big role in the service offerings of both traditional advertising and media agencies over the next year or two. For starters, blogging as a phenomenon is being take up at an unprecedented rate globally, with podcasting and video-blogging gaining momentum. The ability to quickly create and monetize blogs as well as advertise on other people's blogs has created new advertising channels that are laser-focused on niche markets. Being able to pick and choose channels where qualified leads hang out is a media agency's dream scenario! These new channels greatly expand the limited PPC channels that agency clients have been stuck with for the past 8 years or so.

Apart from the blogs themselves, there are the large social media networks such as Digg, Sphinn, Facebook, YouTube MySpace etc. Smart agencies and media firms are already taking advantage of these networks by running viral marketing campaigns and competitions designed to promote their client's brand or product via online word-of-mouth. Word travels fast in cyberspace but bad press travels faster so online reputation management should go hand-in-hand with any social media campaigns.

The book I'm reading at the moment Do It Wrong Quickly by Mike Moran would make excellent reading for media agency staff trying to get a handle on social media and how to leverage it.

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RANT: Keyword Spy are comment spammers

That's it! I've had enough! I have tried to bite my tongue but I just can't take it anymore. Time for a bit of public flogging.

In the past 24 hours I have received 2 emails from Keyword Spy to 2 different domains and 2 spam drop comments on two different blogs. Not a week goes by that I don't hear from this company, but the past 24 hours has taken the cake.

Here's a typical email from them:

"It gives us great pleasure to introduce to you KeywordSpy, a search engine tool that generates keywords for ad campaigns in the Internet's most popular search engine sites. KeywordSpy also generates information by using keywords in identifying key competitors that may also be advertising in the same search engine. It is in this light that we humbly request that KeywordSpy be included in your lists of sites that could be used for creating powerful online ad campaigns. It would be interesting to note some of the features our site has to offer: The most comprehensive keyword database with over a billion keywords and counting. Regular updates on keyword databank including search and keywords from our partnership with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other reliable data servers. 99% percent search results accuracy. Instant downloading capabilities on all search results. Offers exclusive country keywords (US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia... ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Thankfully, their spiel was cut off here by our form]

Has anyone else had emails or comment drops from these sock-puppets? Seems they're always from different personas too. I'm beginning to think that SEO Edge and Keyword Spy are related.


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Search Engine College Salutes Latest Graduates

On behalf of the tutors and staff at Search Engine College, I'd like to offer congratulations to our most recent graduates:

Search Engine Optimization 101

Kelly Mottl
Sin Kuen Cheng
Giles White
Kimberly Bock
Mais AbuSalah
Kari Chase

Search Engine Optimization 201

Ann Schaner
Roberto Giunta
Liju John
Mais AbuSalah
Kari Chase

Pay Per Click Advertising 101

Kari Chase

Web Site Usability 101

Timothy Tyler

Link Building 101

Mais AbuSalah

Certified Search Engine Optimizer

Kari Chase
Mais AbuSalah


Congratulations to you all! Please contact your tutor if you haven't yet received your hard copy certificate or certification seal.

Please stop by Search Engine College from time to time to download updated lesson material, contribute to the Search Engine Wiki or check our Search Engine Marketing Jobs Board to peruse jobs in the industry.


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VIDEO - Official Google Paid Links Warning in Place Since July

Today I was reading Loren Baker's blog post about how just this week Google made it official on their Webmaster Help Center that buying or selling links can harm a site's ranking in search results.

Well guess what? That warning wasn't made this week. That warning has been official since July this year, LONG before the infamous PageRank slap down. View my video to see the proof.

UPDATE: After studying the before/after pages a little more closely, I've found the exact wording on the Paid Links page that has been updated by Google at some point after 9 July 2007:

Wording as archived on 9 July 2007:

"Buying links in order to improve a site's ranking is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results."


Wording as at 24 November 2007:

"Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results."

I've highlighted the additions in bold. Note also that the wording "in order to improve a site's ranking" has been removed in the later page version.


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VIDEO Q and A: Is our site being penalized by Google?

Dear Kalena...

The problems we are having are mainly with Google. We have 1,000 indexed pages showing in the 'site:' command from Google search. We have already done many things to get our rankings up but we appear to be penalized. Customers can not find our indexed pages by title OR content. We suspect sabotage by another company. We have sent emails and faxes to Google and asked them to investigate. They ignore us. We're out of options.

Darren

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Darren

Click here to see my video answer


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Search Industry Job Of The Week: SEO Specialist

Job Title: SEO Specialist

Job Reference #: Unknown

Position Type: full time

Name of employer: TH UK

Location: Bedford, Bedfordshire, UK

Date Posted: 19 November, 2007

Position description:

TH UK, requires an SEO expert to work on several key projects in our SEO department. We are looking to recruit an individual with previous experience of working for an Internet company or online marketing agency. Location: Bedford, Bedfordshire, UK

Main Duties

• Increase traffic to client websites via organic SEO techniques.

• Work closely within the SEO team to help build and evolve tailored search engine strategies that achieve the company's growth objectives.

• Carry out extensive site-wide analysis to identify and resolve technical and usability issues.

• Conduct thorough competitor analysis to expand and evolve content.

• Increase website prominence within topical web communities.

• Promote sites through strategic online link-building.

• Analyse campaign performance and devise appropriate actions for maintaining and increasing visibility.

Core Skills Required

The ideal candidate will have previous experience in online marketing (preferably SEO) and will:

• Have commercial experience, with a proven track record in SEO and link-building - must be able to demonstrate with reference to successful SEO and link-building campaigns.

• Be highly knowledgeable about natural/organic search engine optimisation tactics and how web metrics are tracked.

• Be able to analyse changes in the Google algorithm and understand how to adjust website content and structure to stay up to date. You should be current with the changes and ongoing developments affecting the major search engines, specifically Google, and understand how to re-engineer website content and structure to benefit accordingly.

• Have knowledge of how to use PR, blogging, social book marking, affiliate campaigns, and other current legitimate SEO techniques.

• Be fully aware of all SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques, the latest technologies and methods.

• Be a problem solver - able to spot aberrations in trends.

• Make solid recommendations on SEO strategy and traffic growth.

• Have strong technical skills and be conceptually strong with commercial experience and a sound understanding of the search engine landscape.

• A very keen eye to detail.

• An excellent understanding of the English language.

• Software / Application Knowledge Before applying, we would also request that you have:

• Good knowledge of HTML/DHTML, CSS, JavaScript, RSS, XML and an understanding of Relational Database Systems. ASP / PHP, technology knowledge would be advantageous.

Salary range: 16-20K GBP

Closing date: Unknown

More info about the company from: [www.thuk.co.uk]

Contact: Send resumes to jobs[at]thuk.co.uk

For more search industry job vacancies visit the Search Engine College Jobs Board

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VIDEO - AdWords Glitch in Action

In two posts earlier this week, I talked about the glitch some AdWords advertisers are currently experiencing with the Keyword Analysis Tool. Below is a short screen recording I made of the glitch so you can see what I'm talking about:




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Experimenting With Video

You might have noticed that I've been experimenting with video formats lately. I'm about to introduce regular video blogging to answer FAQs on this blog and I've been mucking around with different products and formats to get a feel for it.

Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't let you upload Flash movies directly so I'm using RealMedia format until I can switch to WordPress and use Camtasia Studio 5 the way it should be used, to produce .swf files. As a small preview of things to come, I'll be posting a screen capture video of the AdWords Keyword Quality Tool glitch in action.

Stay tuned for more vids!

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Gimpsy Turns Five

I was browsing our list of search engines and directories on Search Engine Wiki the other day and noticed that Gimpsy recently celebrated their 5th Birthday!

Back in April 2002, I remember when Gimpsy was just a sparkle in the eye of founder Mordechai Chachamu and some colleagues. They were working on a new kind of directory and were getting feedback from mods and members in the various webmaster forums.

I was a moderator in the iHelpYou Forums at the time when Gimpsy was finally launched in October 2002 and MC invited members to try it out. We gave it the thumbs up and I've been submitting client sites to Gimpsy ever since.

If you're not familiar with Gimpsy, you should check it out. Gimpsy operates on unique natural language queries and is action-oriented. In other words, you tell Gimpsy what action you want to take (e.g. I want to buy, I want to insure etc.) and Gimpsy finds for you the sites that provide the required service. Combine this with a cute little pet hamster mascot and that's Gimpsy in a nutshell.

A very Happy Birthday Gimpsy! And congratulations Mordechai and team for building up Gimpsy into the valuable resource it is today.


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AdWords Keywords Analysis Glitch Appears to be Global

Judging by the comments I received on my post Broken: AdWords Keyword Analysis Tool, it looks like the AdWords technical glitch is not limited to Australia.

An AdWords advertiser in Ireland and another in China reported that they are having the same issues as we are. The Keywords Analysis tool still shows the same results for all keywords. I'm really surprised this hasn't been reported on the official AdWords blog yet. Maybe they're waiting for more complaints.

I was not happy with the initial reply I got from AdWords support, so I wrote them another email:

Hi [name removed]

Thanks for responding to my enquiry. However this technical glitch is costing me money as I can't accurately tweak my keyword bids if I can't check the keyword quality information and I can't check if my ads are showing for my current bids.

I'm not very happy about this. Is there an ETA on getting this fixed?

Regards
Kalena

Google responded with this:

Hello Kalena,

Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry you're having difficulty. Please
know that the Quality Score column displays your keyword's Quality Score to help you monitor your keyword relevance. This column is a customizable column visible via the 'Keywords' tab of your Ad Group Details page. It's disabled by default for new accounts and can be enabled at any time.

Keywords can have one of the following three Quality Score states:

-Great: The keyword is very relevant and may have a high clickthrough rate (CTR), relevant ad text, and a unique, relevant landing page. The minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bid for this keyword may be low. If you'd like to lower your costs further, you can optimize this keyword's ad group by using more targeted ad text or improving your landing page content. Otherwise, this keyword is very relevant and effective for your ad campaign.

-OK: The keyword may not be as relevant as it could be. It may have a mid-range minimum CPC bid, and while the keyword may not be very costly or extremely general, we still recommend optimization for the ad group. Optimization can lower your overall costs, draw more clicks to your ads, and result in a better return on your investment (ROI). To optimize, try using more targeted ad text and keywords or improving your landing page content.

-Poor: The keyword isn't very relevant to users, and as a result may have a very high minimum CPC bid. We recommend that you remove this keyword and replace it with a more specific keyword. If you'd like to keep advertising with this keyword, you can optimize instead. To do this, try lowering the minimum CPC bid, writing a more targeted, relevant ad, or improving your landing page content.

To see your keywords' Quality Scores within your account statistics:

-Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.
-Select the campaign, then select the ad group for which you'd like to see keyword Quality Scores.
-Click Customize columns at the top of Keywords tab in the ad group table.

-Select Show Quality Score from the drop-down menu.
-Click Done when you're finished.

Additionally, you can create a report for minimum bids through your Reports tab. To learn how to run a report, please visit our Help Center at https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=66213&topic=11441

Also, please know that our engineers are currently working to solve the problem and hope to reach a resolution shortly.

If you have additional questions, please visit AdWords Support at https://adwords.google.com.au/support, where you'll find the answers to many of our frequently asked questions.

We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.

Sincerely,

[name removed]
The Google Australia & NZ AdWords Team

Er, thanks but I didn't really need a lesson on how to use the Keyword Analysis tool. Telling me how it works or how to implement it doesn't help me if it's broken. Duh. And creating a minimum bids report doesn't help one iota if I'm trying to determine my keyword status so I can tweak my bids.

The only sentence in that whole email that helps me is the one I've highlighted in bold. Engineers are working on the problem. Great. That makes me feel so much better. NOT! Think I'll go spend some more money at Yahoo and Microsoft AdCenter.


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Q and A: What's the best way to optimize a Flash site?

Dear Kalena...

I've got a Web design company, and some clients ask me about SEO. One client has an all Flash designed web site. I've read about Javascript SWFObject and a DIV with search engine accessible primary content. But, is it really a good technique? Some people say it can be dangerous and penalized. What's the truth? Can you help me?

Roberto

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Roberto

Adobe Dreamweaver came out with some search-friendly Flash option a few years ago, but it's still pretty poor, in my opinion. If you have to use Flash, you're best off calling it from a separate (small) file to your search friendly page, which sounds like the method you mention. Nothing dodgy about that.

Better still, let the viewer decide: give them a Flash version and a flat HTML version and let them pick. Search engines will always index the flat version so your bases are covered.

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Broken: AdWords Keyword Analysis Tool

Not sure if this is a regional issue or not, but Google have confirmed a technical bug with the Keyword Analysis tool for some AdWords accounts, including mine.

For the past 24 hours or so, whenever I try to view the Keyword Analysis tool for any of my keywords, I get the following message:

----------
Ad Showing? No
The keyword phrase doesn't currently trigger any of your ads. There are several possible reasons your ad isn't showing for this keyword, such as:

* You just added the keyword to your campaign. You may experience a short wait as your keyword goes through the review process.
* Our server is experiencing a delay.
* Your ad delivery is being spaced throughout the day.
------------

I get the same message for every keyword in my account, but the keywords are not new, I'm getting click-throughs and my daily budget is large enough to prevent ad delivery spacing. In response to my email, Google wrote:

Dear Kalena

Thank you for your email. I understand that you are concerned about the Keyword Analysis reasons. I'm sorry to hear that you've had trouble with your AdWords account. We've identified a known technical issue affecting a limited number of accounts. Our engineers are currently working to solve the problem and hope to reach a resolution shortly.

We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.

Sincerely,

The Google Australia & NZ AdWords Team

Let's hope they get this fixed pronto! Anyone outside Australia having this issue?


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Q and A: How many times can I repeat a keyword before being penalized?

Dear Kalena...

How many times are you allowed to repeat a keyword within the H1, H2, H3... tags before you are penalized for it?

Emily

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Emily

Ah, this old chestnut. Pardon me for saying so, but you're logic is back-to-front. You are making the classic webmaster mistake of trying to engineer your site with search engines in mind. I know I sound like a broken record, but you should ALWAYS design for your audience first and foremost. Search engines, schmearch engines.

As for your Heading tags, there's no harm in using keywords within them, but create the headings so they make the most sense for your site visitors. Headings are ideal for breaking up the text on a page and making it easier to read. But they've got to be comfortable to read too. If you add too much keyword repetition, it will look and read very poorly. As for the keyword penalty threshold, search engines don't publish precise details of their filters but it's a no-brainer that keyword repetition will be picked up, as will excessive heading tags. Personally, I would stick with a single keyword instance per heading and no more than 2 or 3 heading tags per page.

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Apologies for the mess around here

A quick apology is in order for the (seemingly) sporadic blog posting this week. Blogger has been creating some major issues for bloggers like me who use FTP to publish to their own domains and I've been having a heck of a time getting some posts to publish on the day I write them.

Add to that some severe weather playing havoc with our broadband connection and we are in blogging hell! I'll be posting over the weekend to make up for the blank spaces. Thanks for reading and please avert your eyes to the mess while we slowly move this blog over to WordPress and it's own dedicated domain.

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What I'm Learning from "Do It Wrong Quickly"

A couple of weeks ago, IBM Press sent me a copy of Mike Moran's latest book Do it Wrong Quickly - How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules. I'm only a third of the way into it but it's really a fascinating read so far. What I long ago suspected is now true: online marketing is turning traditional marketing concepts upside down and inside out. I'm learning some new jargon along the way too. For example:

Flogs - these are blogs set up secretly by businesses for the specific purpose of criticizing their competitors or to promote their products or services while appearing impartial. Famous brands caught out flogging include Wal-Mart and Sony. Wal-Mart's "flog" involved a blog supposedly written by a couple traveling America in their recreational vehicle and camping overnight in Wal-Mart parking lots. It turned out to be a publicity stunt engineered by Wal-Mart's PR company Edelman. The blog was staged, the travelers were a Washington Post reporter and freelance writer and the entire trip was sponsored by Working Families for Wal-Mart, something not disclosed on the web site. The flog was exposed to huge outcry late last year and is a prime example of how web marketing can backfire very, very quickly. Fascinating stuff!

I'll feed you some more tidbits from Mike's book as I wade through it.

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Search Industry Job of the Week - SEO Manager

Job Title: Search Engine Optimization Manager
Job Reference #: Unknown
Position Type: full time
Name of employer: EdSoup
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Date Posted: 12 November, 2007
Position description:

We’re looking for an amazingly qualified search engine optimization (SEO) professional. Target salary is $60,000 or more, depending on experience, plus incentive-based bonuses. This full-time position is located in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah and includes a comprehensive benefits package.

Responsible for development, implementation, and management of SEO activities for EdSoup.com and other independent business units according to industry best-practices. Relies on experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals.

Minimum 2-year experience required; 3+ years preferred. In-depth knowledge of the search engine space and SEO practices is required, including:

• SEO analysis and tactics
• Social media optimization
• Link building
• Copy writing
• Web analytics

While each of the following are not required, a qualified individual may possess a working knowledge of:

• Pay per click advertising
• Display advertising
• Interactive advertising
• Affiliate marketing
• Email marketing

This position will also be responsible for management of an established affiliate channel. Please include salary history with resume. Apply online at www.edsoup.com/careers.

Salary range: $60,000 USD
Closing date: Unknown
More info from: [http://www.edsoup.com/careers.php?cid=15]
Contact: Apply online at [http://www.edsoup.com/careers.php?cid=15]

For more search industry job vacancies visit the: Search Engine College Jobs Board


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SiteProNews: History of the Blog

I'm totally trashed tonight - it's been a series of 9am-1am days in preparation for our launch of Search Engine Wiki. Add to that 30 laps in the pool today and I'm really feeling it. So please forgive me for a lazy blog post tonight!

Please enjoy a post I made a couple of days ago on SiteProNews about the History of the Blog. Catchya tomorrow!


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World First: Search Engine Wiki

We've done it! After many months of preparation, today we officially launched Search Engine Wiki (BETA). Search Engine Wiki is the world's first vertical wiki dedicated to search engines and search engine marketing. Here is the official press release.

The idea behind the site is to provide a collaborative online library of search engine marketing (SEM) resources, complete with resident librarian, Ms Parker (pictured). Some of the extensive resources found on the site include:

• Lists of international search engines - categorized by country, type and industry.
• A glossary of definitions for common terms used in Search Engine Optimization (SEO),
  Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
• A library of search engine marketing articles.
• Employment resources listing SEO, PPC and SEM job vacancies.
• A collection of popular search engine marketing blogs and news feeds.
• Frequently Asked Questions about search engines and SEM.
• Lists of popular search engine marketing tools and time saving software.
• Links to upcoming search industry conferences and events.
• Introductions to well known search industry personalities.

Search Engine Wiki is designed for interactivity. Wiki users can suggest resources and definitions to be added or sign up to become editors and add these resources themselves. Search Engine College students are also encouraged to collaborate and contribute to the Wiki during their training and beyond.

Search Engine Wiki is now in BETA release and welcomes your contributions and feedback.


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Q and A: How do we remove bad publicity about us from the top of the SERPs?

Dear Kalena...

I have the opposite situation that most people have. What are some specific things we can do to avoid popping up at the top of search lists? We had some wrong accusations/unfair press that has since resolved. However, the articles from two years ago continue to be right there, making it difficult to grow and move forward. I truly appreciate your advice and hope you can help me. THANKS!

Karen

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Karen

You don't say whether the negative articles reside on your own site or on sites belonging to 3rd parties, but I'm assuming it's the latter? It's easy to stop certain pages on your own site from being shown in search results. You simply use no-index robots tags on those pages, or block those pages in your robots.txt file.

Having negative press about your company removed from the sites of others is another matter entirely. Have you written to the site owners to request the information be removed? If the negative situation has been resolved, a polite request should do the trick. If that doesn't work and the content of the articles is slanderous or untrue, you could report them to Google.

However, if the content you are concerned about is factual, there's not much you can do except try to outrank the negative content with your own content. Write some pages or blog posts about the issue, addressing it and the way it was resolved, making sure that the pages include the search keywords and phrases triggering the content you are concerned about. Hopefully your content will push the other content down the SERPs and into oblivion.

Need more than advice? Take a Search Engine Marketing course online

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Stanford Startup Lets You Surf Blogs Geographically

I received an email today from Clayton Brown, Stanford MBA graduate for 2007 and CEO of a recently launched startup for bloggers called Verve Earth. He invited me to check out the site and spread the word if I liked it.

Similar to Google Maps, Verve plots the content of the Internet on an interactive map of the world to enable people to surf the net via a geographic interface rather than via traditional links.

Some of the things you can do on Verve include:

• Create your personalized "Internet world" of content by adding favorites
• Create a blog profile for your geographic region
  
• Subscribe to the content that is important to you; cut out the rest
• Surf the net geographically, check out what's hot in your city and the world
• Share cool content with friends

Destinations are available for a range of topics - everything from mainstream websites (e.g. YouTube), cities and countries, universities, newspapers, sports teams and famous people.


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Search Industry Job of the Week: SEO Analyst

Job Title: Search Engine Optimization Analyst

Job Reference #: 0111701007007
Position Type: full time
Name of employer: CNET Networks, Inc
Location: San Francisco, California
Date Posted: 5 November 2007
Position description:

We're looking for a motivated, creative, and analytic thinker to join a team of SEO Analysts in CNET's downtown San Francisco office working on search engine optimization for CNET web properties. As a Search Engine Optimization Analyst, your primary goal will be to increase natural search engine traffic from key search engines to specific CNET sites. You will be partnered with site product management, engineering, and editorial teams to drive SEO success. Additionally, you will be charged with establishing best practices on optimization of a specific vertical content type across all sites within the business unit (e.g. image, audio/podcast, news, blog, or video optimization.) You will work closely with other SEO Analysts on the team and report to the Associate Vice President, CNET Findability.

Responsibilities:

• Audit content published for search engine optimization compliance


• Create detailed search engine optimization recommendations for assigned sites


• Track and report search engine referrals, keyword rankings and other SEO traffic metrics for assigned sites to stakeholders


• Work with design, editorial, production and engineering groups on implementation of SEO best practices.


• Implement strategies for attaining high rankings for relevant, high-volume search terms.


• Be an expert in your space by staying on top of current SEO news, search engine feature changes, and algorithm shifts.

Skills:

• Knowledge of website optimization techniques for major search engines.


• Experience with Web content management systems.


• Understanding of search engine ranking algorithms and how search engine spiders work.


• Proficient with SEO tools.


• A quantitative approach to traffic measurement and experience with collecting and interpreting site visitor statistics.


• Basic knowledge in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.


• Experience using Microsoft Office programs (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc.)


• Must be detail-oriented with excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.


• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.


• Ability to work individually on a project or in a team environment.


• Self-starter approach to work, with an eagerness to consistently meet and exceed objectives and take on more responsibility.

Qualifications/Requirements

• 1 year experience at a dedicated SEO consulting company or as a Search Engine Analyst for a web company.


• Bachelors degree or equivalent training and experience.

Salary range: Unknown
Closing date: Unknown
More info from: [careers.cnetnetworks.com]
Contact: Send resumes via online form: [careers.cnetnetworks.com]

For more search industry job vacancies visit: Search Engine College Jobs Board

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Q and A: Why have our most popular pages disappeared from Google?

Dear Kalena...

Thanks again for your help a couple of years ago. I need some more advice now and I don't even know where to start troubleshooting. About a week ago I noticed that the bulk of our most popular pages no longer seem to be on Google's radar. I'm talking about pages that used to show up in the top 10 results for typical searches in our industry. Currently, those pages don't show up AT ALL in Google's results, or Google offers a comparatively irrelevant page, like our home page or links page that might happen to have the keywords in question.

This problem is only with Google, not MSN or Yahoo. Probably began during the last 30 days. Other pages come up in Google SERPs just fine. Also, I checked our Google Webmaster Tools and everything looks OK - sitemap downloaded OK, all pages (including the problem ones) indexed. PR for the problem pages is unchanged (lackluster 2-3, but at least not lowered). The only thing I did different was to use a new sitemap a couple of weeks ago. Any ideas?

Rick

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Rick

I'm getting a lot of similar questions to yours at the moment and I'm convinced it is the result of a major tweak Google has made this month to their PageRank algorithm (not to be confused with the Google Toolbar PageRank green bar). Here's my reasoning:

• None of your pages show up in Google's Supplemental Index, indicating those pages haven't been removed from Google's main datacenter.
  
  
• Google is currently showing 179 pages from your site as being indexed, whereas Yahoo is actually showing over 300 pages indexed, indicating that Google may be suppressing the value of some of your pages.
  
  
• You didn't tell me the search query that returns the rankings you are talking about, but if you were previously ranking well for those terms and you've not changed the pages, then it's probably an external cause rather than something you did to cause the ranking drops.

Google makes small tweaks to their ranking algorithm on a regular basis. Some of these tweaks involve the addition of code filters to detect and suppress code it sees as artificially influencing your page's relevancy. It may be that the new algorithm includes a new filter that has picked up something on your pages Googlebot doesn't like, for example, excessive keyword repetition or duplicate content. Many of your pages have almost identical content to each other, which could have triggered a suppression filter.

Also, you have quite a large number of backward links showing in Yahoo (over 300) but only 8 showing in Google. It may be that Google has decided many of those backlinks are not relevant and has suppressed any influence they previously had on your rankings. The reciprocal link swapping concept you use on your site and the advice you give to potential link partners is quite flawed. It will likely only attract links from very low quality sites, diluting your own site's link popularity as a result. Many of the sites listed on your links page are completely irrelevant to your site. Read my link swapping rant for more info.

Finally, keep in mind that thousands of new pages get added to the Internet every day. Chances are that some of these might be targeting the same keywords and phrases that you are. If those pages are better optimized than yours, yours will naturally be pushed down in the results.

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Blogger Woes May Prompt Mass Exodus

I have been having publishing problems with Blogger for about a week now, with the last 48 hours being the worst. I have no idea if my posts are going to publish or not and when the Dashboard shows them as published, I can't see them live anyway. Very frustrating!

Judging by the number of persons complaining in the Blogger Help Group, I'm not alone. Yet responses and updates from Blogger employees are noticeably absent. I've been planning to migrate this blog to WordPress for some months but this has given me the kick up the backside I've needed to fast-track the migration. I'm guessing that many others will follow suit before long!

UPDATE: Blogger has finally publicly acknowledged the problem and is apparently working on a fix.

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Seeking SEO / PPC / SEM Projects for Jobs Board

If you're a regular reader of Ask Kalena, you're probably already aware that we have a Jobs Board on Search Engine College. Membership to the site is free and there is no charge for advertising positions vacant. What you may not be aware of is that we recently added a special forum dedicated to short-term and freelance search engine marketing projects.

As well as the ability to advertise full-time positions vacant, employers and agencies can now post any short-term projects (including both paid and volunteer) that they are seeking help with. Search Engine College students are encouraged to use this feature of the Jobs Board to volunteer their services for projects as a way to test and hone the skills acquired during their training. The Jobs Board is also open to the public, so it's a great way to find high quality, inexpensive freelance staff for your projects.

If you've got a SEO, PPC or SEM project that you need help with, please create a free account on our Jobs Board and post your project. We'll make sure it gets in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

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Search Light Issue 9 now live

We just put Issue 9 of the Search Light Newsletter to bed. If you aren't already a subscriber, you can scroll down this page and enter your details in the subscribe box. Or wake up with a horse head in your bed. It's your choice :-)

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Q and A: How often should you review your target keywords?

Dear Kalena...

I have been reading about keywords. I know the importance of them. But one thing I have not been able to find a definitive answer on is keyword age. I believe that over time the keywords and phrases become aged and eventually become old or obsolete. Right? How often do keywords need to be changed or re-tailored?

Chris

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Chris

Thanks for the caffeine injection! Regarding your question, you are spot on that keywords can age. The keywords that searchers use change from month to month based on world events, popular culture, seasonal trends and economic fluctuations. You can see this in action by looking at Google Hot Trends, which lists the 100 most popular search queries on any given day.

That's why it's so important to review your keywords on a regular basis to ensure you are targeting keywords and phrases that people are actually searching for. I generally recommend that my clients review their keywords at least every 6 months. That means conducting a fresh round of keyword research using tools such as:

• Keyword Discovery
• WordTracker
• Good Keywords
  

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Q and A: How do you know what keywords are adequate for each page?

Dear Kalena...

I am just knowing your blog and I am admiring it because: first, you are a very savvy writer about the SEO subject; second, I can see that you have many readers in the FeedBurner feed; and, well, a PR of 5, not bad at all. My question is this: Many websites have no keywords in their pages. When I see the source code, nada. Of course many of these pages are really sales letters and maybe is not interesting for the owners to concern about meta tags. So, what is the best way to know which keywords are the more adequate for a certain page if I intend to use PPC as an affiliate? Thank you in advance and I would like to read your answer.

Regards,
Jesus in Mexico

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Jesus

Keyword research is a tricky business. Sites that don't use keywords within their visible text and META tags may not be looking to rank well in the organic SERPs. Perhaps they are using PPC landing pages, email marketing or social media to drive traffic. Or maybe they just don't know how to optimize their pages.

Targeting keywords is a different kettle of fish for SEO and PPC. If you are researching keywords to use within your regular site pages to help the site rank in the organic search results (SEO), I recommend using services such as KeywordDiscovery and WordTracker. WordTracker actually have a 15 percent discount offer on until the end of November, so be sure to use coupon code us-annual-15 if you decide to subscribe.

If you are looking for the best keywords to use for your PPC campaigns, I would recommend that you use the Google Keyword Tool, the Overture Keyword Selector and/or the keyword suggestion tool built into Yahoo Sponsored Search. If you plan to use landing pages for your PPC campaign, you don't necessarily need to optimize them for crawlers. If the page content is very similar on each, you might want to prevent them from being indexed by search bots anyway.

No matter what keyword research tools you plan to use, start your search by compiling a seed list of keywords and phrases that you imagine your potential customers/visitors might type in to search engines. Ask your family, friends and colleagues for more keyword ideas and build up your seed list until you feel confident you have exhausted all avenues. Then start using the keyword tools. You'll be amazed at how many more keyword combinations you'll find!


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You can now tell Google what country/region your site targets

Just caught this on Sphinn this morning. According to ex-Googler Vanessa Fox, Google has introduced a way for webmasters to inform them what country their site should be associated with. This is an important feature and can influence the way Google ranks your site.

To use this tool, simply login to your Webmaster Tools account and follow the instructions in Vanessa's post.

This is a great addition to Webmaster Tools and should solve a LOT of the webmaster questions I've been getting on this blog about regional domain issues and how to tell Google about a site's geographic market.


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