It was a one-two knockout punch. First Google released their Panda update, which made people weak in the knees. Then they followed up with the Penguin update that knocked out over 3% of websites on the Internet. As of this writing, lots of people and families are in complete panic mode. Unfortunately, this update turned lives upside down.  If your rankings have dropped, chances are your SEO Company had implemented some or all of the following: keyword stuffing, sitemap staffing, excessive internal page keyword linking or excessive backlinks. This is why it is so important to follow Google’s guidelines when it comes to search engine optimization. You must do white hat SEO only. Just enough search engine optimization to tell the search engines this is what your website is about. In addition, you can’t exclusively rely on SEO. You need to set-up an account with Google Adwords and add SEM to your marketing mix. If you need our SEO help, we can get involved professionally and clean up the mess other search engine optimization companies left behind. If you want to go at it alone, you will need to clean up all of your SEO and file a reconsideration request with Google; then wait.

Although links pointing to a site play a much bigger role than just content on a site, fresh content, coupled with links pointing to your site does make a significant difference in the Google Panda algorithm.  Fresh content will deliver the perfect SEO mix. Fresh content is not the type of content you find on the interwebs, where you change a few words and boast freshness. How fresh is yesterday’s news? Fresh content is new original content that you add to your site on fairly consistent basis. Of course the content will need to incorporate your targeted keywords. Think of your site as a news outlet. Would you want your visitors to read last week’s news? How about last month’s news? That is how search engines, particularly Google, look at content. They want it to be as fresh as possible. This doesn’t mean you have to write new content every day, as there is only so much you can write about pest control or stain removers, but adding about one to two paragraphs once a month can make a huge difference if it is coupled with good backlinks, assuming all your other on-site SEO is well intact and of course follows search engine guidelines (please read my previous post about over SEO).

At RegisterEverywhere, one of the pioneers of search engine optimization, we go the extra mile to ensure our clients' sites do not have any over search engine optimization. While a few us were over at SXSW in Austin, we heard Matt Cutts (head of web spam team at Google) speak during a panel discussion and unequivocally state that in the next few weeks Google will roll out the over search engine optimization penalty.  I think this is the best thing to clean up search in quite a long time. I will bet hundreds of thousands of sites will lose their search engine positions due to this over SEO penalty. That is the bad news. The good news is that we at RegisterEverywhere.com can fix that for you. If you think you may soon lose your search rankings due to over SEO, please call us immediately and set-up at least a basic account so you can get ahead of the curve before Google rolls out this algorithm change and you see your rankings disappear.

Okay so you've identified all the key phrases you want to SEO. You have identified the right SEO company and you have set aside a budget for search engine optimizing your website so you can compete in the marketplace and get leads and sales flowing through your site.  Time to reap the rewards for all the hard work you put into building your website, including your sweat equity and brain-numbing arguments with your web developer. BUT, how will you know if your SEO effort is going to be worth all the time, energy and resources you put in to it? Is there a way you can find out how many orders your competitor's website is getting? The answer is YES! Read on to find out how…

As you may have heard, Google rolled out search plus your world, which made some people quite mad, and others just livid #uhmTwitteruhm.  Does this affect SEO? There is an answer to that. Nearly everything Google search related affects search engine optimization at some level. The subtle trick is knowing how to know what that level means to your website's rankings. SEO has now officially evolved; Google search is now at search 3.0. Follow through with this article as I breakdown and explain how Google’s Search Plus Your World, will affect the world of SEO, and what steps you need to take to ensure your search rankings improve and thrive.

Adam Smith, the famous economist, in his 1776 book called "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" coined the term ‘Invisible Hand.’ In essence, the ‘Invisible Hand’ suggests that people that have selfish motives of lining up their own pockets actually end up doing good for general society, without their intention ever being the act of doing good. Well, in a macro sense, that is quite true, as long as the entity trying to line up their pockets offers a great product or service, then yes, society in general will benefit from such a good business offering. However, what does it take to make an online business successful in the micro sense? What does it take to get that ecommerce website traffic? Well, I call it the “Invisible Push”. This time, it’s society, with help from search engine optimization companies like RegisterEverywhere.com, that hoists a site up on to the first page of search engines like Google and Bing, and pushes a site to the online discussions had on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Yes folks, the ‘Invisible Push’ is a wonderful blessing to have that can compliment any search engine optimization effort. Wanna learn how?

This year members of RegisterEverywhere.com attended Def Con 19. It was lots of fun, if you are a true blue computer geek. Lots of new things out there that computer security experts should definately be concerned about. However, what was really interesting were the side SEO discussions that were taking place with respect to new linking methodologies, clearly defining all aspects of the Google Panda update, and new ways to rank sites higher on Google and others. Here is a pic from inside the lion's den:

Search engine optimization has evolved tremendously over the past 15 years. I remember the day when implementing meta tags to a site would keep all my clients happy. I then remember worrying about H1 tags, H2 tags, bolding, italicizing, underlining, ALT tagging. Then I started being concerned about Pagerank (you know that green bar that Alan Page, co-founder of Google, aptly named after himself to describe his ranking algorithm). Ah, the good ole days. Well, those days are loooong gone. Everything has changed, but for the better! I now LOVE doing search engine optimization!

Search engine placement has become one of the most important Internet marketing activities that any company can conduct. Search in itself has become a huge business and companies like Google and Yahoo are raking in billions of dollars in Adwords pay-per-click fees. Sure some of those clicks may be coming from your competitors clicking away at your ads and skyrocketing your PPC bill. Sure some clicks may be coming from cleverly coded, IP shuffling robots clicking away at ads and raking in AdSense profit. Yet, businesses line up to pay companies like Google and Yahoo billions of dollars in the hope that a majority of those clicks are real, potential buyers. However, since the economic downturn, can businesses still count on click conversions being 2% or more? Is it still profitable and cost effective to advertise on Adwords in the hopes of making at least 3 times what you spend so you can stay afloat? Only you (and your accountant) can answer that question. Just in case you are in the same predicament so many other advertisers are in, where the same old ads that used to pull in sales are no longer doing so, turning to the organic search engine placement of your site may be your solution! This is why it is so important to get the right natural or organic search engine placement strategy in place to not needlessly have to spend money on paying per click when you could get search engine traffic for a whole lot less money by implementing solid, tested search engine placement techniques.

While all of our clients turn to us so we can help their websites come up higher in search engines via our search engine optimization techniques, Rupert “Howling Mad” Murdoch of Fox News fame is making statements that Google is listing their content without permission. So, Mr. Murdoch is threatening to block Google from listings its content. Mr. Murdoch, if you talk to Faceman, Hannibal or even B.A. from the A-Team, they will all tell you blocking Google is just CRAZY! (tongue-in-cheek)

In a recent interview by Michael Arrington at TechCrunch Eric Schmidt said “I don't know how to characterize the next 10 years except to say that we'll get to the point - the long-term goal is to be able to give you one answer, which is exactly the right answer over time.” Did he really say ONE right answer?! Say what! Whatever happened to giving the searchers selection, choice so they can choose one vendor over another? More importantly, how does this “one right answer” assuming it was even possible, impact search engine optimization? Well, to give you the answers to these thought provoking questions, please read on to my search engine optimization tips that should work now and in the foreseeable future to come.

SEO is in a constant state of flux. Google has already released tidbits of the next generation of search. They are currently seeking feedback from those in the search engine community to fine-tune their search results. I gave the engineers over there my two cents. I know that I like what I'm seeing thus far:) Even lesser market share having search engines like Bing (formerly known as MSN and subsequently Live.com) are trying to step-up their game by taking over search results from Yahoo! This is why it is now more crucial than ever before to rely on an experienced, professional and result-oriented search engine optimization service, like the one we offer at RegisterEverywhere.com, to handle all your SEO needs. Natural search engine traffic is usually the most cost effective search advertising expenditure a business can make to generate traffic to their site.

Microsoft “the Merciless” as I call them have re-branded with a site called Bing. Yes folks “The Bing” is no longer a fictional topless go-go bar on the now defunct HBO mafia miniseries called “The Sopranos,” it’s now a search engine! For all the people in the search engine optimization community, you already know the results from Bing are the same search results of MSN.com, which are the exact same search results of Live.com. So, what’s all the hoopla about? Can Bing rattle the tight grip Google has on the search market share? Will Bing take the zing out of Google?

Although I didn't see any other search engine optimization companies at SCALE (Southern California Linux Expo) I did run into a couple of Google engineers that were displaying the Google Android technologies.

Here are a couple of pics from the conference:

We at RegisterEverywhere.com use a variety of tools to implement search engine optimization techniques for our clients. In any search engine optimization project, the very basics of proper SEO entails ensuring the client’s site is viewable in the same manner across various browsers (IE, FireFox, Safari, Opera etc). A cross-browser skewed site increases the number of bounces (people that leave the site almost as soon as they enter it) and that’s never a good thing.

Some of us at the office only use Linux based operating systems, with many of its flavors like Ubuntu and Fedora. Yet others use Windows and Macs. I personally use a Windows machine in conjunction with a Mac machine, although my 3rd computer in the office has a Fedora operating system (WGET is a handy tool). With this article, I wanted to share a bit on how to use two computers, one that has Windows XP and another that has a Mac OS X on dual monitors, that share one keyboard and one mouse. The tool I utilize to control both these machines with just one keyboard and one mouse is called Synergy. The best part about Synergy is that it’s free and it makes using two machines on dual monitors fun and easy. Search engine optimization is a nitty-gritty, detail-oriented task. Whatever tool is out there to make the life of a search engine optimizer easier is a welcomed search engine optimization tool:)

This posting will explain how you can improve search engine results and rankings following search engine guidelines. It describes what it takes to improve search engine results on major search engines. It will discuss the history of search engine optimization and what it takes to achieve higher search engine results on the major search engines. It discusses what we as a search engine optimization company used to do before Google came on the scene in 1998 and what we do now.

People often ask me about their overall website marketing mix, especially as it pertains to search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM). I usually have to remind people that although I have an MBA, my specialty is search engine optimization which is a subset of the overall marketing mix of a website. However, I'm always game when it comes to discussing the best practices of search engine optimization. Since this portion is really a summary of the full article, I can summarize best practices of search engine optimization by quoting none other than Sergey Brin of Google when he said, "although all people are created equal, all websites are not." Click on the "read more" link to read my tips not just on following search engine optimization best practices, but in choosing the best search engine optimization company for your website.

Although retail sales were down 7.4%, online sales of many popular websites had increased according to the New York Times! In fact, some websites had doubled their online sales!

Yes folks, it is absolutely true! While everyone in the media is out discouraging us about the economy, the NY Times reported that online sales have doubled! According to the article, they attribute the drastic increase in online sales to the high gas prices. People are driving less and staying home more often. We can’t help ourselves. If we are not being entertained by being outside and shopping, then we tend to stay inside and shop. This is why it is now more crucial than ever to have your website appear on the first page of search engines. Without traffic to your website, having the website is a mute point.

Source: NY Times Article

Yes, its true the economy is currently in a stump. The DOW went down over 500 points today. If you have stock in the financial sector, you probably felt the pinch. Sorry. However, this downturn will not last forever. ***UPDATE: 9/19/2008 - What a difference 2 days make! We just had the 2 biggest days on Wall Street since 6 years ago! Folks, start building traffic to your site!*** In fact, in early 2009 many analysts predict the roller coaster economy will begin a recovery. However, will your site be appearing at the top of the search engines by then?? Search engine optimization, or even web optimization on steroids is not going to get your site up there over night. It takes time for search engine optimization to work. The search engine rankings will improve as the weeks go by. It will take at least 4 weeks to as much as 16 weeks for our search engine optimization methodologies to kick-in and for the search engine rankings to improve. Is your site prepared for the search engine traffic? Are you going to do what most good marketers do in an economic downturn, spend money on the advertising their businesses? Or are you going to curl up in a shell? When it comes to marketing on the Internet, specifically when it comes to search engine optimization, if you are not advancing, you are declining. No action equals certain death! Take action now and improve your rankings in the very near future. You NEED traffic to increase sales! If you don’t have traffic to your site, there is really no need for your site…

There should be no commercial website on the planet that does not have some sort of search engine optimization techniques applied to it. If you do not have SEO applied to your site, you are probably letting search engine traffic slip right through your fingers and that can be costing you dearly and making your competitors richer! However, depending on the type of business, search engine optimization should be affordable for people to be able to implement it to their sites. I am NOT referring to the $29.95 per month gimmicks, as that is probably not legitimate search engine optimization. Having said that, search engine optimization should not cost you an arm and a leg either. In fact, the whole purpose of search engine optimization is to drive traffic to a site at an affordable rate. So why do so many search engine optimization firms charge and arm and a leg for SEO? Read on to find out…

It is evident that Microsoft wants to be a major player in the search game. Let me restate that, they want to be the #1 player in the search engine marketing game. They are not happy with being #3. To that end, they want to buy Yahoo, well not all of Yahoo, just the search engine portion of it. Why you ask? Well, because it seems that have hired the best minds on the planet, strike that, the universe, to come up with an absolutely brilliant strategy to take the #1 spot from Google. How, by purchasing the #2 guy Yahoo. So if they buy Yahoo, they become #1. Let's do the math: 2-1=1 & 3-2=1. Eeeeeasy! The best answers always are... so as you can plainly see, if they buy Yahoo Search, then they will become #1. You do see it right??

Yes, folks Google has announced on their very own blog that they wish to sell off Performics Search Marketing, the search engine optimization wing of the DoubleClick purchase Google wrapped up on March 11, 2008.

Tom Phillips of Google writes:

"It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business. Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’s mission and core to the trust we ask from our users. For this reason, we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party. We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers."

Folks, I'm sure you have come across so called search engine registration websites that talk about search engine submission and web optimization for $9.99 or some other RIDICULOUSLY low price! No matter what you do, please PLEASE do NOT waste your time on such hogwash! Nor should you burn your money and pay $60,000 for SEO.

Here is the very succinct answer to both those questions. The keywords your clients will type into the search engines. Killed 2 birds with one stone (actually in real life I would NEVER kill any bird, unless they wanted to kill me for some reason, then I might). Some other questions I normally get are “How much traffic can I get?” Also, “How do I get my site up higher in the search engines?” And again, “How do I get Googley (yes, many people still call it Googley) to make my site come up like my competitor's site does? I answer all of these questions here and you will truly find it very informative!

There are 2 types of search engine marketing. Natural search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising. These 2 methods are not enemies. In fact, they are friends. However, in most cases, search engine optimization is FAR LESS costly than having to pay-per-click. If someone offered you 2 options – option 1 pay a flat fee of $2,500 upfront for a whole year or option 2 – pay just a measly little $1 per click, which offer would you take??

There was a time that Google engineers used an algorithm that gave sites great rankings if they exchanged links with related sites. That is simply no longer the case. Caller after caller that calls us that has used link exchange software or link exchange services has one common denominator in their story- I was ranked so well in Google, but for some reason I am now nowhere to be found. What happened?!

Why do so many firms still approach search engine optimization companies and give them tens of thousands of dollars and do not DEMAND a money back guarantee if the site does not hit the first page of search engines. Why even bother optimizing your site if your site is not going to end up on the first page. In addition, why do so many people turn to their web designer for website optimization and 6 months later find every one of their competitor's sites on the first page, yet their site is deeply buried in the search results. Why oh why?? I explore these topics and provide a clear and concise methodology of weeding out the wrong search engine optimization companies. A MUST READ for anyone who is contemplating hiring an SEO company.