Latest Articles
Happy Birthday Google
September 27, 2010 By Webposition SEO Team
Today, Google turns 12 years old. And to mark the occasion, today’s Google Doodle is of a cake painting by well-known artist Wayne Thiebaud. 
This year has already proved eventful for the search giant with its introduction of Google TV, infamous Pac Man doodle, Wi-Fi data collection troubles and battle with the Chinese government.
Yes, Google has had its difficulties this year but whichever search engine you call home page, it’s hard to deny that Google has been (and continues to be) a game-changer.
So, Happy Birthday Google! We can hardly wait to see what happens when you’re old enough to drive.
Google Instant’s Impact on SEO
September 14, 2010 By Sue Spiker
SEO is constantly changing, and Google Instant will undoubtedly change the game yet again. Another of Google’s improvements for the year, Instant guesses what you’re most likely looking for as you type and displays search results accordingly. Essentially, you get predictive search results without that pesky need to hit “Enter”.
All in the name of serving up search results even faster. Which brings us to the big question – how will Google Instant affect SEO?
Over time, Google Instant could change how we use search by offering a wider variety of search results faster, enabling us to refine our searches more quickly. And because the end goal of driving web traffic remains the same, logic dictates that Instant may also change how we get our own webpages in front of users’ eyes.
If your webpage is already optimized for specific keywords, Google Instant won’t change your search engine rankings for those terms. But because it displays the most likely search phrases and top results, optimizing for those additional keywords may become standard. For example, start entering “fitness equipment”. By the time you hit the letter “n”, a different keyword, “fitness magazine”, is already being predicted – as is the first page of “fitness magazine” search results.
“Fitness equipment” isn’t even suggested until you enter the entire term “fitness”. So, if you’re in the fitness equipment business, users can easily get sidetracked before your primary keyword is even suggested. If it’s appropriate for your business, you may want to consider additionally optimizing for “fitness magazine” as well.
One thing is certain. Whatever comes down the pike, adapting your SEO strategies will be critical to your website’s longevity and ultimately, your success. Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam Team, summed it up quite nicely when he stated, “I’ve said it before, but SEO is in many ways about change. The best SEOs recognize, adapt, and even flourish when changes happen.”
Watch the announcements:
Sept 8, 2010 – Google Instant Announcement at SFMOMA
Sept 7, 2010 – Eric Schmidt Speaks at IFA in Berlin: “Never under estimate the importance of fast”
Social Media Spam: The Dark Side of Networking
September 9, 2010 By Sue Spiker
It’s so easy to go overboard implementing the social media part of your link building strategy. Yes, actively participating is essential for growing web traffic, but too much of the wrong kind of participation can result in you being blocked by users and banned by search engines. All for one simple reason.
No one likes a spammer. And no one wants to be a spammer, but in your zeal to expand your online presence, you can easily cross over to the Dark Side and not even know it. You can, however, help yourself stay on the straight and narrow if you remember two key basics.
It’s still person-to-person. At the other of end blogs, posts, comments and tweets are living, breathing people. And when you respond, you’re engaging in a dialogue with them just as if you were talking over coffee. But if you respond solely to generate links, people will resent your blatant self-promotion, especially on their sites. And it doesn’t take long before that “Block User” button starts looking really good.
You gain a more faithful following and well-respected online presence by posting on-topic, helpful responses that offer value.
Search engines have rules. And not paying attention to their clearly defined lists of specific activities such as link exchanges and cloaking can earn you a PageRank penalty, reduce your search engine ranking or get you banned altogether. They also offer contact information so that people can report spam – yet another reason to engage people in a genuine, respectable manner.
So before your next post, tweet, comment or status update, ask yourself, “Does this add value to the conversation or is it just another advertisement?” If the Twitter bird looks at you with judgment in its eyes, it may be time to rethink your social media strategies or shift some energy towards other aspects of your SEO efforts.
Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO)
September 2, 2010 By Sue Spiker
Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) is an effective and often overlooked extension of SEO. But, it’s actually an opportunity to support the content you’ve (hopefully) already worked so hard to optimize. And even extend that content’s visibility.
According to comScore’s May 2010 figures, “U.S. Internet users watched nearly 34 billion videos in May.” That makes VSEO a tremendous opportunity to:
- Drive web traffic
- Boost brand identity
- Add life to your web presence
- Connect with customers
- Showcase your expertise
- Build authority within your industry
And because YouTube “accounted for the vast majority of videos viewed”, creating your own YouTube Channel is an obvious place to begin your own VSEO efforts. YouTube tags and indexes posted videos to show up its own search results based on much the same information that search engines use to index webpages to show up in their results. Entering the right titles, tags and descriptions increases your video’s chance of being listed in the search results for YouTube and the major search engines.
Like every other aspect of your strategy, VSEO requires a carefully thought-out approach to effectively generate user interest, go viral and drive traffic to your website. And while your own Channel may not generate huge numbers, you can still increase your web presence simply by posting easily-searched 2- to 3-minute videos. So while you’re implementing general SEO strategies, consider video search optimization as a way to increase your web presence and web traffic.
