How To Get Popular on Social Media Sites
This video tells the story:
Too funny.
March 17, 2008
March 7, 2008
First Video with Real iMovie Effort
I trust the content in my videos are fairly okay but I never really put in any detail into the movie part. I think I bore people when they watch, so this time I put in about an hour of time to adding captions, pictures, screen captures, music and other tidbits - besides for me speaking.
So here is the latest Weekly Search Buzz Roundup video:
Would seriously love your feedback on ways to improve it. Things I got so far include:
- Your head looks like it's getting cut off
- Make sure not to right align the text in the captions (YouTube logo cuts it off)
- Move picture behind me
- Move more (hard to do with built in iSight so maybe ill get a video camera)
That is what I got so far...
March 6, 2008
Paczkowski on Ask.com's Move
Ask: The Little Engine That Can’t by Paczkowski sums it up perfectly on video. Watch the first couple minutes:
How awesome is that?
February 29, 2008
SMX West Video Interview with Mike McDonald
Here is another interview with me and Mike. Really enjoy these.
The weather was outstanding. While it was below freezing and rainy in NY. Santa Clara was sunny and 70s.
February 19, 2008
Live Video Barry Casting for Search News: This Week 11am (EST)
Catch me at 11am (EST) today for the Barry Cast. I will be live via audio and video feed at http://live.yahoo.com/rustybrick.
Tomorrow, I'll probably do it at 11:30am (EST). But the rest of the week, Ill do it at 11am (EST). I am doing it this week as an experiment and since Danny is off on vacation and won't be doing the Daily Search Cast. Next week, we are at SMX, so I doubt I will do this on schedule. But stay tuned.
Here is an embedded version, I am not sure if you can hear audio with this version:
I know it doesn't work in Safari, so try Firefox or IE.
Starting in 10 minutes at http://live.yahoo.com/rustybrick.
Update: Yahoo Live went down a few minutes into the show. Hoping it comes back soon. I am sorry.
It worked finally, sorry about Yahoo's tech issues.
What a Blackhat SEO Looks Like
Ever wonder what a real blackhat SEO looks like? We hear about them. Some call themselves blackhat SEOs. But we rarely see true ones. ;-)
See the guy on the right with the beard? That is Ralph Tegtmeier, aka Fantomaster.
Lee Odden posted pictures of SES London, where Mike Grehan convinced Ralph Tegtmeier, aka Fantomaster to sit on a panel. Fantomaster is an historic icon in the SEO industry. More about him at this page.
February 13, 2008
My Introduction to the First SphinnCon on Video
The other day I posted pictures of SphinnCon Israel. I finally had time to upload a two part video of my introduction to the first ever SphinnCon. I had to break up the 17 minute video into two parts, so YouTube would accept it. My Dad took the video, he was in the front row.
As you can see, in the beginning, I was a bit choppy but things went smoothly afterwards. I personally had a great time with it:
Part One: 8 minutes and 51 seconds
Part Two: 8 minutes and 10 seconds
February 6, 2008
SphinnCon Israel Update & Traffic in Jerusalem
Yesterday was SphinnCon Israel and I have a huge write up on it at the Search Engine Roundtable. Overall, i am very pleased on how it turned out...
Today, they were doing some construction in Kikar Shabbat (probably spelling wrong), off Strauss in Geula, Jerusalem. The traffic was madness, pure madness.
It goes on and on and on.
February 5, 2008
Off to SphinnCon Israel Soon
I am off to SphinnCon Israel soon. The time zone stuff is really weird, 1am in NY and its the morning here. Anyway...
Branko is picking me up. My dad, who is also in for the bar mitzvah, is coming with us. Should be cool.
Things are going well. I am going to meet some of the people at JCT first and then we begin the conference. I'll make sure to post pictures and some of my thoughts.
I hope everything goes smoothly. I am told there is a change to the schedule already. But the best part of SphinnCon's is that they are relaxed. So if we start off with a 30 minute cocktail, and then start the presentations, I am sure no one would mind.
See those of you that are coming soon, others... see you later.
January 31, 2008
Online Reputation Management in Other Languages
I do all the fun reputation management stuff for my personal name and company brands - also for a few clients. But what about in foreign languages?
With SphinnCon Sold Out and a ton of Israeli press coming, might be smart to try to stay on top of my name in hebrew?
So maybe a Google Alert for בארי שוורץ? Of course, blog search results and news results. Also, for Sphinncon Israel searches and maybe RustyBrick but in hebrew?
Some notes for me for later... Need to subscribe to these things in an organized fashion...
January 30, 2008
Overbooked for SphinnCon Israel?
Yesterday, we sold out our attendance at 15 above our 150 cap, to 165, for SphinnCon Israel. I was comfortable going with 15 above the 150 cap we set, because about 6 or so of those 15 extra seats will be sitting on the panel and I am sure ten or more will be late or not showing up.
I was also told we can fit a nice amount of people in folding chairs in the back.
Now that we are sold out, there are people asking me to register them. Some claim technical issues when trying to register early. Some I am told were suppose to be registered earlier but something was miscommunicated.
So now I am in a pickle. I don't want to turn people away, but I have been doing so since yesterday. Some people I have no choice but to add. Plus the university hosting the event wants some of their students to access the event. I am told by the university that they can hook up a display and speakers in the lobby for those that show up late, and people can listen in the lobby. So I think we should be okay, but I am a bit worried about it.
On one hand it is good to be sold out but on the other hand, I don't want people to feel like they are packed in like sardines. Overall, for $50, to be packed in like sardines and get the quality of speakers and panelists they are getting - it is well worth it. So maybe I shouldn't worry?
January 28, 2008
First Interview in Israeli Hebrew Paper: גלובס
Noa Prag, נועה פרג, of The Globes, גלובס, an Israeli Hebrew paper interviewed me the other week for the SphinnCon Israel event. נועה is one of גלובס's technology writers. Earlier last week, she was reporting on the DLD Conference in Germany.
We chatted for about 30 minutes and posted the interview at גלובס. The write up is named מחפשים בע"מ and the first paragraph reads:
בארי שוורץ, נשיא ראסטי-בריק, הוא אחד שיודע איך לדחוף קדימה אתר מסוים באינטרנט, ולא רק בגוגל. בשפה המקצועית קוראים לזה SEO, וזה לא תמיד מסתדר עם תחום ה-SMO, החיפוש ברשתות חברתיות. על אופטימיזציה של מנועי חיפוש, על טרנד המובייל, וגם על מקומה של ישראל בשוק האינטרנט העולמי. ריאיון
בארי שוורץ is my name, Barry Schwartz. נשיא means president. ראסטי-בריק is RustyBrick. It basically says I know stuff about Google and other search engines, including SEO, SMO and we are doing a conference on it in Israel. She then posted the details of the interview.
There are several comments on the article, which I am clueless to as what they mean. I can barely understand the write up - my Hebrew is pretty bad. I can read it, understand some, but not most of it. So if anyone wants to translate the comments, please do so - I am very curious...
In any event, we are a few seats to being sold out and I am so excited for the event. I am told no one wears suits in Israel and that I should come dressed very casual - so I will listen and dress casual. See you there and thanks Noa at the Globes - see you there also!
January 23, 2008
Personal Thank You To SphinnCon Israel Sponsors & Contributors
SphinnCon Israel is just under two weeks away and it is amazing how much work is involved in setting one of these things up. Keep in mind, this is just a half day event, not one of these multiple day events, with lunches, hotels, exhibit halls and so on - all we had to worry about was a half day event.
But things are going very well. We have about 10 tickets remaining before we sell out. I am very happy about that. I wanted to reach out personally and thank those who have helped out both in terms of their time and money.
Contributors: There are a handful of people who have helped make this networking event possible in such a short time span. I cannot list everyone, because I received several dozen emails from advice, requests, support and guidance. But I wanted to name a handful who have been active on a day-to-day basis with the planning of the event.
- Michael Barnett from RankAbove has been extremely active is helping organize the speakers, the hand out and much more. Thank you Michael!
- Eli Feldblum the CEO of RankAbove for helping with the initial set up, daily emails and having three members of his company devoted to this event. Thanks Eli.
- Roi Hildesheimer from Tens Web Marketing for doing a lot of the behind the scenes things!
- Gilad Sasson (algoholic) from nekuda.co.il. Gilad helped around and gave advice from the perspective of a veteran Israeli SEO.
- Mayer Reich RankAbovefor helping coordinate the speakers and panelists and much more.
- Branko Rihtman of Tens Web Marketing (aka neyne) has been helping all over the board, from sponsors to the venue to speakers - Branko has been instrumental in setting this up.
Sponsors: These are the guys who are handing over the cash so that we can pay for printing the handout, banners, and name badges. The also help pay for the food and drinks in the after hours events. Sponsoring the venue and hardware and internet for the presentations. Without their financial contributions, it would be hard to pull off the event, with just the $50 per attendee.
- Play65, an online backgammon site (backgammon is huge in Israel, I think). They have agreed to sponsor the first ever SphinnCon Israel. Thank you so much and make sure to give backgammon a shot, it rocks!
- K.co.il, a Hebrew Internet Marketing site and portal. K has a thriving Hebrew SEO forum tons of members and tons of posts and threads. Thank you K!
- Compucall, yes, they have an English version. Compucall is a Web marketing company that does SEO, PPC, web analytics, email marketing and much more. The company is lead by Ophir Cohen (his blog), who started the company in 1999 and has been in the SEO industry forever. Thank you!
- The Jerusalem College of Technology's Department of Technological Management and Marketing. They have been gracious to host the event for us at their campus, for free. They are giving us a huge lobby and huge class room that will fit 150 people comfortably. Thank you JCT!
Panelists & Speakers: And of course, a huge thank you to the speakers and panelists who have been confirmed. Those not mentioned above include Sam Michelson CEO of Five Blocks, Avi Wilensky CEO of Promedia Corp, Itai Levitan the Managing Partner at EasyNet, Alon Sheafer the Founder of Kenshoo, Tal Cohen the Finance and Technology Industry Manager at Google Israel, Michael G. Samet, Ph.D. the CEO, Referral Technology, Inc., Tzvika Avnery aPartner at Tagadam, Roi Carthy of TechCrunch and Lior Hene of Yedda.
Thank you all for making this possible and helping bring SMX to Israel!
January 16, 2008
How I Prepare My Search Marketing Presentations
Last night I sat down at home and starting to work on my presentation, I guess "keynote," for SphinnCon Israel.
I took this great class in Baruch College, yea a speech 101, but it helped a lot with me prepping for the presentations I have given in the past. Now, I am by far not a professional speaker. I don't mind speaking, but I do not get paid, like some, to go around the world speaking at events. Having said that, this is how I start preparing my presentations.
I first figure out a title for my presentation. After that, I nail down the "general purpose," of the presentation, typically it is three words - in my case, "to introduce." Then I get specific, by writing a full sentence of two about the "specific purpose" on my presentation. In my SphinnCon presentation, it is to introduce the conference and agenda for the afternoon. Then I get into more details, by providing a "central idea," which is a paragraph of the core of the presentations.
Once I nail that down. I work on my introductory "transition" into the first slide. The first transition is actually the first words that comes out of my mouth at the event. I then do a slide and then another transition statement, which leads into a new slide. I repeat this process, so that the transitions flow from one slide to the next. Keep in mind, I may have 5 slides grouped together between two transitions - that is ok.
Last night I put together 8 main sections of my presentation. It is all in outline view in Microsoft Word. After I finalize the outline, that is when I get into doing something in Apple Keynote or PowerPoint - but I am hoping to do Keynote. I also hope to have very little text, or zero text, in my slides - if possible. Should be fun!
January 10, 2008
Twitter Scrapers: Reverse Twitter to Blog Feeding
It's not enough you scrap my forum posts, my blog posts, my articles and my web site content but you also have to scrap my Twits!
Just kidding... There is this SEO who does reverse Twitter to Blog automatic posting. You got me. Whereas I do Blog to Twitter posts, RKF does Twitter to Blog posts.
His blog is at Created Wonder and you can clearly see, his posts from his twitter alias RFK, is being published to his blog.
Example: He replied to a twitter of mine saying:
@rustybrick I’ve tried replacing batteries, but usually end up with a new UPS. The price is pretty close, look for trade-in rebates
But, check his blog post on that over at this URL.
Too funny.
An SEO technique? Playing with my mind? Just bored one day? Loves APIs?
January 8, 2008
SphinnCon Israel Speaker List
We have 99% finalized the speaker list for SphinnCon Israel.
Here it is:
SEO Panel: Paid Links & Penalties
Moderator: Barry Schwartz, SphinnCon Israel Chair
Presenter: Branko Rihtman, SEO Specialist at Tens Technology
Ophir Cohen, CEO of Compucall
Sam Michelson, CEO of Five Blocks
Eyal Chen, Business Development Manager at Google Israel
PPC Panel: Will the PPC Model Hold Up as Click Prices Rise?
Moderator: Barry Schwartz, SphinnCon Israel Chair
Presenter: Itai Levitan, Managing Partner at EasyNet
Avi Wilensky, CEO of Promedia Corp
Alon Sheafer, Founder of Kenshoo
Tal Cohen, Finance and Technology Industry Manager at Google Israel
Social Panel: Should You Social?
Moderator: Barry Schwartz, SphinnCon Israel Chair
Presenter: Eli Feldblum, CEO of RankAbove
Gilad Sasson, Search Marketing Analyst at Nekuda.co.il
Tzvika Avnery, Partner at Tagadam
Like I said before, most of the time will be used for open Q&A and networking. But the presentations will be about 10 minutes each and there will be only one presentation per panel.
I will do a new post later with who the gracious sponsors will be.
Danny just did a post at Search Engine Land on this agenda and some more news!
January 4, 2008
Update on SphinnCon Israel
I was just sent the official SphinnCon logo. So we worked up a new banner ad for SphinnCon Israel. What you think of it? The old one can be seen overhere.
Here is a status update on SphinnCon Israel.
The team and I have been working up the speaker and panelist for the agenda. We have some of the biggest and most respected SEO/SEM companies sponsoring. We expect to have representatives from Google Israel, MSN Israel and other companies in the search space come and represent. The panels will be very informal, but they will contain some of the brightest minds in SEO, PPC and Social Media. Many of the panelists will be Israelis, but we do have some who are flying in from the States, because they love Israel.
First and foremost, this is not an official conference. If it was, it would be named SMX Israel. It is SphinnCon Israel, simply because we didn't have time to set up a full day or full two day event in Israel in 2008. So that means the panels will be very informal. I expect to have one 7 minute presentation on the topic and then leave the rest open to Q&A. I also expect the audience to be very savvy, so Q&A will probably be more networking and open style then an official SMX conference. It should be a ton of fun.
Anyway, I hope to post an official list of speakers for the agenda early next week. I also hope to give you information on the sponsors and which search reps are coming soon.
So stay tuned and if you haven't signed up yet, please do quickly - again, we only have 150 seats and many have already been filled.
January 2, 2008
SEM Education Videos: Internet Marketing Ninjas
I have to commend Jim Boykin for organizing one of the most comprehensive sets of Search Engine Marketing video education web sites I have seen to-date. The new site is called Internet Marketing Ninjas and has a collection of videos from the top names in our industry.
I first found out of it recently because Jim signed up to promote Internet Marketing Ninjas at the Search Engine Roundtable. That is not why I am writing about it here, I have many sponsors and I rarely mention them here... I am just amazed at the list of names his has put together here.
- Aaron Wall of SEO Book
- Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim
- Bill Slawski of SEO by the Sea
- Christine Churchill of KeyRelevance
- Cameron Olthuis
- Jim Boykin We Build Pages
- Jim Gilbert KeyRelevance
- Jeremy Schoemaker of ShoeMoney
- Jill Whalen of High Rankings
- Lee Odden of TopRank
- Neil Patel of Pronet Advertising
- Todd Malicoat of Stuntdubl
All together, over 15 hours of videos on topics including seo, ppc, link building, social media, affiliate marketing and much more.
It is pretty expensive, but it seems to me to be well worth the price tag.
Great job Jim!
December 27, 2007
Register for SphinnCon Israel: SEM Israel Conference Today
The first SphinnCon event is coming up in about a month. I will be hosting the first ever SphinnCon, a small SMX event, in Israel, during my Israel vacation.
We have 150 seats available in all. Thing is, if you don't register soon, you may be locked out. Again, it takes place February 5, 2008 between noon and 6pm at the Jerusalem College of Technology. If you are in the area or simply just want to meet, please register here, before it is too late.
It only costs $50 and it will be a great networking and educational experience - let alone making history by attending the first ever SphinnCon.
Again, it is my hope that SphinnCon Israel will kick off an SMX Israel in 2009. Let's make this a reality by showing interesting in the 2008 edition!
Send Me Your Search Predictions for 2008
December 26, 2007
Reddit Love & Digg Hate
Yesterday, I wrote a piece named Google's Gmail Reaches 6GB on Christmas. Soon I saw it was submitted to Digg, but it seems like when it started to gain some steam, it was manually removed from the upcoming page. It has been ages since a post on seroundtable.com made it on the Digg home page, in fact, we use to be on the Digg home page often - but it has been months since that has happened. I believe Digg has blacklisted seroundtable.com, because it is unnatural for our content not to be on Digg, at least once a month.
Checking the stats this AM, I noticed Reddit sent us a ton of traffic. Over 7,000 visitors just from Reddit. It made the Reddit home page, so thank you Reddit community!
But why am I blacklisted on Digg? Did I abuse it? Who knows...
December 21, 2007
60 Users for Facebook Search News Application in 5 Hours
In just about five hours after Danny and I announced the Search News for Facebook application, we have 60 users signed up.
I am amazed. Tons of people are away today for the holiday week and 60 users is huge, imo. I am also very excited to finally be able to share with the search industry what Danny and I think the news will be for the day. So now you know, will it be a crazy day or slow day - based on forum post volume and news volume in the search world.
If you haven't signed up, sign up at the Search News for Facebook!
Note, a Google OpenSocial version will be done in a few weeks. I am a bit more excited for that one.
Huge thanks to Danny for pushing me to finally build this out. Thank you Andy for working OT to get this done for us. Thanks to Ronnie and RustyBrick for it also.
December 20, 2007
Ask.com's Crazy Snow Flake Home Page
Did you visit Ask.com today? If not, check it out, they have a crazy theme for the holiday season. Here is a video of it, so its archived forever.
December 13, 2007
Israel SEO Event: SphinnCon Israel: February 5, 2008
After hoping to start an event in Israel under the SMX brand, we decided to go with a smaller event, still under the Third Door umbrella, but named it SphinnCon Israel.
SphinnCon is basically a smaller SMX event, that is much less formal and has a shorter and more flexible agenda. Due to timing issues, we could not run a full SMX Israel event this coming year, but I hope in January 2009, we can get that going...
The Third Door umbrella, but named it SphinnCon Israel agenda is live. It takes place in Jerusalem on February 5th in the afternoon. We decided to put a fee of $50 on this event, just to make sure those that register are serious about coming. Keep in mind, we have a max capacity of 150 attendees, so register quickly so you don't miss out.
For more information on the event, check out the SphinnCon Israel page.
Hope to see you all there!!!
December 6, 2007
Missing Conferences: Crazy Schedule: Should Have Gone
I told you I was bailing on the conferences this month. In hindsight, I should of gone. Why?
(1) When I go to the conference, I can avoid a lot of RustyBrick work. So I can just focus on search stuff. Being at home, makes me do both, while my support staff is away - causing more work for me. My schedule has been crazy this week.
- Up at 5:40am
- 5:40:30am checking and responding to email
- 6:00am leave to pray
- 6:30am get to office
- 6:31am reply to more email
- 6:35am do forum research and blogging while more email
- 8:00am do RSS reading for SELand
- 8:30am organize writer's budget and write at SELand
- 9:00am do RB work
...
mixing up RB work and SEL/SER work
...
posting conference coverage
...
- 4:00pm do SEL/CB recaps
...
more RB/SEL/SER work...
- 7:00pm leave office
- 7:15pm get home and turn computer back on
- 7:16pm reply to emails and check RSS feeds
...
- 7:30pm eat while checking email
...
more of the above
- 9:00pm shower
- 9:30pm work from bed
- 11:30pm turn computer off and watch some TV before falling asleep
I am tired...
(2) I am missing the fun and seeing industry buddies... I do miss you all. I missed the Inaugural Werewolves Search Spam Card Game At PubCon Vegas. Look at all the fun they had!
(3) Conference rejuvenate your love for search, I may need an injection of some of that. I guess I'll wait until February.
If I was able to do it again, I would be at one of the conferences. Which one? Honestly, Vegas seems like a lot of fun from what I am reading and hearing.
November 30, 2007
Quick SMX Israel Update
Just a quick update on SMX Israel.
The planning is going well. I hope to have a page up somewhere at SMX with a registration form, agenda, location and times shortly.
Give me a couple more business days and we should be set!
November 29, 2007
F The Big Three?
At first I thought this video was created by Ask.com, but then I looked deeper.
The video is to promote the launch of FTheBigTheThree.com, which takes place December 1st.
But if you look at the title tag, it says, "Social Media Marketing, Social Network Optimization." So now it appears that a Social Media Marketing and Social Network Optimization company owns the name.
The whois information is private, so no hints there.
So anyone know what this site is about?
Here is the video:
November 14, 2007
Vote for an SMX Israel Event
As you can see from the icon at the top right (removed icon) of this post, the "Israel" was snuck into an SMX logo by myself. Yes, it is not official just yet. But I would love to make it official. To do that, I need to see real interest from the SEM industry in Israel. Do you guys really want an SMX event?
If so, please vote to have our first SMX Israel this February. If this SMX Israel "Mini" event works out, then we may be able to have larger, full day (or two) conferences in Israel. And who knows, maybe we can convince Danny and Chris to come out.
25 people voted yes for such an event, so what I need now is for you to go to Sphinn and confirm that you have strong interest in attending the event.
Go over here and confirm your interest. If you are not registered with Sphinn yet, then this is a great opportunity to join the Sphinn community. It takes a few minutes, register and then go over here and click "attend."
Don't live in Israel? Love SEO? This is a great opportunity to see some of the most historic and holy sites in the world. Plus, you can write it off! :)
OK, OK, so go ahead and attend.
I am told you cannot submit a preference for day or location. So do so in the comments here. If your comment do not get published, let me know.
We are live: Register for SphinnCon Israel today!
November 7, 2007
Any Interest in Israeli SEO Networking Event?
I am planning on visiting Israel in early February, a quasi vacation, business trip (meet two clients), catch up with family and friends and nephew's bar mitzvah. So I figured, heck, why not tack on another thing --- an SEO networking event...
Last time I went to Israel, I received dozens of emails from Israeli SEOs and SEMs to meet up. It was my honeymoon, so it just didn't seem right to do that to my wife. But I do want to say hello to all the SEOs and SEMs out in Israel - so this time, I don't want to miss that opportunity.
I can probably arrange a half day event in Jerusalem while I am in Israel. In fact, I can probably get a sponsor with the help of Third Door Media coordinating the event under an SMX or Sphinn thing. It is very early on, just a concept right now, so no guarantees on that. I am just fishing the idea around.
So if you are an SEO, live in the Israel area and will be around in early February (the first week in February), would you want a half day event in Israel? Have all your Israeli SEO friends come and vote at the poll below. I may post this poll later at Search Engine Land and Search Engine Roundtable to get a wider response, but for now, I want to see who may be interested, if any, via this venue.
Thank you in advance.
October 25, 2007
Forbes Called, Interviewed, & Even Cited Me
Yesterday, if you missed it, Google (in my opinion) sent a message to publishers who sell text ads on their sites. There was a major shake up in the industry that impacted sites worldwide.
In short, Google has a little thing they call PageRank. They show a PageRank score in their Toolbar and it represents how popular a page is. The other night, they dropped the score of hundreds of sites by a lot. Including sites like Forbes, Washington Post and even my site. Because of that, I had some folks in the press call me (I suspect because Danny is on vacation) and ask me some questions.
So I answered a bunch of Andy Greenberg's questions over the phone. Then he called back and I answered more. I honestly thought I wouldn't be quoted or quoted much because this happens too often and ends up not being much. But to my surprise, Andy at Forbes really quoted the heck out of me.
Google Scares The Search Crowd from Andy at Forbes is the article. A ton of the content is from quoting me and I think he did a good job representing what we discussed over the phone.
But Schwartz, who has tracked affected sites and seen no change in traffic, claims that Wednesday's algorithm shift is simply a public relations stunt. "The bottom line is that people are able to manipulate Google's rankings by buying links, and Google has to do something about that," he said. "Today, they sent a huge statement to some of the most popular blogs on the Internet, and particularly those in the search industry."
I wouldn't call it a public relations stunt necessarily. More of one of the only real ways to handle it.
Anyway, wanted to share my quotes from this article with the people who read my personal blog. Plus it is good to document.
October 18, 2007
China Proves Search is Damn Important
If you didn't believe search is an incredibly important piece of your life, the economy, the world and the future - then maybe this will convince you.
Earlier this morning, the reports starting popping up that China began redirecting search related traffic from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to Baidu, the chinese based search engine. So if you tried to search on Google China, while in China, the search would automatically redirect you to Baidu.
People at first started blaming Baidu. But Baidu can't make that happen. The only feasible explanation is an organization powerful enough to control your ISP. I believe the Chinese government.
Why would China do this all of a sudden? Maybe because of the US Award to the Dalai Lama? Heck, heck out the coverage on this news already.
Techmeme has a large list and its only been about 2 hours so far. We have titles such as:
- Cyberwar: China Declares War On Western Search Sites from TechCrunch
- Did Dalai Lama Award Cause China To Redirect Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Search Traffic To Baidu? from Search Engine Land
- China Mad at America, Sends Search Traffic from Google, Yahoo & Microsoft to Baidu from Search Engine Roundtable
- China Blocks Everything But Baidu? from WebProNews
- Made in China: Dodging the Internet Censor from eWeek
And many more.
This is not only a big deal for search, it is a big deal for the economy and diplomacy.
September 26, 2007
Search Engine Land is One of Jakob Nielsen Favorite Blogs
Wow, this is awesome news. Practical ECommerce interviewed Jakob Nielsen, one of the most cited people on web topics.
They asked Mr. Nielsen to identify his favorite blogs. Of the four blogs he identified, one was Search Engine Land. The blog Danny, Greg, Chris and I manage on a day to day basis. He said:
Extremely detailed coverage of search and search engines. In fact, it’s too detailed, because they obsess over the smallest detail, which can be too much. I wish this site would abandon the linear blog format and use a more prioritized layout and information architecture to make it easier to focus on important stories and those columnists that interest me the most. Still, this is the place to go for info on the most important channel for reaching new prospects on the web — the search engines.
OK, so it wasn't all positive, but positive enough. We will take from that, maybe adapt the site a bit to make it easier to use and find content.
But it is really nice knowing that something you put so much into (over 40% of the posts on Search Engine Land are mine, but I know Danny's articles make people read there), is appreciate not by just people in your direct industry, but people who are outside your industry. Especially people as well known, cited and respected as Jakob Nielsen.
September 7, 2007
Paid Search Guys: Learn How to Make a Nice Title Tag Please
Here is a simple SEO Tip for some of you paid search guys. Please make a clean title tag for your blog posts, please! I beg you.
Ok, I'll call two paid search guys out and one person who travels so much that he needs to sit down and modify his blog software before he gets on his next boat.
Let's start with someone I know can take it. Andrew Goodman, your Traffick site needs some nice titles. Let's look at your latest post on My Lack of Privacy is Now Official. Forget about Andrew crying about people knowing who he is, since everyone knows how to track him down already... Look at this title tag:
<title>Traffick: My Lack of Privacy is Now Official: Search Engine Enlightenment | Grab the feed: traffick.com/atom.xml</title>
Now, why can't you just put your title of your post in your title? It can look something like this:
<title>My Lack of Privacy is Now Official</title>
Ok, so you may want your blog name in the title, so stick it at the end, like this:
<title>My Lack of Privacy is Now Official, Traffick</title>
This is what your title tag looks in the title of my browser:
If it was my decision, go with <title>My Lack of Privacy is Now Official</title> format please.
Ok, now that I am done with Andrew, let's move on to my PPC Hero.
A recent post is named Why You May Not Be Able to Use Google Adwords Campaign Optimizer but hey, your title tag reads a hell of a lot more than that.
<title>The Adventures of PPC Hero - Heroic Feats of Pay Per Click Management : Why You May Not Be Able to Use Google Adwords Campaign Optimizer</title>
Cut it down, and make it look like this please:
<title>Why You May Not Be Able to Use Google Adwords Campaign Optimizer</title>
Why? Well not only does it look like this in my browser bar:
It looks like this in the search results listings:
Tisk, tisk, tisk - that should be a unique title tag. Otherwise, your site: command search looks extremely repetitive and your CTR from the search results will be lower than you may want.
Ok, next victim is an old time buddy, Mr. Mike Grehan. Yes, I know, you are never at your desk to modify your blog template. But please, please, sit down, get into the code and give yourself a title tag. We know it is your blog and you don't need to tell us that "Mike Grehan says..." in every single title of your post.
I am not sure what the title of his most recent post is suppose to be. site:www.mikegrehan.com...
Mike, favor, please give me some titles to link to, please.
My rant is now done.
August 31, 2007
Am I Missing Something? Tell Me To Subscribe to Your Blog!
It seems like every day a new SEO blog is created. Now, I can't possibly subscribe to each one... well maybe I can. But why don't you help me.
If you want me to subscribe to your blog and I have not yet, then please comment below with your blog URL. In fact, if you want to make it faster f