One of those I’ve seen getting used more and more is to put a set of links in a div attach a JavaScript link onto the whole div so that if the user clicks you get taken to page a. Under this you place a set of links – all to the same domain with some nice anchor texts and link these back to the specific pages – so that the search engine can read and index all of the links.

UX is completely different from what SX (I just made that up but by SX I mean Search eXperience I was going to use the acronym for Search Engine eXperience but I didn’t fancy getting adult filtered). there is no way that a user can click the link – unless they have JavaScript turned off of course.

What was more kinda surprising that I’ve came across a big brand doing this – not a small company. I guess they know if Google catch ‘em nothing will happen. Too big to be banned I guess.

TBH I’m kinda impressed at this but also dissapointed if the search engines can’t algorithmically see it. Oh well. Let me know if you find any pages hosting this kinda stuff. Interested to see how widespread it is.

Initially I moved from doing search engine optimisation and doing more search engine marketing and from here into everything from onsite conversion analysis, reporting, analytics and god knows what but I think its time to really start testing how far I can push my skills.

Duly over the next couple of months I’ll be blogging on a new website I’ll be launching in the travel industry with examples of what I’m doing with it and the benefits that testing etc bring to the income potential of the website. Initially the website will be run on an affiliate marketing program (Gavs been suggesting the Late Rooms program but may go with Hotels.com – anyone know of any real difference between them) and then moving it over to look at other exciting ways of generating cash from online marketing – a long term how to guide if you will but with my cash on the line. Could end in flames – but hopefully get it into a position where the website pays the couple of grand I need to pay for my honeymoon in the Maldives.

The first posts will be starting at the beginning of September – as I need to finish designing the website (in Drupal) and getting all the typos out of the content but should be ready. Even my fiancee is agreeing that it should be a useful enterprise

If there is anything in particular that anyone wants me to look at let me know and I shall do my best.

So I’ve came back from being sick and MSN has rebranded, almost every client is experiencing growth in sales volume and value from keywords which two months ago were generating little and I’ve rediscovered my love of cup noodle snacks from the Orient (not pot noodles which are stinking) – Nissin noodles are the way to go.

So hurrah and all I have to do now is answer the myriad of emails I’ve been receiving about Bing.com (what a stupid name for a search engine) promise to answer all my emails by the end of tomorrow – or maybe the day after. As I’m currently moving all my affiliate programs over to DGM.

And to round it off the Terminator – sorry Kate – didn’t win the apprentice so hurrah to the other one who did.

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See how easy that was. One quick check and you can find the problems almost instantly – on a test site it only takes a short time to check your pages.

For the first time I saw Google trying to steal everyones sales with their price comparrison function. Right at the top of the results, displayed to distract users from the other results they’ve rattled in a price comparison function. I was doing some research for a potential client in the financial sector – rather than looking to strangle myself with expensive debt. I think the ditraction factor is hugely important – by creating a level of abrasion on a page you can increase clickthrough rates on your on screen items. Highlight it, change the font, do anything just to make to clash with other elements – not so much as it annoys people but just enough that they have a thought of “whats that” as they read through your content. The new item certainly did that to me today – so much so that I got a PPC expert to explain it to me. Apparently its part of Googles Merchant Search functionality.

Google Price Comparisson function

You select an amount from the drop down and click compare lenders and you’re sent to: http://www.google.co.uk/MerchantSearchBeta/search. And you get:

Is google an affiliate?

The swine @ Google must be getting commision on sales – or the cost per click must be massive.

If you’re an affiliate relying on PPC be on the look out. Google may be coming to steal all your luctrative sales. May be time to get into some SEO and stop developing bridge pages to make your sales. If Google expands this to many more queries it could be a fun ride.

I’ve always used link directories. They’re quick and cheap ways to get links. But that’s the problem – if they’re cheap, easy and quick that means the links they deliver are usually of really low quality. Unless you’ve got a reasonably old website with a bit of good history, some decent back links and a reasonable chunk of PageRank they do very little. All they do is add to the keywords that are pointing to the domain – which helps with search engine positions but not a great deal unless you already have some PageRank etc.

You can use a company like Directory Maximizer to do the submissions for you – but you’ll limit the number of keyword rich anchor texts to about 5. Which runs the risk of overloading your website with keywords which could trip a filter over @ Google. Also your links are only going to go to your homepage – which is a bit useless as your homepage can only do so much to help.

To test out how many people are actually using link directories as a core link development tactic and how they operate, from a management perspective, I’ve stuck one up @ http://www.solis3.com. Andy’s stuck one up at Our Cool Stuff too so we can have a comparator. Neither have PageRank yet, They have very few links in them and they’ve not been spidered yet. Solis 3 was spidered in a previous incarnation but I got bored of it when the server crashed and couldn’t find enough time until recently to get it up and running. If you fancy some free links get submitting (there’ll be more categories added in coming weeks so if you want a category that’s not listed just let me know).

I’ve also just stuck a brand new website with 6 pages into Directory Maximizer and going to do nothing else with it for 6 months to see if it brings any benefit what so ever to the domain.

For years I’ve tried to explain to people what I do for a living. Most look like I’ve just fallen off a spaceship and others think this isn’t a real job – internet marketing’s a fad and will die out in a while. Two years ago I met the first ‘real’ person who knew what search engine optimization was! They were an american so as usual they were probably a few steps ahead in their knowledge on online compares to the majority of UK residents. So imagine my surprise when I get talking to my cabbie on the ride home ony to find he was doing his own SEO – and he brought up the subject.

For kicking me out of my post-holiday stupour  and getting me to my train on time here’s a link to his website that provides Glasgow Airport Taxis. Maybe those rankings that everyone goes after for SEO terms will start delivering more traffic than sales historically as the knowledge of everyone in the UK increases. The market would appear ripe for a company specialising in affordable SEO for small companies when this growth takes place as I expect that many wont be able to afford the thousands of pounds that larger established SEO companies will be charging.

This is probably the truth! Nuff said.

Where should your blog ping?

1. Pingomatic: In WordPress your blog is set up to ping Pingomatic by default. Pingomatic tell 16 sites (it can tell more if you have a podcast) that your blog has updated. These are:
   • Weblogs.com
   • FeedBurner
   • MyYahoo!
   • BlogRolling
   • We Blog Alot
   • Topic Exchange
   • Blo.gs
   • Syndic8
   • PubSub
   • Blog Street
   • IceRocket
   • Technorati
   • News Gator
   • BlogDigger
   • MoreOver
   • News Is Free

   Of this list Technorati has some nice bits and pieces so get over there and claim your blog. If your blog is not pinging automatically go over to Pingomatic and enter your details will do exactly the same thing as your blog should be.

2. Google: for once Google isnt the core place you should ping but its still hugely important and Google Blog Search can bring good traffic if you know what to target in it. In your Ping list put ‘http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2′. If again you’re not pinging you can request a URL and it’ll deliver the same results. Instructions for forming this page request can be found at http://www.google.com/help/blogsearch/pinging_API.html. Its at the bottom of the page under the heading “Setting up a REST client”. The important thing is that by pinging Google you’ll get GoogleBot to come and spider your site more quickly. North South Media did find an exception to this.
3. That’s it to be honest. The thirs place I think you should check out, if you are interested in getting your pings going and want to ping everywhere on the planet (and for some of you all the links this may generate could be too tempting to pass up) is to use the list over at Boyd Of Ayrshire. Its where I started my delving into pinging and some of the ping locations listed could be right for your niche blog.

If you know of any other websites that people should be pinging – either via the built in XML request built into WordPress or by URL let us know in the comments below.

White Hats, Black Hats and Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft

SEO is not magic. It can be complicated but it not magical. SEOs have tried to split themselves into two distinct camps: White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO. White Hats SEOs act in ways that are within the terms and conditions of thesearch engines and Black Hat SEOs act outwith these. Unfotunately for you as a website owner these ‘terms and conditions’ are vague – leaving no hard and fast rules as to what is ethical and what is unethical.

What is Ethical Search Engine Optimisation?

Ethical SEO can best be thought of as giving search eninges the information they need to rank your site effectively in the way that they want it. Search Engines want you to have content from which they can understand what you sell. They want other web pages to reinforce this through links. So if you talk about a product/service/subject on your website and other web pages reinforce this with links you’ll rank better.

Unethical SEO will ‘game’ search engines and use this to drive traffic to your site. If you’re caught you could get kicked out of the major search engines. Don’t believe me? You know BMW, that huge company, they got kicked out so dont think Google or Yahoo! won’t when they find you’ve been up to things that are dodgy.

Protect Yourself against Unethical SEO

The first thing to do when you decide to get an SEO company working for you, or you start doing it yourself, is get a grip on SEO. Go to Google and do a search for “search engine optimisation tutorial”, “SEO forum” or other related things. You see the parts where every site you read agrees – it’s probably safe to do these things. If you see something that looks too good to be true such as 1,000′s of links for a couple of pounds it probably is and stay well away.