Category Archives: Search Engine Optimization

“WordPress sucks” – unsubstantiated claims show SEO snake oil salesmen still abound

Amongst the plethora of self-proclaimed search engine optimization "experts" there is more than a handful who are little more than snake oil salesmen

It’s fair to say that many website owners view search engine optimization (SEO) practitioners as little more than snake oil salesmen and when a reasonably respected website comes out with an unsubstantiated article titled WordPress Sucks: Impress Search Engines With These Alternatives the status of professional SEO practitioners takes a severe battering. While link baiting is a common SEO tactic, readers drawn to a respected website that professes to publish information for SEO professionals due to a sensationalist headline expect to find balanced reasoning to support the “hook”, and not a lame, half-arsed opinion bereft of facts. This sadly was not the case last Friday when Search Engine Watch (SEW) published WordPress Sucks: Impress Search Engines With These Alternatives by Gary-Adam Shannon, which kicked off with the claim that search engines are penalizing WordPress sites because of “security vulnerabilities, hacked themes, exploits, and all sorts of madness.” Citing WordPress-based link farms and scraper sites as also being to blame, Mr Shannon then goes on to claim that a good reason for website owners to move to WordPress is that “search … Continue reading

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Google +1 button to be more than a novelty for Serp

Google +1 button in search results

A new “+1 button” endorsement system being trialled by Google not only mimics a well entrenched Facebook feature, but also has the capacity to become a powerful factor in search results. Currently available as an “opt-in” service on the Google Experimental website, the “+1 button” will enable anyone using any Google product to give websites or search results a positive approval, with such a ranking currently being visible to any other person in that users internet network. What this essentially means is that if you use a Google product then anyone you know who also uses a Google product will be able to see the approval you gave. Based on the Facebook “Like” button, Google’s “+1 button” will appear in search results, as well as in a new publicly viewable tab on your Google profile. In addition to being a recommendation system for your “Google network”, the approval system will undoubtedly provide feedback to Google on exactly how well it’s search algorithms matched the search term used, enabling greater refinement of search results. Google +1 button for website content Google … Continue reading

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Content is king returns with Google’s new search algorithm

Matt Cutts: Google's new search algorithm will provide better rankings for high-quality sites with original content.

With about two-thirds of the search engine market globally, the change to Google’s search algorithm to such an extent is a rare admission by the company that the much sought after “user experience” was being manipulated too much through spamy and often irrelevant methods, including search engine optimisation (SEO) and questionable links. A highly publicised recent example was US retailing giant J.C. Penney, who the New York Times claimed had been manipulating Google search results to maintain the number one place for a range of keyword searches, including bedding, and dresses. In The Dirty Little Secrets of Search the New York Times said: “Someone paid to have thousands of links placed on hundreds of sites scattered around the web, all of which lead directly to JCPenney.com. The article claimed there were links to JCPenney.com’s dresses page, from sites about aluminum sheet, cameras, cars, diseases, dogs, online games, fishing, dentists and many more with no relationship to dresses or the fashion industry – the ordinary source such links would be expected to originate from. Manipulating Google PR through purchasing links is … Continue reading

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The importance of website content

Google loves fresh and original content, but copy other peoples content at your risk

For years Google, the ruler of the global search engine world, has continuously stressed the importance of “original content” and the “user experience” when talking about the different algorithms it uses to grade website content. Original content is fairly self explanatory – it’s website content that you haven’t taken off another website and placed on your own as your own material. While the chances of being caught plagiarizing another websites content might be moderate – it can and does happen – the chances of avoiding detection for this by Google is very low. While Google won’t report you to the authorities, it will penalize you in other ways, taking on the role of inquisitor, prosecutor, judge, and executioner, all in less time than it takes you to read this paragraph. The end result is your website content is ignored, wasting the time and/or money you went to creating it. User experience refers to what users find once they visit your website. Website content that is jammed with keywords, or which contains dozens of highlighted, color coded, or underlined anchor text … Continue reading

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