Custom Search: The Death Knell of Rankings Based Search Engine Optimization

Custom search based on user browsing behavior is here. This means that search engine result pages will deliver different results to individualized users based on the past search trends and geographic location of that user. And no, you do not have to be signed into your Google account for this to happen. Clients as well as SEO firms which insist on a rankings-based metric of success are going to have to change their thinking. Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee, rankings-based SEO. (Full article on custom search and geo-targeting).

Traditionally, the success of an SEO campaign has been largely based on visible search rankings for target keyphrases. I have always maintained that this is not the correct metric by which to evaluate the success of any given campaign, as all the search rankings in the world are worthless if they do not result in traffic to your website which results in conversions. While many individuals and organizations (both SEO practitioners and their clients) have steadfastly refused to accept this truism, the time is now upon us where they must accept and recognize this, or any SEO effort will be doomed to failure. But why?

Largely unnoticed to many, Google has implemented customized search engine results pages based on a user's browsing history. The user does not have to be signed into their Google account, or even have a Google account, for this to happen. This can be seen clearly on the graphic below:


This is a screenshot of the first page of results on Google for the query "search engine optimization". Take a look at the red arrow marked "A". You can see that it points to the words "sign in". This indicates that the screenshot was taken while not signed in to a Google account - these are the natural Google search results for a user who either does not have a Google account or is not signed in to one. Or are they?

If you look at the red arrow marked "B", you will see the words "Customized based on recent search activity". This indicates that the "natural" search results which are being served to the user by Google are actually based on the user's recent search history. These results are filtered even further based on the user's geographic location. How do we know this? Well, clicking on the "more details" link leads us to an explanation: "When possible, Google will customize your search results based on location and/or recent search activity."

Therefore, it is evident that search results are being served in a geo-targeted manner as well as based upon recent search behavior. Geo-targeting is extremely evident when searching for an otherwise generic term like "coffee bar". See the graphic below:


At the very top right of the graphic, you can still see the words "sign in", indicating that I am not signed into any Google account. The red arrow marked "C" shows that Google is geotargeting the results to my location of Austin, Texas. The red arrows marked "D" and "E" show localized results based on that applied filter.

Clicking on "more details" yields the following message from Google:

"The following information was used to improve your search results for coffee bar:

Location - Your approximate location has been identified as Austin metro area, US.
Based on your IP address: 68.xxx.xx.xx" (IP address removed by author).

Google explains what they are doing with search customization in their Web Search Help Center. They state there are three factors which come into play for search customization:

1. Location. If signed into a Google account, location is based on your Google account information. If not signed in to a Google account, approximate location is ascertained via your IP address.

2. Recent Searches. Google uses recent search history to further refine your results because "it provides a valuable context for understanding the meaning behind your searches". Google goes on to say that they use search history "to customize your results whenever possible, regardless of whether you're signed in or signed out [of a Google account]." (emphasis added) Google claims that recent search history is kept on a cookie on your browser for a period of 30 minutes, after which it is deleted. It also claims the cookie is deleted any time you close your browser.

3. Web History. This customization is only provided if you are signed into a Google account and have web history enabled.

It is interesting to note that because the customization cookie is browser-dependent, you can obtain different results, on the same machine and IP address by simply opening a new browser. For example, switching between IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or another browser will reset the customization entirely.

While this may be great for the user search experience, it can prove to be a big headache for SEO clients and SEO firms wishing to observe rankings as an indicator of success. Therefore, additional metrics of the success of a search marketing strategy must be agreed upon prior to the onset of any particular project. While a detailed analysis of such factors will be saved for a later article, they would include such things as analytics, user behavior, referral traffic, and of course conversions.

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5 Tips to Avoid Becoming an SEO Victim

First it was Internet Advancement. Now, it is Visible.net. Washington State appears to be on a mission to get rid of shady SEO firms which promise more than they can deliver and give the entire industry a black eye. I personally am glad that somebody is cracking down on firms which make overreaching promises. Here are 5 tips to avoid becoming a victim of bad SEO firms.


1. Avoid firms which contact you out of the blue.

I have no specific research to back this up, but I would venture to say that 99.99% of all "cold calls" come from unscrupulous or unqualified firms, many of which cold calls are outright scams. Do not respond to unsolicited emails, phone calls, facsimiles, snail mail, or other direct marketing from a purported SEO firm. A reputable firm will rely on its reputation in the industry, client referalls, search engine rankings, and other means to attract customers to it. In other words, customers should come to the SEO firm, the SEO firm should not come to the customer.

2. Avoid firms which guarantee you a #1 ranking.

No firm owns the search engines, therefore no firm can guarantee you a #1 ranking. If this sort of representation is made, it is a huge red flag. I know what you are thinking: "If they fail to deliver, I will just get my money back." Just try getting your money back. Chances are you will never get it, or you will have a #1 ranking which gets the firm off the hook - the problem is that it is for a keyphrase that has absolutely zero qualified traffic.

This illustrates the often misplaced notion that search engine optimization is about a #1 ranking. SEO is not about that at all, as a #1 ranking is worthless if it does not drive qualified traffic to your site which results in conversions. SEO is about conversions, not ranking for irrelevant keyphrases.

3. Avoid firms which claim to have a "special relationship" with major search engines.

No SEO firm has a special relationship with Google or any other major search engine. Period. Does not require further explanation.

4. Avoid firms which sell SEO as an "out of the box" solution.

Search engine optimization is not a product, it is a service. There are many companies which are selling SEO as an out of the box, package deal. In other words, they offer SEO services at a predetermined set fee, for a predetermined set of services. One common manifestation of this is in the nature of "Choose one of our proven SEO packages."

A firm offering out of the box solutions is not performing any sort of competitive intelligence at all. Each industry is different, each client is different, and the search engine optimization solutions for each project should therefore be different. What works for one client, in one industry, may not work for another client in another industry. A firm which fails to take into account the industry landscape, client business goals, budget, and other factors when developing an SEO strategy is doing you no favor. Each client should be provided with a customized solution based on a number of factors specific to that client. If your selected SEO firm is not performing keyphrase research and competitive intelligence prior to the development and execution of a customized strategy, you should find another firm.

5. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Most people who hire an SEO firm are business owners or professionals working on behalf of a business owner. Therefore, we might expect that these potential SEO clients have some degree of business savvy about them. Unfortunately, many don't, and they buy into the "get rich quick with a #1 ranking for a few hundred dollars" line. Come on, folks. You can't compete with Amazon.com for $500.00. Think about it. Search engine optimization requires an investment on par with the goals of the project. Rome wasn't built in a day. Use your common sense when evaluating various proposals from potential SEO firms. Like the baby in the picture above, be skeptical of offers which sound too good to be true.

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Black Hat Reputation Management - 6 Steps to Control Bad Press

Bad press about your business can be very upsetting, especially when it is written by a disgruntled customer who posts information about you or your company online for the world to see. Oftentimes, this information is very visible in the search engines and is by its very nature extremely biased and one-sided. Here are six steps you can take which have proven effective in dealing with online slander. And some of them are black hat. But fear not - it works.

Online slander is a modern pain in the rear, and even more so when disreputable sites like Ripoff Report get involved. In such cases, the gloves come off, and here are some ways you can take care of business - if you don't mind getting your hat dirty.

1. Write articles.

Nothing black hat about this tip. Reputation management is about creating content. The more content you create, the more of a chance you have for that content to appear in the search engines. The trick is to make the content more relevant than that of the bad guys. One way to do this is to begin a series of articles on what you know best - your business. Two types of articles that are particularly attractive to people (and hence are more likely to serve as link bait, thereby increasing the relevancy of the article in the engines) are how to articles and product reviews. These types of articles are relatively easy for the average business owner to write - because, after all, you know your industry best.

Write a series of articles about your industry, products you sell, or tips and tricks of the trade. You don't have to give away all of your secrets - just give away enough information to show that you are an authority on the subject. Make sure your company name appears in the articles. This can typically be done via an attribution paragraph at the end of each article ("this article brought to you by...").

Be sure to include your company name in the html title tag of the page the article resides on - this will help the search engines understand that this particular piece of content may be relevant to queries for your company name. This, in turn, helps your content appear at the top, as opposed to the mean stuff.

2. Create blogs.

Now this is a little black hat (okay, a lot black hat), but it works, and there is really no downside. In other words, if you get "caught", so what? It won't harm you - only the blogs you create risk being thrown into the supplemental search results or de-indexed. Your site itself is not in jeopardy.

Create a number of free blogs. Blogspot blogs work just fine. You can create as many of these as you like, for free. Just use a number of fake email addresses (Yahoo does just fine) to set them up. Make sure they are hosted on Blogspot's server and not your own. Go ahead and create 5, 10, 20 or however many you want. The more you create, the more likely your chances of supplanting the bad guys in the search results with some of your blogs.

Set them up so that the title of the blog is your company name (or whatever search query it is that you are seeking to control). Now start filling the blogs with content - a fancy word for more articles, but they can be short, just a paragraph or two is fine. Make sure to build links in your blog entries to your other blogs using anchor text of your company name or other target search query.

Link all the blogs back and forth to each other. Who cares? This would not be recommended as an SEO practice - but it seems to work in reputation management if you need a quick fix. I don't promise it will last forever, but it can buy you a quick thirty or sixty days while your other strategies ramp up.

-->Start on your reputation management project today.

3. Create dummy domains.

Another black hat method that works very well is the purchase of dummy domains. Go purchase some domain names, maybe ten or so, from various domain registrars. Host each of the domains with a different hosting company (but be sure not to host any of them on the same server or with the same hosting company you use for your business site).

Build out each domain maybe three to five pages - Home, About Us, whatever. Just come up with five or so pages of stuff for each domain. Optimize the title tags, meta description element, and H tags on each page to include your company name. Start linking from these domains to the various blogs created above, and link back from the blogs above to the various domains. Mix it all up and make it confusing - some link to some, others link to others, but they don't all link to each other. When creating links, be sure to use anchor text containing your company name or target search queries.

Again, this is not a recommended SEO practice, but it works as a quick fix in many reputation management cases while the "real" strategy has time to take effect.

4. Create social media profiles.

There is nothing black hat about creating social media profiles, except when you start creating fake ones (muahahaha). And why not create fake ones? Most people fake who they are anyway on social media sites. Social media profiles containing your company name or the name of any target principles can appear in search results very quickly. Examples include LinkedIn, FastPitch, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, etcetera. Create a whole bunch of them. It works.

You should also create legitimate social media profiles which you intend to maintain in the long run. Create one legitimate profile per social media outlet, and give your customers a way to connect with you.

-->More information on reputation management.

5. Issue press releases.

Press releases are white hat and you should begin issuing press releases immediately upon commencement of your reputation management campaign. Positive publicity about your company that you control and spin in whichever direction you want is a great way to combat online slander. The issuance of press releases provides a wonderful opportunity for mentions of your company to appear all over the web - thus populating search results for your company's name.

6. Optimize your site.

It would be wise to make sure that at least some of the pages on your own website follow standard on page optimization techniques for your company name. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for the home page of your site, but such pages as "about us", "our people", "company history", and that sort of thing can be optimized for your company name without fear of losing any rankings position for your searches for your products or services. Making sure your company name appears on these pages in basic elements such as the title tag, meta description, and h tags is a good way to get your own site to appear in search results for your company name.

ArteWorks SEO is ranked #1 in the world by TopSEOs.com for reputation management. Please contact us at 877-812-2217 for more information or to begin your reputation management project.

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