Bing vs. Google for Breaking News Stories

I read an article this morning which made the claim that Bing does not produce results as fresh as Google and therefore favors aged pages or sites at the expense of fresh content. I decided to do a side by side comparison of the two engines to test this out myself, using 3 unrelated breaking news queries and the comparison tool Bingle. The queries I randomly chose were "Sonia Sotomayor", "Air France Crash", and "U.S. Unemployment Rate". Based on this limited scope test, Bing topped Google in freshness, presentation, and blended results, although Google edged out Bing in organic relevancy.



Search Query: "Sonia Sotomayor"



Bing Results:

Bing places the most recent news articles at the top of the search results, with the most recent news article being less than 1 hour old. It includes an image result at the top, to the right of the news results, so that the user can see a picture of Justice Sotomayor. Below the news results are organic web results beginning with Wikipedia then an article from a newspaper which was written on May 27, 2009.

Google Results:

Googlepedia includes its requisite first position Wikipedia listing, which is followed by a .gov link from the Federal Judicial Center that nobody will read, followed by a newspaper article dated May 1, 2009 (26 days older than the first organic newspaper article in Bing) which is provided both a main listing and an indented listing. Only after these four entries does Google provide its fresh news results, with the latest news article being 2 hours old (1 hour older than the freshest Bing news result). No other blended results, including images, are provided.

And the winner is:

Fresh Content: Bing
Blended Results: Bing
Organic Relevancy: Bing
Presentation: Bing

Search Query: "Air France Crash"



Bing Results:

The Bing results are beautiful - just look at them. At the very top the recent news results are provided, along with an image to the left of the results. The most recent news result is 3 hours old. Below the news results it provides 4 news videos, followed by 4 images. The organic web results then begin with a Wikipedia article on Air France Flight 358, which crashed in 2005 and is not the same Air France flight that recently experienced tragedy off of the coast of South America. As this entry is not relevant to what most people who typed this in would be searching for, I'm going to give relevancy to Google on this one (see below).

Google Results:

Google also lists the news results first for this query, the freshest being 1 hour old. However, this does not tell the whole story - as the 1 hour old piece of content is breaking the same news that Bing's 5 hour old news result covers (the discovery of additional bodies). Also, Google news results do not turn up the discovery of the tail section of the airliner, which is the most recent development, although Bing has a result 3 hours old regarding this. Therefore, the advantage here has to go to Bing, for providing not only the freshest content, but for producing breaking news results hours before Google provides them. Google then provides a couple of quality organic web results from CNN and Yahoo News, which is followed by image results and then video results.

And the winner is:

Fresh Content: Bing
Blended Results: Bing
Organic Relevancy: Google
Presentation: Bing

Search Query: "U.S. Unemployment Rate"



Bing:

For this query Bing provided no blended results. The first two organic web listings are .gov sites followed by Wikipedia and various articles, the most recent of which is the VOA News in position 6 dated June 7 (only 2 days ago), but also producing a 4 day old web result from theregister.co.uk.


Google:

Google provided a nice little graph from their Public Data database, which quickly and succinctly answers most questions one would have if entering the designated query, the data is from May 1, 2009. It then provides news results as recent as 3 days old followed by web results which begin with the same bls.gov results Bing produced followed by the same 2 day old VOA article Bing produced. As both Google and Bing produced the same VOA article as the freshest result, followed by the same bls.gov and VOA sites, freshness is a draw. As to relevancy, I'm going to give Google the edge in this one as it surprisingly did not include a Wikipedia entry in the top five results.

And the winner is:

Fresh Content: Tie
Blended Results: Google
Organic Relevancy: Google
Presentation: Google


Overall Results:

Bing: 7
Google: 4
Tie: 1

Results by Category:

Fresh Content: Bing 2, Google 0, Tie 1
Blended Results: Bing 2, Google 1
Organic Relevancy: Bing 1, Google 2
Presentation: Bing 2, Google 1

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About the Author: Matt Foster is the CEO of ArteWorks SEO, one of the most recognized search engine optimization companies on the web.

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The Changing Face of Networking

As SMX Advanced - Seattle wrapped up today, I noticed something. The new business cards I printed up for the event went largely undistributed. I am coming home with only two business cards from other people. A year ago, at SMX West, I gave out a stack of cards and came home with a stack. What has changed? One word: Twitter. And I'm not the only one who noticed it.

I first realized on the last day of SMX that I hadn't given out any business cards. I thought to myself, "Self, you have really failed at networking during this conference." Then I realized I had not failed, but rather the face of networking has changed - and in a short period of 15 months.

As I pondered the reasons why I had not given out cards, I realized that people weren't asking for them. And I wasn't asking for them from others, either. Instead, all anyone seemed to care about, including me, was a person's Twitter persona. I added a motherload of Twitter followers at the conference, and in turn followed numerous people with whom I came into contact.

I'm not the only one who noticed this phenomenon. At the Birds of a Feather lunch, @joannalord and @lisakinnard both mentioned that they had noticed it as well.

In the past, if you did not have a business card, you were not taken seriously. It seems now that if you do not have a Twitter profile, you are not taken seriously. I can hear the song now: "Twitter killed the business card.."

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SMX Advanced Session Synopsis: What's Next for the Search Engine Marketing Business?

Synopsis of the What's Next for the Search Engine Marketing Business at SMX Advanced. Written in real time format.

What clients are looking for as metrics of success:

-Site Traffic
-Increase Conversions
-ROI

Where is search marketing funding coming from?
-new marketing funds
-allocation from other funds
--such as newspapers, other print, other media

For 2009:
12% will spend less on SEM
29% will spend the same on SEM
50% will spend more on SEM

Advertisers are reporting increased interet in both video and mobile search, but are not willing to spend additional money on these, rather would integrate into existing campaigns.

Social Media:
41% use social media in house

2008 numbers: Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon (obviously 2008 numbers don't reflect Twitter explosion)

Near Term Changes in Search:
-Universal search becomes universal
-In 2008, blended results increased from 17% to 31%

What it means for marketers?
-optimize for more stuff, videos, images, books, etcetera
-stiffer competition for search result real estate
-blended results offer customization: geo-location, time ofday, search history, social affinities

What are social affinities?
-It's harder to optimize based on keywords alone
-Context and intent will count more
-Makes SEO more difficult, and makes reputation management *critical*
-Increasingly, search will be a feedback mechanism

Vertical Search Engines
-YouTube is second largest search engine
-MySpace gets more queries than AOL or Ask.com
-eBay, Craigslist, Amazon combined 980 million, approaching MSN at 1.04 billion
-Users are adapting search behavior to appropriate platforms

Mobile search:
-SMS, click to call, mobile coupons, location based services
-Use of mobile apps, e.g. MizPee, TapIt, AAA discounts

Longer Term Search Trends:

-Real time search
-Multimedia will become more searchable (Flash, video, books, audio, images), and more optimizable
--"Who is this a picture of", or "What song is this a clip of"

Location, location, location.
-Search engines offering geo-targeted results
-Geo-targeting important in PPC
-Mobile search: geo-targeting extremely important
-Retail search, e.g. NearbyNow

Devices become more searchable:
-phones
-gps
-tv
-in store kiosks
-refrigerators

1/3 of all Google searches in Japan are mobile.

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SMX Advanced Synopsis: Bing.com Keynote

Synopsis of the Bing.com Keynote session at SMX Advanced. Written in real time format.

Bing is officially launched as of today, preview labels are off.

Bing is intended to make the search experience more efficient and organized. The monolithic search page is a thing of the past.

A search for "Seattle", for example, will show attractions, weather, or information on Seattle. Key idea: understanding user intent, based on semantic meaning and purpose of search.

Understanding user intent and delivering highly relevant and rich results requires immense computational power.

1) Bing produces a search experience vastly more compelling than what has been offered to date.
2) The best way to predict the future is to create it. That's what Bing does.

Microsoft welcomes innovators such as Wolfram Alpha.

The key to Bing is understanding user intent.

Bing is a new brand which only represents search. Bing is short, easy to pronounce, works well across the globe. As it turns out, in Chinese "bing" means "very certain to respond".

What will become of MSN Live services?

-MSN will still be there
-The Live brand will continue to exist, as there is a suite of products, IM, hotmail, Windows Live, etcetera
-Bing will only represent search

There is still much to be done in search. Search is extremely important for consumers and is the means by which most users encounter information on the Internet.

Bing will be extremely focused on ongoing R&D and seeking product innovations. The brand will be marketed aggressively.

Speaker would not discuss plans for Bing acquisition of Yahoo search assets.

What about real time search?
-Bing's results favor fresh content
-Real time search is important. No comment on any deal with Twitter or whether there would be a Microsoft answer to Twitter

Will Bing provide tools for site owners and advertisers, such as Google's Webmaster Central, etc? Answer: Vague...the more user intent can be understood, the better tools can be offered.

The web is a rich place, if a search engine can do a better job of organizing search results, webmasters should be offered tools for assisting them in achieving visibility for their sites.

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SMX Advanced Session Synopsis: Beyond the Usual Linkbuilding

Synopsis of the Beyond the Usual Linkbuilding session at SMX Advanced. Written in real time format.

Some Good Link Sources:
-Audience-targeted content
-Useful widgets/tools
-RSS
-SERP listing optimization

Content which is attractive to links includes:
Public Domain Content (federal, state governments, etc.)
Private Domain Content (fair use)

Project Gutenberg: contains formerly copyrighted works now in the public domain.

Widgets and "blog bling": also known as "information consoles", but beware of "bad practices" when developing widgets - Google does not consider widgets with hidden links as a good source of links. Even "good" links contained in widget code will be discounted, i.e. insertion of widget code into a website is not as clear an endorsement as is a link from a blog, etcetera.

Widget "DO"s:
-Provide widget on the same site it is linking to
-Create widgets thematically related to site where possible
-Provide clear legal terms stating links are included
-Provide layout color options
-Keep your branding minimal
-Provide easy to install code
-Promote widgets

Widget "DONT"s:
-Don't hide links in widgets
-Don't link to another website
-Don't bury mentions of links in legalese
-Don't use redirects or pop ups

Create Content or Profile Links - there are many sites at which you can create public profiles with links for free
-make them look good
-examples:
--Google Knol
--Hubpages.com
--Buzzle

Another source of links may be from clients or suppliers
-offer gift cards or discounts
-offer gifts such as tshirts
-old fashioned US Mail asking for a link
-call them on the phone!
-local and national associations, local chambers of commerce, etcetera

Use links in Video embed code

Ask for product or service reviews from friendly blogs

Contests and Promotions
-What makes a good contest? Generally, it starts with the prize. Make it valuable to the people who you want to enter your contest. They have to put in an effort to enter, so make it worth it.
-Something reasonaly innovative, not a "me too" contest (ie don't just copy what a competitor has done)
-Establish a reasonable time frame, give people time to get involved, but also strike a balance as if the reward is too far away in time, people will lose interest
-Create a buzz: panel of notable judges, press releases, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etcetera

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SMX Advanced Session Synopsis: Proving Social Media's Value

Synopsis of the Proving Social Media's Value session at SMX Advanced. Written in real time format.

Benefits of engaging in usersupport forums
--drive traffic
--improve customer service
--test new product ideas/get feedback
--foster online community retention
--visibly provide support
--shows you care
--engage in significant discussions about your brand

Senior Management will always ask: What is the ROI?

--Many companies have "value" for a customer
---but some customers have greater value than others, example: promoters, neutral, detractors are types of customers. Promotors add customers, so have added value; detractors have a negative value.

Calculating Referral Economics:

Positively Referred x Number Referred x Conversion Rate = Referral Impact
78% 3.87 17% 0.5
(these numbers supported by research)
Interpretation: For every 2 "promoters", you will gain 1 referral customer.

Note that social media will not only engage and increase the number of promoters, but also will minimize number of detractors, especially if resolutions are provided to detractors quickly and publicly. Detractors can then become promoters of your brand.

Outreach - "Changing Perceptions"

-reach out to negative influencers
-turn their bad experience into a good one
-incentivize them to make positive noise

(public apologies can go a long way, and this is an example of changing a detractor to a promoter)

-send out coupon codes on variu networks (example: Facebook, Twitter)
-integrate with mobile: use sms texting to build your contacts
--Example: "Hotel Deal: Free Fridays at a Luxury Hotel. Text "special" to 12345"

The true value of social media is seen over time, although it can be tracked via dividing customers gained by social media investment. However, this is truly undervalued, as the present value of social media awareness and brand reputation is nominal when compared to the future value of these things.

--Brand Reputation Value: Priceless
Ex: "when I get married, I am going to honeymoon at your hotel"...person might not be getting married anytime soon, but that is a future customer, with a very low cost of acquisition.

Other ways to prove the value:

-Competitive Intelligence: assess the competition, see what your competition is doing out there
-Traffic is obviously one source of value
-Value can be had in terms of page views, retweets, diggs, votes, comments, links, etcetera.

-Tools like Knowem.com can check your brand across the social web and can register them for you
-leverage social media profiles to protect your brand in the search engines
-use social web to leverage conversations

-->Competitive Data very useful in selling social media
-->There is data is social media

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SMX Advanced Session Synopsis: Duplicate Content Solutions & The Canonical Tag

Synopsis of the Duplicate Content/Canonical Link Element session at SMX Advanced. Written in real time format.

Canonical Link Element:

-Flag Duplicate Content
--HTML tagging
--Embedded in head section of web page
--Treated as Internal 301 redirect

-Announced in 1st Quarter of this year by the "big 3"

What is the Canonical Link Element Good For?

Its best purpose is to revitalize interna discussions about site architecture. The canonical link element is a way to "virtually" eliminate duplicate content.

Canonical tag passes page rank and anchor text.

Use link canonical when dealing with faceted pages: example would be if you have pages where the same product or service has multiple url's.

Canonical tag is not only about removing duplicate content, but recovering leaked page rank.
-Noindex or disallowed pages in robots.txt still build page rank.
-Canonical tag can be used to pass this page rank to the desired target url

301 redirect is favored, but canonical tag can be used in a pinch.

Rel=nofollow will stop flow of internal page rank to non-canonical versions, but does not address existing page rank (i.e. from third party sites, also does not prevent the page from being indexed.

Page rank leakage can occur in each of these situatios: robots.txt exclusions, meta robots noindex, rel=nofollow, xml sitemap exclusion. Canonical tag can correct this (but is still not preferable to 301); except 301's can affect sort capabilities.

**Canonical tag does not work from one domain to another, but may work between subdomains.***

Affiliate URLs
-rarely do they pass page rank or seo;
-run affiliate program in house and use 301 and/or canonical
-some affiliate links will pass page rank, but still should be run in house

Nofollows should not be used to exclude duplicate content, canonical tag should be. But there is some bit of heated discussion on the panel right now about this! Others say nofollow can be used for page rank sculpting..but Nathan Buggia at Microsoft just gave a warning about algorithm adjustment to compensate for nofollow page rank sculpting!

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SMX Advanced Session Synopsis: Social Media and Search Marketing - Not the Same Old Stuff

Synopsis of the Social Media and Search Marketing session at SMX Advanced. Written in real time format. SMX Advanced Social Media Session - Full Post

Google is looking for fresh content and "relevancy feedback", especially when tracking real time and social media results. Relevancy feedback indicators include social bookmarking, but not only social bookmarking in and of itself, but ways in which social bookmarking is used. Factors include upstream/downstream data (visitor paths) and user reviews.

Twitter can be an amazing source of traffic for quick bursts of traffic. It's a great way to get fresh content quickly indexed and trafficked. How? Tweet new contact, utilize well crafted DM's to influential individuals, add a retweet button to the content page.

Control bookmarking of your site. Add a del.icio.us or other widget to your site, in which you suggest or provide the tags, which influences relevancy of your content to desired queries.

Increase the use of your site. Use Javascript suggestion tools, etcetera. Add engagement points, such as video, voting, quizzes, or widgets. Widgetbox is a great way to build a widget without having to get a developer involved.

Utilize the HReview tag.

Why Use StumbleUpon?

--StumbleUpon=Links? Good content can get lots of links and traffic from StumbleUpon.

Use your profile on StumbleUpon to sell yourself. Do you want your profile to be a Persona or a Person? On StumbleUpon, it is better to be a Persona - as users of the site can be political and prejudicial if you are your own person and they disagreed with something that you have done in the past.

Don't just "review" your own site or the same site - or you will likely be perceived as spam.

Be smart about putting your content in the correct categories. This is not to say that only one tag may apply - many may - just make sure they are relevant. Look at what other people are tagging your Stumbles as - then you can edit your tags to include those.

StumbleUpon Tips:
--Avoid patterns - voting, discoveries, shares. Use multiple features of StumbleUpon, don't only submit content from the same few sites.
--Add and make friends - subscribers, testimonials, votes
--Post to Your Blog feature - posts things to your StumbleUpon user blog
--Vote on videos and photos
--Tag and review - don't just stumble. Add tags and reviews.
--Choose a niche - don't be the "all encompassing" profile
--Make your profile "rock" - choose and use right tags, mix it up and look natural.

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SEO Antics: Rickroll'd On Twitter

Yesterday @Burnsie_SEO posted a tweet linking to images of spiders devouring various animals. I posted a reply tweet in which I said "Spider vs. Human - REAL", with a link in it. Burnsie bit. And got Rickroll'd. Little did I know how conniving Burnsie is. She got me back, and got me back good. Full post.

If you don't know what Rickroll means, it is a bait and switch game that happens when someone posts a hyperlink which leads to something other than what the hyperlink is claimed to be.

Burnsie's first attempt to Rickroll me back was a failure. It was an obvious attempt and I did not fall for it. I gloated on Twitter that I was too smart for ole Burnsie. @EcomBuffet joined in taunting me and a "twalliance" was made with Burnsie and Ecomm ganging up on me and vowing to get me good. I laughed it off, too smart for such banal things.

Later in the day, and in a presumably unrelated development, I received an email which was the result of someone filling out the contact form on my website. When the email came through, my jaw dropped. It was from the White House. Yes, THE White House. Here is what came through:

Here is the information submitted at ArteWorks
Your E-Mail Address: whitehouse@whitehouse.gov
Your Name: Adam Zapel
Your Phone Number: 202-456-1414
Where Did You Find Us: Google
Your Website: www.whitehouse.gov
Age of Website:
Type of Services: Search Engine Consulting
Search engine optimization
Search engine friendly ecommerce
Search engine friendly web design
Natural link building
Search engine copywriting
Marketing copywriting
Other services (graphic design, hosting, etcetera)
Type of Site: Political
Target Audience: The World
Example Keyword Phrases:
Budget: 38,000
Business Goals: Provide current information Provide information to the public Improve image

Okay. So, had I examined this closely, I might have noticed some questionable things. Like the generic email address given, not the address of an actual individual at the White House. Or the target audience: "The World". Or the fact that a government contract would be awarded through a contact form on a website.

But no. I was focused instead on a potential $38,000.00 per month contract with the White House.

I immediately picked up the phone and called the number. An operator answered "The White House, may I help you?" Yes, it was the real White House phone number. I said, "Yes, hello, my name is Matt Foster in Austin, Texas, may I please speak with Adam Zapel?"

"Is that Zapel with a Z as in zebra?"

"Yes, ma'am, Adam Zapel with a Z as in zebra."

"One moment please sir." I hear typing. "I'm sorry sir, I don't have a listing for anyone named Adam Zapel."

"Yes ma'am, well, I'm with a search engine optimization firm, and we just received a request for information from someone over there named Adam Zapel. Could I speak with someone in whatever department handles the White House website?"

"Um...sir..." And then it dawned on me. I had been Rickroll'd. And good.

"Ma'am, I'm very sorry to have bothered you. I think someone has played a joke on me. Thank you so much for your time."

"You're welcome, sir. Have a good day."

I then Googled "Adam Zapel" - and realized, to my dismay, it is a joke name which sounds like "Adam's Apple". Yes, I called the friggin' White House and asked for Adam's Apple.

So Burnsie, you got me. I'm sitting here in my living room, with the door bolted, ready to make my last stand against the Secret Service, whom I expect shall be stopping by for a little visit any time now.

Moral of the story: Never Rickroll @Burnsie_SEO. You will be sorry.

Speaking of joke names, this is one of my favorites:



About the Author:
Matt Foster is the CEO of ArteWorks SEO, a full service search engine optimization company. For more information on Mr. Foster, including his personal social security number, please visit his personal profile page.

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The 9 Sexiest Minds in New Media

What is it about SEO, social media, PR, and new media that attracts such sexy minds? I'm not sure, but there is something going on there. Everywhere you look women are succeeding and making an impact on this industry. I decided to make a list of the 9 sexiest minds in new media. Yes, this has been done before, however was limited to women practicing in the field of SEO. Werebu did it last March, however I wanted to expand the scope to include sexy minds from other new media categories. Therefore, I am pleased to present the definitive, hands down, no holds barred guide to the sexiest minds in the fields of Internet Marketing, SEO and New Media.

What makes a mind sexy? Intelligence, creativity, drive, and ambition, to name a few. So here they are.

Lisa Kinnard works for Adknowledge in Kansas City, which is a performance-based advertising network incorporating predictive technology which connects advertisers to consumers. Lisa is responsible for the production of all creative elements involved with Adknowledge's search product. She develops, matures and maintains the content network product and manages PPC campaigns on major and second-tier search engines for hundreds of advertisers across multiple verticals. Lisa is an entrepreneur at heart, and at any given time has multiple different ideas baking in that cute little head of hers. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Lisa at SMX San Jose, and she is an amazing woman who never ceases to impress me.

Lisa on Twitter: @LisaKinnard

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Joanna Lord is the co-founder and CMO at TheOnlineBeat, a comparison job search site and job resource. Joanna is a PPC expert and well versed in Internet marketing, SEO, social media and traditional media. She is a regular fixture at industry conferences and from what I can tell she can drink any guy under the table. She also must be really great at product development, as she listed it twice in her LinkedIn profile under specialties (ha). She "sleeps rarely and caffeinates often." It also appears that Joanna has been known to sing a song or two on karaoke.

Joanna on Twitter: @JoannaLord

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Melissa Rzeppa is shrouded in secrecy. She is the marketing and public relations director for Zooloo, a site with lots of hype (mostly created by her) but about which nobody seems to know anything. She has proven herself a master at social media and viral marketing. Melissa is spunky, humorous, and friendly in addition to being enigmatic. She also is a troublemaker, being in trouble with the law on at least 2 different occassions (caught speeding on hidden cameras - see "Caught on Camera").

Melissa on Twitter: @MelissaPR

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Felicia Day is an actress who makes this list due to her incredible talent in harnessing the power of social media and viral video. Felicia has a massive following on Twitter, over 500,000 at last count, and has entries both on IMDB and Wikipedia. She is a genius - attending college at the age of 16 and graduating as valedictorian. She has appeared on TV shows such as House, but is most widely known for her work in web video, and co-starred in the Internet musical “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog,” voted the Best TV of 2008 by Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine. She also can be seen in the web series “The Guild”, which she created, writes and stars in. “The Guild” was the winner of the YouTube, Yahoo and SXSW Best Web Series Awards for 2008 and for the first season alone collected over 11 million hits web-wide.

Felicia on Twitter: @FeliciaDay

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Jennifer Conley is a Project Coordinator at LevelTen Design and Editor at ILiveInDallas, a source for all things artistic, cultural or activist in the greater Dallas area. Jennifer's interests include retro design, typography, and website user interface design. She is skilled in serving as a liaison between her company and clients to effectuate the ultimate usability and interactive experience for end users. Judging from her photo, she also likes sushi. That's a hint, for anyone considering asking her out to dinner.

Jennifer on Twitter: @JenniferConley

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Melissa Salas is the Director of Marketing at Buy.com. That's right. The Director. Of Marketing. At Buy.com. Talk about a power player. She has also been the host of BuyTV for three years. She is the recipient of the 2008 Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award Winner for Affiliate Manager of the Year. She claims on her Google profile that some people call her a dork. Well guys, this is one dork who you would be lucky to be seen with in public. As well as someone who is probably 100 times more intelligent than you are.

Melissa on Twitter: @MelissaDSalas

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Vanessa Fox is, well, Vanessa Fox. You can pretty much give her credit for creating Google Webmaster Central. After leaving Google she briefly worked at Zillow before becoming a features editor at Search Engine Land. The type of fortitude Vanessa demonstrates in her professional career is second to none - I mean she left Google! Vanessa is a fixture at any industry conference worth its salt, if you don't know who she is you have been living in a cave. And yes, there is a reason her last name is Fox.

Vanessa on Twitter: @VanessaFox

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Ann Smarty is another lady whose last name reflects her true self. Ann is an SEO consultant with a wide following and excellent reputation as a blogger at Search Engine Journal. She is a prolific writer and eagerly shares her smarts with the rest of the industry. Ann knows her stuff, folks. Last November, Ann pulled a Demi Moore and proudly announced to the world that she was an "SEO Mom" and posted a picture of herself in what used to be known as a "delicate state". Way to go Ann!

Ann on Twitter: @SEOSmarty

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Jane Copland is a New Zealander, former SEOMozzer who is now in London. She is well known in the industry as both a gifted Internet marketer as well as a potty-mouth (she can out-curse a sailor). She currently is an SEO consultant at Ayima and maintains her own website at http://janecopland.co.uk/. I managed to pull her aside at SMX San Jose last year and have a few words with her. She is friendly and bright and has that wonderful accent which only serves to augment her cuteness factor. She's a great person to follow on Twitter, as long as you don't mind the occasional F-Bomb.

Jane on Twitter: @CoplandMJ

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About the Author: Matt Foster is the CEO of ArteWorks SEO, a full service search engine optimization company. Mr. Foster is in awe of all of the sexy minds in the fields of Internet Marketing and New Media.

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Recession SEO: 6 Free Things to Offer Your Clients to Close a Deal

As Internet marketing becomes more competitive, and client budgets become tighter, it has become increasingly difficult to stand out in the industry and offer powerful solutions on a budget. Here are some ideas which I have found useful in persuading clients to choose our firm over other firms. Read the full article on closing SEO deals in a recession.

1) Keyword Research and ROI Analysis. Many clients have difficulty during the sales cycle understanding what the potential ROI of an Internet marketing investment can be. I have found that performing quick keyphrase research in real time, with the client on the phone, can be powerfully persuasive. Explaining the traffic potential of various keyphrases and engaging clients in a discussion as to the amount of potential traffic to their site, multiplied by an average net profit per conversion, multiplied by a conversion rate (I usually am conservative and estimate 2%) allows a client to visualize the ROI. It also assists lower budget clients in understanding the usefulness of focusing on long tail keyphrases at first, and working towards the highly competitive "big money" keyhprases as their sales (and Internet marketing budget) increase.

2) Twitter. To those of us in the industry, this may seem commonplace. However the fact remains that less than 5% of the population uses Twitter and most of them are young adults. Business owners are likely unfamiliar with this, and although they have heard about it the concept seems foreign to them. Explain to clients the power of branding which can be accomplished through Twitter and offer to set up and maintain a Twitter account at no extra charge. This can only take an hour a week, but to clients it sounds novel and powerful.

3) PPC Campaign Setup or Review. Offer your clients a one time audit of their PPC campaign or a free PPC campaign setup as part of a client acquisition incentive. Make recommendations which will increase ROI and point out problems in campaigns. This can not only serve to separate you from your competition, but also can turn an organic SEO client into a PPC management client as well, thereby increasing their investment in your firm.

4) Competitive Intelligence. This is another thing which can be done in a watered down fashion quite quickly. Examining the backlinkage of major competitors, as well as finding social media accounts, news results, video results, and the like can show a client his or her weaknesses and convince the client that your firm is the one that knows what it takes to beat the competition. By offering a free competitive intelligence analysis in the presale process, you are demonstrating to your client that you offer a customized strategy to them based upon their industry landscape, as opposed to an out of the box, one size fits all solution. This type of approach can be very convincing, as clients hear many different things from different companies; providing solid data as to what your strategy will be and why the client needs it sets you apart from the competition.

5) Analytics and Reporting. Search engine optimization and social media can be somewhat esoteric subjects and many clients have trouble understanding what it is they are buying. Many of our clients are "second chance" clients - meaning that they have previously been burned or disappointed by another SEO firm. What I hear most often from these clients is that there was no accountability or transparency provided by the firm. Set your firm apart during the sales cycle by emphasizing accountability. Offer your clients a monthly report which includes an accounting of all hours worked, by day, task, and person working them. Include a monthly strategy review and a conference call with the project manager. Include an analysis of analytics in each monthly report, which shows traffic sources and numbers. Clients need to know what they are getting for their money, and transparency goes a long way to keeping client confidence high.

6) Usability Analysis. One strong selling point I have found is offering clients a "free ongoing usability analysis". I explain to clients that Internet marketing is not about rankings, as all the rankings in the world are worthless if they do not result in conversions. Explain to the client that you will, at no extra charge, provide a usability analysis each month, which examines the page bounce rates and conversion rates, and will assist in identifying problem areas on a client's site. If you explain to clients that your approach is a holistic one which is not just focused on rankings, but rather ROI, your clients will appreciate this.

About the Author: Matt Foster is the CEO of ArteWorks SEO, a full service search engine optimization company. Mr. Foster has been active in the industry since 1995, and specializes in search engine optimization and social media strategies for a global client base.

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Back to Basics: The Importance of Anchor Text

As social media and search engine optimization techniques become more complicated and advanced, sometimes we forget about the basics. Yesterday, I had a client ask me what anchor text was, and I realized sometimes it is good to explain to the layperson what many of us professionals take as a given. Click for full article on anchor text optimization.

To begin, let's start with a definition of what anchor text is. It is the visible, clickable text that forms a link. The most famous example would undoubtedly be "click here", where you click on the words "click here" to go someowhere else.

Of course, "click here" is an awful use of anchor text. Why? Because the anchor text of a link is an important factor in helping the search engines ascertain the topical context of the target page (by target page I mean the page that is linked to from the page which is the source of the link).

The fact that anchor text is an important factor in ascertaining the content of the target page means that if you can exercise some measure of control over the anchor text of sites which link to you then you therefore have some measure of control as to what keyphrases your site, or particular page within your site, rank for in the engines.

Say you have a site which sells widgets. For the sake of simplicity, let's pretend that the widgets come with two options, red or blue. Therefore, you would want the page that offers the red widgets for sale to rank for the term "red widgets" and the page that offers the blue widgets for sale to rank for the term "blue widgets". This can be done through the use of proper anchor text pointing to each page.

Third party sites can be encouraged to link to you with the proper anchor text in a variety of methods. First off, if your page is clear in what it is offering, for instance red widgets, chances are people will link to you with anchor text that at least contains the phrase "red widgets". Further, you can influence social media users, bloggers, and the like to link to your red widgets page by providing content relevant to red widgets and providing the anchor text in an attribution, such as "About the Author", "courtesy of", or whatever.

Anchor text is also important in your sites internal linking. Yes, internal links count too! This is where you can exercise the most control over the anchor text pointing to particular pages of your site, as you are the one who controls your site! Examples would include text based navigation schemes and other links internal to your site which point to the target page. By controlling the anchor text of your internal links, you not only hint to third party users as to what anchor text you would like them to use when linking to the target page, you are yourself informing the search engines as to the target keyphrase query for that particular page.

About the Author:

Matt Foster is the CEO of ArteWorks SEO, an internationally recognized search engine optimization company based in Austin, Texas. For more information on ArteWorks SEO, please visit www.arteworks.biz.

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Response: Authority Link Building, What and How

It is amazing the mythology which abounds in the field of Internet marketing. Take for example a recent article written by a company called LinkBuilderz which was entitled "Authority Link Building! What and How". In this article, the author explains that you will be "amazed with the results" if you drop links into Wikipedia. Problem is, the author is evidently ignorant of the fact that Wikipedia links are nofollowed and therefore do not pass any PageRank or link juice. Click for full article on authority link building.

The LinkBuilderz article is yet another example of the type of misinformation which individuals are putting out there regarding search engine optimization. As the search marketing industry rapidly expands, more and more unqualified individuals and firms are jumping on the bandwagon and selling snake oil, both to the detriment of the web user's experience as well as their clients.

So called "authority" links cannot be obtained by spamming Wikipedia. My philosophy is this: the only way to obtain quality, relevant, inbound linkage is through the creation of rich content to which site owners will naturally want to link. Content can take many forms, it can be blog content, videos, product pages, reviews, audio clips, and the like. If you are creating useful content which provides value to the end user, the links will come.

The LinkBuilderz article is premised entirely upon the myth that Wikipedia spam will provide "amazing results" in the search engines. While there may be some residual value in direct link traffic from links residing within the Wikipedia domain (assuming that they are not promptly deleted by wise Wikipedia editors), there is zero value in terms of passing PageRank or "link juice". This is because external Wikipedia links contain the rel=nofollow attribute which informs Google that the link is to a third party site which is not trusted by Wikipedia. The premise that an "authority" site such as Wikipedia will pass its authority (i.e. trust) to a third party site via an external link is not only false, but the exact opposite is true. Nofollow indicates the site is not trusted! The nofollow attribute was developed specifically to combat this sort of link spam, which has historically been prevalent on blogs, forums, and yes, Wikipedia. Nofollow allows site owners to provide users with the ability to contribute content without the angst associated with link spam bleeding link juice away from the site or causing the site to inadvertently link to a "bad neighborhood".

It seems that dispelling SEO mythology is a never ending ordeal. Reputable SEO firms will never advise placing links within Wikipedia for the purpose of increasing search engine rankings. It is important for the consumer to understand that when considering various SEO firms, if it sounds too good to be true it is. If your SEO firm does not propose creating content and promoting that content as a link building strategy, you should steer clear.

Matt Foster is the CEO of ArteWorks SEO, a full service search engine optimization firm.

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Search for "Ebay" Reveals Half Naked Woman in News Results

As part of my research for an article about Google site search, I typed in the search query "ebay" this morning. I was quite surprised when the news results on the first page of the SERPs yielded a scantily clad young woman appearing to be using a Wii with the caption "I Really Should Study". This is an actual screen shot of the search results which were provided on the first page of the Google results. Is this press release marketing genius or Google catastrophe? Full article on using shock in search engine marketing.

As this result appeared under the news results, it was clearly optimized for the term "ebay" and distributed as a press release by a vendor hoping to sell a Wii to every family (or at least every father) in the country. What is surprising is that such an image could be attached to a press release without being caught by either the press release distribution agency or the publisher of the press release. While it is a known fact that alluring content sells, this appears to have stepped over the line in terms of search engine marketing for a family friendly term such as "ebay".

It is a questionable practice at best - using shock value to market a product, especially when you are trying to reach a family friendly audience. In this case, it appears to have backfired against the vendor; when I repeated the search five minutes later the listing appeared to be removed from the results - even when clicking on the extended news results. Translation: no traffic. So while for the few minutes this result appeared in the index may have resulted in a higher click through rate than would normally be expected, a more conservative approach taken by the vendor would likely have resulted in more clicks over a longer period of time.

Moral of the story: if using shock value, be sure to think about your target audience. If it is likely to be deemed offensive and inappropriate, the increased buzz surrounding the shock will likely be outweighed by a negative reaction from your consumer base or the search engines.

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iPhone Security Hampers News of Discovery of Lost Dog

The iPhone's security settings are great - unless you are not familiar with them and someone is trying to get in touch with you to let you know that your missing pet has been found. This is the story of how the iPhone foiled my attempt to get news of a missing pet to the pet's owner as quickly as possible.

My Seattle Project Manager Peter Hamilton is in Austin this week for some training, and staying with me at my house. Yesterday Peter got news that his beloved husky, Kamira (pictured), had somehow gotten out of the fence. This is a beautiful specimen of a dog and needless to say he was devastated. After going through several hours of the stages of grief, including denial, anger, and mourning, he took a shower. While he was in the shower, his iPhone started ringing, and I saw that it was his friend in Seattle calling him. I thought to myself, "maybe he found the dog", so I decided to answer the iPhone.

The iPhone stopped me in my tracks. As it was ringing I picked it up and tried to answer it, but could not find an answer button on it. Then I noticed a thing on the screen which said "slide to unlock". All this while the phone is ringing. So I attempt to make the thing slide with my finger, but it didn't budge. I guess I didn't touch the screen in the right place, or perhaps the iPhone read my fingerprint and decided I was not an authorized user. Regardless, no luck. All this time the iPhone is ringing.

I finally get the damn thing to slide, and then I get a screen which says "enter security code". Arg! By now, the phone had gone to voice mail. I missed the call.

As it turns out, Peter's friend from Seattle was calling to report that the dog had been found pursuing the Call of the Wild on a nearby beach. Because I was unable to answer the iPhone, the transmission of this news to the grieving owner was delayed by 15 minutes or so, until voicemail could be checked.

As I watched Peter weed through the security measures to check his voicemail, I realized how far I had been from getting to answer the phone. Not only did he slide the bar and enter the code, but the iPhone then proceeded to instruct him to perform a number of "tricks". As I watched Peter stand on his head, wiggle his toes, rub his tummy, do a backflip, click his heels three times and say "there's no place like home", and say the ABC's backwards before the phone would unlock, I realized that no hacker would ever be able to access his phone.

And as a result, an unnecessary extra quarter hour of grief was put upon my friend. At least the story has a happy ending, as Kamira is back home in Seattle anxiously awaiting her master's return tomorrow.

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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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Is Rand Fishkin a Superhero?

In order to ascertain whether or not Rand Fishkin, the CEO of SEOMoz, is a superhero, we must first define the term and then put him to the test. Let's do it and see what happens.

Variously referred to on the web as "the Wizard of Moz", "Darth Fishkin", "Werewolf Fishkin", "Mastermind", the "Romantic SEO", and many other appellations, his best known pseudonym is perhaps "randfish". With all these names given to the mysterious Randfish, we can't help but wonder if he is a superhero.

Dictionary.com defines a superhero as "a figure...endowed with superhuman powers and usually portrayed as fighting evil or crime." Urbandictionary.com takes it a step further and adds the caveat "and looks good in tights."

So let's analyze this piece by piece.

Question: Is Rand Fishkin endowed with superhuman powers?

Answer: Yes.

Analysis: Only someone endowed with superhuman powers can influence Google's SERPs with the drop of a single link. For example, Rand wrote an article posted yesterday entitled "SEO Company Search Results - An Embarrassment to Google and the Other Engines" in which Rand ranted about the way that certain companies appear to be using unscrupulous techniques to rank for the term "SEO Company". He also provided the names of companies which he thought should rank for that term and provided an anchor text link to those firms with anchor text "SEO Company". As of today, a mere 24 hours later, two of the companies have suddenly appeared in the first few pages of the Google SERPs for this term. There are only two explanations for this. First, key personnel at Google read his article, agreed, and manually changed the SERPs to reflect his opinion. The alternate explanation is that the dropping of a single link in his post was sufficient to substantially alter the SERPs for this term. Regardless of which of the two scenarios played out it is self evident that only a person endowed with super human powers could have such an effect.

Question: Does Rand Fishkin fight evil?

Answer: Yes.

Analysis: As head of SEOMoz, Rand has taken a leadership role along with several other SEO firms (including ours) in the fight against Jason Gambert's attempt to trademark the term "SEO". While the rest of the world stands idly by and watches, Rand and a handful of other firms have taken up this fight for the common good. SEOMoz in fact was the first firm to discover this dastardly deed and make it known to the world. This is not an inexpensive fight, nor is it one which only benefits those who are fighting it. Rand has proven himself a leader in the world of SEO by standing up and defending everyone's right to use the term "SEO".

Further, he is not afraid to name names when he sees something amiss. Rand calls a spade a spade and does not care whether or not other people whine and groan about it. One case in point is in his article mentioned above. He names companies which he believes are using tactics which are not up to the industry standard, and goes on to define those tactics and expose them to the world. He emphasizes the transient nature of such tactics and points out that in the long haul companies using such tactics will suffer. He makes it clear that the noble goal of SEO should be the long term success of the target sites, and that chasing the latest loophole in the ranking algorithms is risky and not economically viable in the long run. While a number of people comment on his post saying things like "if it works it works" and that SEO is a "game", Rand holds his ground and does not compromise his lofty premise that search engine rankings, and indeed all SEO efforts, should be based on the provision of quality, useful content and links, of such a nature that will benefit the users of the web as well as the sites in question. Anyone who disagrees with that is certainly not someone who I would admire - the pursuit of selfish, short term financial gain at the expense of the long term success of a client as well as at the expense of creating a quality web experience is about as ignoble goal as is imaginable.

Rand explains his philosophy further in a comment reply below the post:

"I completely disagree with this logic that Google has weaknesses and we know how to use them. My thinking goes entirely the other way - Google and all the othe engines have ideals to which their algorithms aspire. If we pursue the "weaknesses" we will eventually lose - fighting against teams of some of the planets smartest people with some of the planets best resources (Google Web Spam, et. al) seems like a terrible idea and a poor way to generate ROI for our customers.

Instead, we should be focusing on what, in a perfect world, the engines would want to count, and building sites, content and links that embody that ideal. With this kind of strategy in place, you won't fall out of the results just because Google updates their algorithm or gets better at their job."

Very well said.

Of course Jill Whalen of HighRankings has to weigh in on the subject, in her predictable philosophy of "if it gets you to rank well in the search engines then it must be what Google wants". First off, Jill, Google doesn't "want" spammy links or bogus content. Because it works at the moment in getting a site to rank is far from saying that is the sort of thing for which Google strives to rank sites.

Jill then can be seen ranting about Rand's "outing" of companies engaging in questionable practices. Of course Rand stands up to her too, saying:

"Jill - I disagree on this point and I think I will for the future. Outing manipulative practices (or ANY practices for that matter) that put a page at the top of the rankings is part of our job. Disclosing tactics that work (and sharing my opinion about whether they should or not) is something I'll continue to do in the future, and I don't feel particularly bad for anyone who's getting "outed." If you don't want people finding out about your tactics, don't rank #1 for competitive phrases. It's always going to make you a target. I've never liked the "thieves code of honor" - it implies that as SEOs, we're thieves and that's the last thing any of us should want."

Wow! Now if that isn't standing up for a noble cause, I do not know what is? Now, to be clear, am I calling Jill Whalen evil? Of course not. But I do believe that she is wrong to take a position in support of practices which do not benefit the long term good of either SEO clients or web users.

Question: Does Rand Fishkin look good in tig