Wolfram Alpha: How will it’s Launch Affect SEO?

Wolfram Alpha is set to launch sometime this month. It is not just another search engine, but a tool for answering specific questions. They call it a “computational knowledge engine”. It takes searches to another level by cross-referencing information to find an answer to a question. For example, Wolfram Alpha should be able to show you results for pages that can answer questions like, “What world leaders have birthdays in July?” or “Does Jennifer Anniston wear the same size shoe as Barbara Bush?”.

Wolfram Alpha should bring on some interesting results along with possible changes in your SEO strategy. SEO companies are constantly updating procedures to keep up with the ever-changing world of search engine optimization. So, when and if great changes are made in user behavior or ranking algorithmic functions, SEO will surely follow.

This new search engine will be most useful for research. Finding similarities in different types of trials, sites or information will help us get a better understanding of a multitude of subjects. Plus it will be fun to play around with just to see what types of useless facts we can come up with.

Wolfram Alpha was developed by Stephen Wolfram because he figured out that an age old assumption about computers handling questions could finally come to fruition. Wolfram says it best himself:

“Fifty years ago, when computers were young, people assumed that they’d quickly be able to handle all these kinds of things.
And that one would be able to ask a computer any factual question, and have it compute the answer.
But it didn’t work out that way. Computers have been able to do many remarkable and unexpected things. But not that.
I’d always thought, though, that eventually it should be possible. And a few years ago, I realized that I was finally in a position to try to do it.”

Whether or not Wolfram Alpha changes the face of searching or becomes a valuable research tool is still open for debate. Either way, we’re excited about it and can’t wait to see how a search engine that uses everyday language, cross-references sites, and thinks like a human being changes the web.

Will Wolfram Alpha affect internet marketing? That remains to be seen. It uses a lot of the same search techniques and algorithms as current search engines, so it may not require many if any changes at all.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is a Project Manager for ArteWorks SEO, one of the top search engine marketing companies in the world. A graduate of the University of Alabama, she implements and manages comprehensive SEO strategies and serve as an organizational liaison among company executives, clients and colleagues.

Optimizing your Optimization: SEO

When you were shopping around for your SEO, you probably got a lot of fuzzy quotes. Some companies are vague about what they are actually going to do because one, they may not want to be liable for something that they said they were going to do and didn’t, or two, they don’t want you to take their valuable research that determined what needed to be done.

Each web site needs an individualized plan for search engine optimization. This is really the main reason for vagary throughout the industry. Sure, there may be some obvious things that need to be done, but other things could take hours of research to figure out. There is no “one size fits all” approach in SEO.

When you are determining which company has the best plan in mind, think about what you really want. Do you only want your site optimized so that the browser spiders can more easily see you and rank you? Do you want extensive work done on keyword research, keyword density and link building? Before you sign on the dotted line, check around to make sure that you are getting what you’re paying for.

Ideally, you want your site to be improved by every means possible. This can include title tags, headlines, text quality and quantity, links, 301 redirects, and more. These things may need to be periodically updated as things change in your rankings, keyword focus or your industry. So, many people find themselves paying for these things by the year. Not a bad idea, but it isn’t all that needs to be considered.

What if this work is all done in the first week and then nothing ever needs to be changed? Your site may be perfectly optimized, but does that mean that you are done? Will this really keep you climbing in the rankings? Not necessarily. Yes, these things help a lot and are totally necessary, but what else needs to be done to increase your chances of success?

Browsers use more information than “how well your site is laid out” to determine your worth. Are you active in your industry community? Do you provide valuable information about your industry? Are you doing more than putting a product on the market? This is where copywriting and blogs come in. Your SEO will hopefully offer article writing services, along with posting to a blog, including relevant links to your site, and syndicating those articles so that they can be spread around the web. The articles should not sound like sales copy or they will not be taken seriously by the public or the browsers. Generic, relevant, interesting information should be provided in your articles.

Social media efforts are next. Social media is becoming more and more important to rankings. Bookmarking, social site posts and networking are the last piece of the services puzzle.

Make sure that you are getting all that you paid for. Going with a cheaper SEO that offers fewer services may put you waiting in line behind your competitors indefinitely.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is a Project Manager for ArteWorks SEO, one of the top search engine marketing companies in the world. A graduate of the University of Alabama, she implements and manages comprehensive SEO strategies and serve as an organizational liaison among company executives, clients and colleagues.