When digging into the site analytics to determine the performance of your SEO campaign, be careful not to get so keyword centric that you lose sight of the overall impact of your efforts. Often times when we are link building for specific keywords, it’s easy to judge the effect by reporting the traffic and conversions directly brought in from that exact phrase. However, a much better indicator is to use keyword sets to show the impact across any variation containing elements of your keyword, so as to capture short and long tail keywords that alone may only bring in 1 or 2 visits, but together account for the vast majority of traffic and typically convert at a much higher rate.
~TarlaPageRank is shrouded in mystery. Is it a boon, a bane, or simply irrelevant? Some despise its ambiguity, and others use it as the primary factor for determining a site’s worth. I would like to discuss both sides of this issue.
~EmilyIn our interactive weekly roundup two weeks ago, I included an article from Search Engine Journal that explained why the author believes link building through guest posts is a bad idea. Today, Ann Smarty posted a counter article that explains why link building through guest posts is, in fact, a good idea. I had originally included the blurb in the roundup because, while I didn’t necessarily agree, I thought it was an interesting view and the author provided sufficient reasoning to back up his argument. However, this author was focused on the value of each link in the blog, and not on the bigger-picture value that a well-written, interesting article can provide. Because I’m usually wearing my PR hat (it fits my head much better than the SEO hat), I have to agree with Ann Smarty’s take on this issue. And here’s why:
~AngieThe day has finally arrived. In July last year, we first announced the imminent Microsoft and Yahoo! merger. Today, antitrust regulators in the United States and Europe cleared Microsoft to take over Yahoo!’s search business, without any imposing restrictions on the partnership. This MSFT / Yahoo! partnership has been named “Search Alliance”.
~SammieAnnie
By now, you may have heard. Google is personalizing everyone’s search results. *GASP* Even if you are not logged in! For the average user this might prove useful. Who wouldn’t want to see sites they like at the top of search results? On the flip side, though, search results may start to look very similar despite what users search for.
~Crystal