The Google Blog has a basic but clear explanation of the robots exclusion protocol. In this blog post, Google explained how the NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW, NOARCHIVE and NOSNIPPET META tags function. In short: NOINDEX tag tells Google not to index a specific page NOFOLLOW tag tells Google not to follow the links on a specific page NOARCHIVE tag tells Google not to store a cached copy of your page NOSNIPPET tag tells Google not to show a snippet (description) under your Google listing, it will also not show a cached link in the search results [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | SEO: Blocking Spiders | SEO: General

I had the honor of being a panelist for the 2nd (now) Annual Yahoo! Searchlight Awards. Also on the panel were Brad Berens, iMedia Communications; Jon Fine, BusinessWeek and Brian Morrissey, AdWeek. The four finalists were: Sprint-Talladega Nights, presented by NeoSearch Special K, presented by Starcom Lexus All-new LS Launch, presented by TeamOne Chase Freedom, presented by Avenue A Razorfish All four agencies presented campaigns that contained elements of traditional media, online display advertising and search. Chase/Avenue A was the winner, mainly because their discussion of search was [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Search Marketing: Branding | SEM Industry: Awards | Yahoo: Search Ads

Todd Malicoat has a nice write up on what he calls "new school SEO." Danny and I (as others) have been talking about this form of SEO for a while, but I thought it would be nice to revisit it. So what does Todd consider to be new school SEO? (1) The classic vertical search optimization of utilizing the Google OneBox results, Yahoo Shortcuts, Ask.com's Smart Answers and so on. So if you are a local business, Google may show Google Local results at the top of Google.com for a localized search. Optimize for those queries and you can have a number one spot for a competitive Google search ter [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | SEO: General

It was almost 3 weeks ago today that Google posted on their corporate blog about some changes to the personalized search sign-up process. Danny covered this development quite nicely in a very comprehensive post, looking at the specifics of the announcement and what it means for users. The announcement and the subsequent posts have set off a minor firestorm of blogging activity as many of us, myself included, have joined in the debate of what personalized search means, both for users and for the SEO industry. My position has consistently been that personalization of search results is inev [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: Personalized Search | Search & Usability

I wanted to pass along some news about the Search Marketing Expo shows that Search Engine Land's parent company Third Door Media is doing this year. Registration for our first SMX Advanced event in Seattle this June 4-5 has now opened on the newly redesigned SMX web site. In addition, two further SMX shows have been announced: SMX Local & Mobile - Denver, Sept. 19-20, 2007 and SMX Social Media - New York, Oct. 16-17, 2007. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Conferences

Hitwise reports that search engines have overtaken adult sites in share among U.K. internet users. In January, search engines accounted for 13.3% of all UK internet visits, compared with 11.5% for adult websites. The market share of UK internet visits to search engines grew 21% year-on-year in January, while Adult websites declined 14%. Search engines were one of the fastest growing categories in January, with growth outpaced by only the Net Communities and Chat and News and Media categories (up 41% and 28% respectively). Google and Yahoo! Search led the growth with the share of UK intern [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Stats: Hitwise | Stats: Popularity | Stats: Search Behavior

Consumer watchdog Public Citizen has filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of Michael Morgan, a Florida realtor sued by homebuilder Lennar for using its corporate name in the URL of a web site critical of Lennar, and for buying sponsored search ads using the trademarked name to promote the site. According to Paul Alan Levy, the Public Citizen attorney who authored the amicus curiae brief, "this is the first case in which Public Citizen has been involved dealing with the trademark ramifications of noncommercial, keyword ad purchases – a relatively new area of litigation – that are pr [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Legal: Trademarks

FeedBurner's View of the Feed Market at FeedBurner's blog gives us a detailed look at the numbers and statistics behind your feeds. With the recent adoption of Google Reader subscriber numbers, many bloggers have seen their "subscribers" and other feed stats spike up. In fact, we learn from FeedBurner's post that overall; publishers noticed an increase in subscriber numbers by 53%! In short, the statistics behind our feeds show us just a small snippet of our true feed universe. Let me explain... Your RSS or ATOM feed can be included in dozens of places including an RSS reader, a widget, d [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Reader | SEO: Blogs & Feeds | Stats: General | Stats: Popularity

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web: From Search Engine Land: Term Highlighting and Search Engine Optimization One of the reasons I tend to focus on "organic" search engine optimization (SEO), as an online marketing strategy is that the majority of search results come from the natural spidering process. Admittedly, searchers tend to look at and click on the top results from both the paid and... Yahoo To Redirect More Search Query Types Site ExplorerAugust of last year, Yahoo began pointing "link:" and "linkdomain [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

One of the reasons I tend to focus on "organic" search engine optimization (SEO), as an online marketing strategy is that the majority of search results come from the natural spidering process. Admittedly, searchers tend to look at and click on the top results from both the paid and unpaid listings. However, after carefully evaluating Web analytics data and conversion rates since 1995, I find that searchers who are truly interested in purchasing a product and/or service actually dig for information. In other words, they are not impulse buyers and perform a wide variety of searches before ma [...]

Related Topics: All Things SEO | Channel: SEO | SEO: General

August of last year, Yahoo began pointing "link:" and "linkdomain:" without other search operators queries towards Site Explorer. Today, Yahoo will be redirecting "domain:" and "hostname:" queries to Site Explorer as well. So if you do a search at search.yahoo.com and it is using those query types, they will soon redirect to Site Explorer. It appears that this is not live yet, but Yahoo tells me it will happen today some time. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Search Features: Commands | Yahoo: Site Explorer

Our newest Search Engine Land column, 100% Organic, launches today. 100% Organic will appear every Thursday, featuring columns from Greg Boser, Todd Friesen, Shari Thurow, Stephan Spencer, and Jill Whalen and will cover issues related to being listed in the free, natural or "organic" listings in search engines. Today's debut features Shari Thurow on Term Highlighting and Search Engine Optimization. [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | All Things SEO | Channel: SEO | Columns

Brian Smith reports that Windows Live Shopping has been taken offline. The message on the Windows Live Shopping says: This beta test has now ended. Thank you for visiting the Windows Live Shopping beta and helping us test the site. Our vast product selection and user-created content, such as guides and reviews, continues to be available through the MSN Shopping site. You will be redirected to MSN Shopping automatically in 8 seconds. Windows Live Shopping Beta launched on April 28, 2006. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Microsoft: Other Search | Search Engines: Shopping Search Engines

A study released by De Vos & Jansen Market Research and Checkit reveals that buyers and information seekers search differently. Here are some key findings, however, you can download the full report as a PDF document. Buyers view more search results (10) and take more time to view the results (11.4 seconds). Information searchers view less search results (8) and spend less time on a result (9.4 seconds). Buyers pay more attention to brand names relative to information seekers. Only 50 searchers were tested and they were between the age of 17 and 24. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Stats: Search Behavior

Reuters reports that Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt said they will be releasing anti-piracy technologies for YouTube "very soon." Schmidt said the much delayed content identification system "is not far away." It makes sense that this is one of Google's "highest priorities." Now what about search? ;-) Postscript: Mercury News reports Google has contracted a 3rd party company from Los Gatos named Audible Magic to detect copyrighted materials. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: Legal | Google: YouTube & Video | Legal: Copyright

Google axes death-threat blog at The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Google finally shut down CYFSWATCH New Zealand blog after numerous complaints from governmental officials in New Zealand. The blog, hosted on Google's Blogger service, reportedly wrote a death threat against a New Zealand politician. When you access the blog at this time, it says "NONE" and that is followed with "No posts match your query." But the Google Cache still shows blog posts from the blog, at this point in time. More details at The Sydney Morning Herald. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Google: Blogger | Google: Legal | Google: Outside US | Legal: Censorship

Yahoo news to tilt to a lilt from Reuters reports that Yahoo is going to be launching a news show by the end of this quarter named "Odd News Underground." The spin to this news show is that the anchor will be singing the news that "will leave you tapping your feet," said Yahoo's Scott Moore. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Yahoo: News

As we expected, Google has launched a "Premier Edition" of Google Apps. Google Apps Premier Edition will give you everything standard Google Apps has plus the following features: 99.9% uptime guarantee for email** 10 GB / account Ability to turn off ads Shared calendar resources APIs to integrate with your existing infrastructure Single sign-on User provisioning and management Support for email gateway Limited Email migration tools 24/7 assistance, including phone support 3rd party applications and services Plus everything standards Google Apps offers You can now try Google Apps Premie [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Google: Apps For Your Domain

Google AdWords has begun to roll out the quality score column in advertiser accounts in AdWords last week. Now, Google has announced that the new quality score algorithm has been pushed to the Google servers. In the next few days, these changes will be complete and sponsored ads in the Google results will change - how much they will change is still currently unknown. It is now important for you to track your quality score, so if you do not see it available yet within your AdWords control panel, keep checking back. You will need to customize your columns in order to view the quality score [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords

Let's get this out of the way right now: Hands-on SEO and SEM for small businesses is no different than it is for large corporations. Small businesses need to develop great content around targeted keywords and get quality inbound links... just as any other business does. On the PPC front, small businesses need to write great ads, target the right keywords, and have great landing pages... just as any other business does. This begs an obvious question: If it's all the same, why is Search Engine Land starting a new column dedicated to small business search marketing? You'd have to ask Danny [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Small Is Beautiful