SEO — search engine optimization — is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” listings on search engines. All major search engines have such listings, where web pages, web sites and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Payment isn’t involved, as it is with paid search ads.
For those new to SEO, an excellent starting place is Google’s “Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.” This is a free, PDF download that covers basic tips that Google provides to its own employees on how to get listed. You’ll find it here.
Of course, there’s much more to SEO than what’s just covered in Google’s guide. Further below are stories that cover all aspects of SEO from Search Engine Land. You can also drill down into specific areas such as Redirects & Moving Sites, Blocking Spiders, Titles & Descriptions and much more. To see the full range of SEO categories like these, visit the Search Engine Land Library home page and scroll down to the SEO area.
In addition, Search Engine Land has search engine optimization areas specifically for each of the major search engines: Google SEO, Microsoft’s Bing SEO and Yahoo SEO.
Still need more? Search Engine Land also has a How To SEO section devoted to practical tips and tactics plus offers our 100% Organic column that covers search engine optimization issues each week.
Bing & Yahoo Soon To Support Canonical Tag
Mar 5, 2010 at 8:37am ET by Matt McGee
More than a year since the three major search engines united to announce the canonical tag, neither Bing nor Yahoo formally support it. But that could be changing soon.
Speaking during the "Ask the Search Engines" session at SMX West on Thursday, reps from both search engines said they're in the process of supporting rel=canonical right now.
Bing's Sasi Parthasarathy told attendees that canonical tag support should be in place by the end of March or early April. Arnab Bhattacharjee of Yahoo said they're currently rolling out support of the tag, but cautioned that Yahoo will only use it " [...]
Filed in: Microsoft: Bing SEO, SEO: Duplicate Content, Yahoo: SEO
Is Google Referrer Spamming To Detect Spam?
Feb 18, 2010 at 9:04am ET by Barry Schwartz
Michael VanDeMar has documented possible evidence that Google is using fake referrers, possibly to detect forms of spam. Michael said the GoogleBot is being cloaked and is sending fake referrers for keywords the site is not related to and has no chance in ranking for.
Bing has been doing this for years, fixed the issue several times, but it does appear Bing is no longer creating this fake referrer in webmaster's log files.
So why is Google now taking this approach? Personally, I am surprised I have not seen more complaints about this in the various forums. With Bing, it was a huge iss [...]
Filed in: Google: SEO, Google: Web Search, Google: Webmaster Central, SEO: Spamming, Top News
Fortune 500 Still Clueless About SEO, Study Says
Feb 17, 2010 at 7:35pm ET by Matt McGee
Despite spending millions of dollars on paid search, Fortune 500 companies continue to fail when it comes to natural search visibility. That's the conclusion of "Natural Search Trends of the Fortune 500: Q4/2009," the latest study released today by Conductor, a New York-based SEO services/technology firm.
Some key takeaways from Conductor's survey of Fortune 500 search marketing efforts include:
Only 15% of Fortune 500 companies have "mid to strong presence" in natural search results for the same keywords on which they advertise the most.
53% have "no natural search visibility for the [...]
Filed in: SEO: General, Search Marketing: General, Stats: General
SEO Industry Cries Foul Over Google SEO ‘Services’
Feb 11, 2010 at 5:59pm ET by Matt McGee
A vocal contingent of search engine optimizers is up in arms today, saying Google is "offering SEO consulting services." There are posts on Sphinn here and here, not to mention plenty of related tweets.
Only thing is, Google isn't doing anything they haven't done for years and to say the company is "offering SEO services" seems like a real stretch of the imagination.
The uproar started with this blog post on Google's Norwegian Inside AdWords blog, which was written about in English on the Qualité Search Marketing blog. John Andrews also picked up the conversation on his blog.
Accordi [...]
Filed in: Features: General, Google: Critics, Google: SEO, Google: Webmaster Central, SEM Industry: General, SEO: General
Scoring Super Bowl 2010 Commercials: How’s the Search Visibility?
Feb 10, 2010 at 10:11am ET by Vanessa Fox
After the 2009 Super Bowl, I monitored how the commercials drove searches and reported back on how well the brands did at ensuring visibility in organic search results. It didn't go so well. The primary problems were:
Microsites - Microsites aren't inherently a bad idea, but too many of them can cause brand confusion, external link dilution, and require that all search-related relevance and authority build from scratch with each new microsite.
Display issues - Many of the advertising brands last year ranked well, but due to technical issues had poor titles and descriptions in the search [...]
Filed in: Features: Analysis, SEO: General, Search & Society: General, Top News
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