Vanessa Fox on the birth of Google Search Console
From the super early days of Google through using AI today for SEO - we covered a lot in this interview.
Topic: Vanessa Lauren Fox
Study: Forget About Average Organic CTRs, They Mean Nothing
Averages mislead because click-through rates vary widely by site and category.
Keylime Toolbox And Moz Analytics Debut “Not Provided” Data Recovery Solutions
Today, two companies announced new solutions to help solve the “not provided” problem that leaves SEOs in the dark about the search queries that lead users to their sites. Moz has added a new report to Moz Analytics, and Keylime Toolbox is a new company offering SEO Analytics Software that helps recover “not provided” data. […]
RKG Launches SEO Forecasting Tool & Pilot Program Offering Insight On ‘Not Provided’ Query Data
On the heels of acquiring Nine By Nine Blue along with its search analytics Blueprint software, digital and search marketing firm RKG announced today a new SEO predictive forecasting tool to be added to the Blueprint software suite. In addition to the newly added SEO solution, RKG is launching a pilot program for companies interested […]
SMX West 2013: Using Personas To Bridge the Gap Between Search and User Experience
Using Personas To Bridge the Gap Between Search and User Experience Presentations from SMX West, March 2013 Personas are a way to model the basic types of visitors you expect on your site and tailor an experience to meet their needs. To be successful, you must truly understand the needs of your customers, and "get […]
The Link Shrink Is In: Is Starting Over The Best Option?
We just came upon the two year anniversary of what came to be known as the Google Panda Update. Between then and now, a seismic shift has seemingly taken place in the link building and SEO industry. Many of you reading this know the gory details, but if you don’t, I recommend reading Vanessa Fox’s […]
SMX East 2012: What SEO Performance Metrics Are Truly Important?
What SEO Performance Metrics Are Truly Important? Presentations from SMX East, October 2012 Your boss or client may think top rankings are gold, but most knowledgeable SEOs will tell you those stats are so 20th-century that they’re virtually irrelevant. So how do you measure – and more importantly, prove – the value of your SEO […]
SMX East 2012: What SEO Technical Metrics Are Truly Important?
What SEO Technical Metrics Are Truly Important? Presentations from SMX East, October 2012 Google is getting increasingly stringent on its rules about what constitutes “acceptable” SEO. The good news: they’re offering a lot of detail about what is and isn’t acceptable. The bad news? It’s not always clear how to determine when you’re playing nice […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 4, 2012
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google’s August & September Updates: Panda, Knowledge Graph, Page Quality & SafeSearch Google has announced details on the search algorithm and quality changes made over the past two months – August […]
“Blueprint” Search Analytics Service Launched By Vanessa Fox
Vanessa Fox, our very own contributing editor, former Googler who helped build Google Webmaster Central, has designed her own search analytics application named BluePrint. The tool takes your search data and web analytics and combines the data in a useful and actionable manner for SEOs. The core three components of the software application include: Query […]
Reliving Favorite Moments From SMX Advanced 2012
SMX Advanced is my favorite conference of the year. Hands down. The sessions are always memorable, and I get to see a lot of the SEO “old timers” – you know…the SEOs who have been in the game for at least 10 years, which is like 70 years in Internet time. In conclusion, SMX Advanced […]
SMX Advanced 2012: Pagination & Canonicalization For The Pros
Pagination & Canonicalization For The Pros Presentations from SMX Advanced, June 2012 Using the pagination tag with optional parameters, sort orders, and filters. Are there still reasons to use robots.txt or noindex? Can a canonical tag really replace a 301? How do you keep your IIS=based site from infinite redirect loops when you canonicalize default […]
SMX Advanced 2012: Breaking The Speed Limit: Faster Sites Win!
Breaking The Speed Limit: Faster Sites Win! Presentations from SMX Advanced, June 2012 Faster sites win in more ways than just rankings. Search engines can crawl (and index) more pages as server-side speed increases and user engagement (including most importantly, conversion!) increases as client-side speed (and perceived loading time) increases. Learn about hidden tricks you […]
SMX East 2011: Duplication, Aggregation, Syndication, Affiliates, Scraping, and Information Architecture
Duplication, Aggregation, Syndication, Affiliates, Scraping, and Information Architecture Presentations from SMX East – NYC, NY, September 2011 We’ll sort through the bewildering world of near duplication due to issues such as manufacturer feeds into your site, syndication to other sites, international sites, and aggregation of data sources. How can a well-planned information architecture mimimize the […]
SMX East 2011: Schema.org, Rel=Author & Meta Tagging For 2012
Schema.org, Rel=Author & Meta Tagging For 2012 Presentations from SMX East – NYC, NY, September 2011 The search engines have been kind to SEOs recently, adding a number of new tools that when used properly promise to improve visibility and rankings for certain types of content. Schema.org, a joint alliance between Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo […]
SMX East 2011: Real Answers For Technical SEO Problems
Real Answers For Technical SEO Problems Presentations from SMX East – NYC, NY, September 2011 Some technical SEO issues can be really tough to troubleshoot and fix. We’ll dive deep into how to diagnose the root cause of issues and how to get them fixed once and for all. [flv:https://searchengineland.com/video_assets/east11/ppt/553.flv 364 264] Moderator: Vanessa Fox, […]
SMX East 2011: Making Data From Google Webmaster Central & Bing Webmaster Tools Actionable
Making Data From Google Webmaster Central & Bing Webmaster Tools Actionable Presentations from SMX East – NYC, NY, September 2011 The search engines make more and more data available all of the time, but how can you determine priority and impact to use that information to influence your overall marketing and technical development roadmap. What […]
SMX East 2011: Pagination & SEO
Pagination & SEO Presentations from SMX East – NYC, NY, September 2011 What’s the best way to implement complex, paginated sites for effective indexing and ranking? It may not be using conventional wisdom, despite what Google has said to the contrary. Come hear our panelists discuss controversial, but undeniably effective ways to use the rel=canonical […]
SMX East 2011: Ask The SEOs
Ask The SEOs Presentations from SMX East – NYC, NY, September 2011 In this no-holds-barred, all-questions-welcomed session, you’ll get a full-spectrum view of cutting-edge thinking and have your own opportunity to ask for SEO advice from some of the most respected and trusted search engine optimizers in the business. [flv:https://searchengineland.com/video_assets/east11/ppt/575.flv 364 264] Moderator: Danny Sullivan, […]
SMX East 2011: Beyond Rankings: Actionable SEO Reports Your Boss Will Love
Beyond Rankings: Actionable SEO Reports Your Boss Will Love Presentations from SMX East – NYC, NY, September 2011 Still doing search ranking reports for your boss or clients, even though you personally think they’re useless? Or maybe you’re not doing them, but you’re still looking for new ways to show that your SEO campaigns are […]
SMX East 2011: Use Searcher Personas To Connect SEO To Conversion
Use Searcher Personas To Connect SEO To Conversion Presentations from SMX East – NYC, NY, September 2011 We all know that audience engagement doesn’t start at a web site. It starts at the search box. And it’s not enough to rank well for high volume queries. To be successful, you have to rank well for […]
Google’s Blog Strategist and Manager, Karen Wickre, Departs After Nine Years
In an announcement fittingly posted on her own blog, Karen Wickre, Google’s senior manager of global communications & public affairs, says she has left the company. Wickre launched and masterminded the company’s blog strategy during her nine-year tenure at the company. Her farewell was something of a love letter to Google and the experiences she’s had […]
Former Google Search Reps Start Search Quality Alliance
A new site just launched under the name Search Quality Alliance, which is currently made up of five companies that offer SEO and web services. The big punch line here is that these five companies are all founded by former Google Search Quality representatives. As it states on the website: Search Quality Alliance is a […]
Google Decides Fate Of More Than Half Of Labs Projects; Correlate Survives, Sets Doesn’t
Another week, another round of updates from the slow phase-out of Google Labs. This week, good news for fans of one keyword-related tool, but bad news for fans of another.
SMX Advanced 2011 Video: The Really Complicated Technical SEO Infrastructure Issues
The Really Complicated Technical SEO Infrastructure Issues Presentations from SMX Advanced, June 2011 It’s one thing to know you should use 301s, but how do you really implement that in an IIS 5.0 environment? Or as part of a server migration that includes resetting cookies for a new domain? Is Google’s crawlable AJAX standard the […]
SMX Advanced 2011 Video: Mega Session: SEO Vets Take All Comers
Mega Session: SEO Vets Take All Comers Presentations from SMX Advanced, June 2011 This PowerPoint-free panel is made up of veteran search engine optimization experts taking questions on SEO issues. Put your biggest challenges to them and come away with solutions. [flv:https://searchengineland.com/video_assets/advanced11/ppt/Mega-Session-SEO-Vets-Take-All-Comers.flv 364 264] Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land Speakers: Alex Bennert, In House […]
How Twitter’s Technical Infrastructure Issues Are Impacting Google Search Results
In the last few days, several noticed that the Google Toolbar PageRank value for www.twitter.com had plummeted to 0 (it’s now back to its previous 9). Was Google punishing Twitter for how things went down with the feed expiration that temporarily derailed Google’s Realtime search efforts? Nah, Twitter’s website has just been suffering from technical […]
Can You Dig Out Of Your Google Panda Hole By Offloading To Subdomains?
The Wall Street Journal has an article out today reporting that Hubpages, acting on advice from Google, has found that using subdomains seems to have gotten some of their content to recover from a Panda penalty. By moving some of their content to new subdomains, it either has escaped the penalty or is being assessed […]
Bing Webmaster Tools Enables HTML5 Interface
I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable this morning that Bing Webmaster Tools no longer requires Silverlight. Now, if you login to Bing Webmaster Tools without Silverlight installed on your computer, you can see all the reports, graphs and charts that you were unable to see days ago. In July 2010, Bing revamped Webmaster Tools […]
SMX West 2011 Slide Video: Your Toughest Technical SEO Questions Answered
Your Toughest Technical SEO Questions Answered Presentations from SMX West, March 2011 No powerpoint here! This session is all about Q&A to solve the specific technical issues you’re having. Bring your toughest questions! Topics will likely include URL canonicalization (pagination, faceted navigation, breadcrumbs, parameters, analytics tracking, IIS URL issues, redirects, localized URLs…), aggregation and duplication […]
SMX West 2011 Slide Video: What’s Really Important for Technical SEO?
What’s Really Important for Technical SEO? Presentations from SMX West, March 2011 How do you prioritize improvements to technical architecture? What will make the biggest impact? Is it really all that important to speed up client-side page load times? Server side load times? Change your IIS configuration to stop generating those default.aspx pages and case-insensitive […]
SMX West 2011 Slide Video: Industrial Strength SEO
Industrial Strength SEO Presentations from SMX West, March 2011 Managing SEO for a large web site isn’t for the faint of heart. You’ve got major technical challenges, such as dealing with content management systems, optimizing for thousands or millions of keywords, multiple domains, often in multiple countries, constantly changing content… and those don’t even factor […]
SMX West 2011 Slide Video: Ask The SEOs
Ask The SEOs Presentations from SMX West, March 2011 You’ve heard the lingo: PageRank sculpting, duplicate content penalties, canonical tags, sitemap structure, nofollow… and most recently a lot about the potential impact of Google Instant. In this session, you can ask questions and get direct answers from engineers from Google, Microsoft and the other search […]
Google Drops Phonebook Search Operator
Google has dropped the phonebook search operator due to the massive number of requests from people to remove their phone numbers from Google. I noticed it went missing this morning after spotting complaints in a Google help thread. Googler, John Mueller told me that it was removed and I can read more about this change […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Solving the Big URL Issues
Solving the Big URL Issues Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 URLs continue to be a key technical obstacle to search engine optimization. Internal and external linking structure, URL formats, parameters, faceted navigation, breadcrumbs, tracking codes, pagination, canonicalization options, hyphens and underscores. What really matters? What should you rewrite and what should you leave alone? […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Industrial Strength SEO
Industrial Strength SEO Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 Managing SEO for a large web site isn’t for the faint of heart. You’ve got major technical challenges, such as dealing with content management systems, optimizing for thousands or millions of keywords, multiple domains, often in multiple countries, constantly changing content… and those don’t even factor […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Credit Where Credit Is Due: Demystifying Attribution
Credit Where Credit Is Due: Demystifying Attribution Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 Measuring ROI is key to effective online acquisition efforts. When you know what’s working (and what isn’t), you can react quickly. Just as important are the insights online data can give you about your customers: what were they searching for that caused […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Ask The SEOs
Ask The SEOs Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 Some experts say content is king. Others maintain that acquiring quality links is the killer ranking factor. Still others swear by bleeding-edge SEO techniques that run the risk of drawing penalties and having sites banned by search engines altogether. In this no-holds-barred, all-questions-welcomed session, you’ll get […]
SMX East 2010 Slide Video: Actionable Metrics and Diagnostics
Actionable Metrics and Diagnostics Presentations from SMX East, October 2010 We have hundreds of data points to track how the search engines and visitors are accessing our sites, but what’s really actionable and what’s not worth spending time on? How can you best use data to diagnose issues and make improvements to your site? In […]
SMX Advanced 2010 Slide Video: So You Want To Test SEO?
So You Want To Test SEO? Presentations from SMX Advanced Seattle, June 2010 Trying to figure out that search algorithm, to decide which of those 200+ factors really make a difference? You might be tempted to do some experimenting — and you might end up making the wrong conclusions. Are you correcting for personalization? How […]