SEO Smackdown: Information Architecture vs. Technical Architecture
Why do SEO professionals believe that technical architecture is more important than information architecture (IA)?
Topic: Web development
Confirmed: Google Testing Frames For Search Options & Search Results
Google has confirmed a new user interface test on the search results page where the left side search filters are in a scrollable frame, and the middle of the search results are in their own scrollable frame. Technically, they are not frames, but rather some form of AJAX or HTML5 like interface. I am honestly […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 18, 2011
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 News Archive Search Page: Gone Forever Or Temporary Bug? Another Google search interface has gone missing: The specialized interface/homepage to Google News Archive Search is no longer available. It was […]
Ready Or Not, New Twitter Lands For All Users This Week
Nearly a year after its launch, the “new” Twitter interface will roll out to all users this week — whether they want it or not. The company tweeted this afternoon with a warning to those who’re still using the old Twitter interface: If you’re currently using Old Twitter, we want to let you know that […]
Does This Website Usability Fairy Tale Have A Happy Ending?
Whenever I’m asked what usability is, I get tongue tied. “It’s about humans and computers,” I may say, but they’ll picture robots and talking cars. “I help make web sites that work,” is closer, but vague because technically, if it’s on the Internet, it’s working. Then I’ll hear myself try to make it clearer by […]
Mobile SEO: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Let me just start by saying the there is no such a thing as “mobile SEO”, just SEO for mobile search. True mobile SEO could only exist if you only have a mobile site and the only link building you do is from other mobile sites and pursue other SEO activities on only mobile based […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 20, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Hot At Sphinn: Automated Tweeting Pros/Cons, Deleting PPC Keywords & More Another busy week of discussion last week on our sister site, Sphinn, with more than a third of the published […]
Google Bans iFrames for AdSense, Though Says It Will Grant Exceptions
Google has tweaked its policies for placing AdSense ads to curb abuse, going so far as to forbid the placement of its code in iFrames. Though the company acknowledges there are some valid uses of iFrames, it will require publishers using them to be explicitly granted an exception by Google. The policy change is likely […]
It’s Here: Google +1 Buttons For Websites
As expected, Google is now offering +1 buttons that can be placed on any web page via a short code snippet. The code/button is supported in 44 languages, but +1 activity continues to show only on English-language search results on Google.com. (Google says it’s working to expand +1 worldwide.) Webmasters can use Google’s self-serve code […]
Flash Support For Google Instant Previews
Google announced they are now adding Flash support to their instant previews. Google Instant Previews launched in November, giving Google searchers a way to preview the landing page of the search results prior to visiting the page. When it first launched it did not support Flash web sites and the previews were not fully visible […]
Has Facebook Become The Master Key To Unlocking The Web?
When Facebook rolled out its Send button last week, I laughed. I even mocked on Twitter that Facebook wouldn’t be happy until our pages were full of buttons. But the Send button, as well as integrating other aspects of Facebook into websites, does make a lot of sense. In fact, it’s beginning to make so […]
Google Instant Provides A Hint For Local & Mobile Optimization
Undoubtedly, you may have seen Google’s Instant Preview interface which provides glimpses for webpages listed in SERPs. What you may not be aware of is that they’ve added sophisticated code to make it unique on mobile devices. These Instant Previews provide compelling evidence that mobile optimization continues to be important. Google rolled out Instant Previews in November 2010, […]
Why The Mobile Web Is Foundation Of The Best Mobile Strategies
Last week, I was on a panel at a CTIA pre-conference show in Orlando, and a question that was asked during several sessions at the conference was “what should we invest in: a mobile site or a mobile app?” I heard this same question in a panel I was on at Digiday Mobile in September […]
Google +1 Button Spotted … And It Works [Er, Worked]
Even though Google’s +1 button isn’t supposed to be ready for webmasters for a few months, they’ve already been spotted in the wild — and they appear to work. Yvo Schaap points to Fanity.com, where a +1 button has been embedded in a social widget next to Facebook and Twitter buttons. (See image at right.) […]
How To Get Google +1 Buttons For Your Website
The long-rumored Google +1 social layer is now reality, but one of the oddities of today’s announcement is that website owners can’t put +1 voting buttons on their websites or blogs yet. In case it was lost in the flurry of today’s news and discussion about Google +1, you can put in a request to […]
3 SEO Myths About Information Architecture
PageRank sculpting, siloing, link-juice flowage, SEO architecture — all are keyword phrases that make my skin crawl. What do search optimizers need to know about information architecture? Learn from real information architects.
How To Optimize For Facebook’s New ‘Like’ Functionality
News was broken this weekend about new Facebook “like” functionality that will replace the traditional Facebook share buttons. The change beefed up the visibility of people’s “likes” by adding thumbnails, and meta data form Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol: This means that getting a page on your website “liked” will now be featured in the stream […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 7, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Instant Replay: Where To Find The Super Bowl Ads Are you one of those people who get upset when the Super Bowl gets interrupted by football or corny half-time events? You […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 24, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Hot At Sphinn: Google Favoritism In Search Results, Eric Schmidt Steps Down & More The idea that Google might be favoring its own properties and content in search results was a […]
The Big List: 168 Marketing Trends, Predictions & Resolutions For 2011
You’ve had a week to put 2010 in the past and start unpacking 2011. If you’re the type to do so, you’ve probably already made your own marketing resolutions for the new year, or thought about the trends and predictions that might make a difference as the year goes along. You have? Good. So has […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 28, 2010
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 Vows To Look At Deceptive Cloaking Techniques Google’s Matt Cutts tweeted that Google will be looking more at Cloaking in the first quarter of 2011. Cloaking, as defined by Google, […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 7, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: It’s Alive: The Google Chrome OS Laptop Launch Event Google has announced that Chrome OS laptops are now available to consumers through a pilot program for early adopters who prove themselves […]
PubCon Las Vegas 2010 Big Recap
The PubCon Las Vegas 2010 show is now over and here is a recap of all the live blogging that I found while at the conference. Day One: David Pogue Keynote – PubCon 2010, SEO.com Day 1: Ecommerce and Shopping Cart Optimization Recap – PubCon 2010, SEO.com Day 1: Online Reputation Management Session – PubCon […]
Standards Compliance: Just Do it, Already
Dear coders: please write your HTML/XHTML code to be standards-compliant. Yes, I know — we’ve been down this road before. Folks have tested compliant versus non-compliant code, and it doesn’t help with search rankings, so why bother, blah blah blah. Just use the damned standards, OK? Standards compliance does impact rankings, albeit indirectly: Standards compliance […]
Google Adds Breadcrumb Support To Rich Snippets & Improves Testing Tool
The Google Webmaster Central blog announced improvements to their rich snippets feature. The improvements include a way to tell Google how you want your breadcrumb URLs to appear and an improved rich snippet testing tool. The breadcrumbs you have seen before, we have pictures here. Sometimes you don’t like how Google shows breadcrumbs in the […]
New Digg (v4) Goes Live
After a couple months of beta testing with invited Digg members, the new version of Digg — they’re calling it “v4” for Version 4 — is now live and open to all. Digg founder Kevin Rose announced it here, but that blog post is down as I write this. In that announcement, Rose says the […]
Wolfram|Alpha Query Widget Builder
Wolfram|Alpha, the fact engine has released a neat new feature today. Wolfram|Alpha is allowing anyone to build query driven widgets that can be embedded on any web page. The purpose is to enable publishers, bloggers, professors, teachers and so on to easily build quick widgets to add to their content and materials. You can build […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 21, 2010
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: All New Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools Today, Microsoft launched a revamp of their Bing Webmaster Tools. I talked to them back in June, when they previewed the tools at SMX Advanced, […]
SEO Has Killed The My Internet
Hi. My name is Tom and I have a problem. Actually I have a lot of problems, but none are more pressing or more relevant to you than how SEO has affected my perception of the internet. More specifically, SEO has ruined how I use the internet so I hope that sharing my story will […]
Effectively Managing Multilingual Content Segmentation
No, this is not another top-level domain vs. sub domain article but one that goes more to a deeper problem global companies are having with a haphazard approach to their local language content management. I have seen far too many global companies large and small cobble together local language sites that make Frankenstein look like […]
How To Put The Facebook “Like” Button On A Site
Last month, Facebook dropped the news about their “Open Graph” or new Facebook Platform that brings content into Facebook – and of course expands Facebook’s web reach out to a more granular level. Since the announcement, there have been two questions asked quite frequently: Should I put this on my website? How do I put […]
Are You Harming Your Local Country SEO Performance?
Are you negatively impacting your global search efforts? There are many issues ranging from lack of resources, server restrictions and egos that are hurting a company’s search exposure in local markets. This article will breakdown some of these issues and how you can eliminate them.
Facebook’s Alternative Internet Vision And Its Search Implications
I attended the F8 Facebook developer event this morning and might have live blogged it but the public WiFi connection was extremely slow. Maybe that’s a good thing; aspects of what were announced had me confused, especially the privacy issues raised by the announcements. I’m not a developer and this event was geared toward them; […]
Google May Be Crawling AJAX Now – How To Best Take Advantage Of It
In October 2009, Google proposed a new standard for implementing AJAX on web sites that would help search engines extract the content. Now, there’s evidence this proposal is either live or is about to be. Read on for more details on the proposal, how it works, and why it might be past the proposal stage. […]
Thoughts On Web Developers, SEO & Reputation Problems
After last week’s “Does SEO = Spam” debate erupted, I had a number of follow-up emails where I explained privately more about why SEO has such a bad reputation in some quarters, as well as what SEO is and isn’t, from my perspective. I wanted to share some of that below. Bad Advice Sucks: From […]
SEO FAQ That’s Not From The Land Of Unicorns
I guess Derek Powazek isn’t done with attacking SEO. Now he’s published an SEO FAQ page which, sorry, really doesn’t provide much FAQ about SEO. So what the heck. I’ll deconstruct it. Be sure to also read my previous post, An Open Letter To Derek Powazek On The Value Of SEO. What’s SEO? First, any […]
An Open Letter To Derek Powazek On The Value Of SEO
Derek Powazek launched an attack on SEO yesterday that really said nothing that others haven’t ranted about before. I’ve responded to many of these attacks over the years in hopes of educating people about mistaken assumptions. I’ve largely given up. But I figured this time I’d give it another go with some personal illustrations I’ve […]
Google Offers A Proposal To Make AJAX Crawlable
It’s one of the most common pieces of SEO advice you’ll find: Don’t build your web site with AJAX if you want it to be crawled and indexed by search engines. AJAX-based web sites are essentially a locked and bolted door when a spider comes crawling. At our SMX East conference today, Google has announced […]
All Of Your Technical SEO Questions Answered And Bonus Free Developer Summit: Technical SMX East Dream Agenda
Search engine optimization involves a lot of moving parts. Audience analysis, content optimization, rankings factors — it can be hard to pinpoint concrete, actionable data. But technical SEO is a little different. It’s certainly not any easier than the other components, but at least the data can be a bit more straightforward. You can check […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 10, 2009
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: Bigger Is Better When It Comes To Search Boxes Fresh off of patenting its home page design, Google is throwing caution to the wind and messing with success: It’s making […]