If you counted on Microsoft’s “Live Search” search engine to drive online conversions to your website, you’re in for a rude awakening.

Why?  Microsoft launched Bing, their new search engine a little over a week ago - they’re actually calling it a decision engine, as Aaron covered recently.

The decision factor is certainly something that Microsoft thinks will give them a leg up on Google and Yahoo (more so Google).  Some of the usability features in the new Bing search engine which help the user make a decision are:

• Related keyword search results, along w/ (only) the Top 5 results of the user’s original query.  This doesn’t happen for every query used, but Bing does attempt to “guess” what you’re searching for and expands on the search w/ 3 search results for approx. 5 related queries.
• Bing utilizes AJAX scripting to show a “preview” pane for most search results.

The Bing interface utilizes AJAX scripting to showcase the website previews and was discussed by Scott Grizzle of NeXplore Corporation, a developer of web tools and interactive advertising products:

“Bing is purported to have some pretty interesting features that make search more efficient such as a website preview pane, video preview, and helpful groupings of search-results by category,” said Scott Grizzle, chief marketing officer for NeXplore Corporation. Continue reading in AJAX World Magazine (6/1/09)

Sample screenshot of Bing preview pane (click image to view larger size):

Sample preview pane in Bing search results

Ok, so Bing likes to provide a variety of useful results and a preview… How does that affect you?

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There’s been some controversy in SEO land this week. Matt Cutts, Google’s mouthpiece for linking policies, stated publicly that websites heavily involved with paid links are considered high risk. Many of the SEO pros in the blogosphere took offense to this and feel that Google is profiling search engine optimized websites unfairly.

The issue of contention revolves around paid links – buying or selling links for money. Google often discredits these links because it does not see them as valuable or quality based. Anyone that has the money can buy links to their site, in the hopes that it will boost their rankings in Google searches. Google doesn’t want this, however, because this type of linking is not based on quality and occasionally pushes the envelope of black hat.

The paid linking penalty would probably be somewhat less offensive to SEO professionals if Google itself didn’t use paid linking strategies. Google does indeed use money and giveaways, such as free Android phones to bloggers, in an attempt to gather links and positive publicity.

They both have a point. Most of the paid link sites out there are shady in some way – their sites do not boast the highest content quality available. On the other side of the coin, Google is being hypocritical by punishing quality websites for using free product giveaways and surveys to get links when they do the same thing.

Google could probably do well to revisit how exactly it determines paid links. If a site is doing a free product giveaway and collecting reviews in the form of links or comments, that isn’t black hat SEO, that’s just traditional marketing. Relaxing the barriers slightly could help.

My solution to the problem is to stay classy. Unlike some of my more excitable blogging counterparts, I do not believe that Google is saying that any and all SEO efforts will be penalized. SEO in itself is not a dishonest activity. SEO is a way of improving your website to be more relevant and consumer friendly. As long as SEO companies stay focused on the client and stay away from questionable activities such as buying links from link farms, I don’t see why there should be a problem. Links collected to or from your website should be from credible sources, regardless of what Google is saying or doing.

-Rachel

With the recent launch of Microsoft’s latest version of the search engine, SEO experts are scrambling to see if they can crack the algorithm, or at least better understand what methods will help increase your website’s rankings in Bing.  Although many of these methods are still to be determined, there are quite a few things we can take away from our first few days with the new search engine.  Bing has already shown a spike in usage, compared to Live Search, just after a few days.  Here are a few stats from the first days of Bing.

Microsoft has marketed Bing as not just a search engine, but a decision engine.  Apparently this means that you will have to make a lot of decisions after typing in your initial query.  I am only half joking because if you type in a somewhat broad query, you are presented with no less than 5 different options.  Your first option is to append an extra word onto your search.  Searching for the phrase, “professional liability insurance” it was suggested that I add the words “companies”, “agents”, “quotes”, etc.  Using this option is eventually forced upon you since after the top 5 results for your original query, you are shown results for the queries they recommended in the top left. 

Bing’s Search Suggestions

Apparently Bing does not have very much confidence in the user’s ability to know what they are searching for.  This is pretty big news for websites that used to be on the bottom half of the first page in MSN/Live since their listing is no longer shown before another query’s results are shown.  It will be ever important to have solid search engine optimization, not just for a root keyword phrase, but for similar variations as well.  I believe that with the way Bing displays results, users will rarely click through to the second or third page.  They will more than likely end their search for their original query after the first page and move on to one of the other recommended searches. 

Benefits for Search Engine Optimization

A possible benefit of this, however, would be for sites that have optimized their pages for longer tailed phrases.  Going back to the above example, even if your site does not rank in the top 5, 10, or even 50 for the term professional liability insurance, if your site ranks well for the phrase “doctors professional liability insurance quotes online” there is a chance that your listing will get visibility based on the original, broader search - a definite plus for smaller, niche sites. 

Contextual Searching with Bing

Specific searches, such as “utilizing no follow tags effectively” pull up slightly different results.  When searching for something this specific, you are not presented with any alternative search suggestions.  This leads me to believe that Bing does not have a very developed “context” filter.  In other words, it was unable to recognize that “no follow tags” is a widely used phrase in the SEO industry and provide me with other related SEO searches.  This might be something that develops as time goes on and more data is gathered regarding the use of their engine, but as of right now, it is not as developed as Google’s. 

Bing’s new way of searching is definitely revolutionary and actually pretty cool.  The problem will be actually getting people to use it.  Within the past 2 years or so, Microsoft has presented us with MSN search, Live Search, and now Bing.  The first 2 crashed and burned.  What about the third one? I don’t know, but it’s looking pretty good so far.

Qualified AdWords Professional

Having recently been required to re-up on our Google AdWords Professional status, I now have a unique perspective of how difficult and “involved” the whole process is.

Before I get into the actual exam tips and feedback, let me give you some background on my previous experience.  I have personally been working with and been invovled in the PPC marketing field for nearly 9 yrs now - going back to Overture, Findwhat and other early pay-per-click marketing systems.  Back then, there were no tests, no certifications to speak of - you either knew how to setup an account and manage it effectively or you didn’t.  Throughout the past 9 yrs, I have had various levels of involvement with our PPC services.  I have had more of a hands-off role, allowing a new PPC manager to take over and manage the accounts on a daily basis; I have had full involvement, to where I am solely responsible for the daily activities and bid management on the accounts; and, I have had the pleasure of training new marketing staff on the intricacies and best practices for managing PPC accounts.  In short, I have extensive experience on all levels of PPC marketing and understand the core concepts well.

Preparing for the Google AdWords Professional Exam

I haven’t studied for a test since college (2000), so planning and setting myself up for the Google AdWords Professional exam was quite the undertaking and learning experience - like learning to ride a bike again if you hadn’t for awhile.

Google provides a great resource and training area on their website to help you prepare for the test.  I found the video tutorials, which was my preference for studying, to be very informative and well thought out.  I would say that they were the proper duration and contained “most” of the information that ended up being on the test.  In total, I believe the videos run somewhere around 8 hours.  Having knowledge of several topics already, I utilized the fast forward button quite frequently during my studying sessions.
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Search engine optimization is not an exact science. Search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) are constantly evolving and adjusting their algorithms in order to stay ahead of the SEO professionals that doggedly strive to find the perfect SEO solution for their clients. There really is no way to know 100% for sure what will work and what won’t.

What about all those SEO companies guaranteeing results, you ask? Consider them either tragically misguided or scam artists. Whatever the reason, there are no absolute guarantees in SEO and anyone promising otherwise is probably not the best bet to hire.

While we SEO experts may not have the answers in stone, we’re a clever sort and there are a number of techniques that can be applied to a website to improve search engine rankings and increase site traffic.  We also know some of the mistakes that can be made resulting in an ineffective SEO campaign.

Focus – A successful SEO campaign needs a specific focus. Depending on the size of the campaign, the number of keywords should be limited to between approximately 8 and 20 phrases. Any more than that and you’ll have too much going on. One of my favorite phrases is keyword cannibalism, which is what occurs when the keyword focus is split on a page and the search engines don’t know how to index the page so they end up splitting the page value. You don’t want this because both keywords end up devalued and the page probably won’t rank well.

Duplication – One of the cardinal rules of SEO is no duplicate content. This includes titles and tags, multiple domains, having the same paragraph of text on every page, or copying and pasting your content from someone else (aka plagiarism).  Having duplicate content on your site, no matter how innocent your intentions may be, is considered spamming by search engines and will not help your rankings.

Antisocial Behavior – If you want more people to know about your website and to increase website visibility in the search engines, get out there and spread the word! Social media and linking have two distinct benefits you’ll be missing out on if you don’t join in. First, you have access to millions of people, allowing you opportunities to promote brand recognition. Social media sites were created for users to share cool websites. It’s always possible that your site will be discovered and become the next big thing (Hampster Dance, anyone?). Second, the number of links pointing to your site are monitored by the engine and are seen as a virtual thumbs up, making your site appear more attractive. More attractive = more likely to rank well.

The Big Picture – The last common reason (for today’s blog post at least) as to why SEO campaigns fail is called “forgetting the big picture.” What’s the big picture? The audience! The user, net surfer, web geek, online shopper, client, gamer, whoever. Above all else, if you want a successful website, you want a user-friendly website. It’s easy to become so caught up in search engine optimization and rankings that the big picture is forgotten. So, the next time you make a change to your website, pause for a moment first to contemplate your audience’s perspective.

-Rachel

More and more recently, we are seeing SEO clients who are utilizing non-SEO friendly menu systems for the primary navigation on their websites.  While the menu may perform great functions and/or be easy to create through Dreamweaver or some other website editing program, the effects of the menu on their organic search engine traffic could be devastating.  The worst part, is that the business/site owner has no idea that they are limiting their SEO capabilities by using the menu.

So how do you know if your menu is not search engine friendly?

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Google recently launched its own version of Digg called “What’s Popular”. This tool is an addon for your iGoogle page if you have one. Within What’s Popular, you can view the most recent, most popular or the most relevant stories, images or videos based on your preferences. Each link gives you the option to vote (called pops) for the site.  The more “Pops” a site gets, the higher it is on the list (much like Digg/Reddit). Submitting a link to What’s Popular could not be any easier put a link in and click add and you are done. Now you do have the option to change the title and the description if you would like but it is not a requirement. Google of course has an algorithm in place that decides what to display for you in your window which can be a good thing and a bad thing depending how they figure this out. Some say it is based off your search history which makes sense but that can be a bad thing depending on if you’re searching something different every day.

The few questions on everyone minds are:  Will most links fall by the waste side similar to Digg, Reddit, Mixx ect or will there be something special in place that may help a link get shown more even if it doesn’t have tons of “Pops”? The one thing that seems to frustrate many people is the fact that it is the same sites that are topping the “Popular” tab on Digg and half the time they don’t seem to belong up there but somehow get up there. Will everyone have a chance to be on the top of this list or will the same thing happen that happens on most social sites.  What does this “What’s Popular” mean for SEO… Well we do not really know yet. We do not know if it will provide a backlink or more importantly how much traffic it will generate for us and for our clients. Only time will tell.

After several years in our previous office space, MorePro Marketing has relocated to a new office area in Phoenix, AZ on Camelback Rd.  For anyone who has visited us, or wanted to, please update your records to reflect our new Phoenix location below.

MorePro Marketing, Inc.
1951 W. Camelback Rd., Suite 210
Phoenix, AZ 85015

Everything else is still the same, including our email addresses and phone numbers.

Cory

It has been several months since the Search Engines collaborated and announced the “canonical” tag that you can add to your pages and help clean-up all the junk/duplicate pages out there.

While the canonical URL tag itself is very simple (see below), the evaluation of whether or not the tag is working or has an impact on search engine rankings (SERPs) is difficult.

Sample Canonical Tag:

<// link rel="canonical" href="http://www.yourcanonicalurl.com/" />
(the two /’s at the beginning would need to be removed when implementing)

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Yahoo is currently working on a new application that may automate SEO for the search engine. A patent was filed in January explaining the new system for automated SEO. This system would analyze search terms queried by users and whittle searches down to popular keyword sets that are long-tailed and more specific. The search engine would then automatically update the Meta titles, tags and headings of a webpage to reflect a more user-relevant keyword set. 

What does this mean for SEO companies and website managers? Basically, the keyword focus could shift to optimizing for a set of highly specific keywords that would be searched for on a second or third query if the more general attempts were unsuccessful. So, instead of optimizing for “new shoes”, websites will be more successful optimizing for “new blue basketball shoes”.  

This new search engine technology will allow the engines to recognize the actual content of a webpage and compare it to user browsing habits. Hopefully, this will improve search results, benefiting both the users and the websites/SEO companies trying to get their sites to rank for the relevant terms. 

For more information on the new Yahoo automated SEO technology, check out some of these other blogs:

• SEO by the Sea
• SEOtops
• SearchEngineWatch.com