Archive for May, 2008

Lately, some SEO related blogs have commented on the possibility that Google will introduce Adsense ads which are behaviorally targeted. These speculations were initiated by a recently patent application which appeared on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s website. An effective behaviorally targeted Adsense system has the potential to additionally improve the clickthrough rates for these ads, producing greater revenue for Google and its affiliates.

The patent application text points out that some keywords hold multiple meanings, which makes it more difficult to target advertising to them using traditional methods. It contains references to observing the internet user’s mouse cursor movements so as to help determine their interests, and use this data for behaviorally targeted ads. The application does not specifically mention Adsense ads, so other Google promotional content like sponsored search results might also use this new technique if it is implemented.

Two different techniques for monitoring user activity are described in the application. A combination of Javascript and data storage in cookies is one option for recording user actions to use with the behaviorally targeted ads. Another option is to track activity through the Google Toolbar or via a browser extension. It appears as if one of these methods would also be applied to insert the behaviorally targeted Adsense ads into the webpage being viewed.

Potential obstacles to the effectiveness of such a system include the fact that many people turn off cookies or delete them regularly, and not everyone uses the Google Toolbar. It is likely that some people would stop using the Toolbar if it were to begin tracking their mouse cursor movements. While some users might appreciate Adsense ads which are more behaviorally targeted and interesting to them, it is doubtful that many would be willing to sacrifice privacy for this.

Google’s behaviorally targeted concept appears heavily dependent upon the theory that the position of a user’s mouse cursor (and how long it stays in a particular location) indicates interest in specific subjects. It remains to be seen how valid this theory is, especially with people who regularly use mouse scroll wheels or laptop pointing devices.

Krishna Bharat is indicated on the application as the inventor of the new behaviorally targeted ad system. Google’s website states that he is a Google Principal Scientist, and also was responsible for proposing the creation of Google News. Adsense ads are used by many websites to generate revenue without attracting individual advertisers.

The Google Sandbox is an unconfirmed theory about how the top search engine indexes web sites which were recently created. If it truly exists, the Sandbox puts new web site operators at a disadvantage in Google search results. Here are some more details on what the Google Sandbox is, and how webmasters can respond to it.

The concept of the Sandbox theory is that Google lists new web sites in the Sandbox for a substantial period of time, causing them to receive a lower priority in search results than other sites. According to wikipedia.org and other sources, Google also does this when sites are transferred to different owners. However, this has not been verified, and it is unclear what criteria is used to confirm such changes.

What can webmasters do about the Sandbox? First, buying an established domain name with a Google PageRank of one or higher may help counteract this effect. Even if the Google Sandbox does penalize ownership changes, it is unlikely to face removal from the top results for as long as most new web sites remain excluded. Some “used” domain names sell for little more than the cost of a new registration. However, care should be taken to avoid names which have been given a poor reputation by their previous owners.

Regardless of whether an existing site is purchased or a new domain name registered, it is best to begin promotional efforts as soon as the web site is ready to use; directly submit the site to Google and start working to obtain links on other sites. For example, a content-based site can start advertising itself after only a few pages are completed, then add more pages as they are finished.

New web site operators and marketers can also focus on optimizing a site for other search engines (Yahoo, MSN, Ask) to increase traffic without waiting for removal from the Google Sandbox. Another option is to concentrate on different forms of online promotion, including such methods as pay-per-click listings, web directory links, or submitting links to social bookmarking systems.

Despite disagreement over whether or not a Sandbox specifically exists, what matters is that new web sites usually have to wait a significant period of time before they start to receive substantial traffic from Google search results. Applying the above-mentioned techniques can help mitigate the detrimental effects to new web site owners.

Google has introduced a new factor into your ad rank’s quality score – your landing page speed. A slower landing page load time will now negatively impact your quality score which will in turn increase your minimum bids and ad placement rankings. Currently Google is allowing you to see your load times so that if they are slow you can make changes to speed it up and improve your quality score.

To find out what your load time score is log in to your Google AdWords account. Select a campaign and then click on an ad group within that campaign. Then click the “keywords” tab above the “ad group details” table. Click on the magnifying glass icon next to any keyword and chose the “details and recommendations” link. This will open up the “keyword analysis” page. From there you can see an overview of your quality score.

If your load time is slower than it should be Google has offered some time to improve it. They suggest using fewer redirects firstly. Then they mention that you should reduce your page size by using fewer and smaller images that are more compressed. Google also suggested avoiding the use of interstitial pages and minimizing the use of iframes on your landing page.

The reason behind this change is that Google believes a slow load time on a web page equals a bad user experience. Since their goal is to deliver the best user experience possible they want to discourage slow load times. Your load times will be compared with other sites in your same geographical region for part of your score. This metric will go live at the beginning of June.

Both internal and external factors affect SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of a web site. External factors are not directly under the control of the web site’s operator. Read on to learn more about the external factors of SEO and how to best manage them.

Inbound Links: Web site owners or promoters can encourage these in various ways, but don’t have control over links from web sites they do not operate. External links can increase search rankings and affect which keywords a site shows up under. In a few situations they can be detrimental for SEO, such as when a web site which has used “banned” promotional techniques links to your site.

Search Algorithms: These determine how search engines rank or list individual web sites. Although SEO experts understand how these algorithms work in many ways, they are not released to the public and can change at any time. Even the best-optimized sites occasionally need adaptations to keep up with changing search engine policies. Reading blogs and forums on SEO can help keep you up-to-date on these factors.

Popular Keywords: Different words become more fashionable as the months and years pass, increasing the number of searches for them, to the benefit of web sites which have been SEO targeted for those keywords. For example, in the early- and mid 1990s there were probably more searches for the phrase “computer peripherals”, whereas “computer accessories” is now the more popular wording.

Duplication: There is always the possibility that external web sites will duplicate a site’s content or add new content which supplies the same information. This increases competition for an SEO keyword the site may have previously dominated. Adding copyright notices, looking for directly-copied material, and requesting its removal can help alleviate this problem to some extent.

Engine Popularity: A variety of search engines have been most popular at different times in the past. Engines like AltaVista, America Online, and AllTheWeb once played a major role in providing search results, but are now “powered by” Google or Yahoo. External changes of this type mean that SEO marketers must focus on optimizing websites for different search engines which have become more popular in recent years.

Make sure the internal SEO factors of your web site are well-addressed before becoming concerned with external factors. These factors include META tags, site maps, navigation, keyword density, and page titles created with SEO in mind.

If you are conducting SEO (search engine optimization) work on a website, internal factors are aspects that you have complete control over. SEO factors of this type include…

Keywords: Both keyword density in the text and words listed in the META keyword tags are internal factors which help determine which search queries will cause pages to appear in results. They should be words people actually search for frequently.

Redundancy: If different pages on a website are too similar to each other, they might receive a poorer ranking in search results. This also sometimes applies to duplicate content it shares with other websites, such as press releases which have appeared elsewhere.

Navigation: Search engine “robots” or “spiders” should be able to navigate the website and index each page. Animated javascript menus may look nice, but are often impossible for “spiders” to access. A text based Site Map is useful for providing easy navigation to all internal pages.

Updates: Adding new information or updating existing data on a webpage is another internal factor which has the potential to boost its rankings. It also makes the page more likely to be added to directories and/or linked to by other websites, providing additional SEO benefits.

Description: The description META tag determines (with some exceptions) what appears below the title in search results, as well as some website directories. This is not as essential as some of the other internal SEO factors, but should at least be added to the major pages of a site.

Titles: To be suited for SEO purposes, the webpage titles should be appealing for searchers to click on, and clearly differentiate each page. Among other factors you should consider the title’s length; part may be cut off in search results if it is too long.

Links: It can be detrimental for SEO efforts to add internal links to websites which have been removed/downgraded in search results for using objectionable promotion techniques (like “doorway pages”), or to openly sell links to other sites (unless the “nofollow” tag/attribute is used).

URLs: Combined with other internal factors, putting relevant keywords in the webpage file names and/or domain name can be helpful in SEO work. Search engines cannot recognize unseparated words; dashes are generally recommended more than underscores for separating multiple words in a URL.

Correctly and thoroughly optimizing internal SEO factors will potentially help improve the external factors affecting a website as well, such as the number of inbound links.

Some major search engines, including Yahoo! and Google, provide a small road map alongside a list of businesses (or other establishments) when users search for a type of business in a particular city or town. Examples of such searches include “Denver take-out restaurants” or “Albany NY DMV.” However, the practice of Mapspam can reduce the quality of these search results and put legitimate local businesses at a disadvantage.

Mapspam is made easier and encouraged by two factors; it is nearly effortless to submit new businesses, and the local results link to websites. The business listings are provided through Yahoo! Local and Google Maps, both of which allow registered members to add their companies free of charge. If a business has a website, a Google listing links directly to it, whereas a Yahoo! listing will link to it from a second page; this provides an incentive to non-local businessmen to use Mapspam. It is made more attractive by the fact that these results appear above all others and give searchers the impression that they are located nearby. However, genuine local businesses appear to hold the top positions in most searches at present.

The motivation of these website operators can be to either gain advertising revenue and/or to attempt selling the desired product or service from a different location. In some instances, non-local telephone numbers are used in Mapspam instead of (or in addition to) websites. Rather than reaching a local business, callers may be urged to purchase what they searched for from a national company which will ship it to them. While this might successfully meet the customer’s need in some cases, it defeats the purpose of locally-oriented search results, and also unfairly competes with legitimately local businesses to appear in the top results.

Basically, Mapspam is the technique of trying to get non-local webpages or telephone numbers to appear under local map results on search engines, using non-existent addresses. To discourage Mapspam, users can give one-star ratings to businesses doing this, avoid clicking on their website links, and consider writing a brief business review pointing out what type of companies they actually are. It remains to be seen if search engines will be able to put a stop to Mapspam with more thorough screening or if it will remain like forum and email spam.