Search Engine News

The role domain names play in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is sometimes overlooked. Domain names can help SEO campaigns in a few different ways, especially if they are relevant to the web site in question.

To some extent, search engines prefer sites with relevant domain names when determining which results should appear first. Although other factors can limit the SEO impact of a domain name containing relevant keyword(s), it will rank better in results for these words.

A domain name like nebraska-classifieds.info will help a web site rank higher for the search phrase “Nebraska classifieds”, compared to the classifieds page of a general site about Nebraska (or the Nebraska page of a classifieds site), particularly on MSN and Live Search.

However, the other sites may still outrank it if they have more inbound links or have been better optimized in other ways. Other forms of SEO and marketing in general cannot be neglected just because a site has a good name; some of the best domain names on the web have relatively poor traffic and search rankings.

Also, domain names may help SEO by encouraging searchers to click on search results based upon the URLs appearing below each listing. For example, people are more likely to visit and read an article about rotary engines at Cars.com than a similar page at AOL.com. Although this is not always true, searchers will consider the web site specialized to their subject of interest to be more knowledgeable about it than a site which is more general, or primarily about a different subject.

A short domain name can also make a web site appear more authoritative and credible to search engine users, especially if it has a .net, .org, or .edu extension. Some engines also allow users to restrict their searches to sites with a specific extension of their choice, although it is unclear how many people actually use this feature.

Brief, authoritative-sounding domain names help web sites in ways beyond SEO as well. People are more likely to link to them, use them as research sources, and type them into the browser address bar. Such names are also more memorable.

The visual attractiveness of search results and the rankings assigned by search engines are important parts of SEO. Short, relevant domain names help SEO efforts in both ways, making them a valuable component to any promotional campaign.

As many in the search engine optimization world know search engine spiders weren’t able to see what was in a Flash file in the past. This has always caused some grief when deciding what to put on web sites because you wanted the search engines to see you and still be able to make a visually appealing page. This invisibility that was created by people using Flash sites has been a big setback for companies using rich applications because they weren’t able to use SEO to their advantage.

Now all of that has changed. Recently Adobe has announced that they’ve invented a way for search engines to read the Flash files so that all of the information in them can be indexed. Adobe’s Vice-President of Marketing Michael Turner said this about the release, “We are releasing technology to Google and Yahoo that enables them to crawl and index SWF files. They are now searchable. This will open up millions of Flash files to search.”

For anyone that works in Flash, this is a giant step forward. The way the new program works is that a special Flash player created by Adobe for the search engines acts like a virtual user for each application. These “virtual users” completes the entire runtime of the Flash applications and then translates what happened for the search engines to understand.

Google has begun putting out the Flash indexing tool, but Yahoo reportedly still has some work to do before they can do the same. Turner warns that even with this technology there will still be some problems with the Flash content and search engines. Mainly the idea that it will still be tough for an average webmaster to link deeply into Flash files. Without that ability high rankings are still unlikely for Flash files.

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.

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.

Major search engine Google recently added a new “Quick Start Guide” to its Webmaster Tools section. It provides an easy, graphical introduction to this area of their web site, which offers useful search and traffic data to webmasters. There is no need to register or log in to a Google account before viewing the guide; it can be accessed by anyone.

The new Quick Start Guide consists of ten pages, including details on the Webmaster Tools account “Dashboard”, “Overview” section, “Diagnostics” tab, “Content analysis” feature, “Top search queries” list, and other statistics pages. It also provides information on a tool which lets webmasters know how Google’s search spider “sees” their web sites, as well as details about the “Links”, “Sitemaps”, and various other tools. The guide loads quick and doesn’t require any special download.

Upon reaching Google’s Quick Start Guide and reading the first page, be sure to click on one of the arrows at the far right-hand side of the page, rather than clicking on the “Go to Webmaster Tools” button. It may be necessary to scroll to the right before the arrow will be visible. To start using the Webmaster Tools section, it is obligatory to sign up for a Google account if one hasn’t already been registered; the registration form only asks a few questions.

Using Google Webmaster Tools is free of charge; according to Google’s website, it enables webmasters to adjust their sites to be “more Google-friendly.” It provides some types of data which cannot be obtained from a statistics system based on the webmaster’s own site, such as the keywords which most commonly caused pages of a web site to appear (but not necessarily get clicked on) in Google results.

This can help webmasters know when to improve the titles or description tags of particular pages; if a page often appears in search results but isn’t clicked on, apparently it does not look appealing enough to searchers. Google Webmaster Tools can also help them fix problems with the website which interfere with its content appearing in results. Another one of the tools lets web site administrators request that specific pages of their sites be removed from such results.

Basically, Google Webmaster Tools help web site administrators in gaining more search click-throughs for their pages, and the new Quick Start Guide gives them a brief overview of the service alongside concise instructions on how to use it.

AutoLink is a feature on the Google Toolbar which provides direct links to relevant information from various types of data on web pages, such as street addresses or ISBN numbers. It provides greater convenience to internet users, but has caused Google to come under criticism for a couple different reasons.

According to the Google website, people can use AutoLink to directly reach a tracking information page based upon a tracking number they receive, automatically retrieve a map showing the location of an address indicated on a web page they are looking at, find the history of a vehicle based on its VIN number, or use an ISBN number to directly reach the Amazon.com product page for the corresponding book.

When activated, Google AutoLink works by changing the above-mentioned numbers or text on a web page so that they appear as links and can be clicked on, thus opening the related informational page. However, AutoLink cannot do this if the text is already linked to a different page (by the operator of the website being accessed).

This can be useful in some situations, such as when a local business provides an address on its website without directions or someone receives a web-based email with a FedEx tracking number or the ISBN number of a book in it. It decreases the amount of typing and the number of steps needed to find the same information.

However, AutoLink has come under criticism from some website owners because it can direct users to competitors of theirs (esp. with regard to books) and changes how users see their web pages. One way to prevent Google AutoLink from doing this is to put the affected text within an image; for example, a business could put its address below its logo (within the same image), or a book seller can display the ISBN number of a book within the book’s cover image.

It could also be said that the AutoLink feature unfairly benefits some major websites, like Google Maps, CarFax, and Amazon, by making it easier and faster to use them than their competitors’ sites. The tracking number feature has largely escaped criticism, as it determines the correct delivery service to send users to, and covers all four major services.

The Google Toolbar is a free, downloadable browser add-on for Internet Explorer and Firefox. In addition to AutoLink, it offers a language translator, Google search box, PageRank indicator, spell checker, pop-up blocker, and other features.

Several good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) forums and message boards exist on the internet. They enable users to learn about new techniques, become acquainted with other people working in the same field, and keep up-to-date with the latest news on this subject. Read on to learn more about a few of the best, most active SEO forums…

HIGHRANKINGS: The forum of highrankings.com (use the link on the far right of their home page) has about 15.7 thousand registered users. It has separate forums for discussing SEO web design, keyword optimization, copywriting, building links, directories, good techniques, undesirable techniques, pay per click (PPC) promotion, analytics, web site coding, news, events, and various general business-related topics. There is an area where members can request others to review their web sites and make suggestions. This forum appears to be the most active of the three listed in this article.

SEOFORUM.INFO: This forum has nearly 9,500 members and it includes sections on Google, Yahoo, MSN, web directories, SEO techniques, keyword usage, links, SEO tools, PPC, affiliate programs, news, and other subjects. It also has forums where members are permitted to exchange links and buy or sell services. There is a link near the bottom of each page titled “SEO Library”; it links to a faster-loading version of the forum which doesn’t use tables and leaves out some of the extra information and statistics. Unlike the other two forums described here, the seoforum.info web site is entirely devoted to being a forum.

SEO-GUY: The web site seo-guy.com has a forum which can be reached using a link just below the image at the top of their home page. There are almost 14,600 registered members, and over 100,000 messages have been posted there (more than seoforum.info but less than highrankings.com). It appears to use the same form (in the upper far-right) for new registrations and logging in. There are individual forums for discussing SEO in general, each of the major search engines, links, tools, reviews, good web site directories to submit to, Froogle (a.k.a. Google Product Search), usability, online marketing in general, databases, and various web programming languages (HTML, PHP, CSS, etc).

All three above-mentioned SEO forums have registration forms which are rather short, which is good if you don’t like having to enter a lot of personal information. On the other hand, you can read these forums without registering, if you aren’t interested in becoming directly involved.

Google added a couple of updates to their Analytics tool last month based on their users’ wants and needs. Here is a highlight of what is new and improved.

First up is Adwords Geographical Targeting with Google Maps. This new mapping feature allows users to see targeted areas using Google maps. So if you are targeting a local client you can also see the surrounding cities. This is a great tool if you have clients that are in a different geographical area than you. It also allows you to create bundles for specific regions such as Europe or North America. The only pitfall is that some users don’t have their IP address registered in their location, so make sure you still use the city name as a keyword.

Another update is to the Google Keyword Tool. Now users can filter results, select match types at the keyword level and choose which statistics columns they like to have displayed. You can also see all the keywords on one page now as Google has combined keyword variations and site-related keywords into one tab.

A third improvement is for the Google Analytics Graph Comparison. Now you can compare more metrics such as time on site or average page views and have them displayed graphically.

While none of these changes are breakthrough developments, they are all extremely helpful. If you don’t have Google Analytics you can take a tour to see if it’s something you’re interested in at http://www.google.com/analytics.

“Pipes” is a feature on the Yahoo web site, which is currently in the “beta” development stage. It enables Yahoo members to put together multiple online feeds into a single “pipe”, and lets others (membership not required) specify how they want the combined information to be additionally filtered.

Some examples of Pipes which have been created by Yahoo members include “Australian Music Podcasts”, which lists related podcasts from various sources, “eBay Price Watch”, that allows users to find eBay items by price and keyword, and “GeoAnnotated Reuters News” which lets people click on numbers scattered across a world map and see headlines associated with those locations. Another pipe, “New York Times thru Flickr”, takes phrases from the N.Y. Times home page, adds photos from Flickr.com to them, and associates them with locations on a map.

If you are a Yahoo! member and logged in, you can view the sources and built-in filters which apply to each pipe by clicking the “View Source” link. There is usually a short waiting period while it opens each of the pipes, during which the message “running pipe” appears. Some of the pipes which show up in Yahoo Pipes search results do not function properly or are poorly designed; as with web pages, you may have to try a few before you find one that is useful. The system also features a message board and a substantial amount of documentation on developing and using them.

In the search results for pipes, an icon showing interconnected pipes appears next to each pipe listing. Generally, the more complex the icon, the longer it will take to open the individual “pipe.” However, this is not always true; it appears to be partially dependent upon how many sources the pipe uses. On a high-speed internet connection, the loading time is generally about two to thirty seconds, but it can sometimes be longer. If you are using an older web browser, it will probably be necessary to upgrade it before Yahoo Pipes will function properly.

Overall, Yahoo pipes offer a way to combine, associate, and filter data from two or more online sources. They can make it easier to find information, images, products, audio, and video on various subjects. The system currently has a few undesirable aspects, but these might be corrected when it advances beyond the “beta” stage.

Yahoo Pipes can be accessed at pipes.yahoo.com.

The popular search engine Ask.com has introduced a new feature called AskEraser, which gives users’ searches anonymity when it is activated. This may give Ask.com an advantage over other major search engines with regard to searchers who are concerned about anonymity and privacy.

According to a press release issued by Ask.com’s parent company (IAC), the new feature became available for use in searches on December 11th, 2007. When users activate it, data about their searches is automatically removed from Ask.com servers, providing greater anonymity than other search engines give. The feature is offered by Ask’s websites for the United States and United Kingdom. It will be available in other countries next year.

The AskEraser link can be seen in the upper-right corner of the home page and search pages. No registration is necessary to turn it on or off. The feature is turned off by default, but remains on if you turn it on, close the browser window, and return later. However, if you access Ask.com with a different web browser, you will have to activate it again. To use the “Options” or “MyStuff” features also linked from the upper-right corner of the page, AskEraser must be turned off.

AskEraser worked properly when tested for searches in both Opera 9.24 and Internet Explorer 7.0. It was necessary to upgrade from an earlier version of Opera 9 to 9.24 to activate this feature, but it works fine with Opera 8.54 on a different computer. If your computer has a low display resolution, turn AskEraser on at the home page instead of on a search page.

Ask.com also indicates that search data for users without AskEraser enabled is deleted from their servers after one and a half years. Cookies must be activated in your web browser (they are turned on by default in most browsers) to use AskEraser, so that the computer can “remember” you have selected to use this feature.

The privacy and anonymity of online searches has been an issue of concern in recent years, due to the potential for search data to be turned over to governments for various reasons and/or used for marketing purposes. Some of the other major search engines have come under criticism because of their policies with regard to the anonymity of searches in the U.S. and China.

Alexa.com, which ranks websites based upon how much traffic they receive, gives Ask.com a poorer ranking than Google, Yahoo, and America Online, but indicates that Ask is more popular than Lycos, Altavista, Dogpile, WebCrawler, and a number of other search engines.