Delete Your Google Toolbar!
Ahhh…the Google Toolbar.
Much beloved of the web marketing & SEO fraternity.
However, I just deleted it off my work PC the other day, and I’m a full-time SEO / SEM specialist, so what gives?
Well, the truth of the matter is that it is no longer something I think I can rely on to give me quality information with regards to their Page Rank rating.
The search market keeps changing, and none more regularly than Google, and its become quite apparent to me that that little green bar that we all worship is getting less useful AND less accurate than it has ever been before.
I suspect Google knows this well, but are quite happy to let us all run around like silly dogs, chasing our tails and getting all in a lather about the Page Rank (PR) of any particular page. When we chase PR in preference to TRAFFIC (do any of you remember that little thing???), then its a sign that things are getting out of control.
Apparently it has been recently reported (IÂ have NOT verified this yet)Â that it’s very easy to fool the Google toolbar by the addition of several lines of code to a webpage. You can make nearly any page appear to have a much higher PR than it really does. There will (no doubt) be people out there who will try to play this to their (unfair) advantage, but they’ll eventually get caught out.
Remember, what goes around, comes around! 
So, I have made an “executive decision” and removed the toolbar from my PC. That way, it doesn’t distract me from the real issue at hand, which is to build traffic with sensible ethical smart methods. No black hat scamming, no sleight of hand, and no outright falsehoods.
Just add quality unique content, get quality links, optimise your pages properly (title tags, etc), and keep doing this over and over. Eventually, your site will begin to rank well, and your traffic will grow. It’s really VERY simple.
Press Release: Australian PhD Student Gets Snapped up by Google
26 year old Australian student Ori Allon - a PhD student at the University of New South Wales, has been hired by Search Engine giant Google, along with his search engine creation Orion.
Young Allon, an Israeli-born, Australian student, has been working on the next generation search engine (code named Orion) as part of his doctoral studies.
It obviously has something of interest to the Search Engine market, because the bidders on it included Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft!
All 3 courted him (and the University of NSW), before Google won the bidding process for the license to use the technology from the University (who owns the rights to any research done by its students and staff).
The Orion technology has the potential to “revolutionize existing search engines”, according to a press release put out by the University of NSW. Amongst other things, it will improve search relevence, offering terms related to what was initially searched for.
Allon has previously given an example of a search on “American Revolution”, that could return results for “american history”, “george washington”, “Boston Tea Party” and other related topics.
Allon is now working in Google’s Mountain View HQ in California, and could be a major figure in the company in the years to come, depending on how things shape up.
Naturally, SEO companies the world over will be keeping a close eye on this new development. “Every change at Google flows on down to the Search Engine Optimization market, and it should see another big shake-up of the industry”, according to Australian Search Engine Marketer Eran Malloch.
“A change to the SEO / SEM market driven by an Australian invention would be an exciting experience.” says Malloch. “I’ll eagerly await the outcome of Orion + Google - let’s see whether this gives the big G a renewed competitive advantage in their slowly dropping market share.”
SEO - Writing Quality Content For Optimization
by Guest Author Michael Russell
If you are a marketer or just trying to earn an online income, then you probably have heard the terms “SEO” and “Search Engine Optimization”. Everyone knows that getting a good page rank or just ranking high in the search engines is probably the most important aspect of driving traffic to your website. What people don’t know or don’t tend to realize is that these are important aspects, but should not be focused upon as much as creating good quality content for your website. If the content of your website is looked upon by your reader as “valued” then your website will thrive. Way too many website owners give little thought to their content. This happens much more frequently than one expects with people who claim to be web professionals. However, without good content on your site repercussions can be immediate. If you want better web site traffic results then make the creation of good content for your web site your first priority. Whether you write the content yourself, or hire professional writers to develop it for you, it needs to be quality writing.
If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might have more than one. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Always make your title “rich” in keywords. Make your articles pertain to your title. Be sure to add some keywords throughout your article as this will help the “spiders” that “crawl” your pages and index your information. Don’t just start repeating the keywords throughout your article. This is called “stacking” and this too can lead to your pages not being indexed or to a possible banning. How long will it take? Nobody knows the answer to that question, but, as long as you are writing content that appeals to people, the traffic will come.
As traffic begins to flow to your website, this will start to increase your link popularity. Link popularity is starting to become a major tool for the search engines. This “linking method” helps the engines decide if your content is good or not. Don’t just go to a website and “copy-and-paste”, that is infringement. Go and research your topics and put them into your own words. As long as you are doing your own work, and gaining popularity of people reading your articles and content, then you stand no chance of being in “non-compliance” with the search engines. These engines “crawl” and “index” your website pages, and if they determine that the content is “copied” or not “highly” valued, then you stand the chance of no ranking at all, and this could lead your website into being banned by the engines.
So to sum it all up, you must first focus on the amounts and quality of content you are providing on your site. The engines love “soaking” up new, fresh content. Once you get some pages built up, then start turning your focus to some quality links that pertain to your pages. Just do a basic search on your titles and write to the owners of the websites asking if you can provide them with a link, and in return, if you could receive one back. This will give your website the first boost you will need for the site’s search engine optimization.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to SEO
Google Adsense is still working
I keep seeing & hearing rumblings about Adsense earnings going down across the net, especially from the adsense site builder brigade. At times, I have also expressed concerns about what’s going on with adsense, and whether its even worth hitching your trailer to their wagon…
Well, I just want to let you know that it is DEFINITELY still working, and I have seen it with my own eyes.
I have a client at work to whom I suggested he use adsense on his site. He has been trying to crack Google, Yahoo & MSN for a while, but he’s playing in a very competitive market, and its taking a lot longer than he had hoped for, to achieve the results he would like. Hence, my suggestion that he put adsense on his site, and hopefully collect a small token from the Adwords clicks he has been paying to send people to his site.
He started slowly, with a few bucks here & there and it picked up a little, but nothing drastic.
However, he rang me on Friday to ask me how much he is spending on Adwords at the moment. When I told him the figure, he gleefully told me that his adsense earnings for March have finally surpassed the amount of money he spends on adwords. In other words, his earnings from adsense are going UP, and even though he spends money on Adwords PPC ads to send traffic to the site to purchase his product, he is getting a proportion of them clicking on his adsense ads as well, and has now managed to jump ahead of the cart!
My next experiment is to see if we can better integrate his ads into the site so that his CTR goes up (it’s currently below 5%). If this happens (and I have every reason to believe it will), he may well double his earnings per month, without increasing his traffic by 1 new unique visitor per month!!! My adsense sites average about 10-12% CTR, so if we can at least double his CTR, potentially he will get a huge ROI on his current free & paid traffic!
Here’s the basics of his situation:
1) He has 1 website (not 10 or 100).
2) It is built around a specific niche topic and looks nice and has some good content on it - most of it unique.
3) He only gets about 2000 visitors a month so far, and he pays for nearly 50% of them via Adwords PPCÂ - yet, he has almost earned twice as much in adsense income this month as what he paid for the clicks!
4) His site is now self sufficient
My lessons for the day:
1) Build sites around a theme
2) If possible, have a significant percentage (20%+ if possible) of the content be unique
3) Grow slow but steady (drip feed)
4) Publish articles & get 1-way links to your site (do this slowly but steadily. A mad rush of links & articles that die out quickly tends to spook the SEs)
5) Integrate adsense properly into your site, so that it is not so obvious that they are ads.
6) Have a big site - lots of content is GOOD… Small sites rarely rate well on google, except perhaps for a semi-unique keyword.
7) It takes time to get results
8 ) Experiment to see if quantity or quality is better when it comes to how many sites you build. Quality takes longer but usually pays heaps more per site AND doesnt get kicked out of the SE index’s so quickly, if at all…
Experiment with your sites people. Don’t just make them cookie cutters of each other with the same 50 articles that everybody else uses, etc. Try different ideas. Track your results and see what works best.
I’m even earning money implementing adsense on mainstream commercial websites now, thanks to what I have learned from building my own Adsense sites. If you want some help doing this to your site, or someone you know, send me an email and I’ll be happy to chat with you about it.