I discovered a very interesting thread on Webmaster World from an experienced SEO Professional who decided who to pin two websites, competing in the same industry, with each other.

The first site was pushed using old school SEO practices, including paid and reciprocal links, content development, doorway pages, etc.

The second site was build in a more ‘organic way’ focussing on unique content, with no paid links or doorway pages, but with a blog, videos, blogs, RSS feeds and Twitter integration.

Guess which one is earning money and getting quality Google traffic? You got it, the “SEO’ed Site.”

The forum member wrote:

Site 1 (AKA “SEO’ed Site”): after just 3 months it was skyrocketing past some pretty hefty competition with traffic increasing well each month. The site was making £10,000+ a month for the last six months we had it and just sold for a rather nice figure.
Site 2 (AKA “Quality Site”): has struggled to rank anywhere, even for it’s own name, and traffic has been stagnant since the outset – it made a loss for the first 8 months and made just under £3000 in it’s best month which was last month.

My two cents: Although the results of this case study are quite interesting (depressing for a white hat SEO), I am not convinced that we can draw any conclusions of this. I believe that, depending on the industry and the degree of competition, you can be successful with a less aggressive/more organic SEO campaign. Additionally, I would not not include reciprocal linking with any random site and true doorway pages as part of “regular SEO practices”, as described in the thread.

I recommend to read all the details in the forum thread.

I just wanted to let everybody know who is working in the internet related field (or who is fascinated by the world wide web) that there is a great event to meet like-minded people and do some networking. It’s called Geek Dinner, an event which is happening every month in Los Angeles and many other cities throughout the United States. You don’t have to be a super nerd to attend, a little interest in all things digital is enough to mingle with this friendly and cool crowd.

I went to the 33rd Geek Dinner in L.A. which was held January 17th at the restaurant uWink located in the Hollywood & Highland Center. It’s a cool place (they call it an “interactive entertainment and dining experience”) where you can order through a touch-screen computer located on every table. The event had pretty good turn out. I chatted with many interesting people, and Heather Schlegel, the hostess-with-the-mostess, was working the room with her usual great enthusiasm.

For those who live in the Los Angeles area and are yet to join, you can check all the news on their website, the group page on Facebook – or get all the updates directly in your email inbox by signing up via  la-subscribe@geekdinner.org. And if you have a web service or your own event to promote, Geek Dinner allows you announce it to the crowd at the end of the event.

The next L.A. Geek Dinner will be this upcoming Tuesday, February 17, at the same location. You get get more info and RSVP on Upcoming.

Please spread it around and bring your geeky friends. As Anita wrote:

You know that the geek dinner is the gateway L.A. geek event. Once you start – you’ll just go hardcore on to Barcamp, Mixergy, Twiistup or one of Mahalo’s Movie Nights…

P.S. See more of my pictures I took at the Geek Dinner on Flickr.

It’s that time of the year again. The new year is approaching rapidly, and I’m a little bit stunned how time is flying. 2008 was a year full of exciting, dramatic and tragic events – also for the internet business. I am sure that I’m not the only one who wonders what 2009 has in store for us.

I browsed through the web and collected the most interesting internet related predictions for the upcoming year:

- Mediapost: Digital Will Impact Five Key Areas Next Year
Great list on ‘Marketing Daily’. My favorites:

• Conversation is king in 2009 because Web presence alone no longer is enough for individuals or brand.
• The Semantic Web will create more sophisticated, intuitive, refined ways to filter information and services.
• Savvy companies and brand marketers are starting to trust consumers and enlist their assistance in product design and development.
• Another notable trend is the transmission effect, or the speed with which conversations and content spread everywhere like rapid-fire– beyond the reach of editorial controls, sites or institutions.

- Junta42: 42+ Social Media and Content Marketing Predictions for 2009
Interesting predictions of the Junta42 community. Among others:

• Twitter will be officially mainstream, but here will be a backlash against company Twitter accounts.
• Social Media Marketing will become a more mainstream approach.
• Combining traditional media with electronic media will increase.
• More brands will developing a personality or a persona to represent the core values of the company. 2009 will be the year of the personality.
• Americans are showing more and more interest in RSS.
• There will be a “gold rush” for social media as new frontier marketing platform.

- Emarketer: Predictions for 2009
Great statistical insights by Senior Analyst David Hallermann and several collegues:

• Search marketing spending will grow by 14.9% in 2009, to $12.3 billion. (Good news: Search marketing is not recession-proof, but it is recession-resistant.)
• Video ad spending will run counter to overall economic developments, rising by 45% in 2009 to reach $850 million.
• Total US Internet ad spending will increase to $25.7 billion in 2009, an 8.9% growth rate.
• Multicultural marketing will gain intensity online. More African-Americans and Hispanics are going online, through their PCs and their mobile phones, and marketers will follow.
• Online retail sales (excluding travel) will grow by only 4% in 2009—the first full year to feel the impact of the economic crisis.
• E-commerce will be a growing revenue stream for social network sites. Expect both MySpace and Facebook to enhance their self-serve advertising systems to allow consumers and businesses to buy and sell real-world goods and services.
• Advertising in the traditional media will continue to decline in the new year more than any other medium. Industry-wide cutbacks will continue, and there will be some consolidation.

- Search Insider: Search Trends To Watch in 2009
Great thoughts by the sharp mind of David Berkovitz. Three predictions which stood out for me:

• More and more consumers reach marketers through intermediary properties, likeblogs, social networks, photo sharing sites, Twitter, Wikipedia, and countless other social sites. As a result, marketers have to shift their mindset from optimizing their Web site to optimizing their Web presence.
• This fall, YouTube surpassed Yahoo as the second-largest search engine. Marketers have to adapt their strategies to n these nontraditional search sources.
• Search will shift even more beyond the PC. This includes not only mobile devices, but also television models (delivering a hybrid TV-Web experience) and GPS systems in the car (with inbuilt restaurant, attraction etc. search function). Marketers need to reach the target audience on these devices.

Other articles and blog posts with predictions for the upcoming year:

- FolioMag: 117 Magazine And Media Predictions for 2009

- ReadWriteWeb: Social Media in 2009: Our Predictions And Desires

- Fast Company: 8 Experts Predict How Web 2.0 Will Evolve In 2009

- Vator News: Consumer Internet Predictions for 2009

- Peter Kim: Social Media Predictions for 2009

- CSM Watch: Technology Predictions for 2009

- Web Video Unleashed: 9 Online Video Predictions for 2009

- Appirio: Top 10 Cloud Computing Predictions for 2009

Plus: On Twitter you’ll find a great list of Enterprise 2.0 predictions. They are aggregated via the hashtag #e20predictions. Add your own prediction!

If you’re interested in general what will happen with the web not only in 2009, but in next 10 or 20 years, you need to read the report “The Future Of The Internet III” by the Pew Internet & American Life Project” (PDF version). Three interesting takeaways:

• The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.
• Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.
• The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.

Any thoughts on this? Or did you find any other great posts or articles with internet related predictions which should be added to this list? Let me know!

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A quick follow-up to to my note about the increasing demand for search engine optimization specialists:

Tim Dineen, Online Marketing Manager at job search engine Indeed, found out that California is the no. 1 state for SEO jobs. Meaning: On the US west coast, you’ll find the highest density of job offers for Search Marketing professionals. His findings are based on an analysis of the @SEOjobs Twitter account (great idea, by the way!), which is populated via a feed from Indeed.

Here is his map:

Onward Search did a similar analysis, which was based on the SEMPO member roster – and came to the same conclusion.

I was curious to find out about the “demand” for SEO and did a quick (non scientific) research with Google’s great tool “Insights for Search”. As the chart shows, the search volume for the query “SEO” in California has been far above the national average in the last 90 days.

Conclusions: 1. There a lots of choices for California based businesses that are interested in hiring an SEO Consultant or SEO agency. 2. The competition among SEO professionals in this state will continue to increase. Hopefully, this will also lead to a more mature industry with higher education and ethics standards.

P.S. If you’re interested in becoming an SEO professional or are just curious to learn more about this industry, check out the following links:
- SEOmoz: How To Get An SEO Job?
- SEO Journal: 10 Tips To Making It In The SEO Community
- Onward Search: Where In The World Is SEO Talent?
- Reality SEO: SEO Salaries, Jobs And In-House Surve
- SEMPO: In-House Search Marketing Pays Well, But Not Dot Com Hype Levels

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The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it, so it’s part of everyday life. (Bill Gates)

Although the cofounder of Microsoft referred to computer technology in this quote, I’m sure it can be applied to search engine optimization as well. SEO has become part of our everyday life. The (non SEO savvy) internet user might not notice it – but the SEO pros do everything to “make it fit” for their clients. Too much of a stretch? (Feel free to disagree with me by posting a comment…)

As I noted many times before, SEO is such a fast paced industry. So many news items, so many updates and changes every day.

Following a list with things I learned in the last 30 days about search engine optimization, internet marketing and social media:

1. I would like to visualize the basic SEO process? Is there a great chart which helps me to understand it?

Yes. Aaron Wall from infamous SEO Book created a impressive and very comprehensible chart, IMHO. The original PDF version can be downloaded here.

2. Is the bounce rate really a search engine ranking factor?

Yes. At least Top SEO’s must now take bounce rate into account when designing and refining a site, SEO Blackhat writes.

3. Does a non-indexed page pass on PageRank?

Surprisingly, yes. Dutch Search Marketer Eduard Blacquière received the answer through the LinkedIn group LinkedSEO. It said: “NoIndex is a request to not show the page in the results. PR still passes. NoFollow, PR doesn’t pass but does accumulate”.

4. How can I get 800,000 visits from Google.com in just 7 days?

Well, I don’t know if we’re ever going to make it to the homepage of Google. But the “Big G” linked to its new phone with T-Mobile at the end of October. According to Search Engine Roundtable, more than 800,000 unique visitors went to that page during the week the link was active. In one day, more than 233,000 unique visitors were registered. One can only dream…

5. Is the BrowseRank the new PageRank?

Maybe. Marios Alexandrou from All Things SE explains BrowseRank, a measure developed by Microsoft with the purpose of outperforming Google’s PageRank, in a very interesting post.

6. How do I build authority links (including .edu .gov .mil)?

Saad Kamal reveals the secret in a very useful post. First, in order to find authority links: spy on your competitors Find out which .edu/.gov/.mil are linking to your competitor, with a command like “linkdomain:www.google.com site:edu”. Then get Links from .Edu/.Gov/.Mil blogs on your Niche, with a command like the following: “Keyword+inurl:blog site:.edu”. Saad offers many more great tips.

7. Can SEO and user generated content really be a good match for each other?

Yes. Laura Callow delivers great insights on that, backed up by research and data. Among others, she writes that online comments and reviews posted by the enthusiasts are second only to word of mouth as a purchase driver for all web users.

8. Which are the Top 25 most powerful web directories?

Paul Teitelmann from Search Engine People provides a fantastic list. It includes directories like World Site Index, Dmoz Zilla and Octopedia.

9. How to I avoid to screw up a change of my domain name?

Andrew Heaps from Latitude has some valuable tips. Among others: Phase the transition. And don’t forget to tell the search engines.

10. Which are the best books on social media marketing?

Lee Odden from the Online Marketing Blog wrote a great post with over 20 Must Read books about social media marketing. It includes “Cluetrain Manifesto“, “Groundswell”, Seth Godin’s “Tribes”, James Surowieki’s “The Wisdom Of Crowds” and Paul Gillin’s “Secrets of Social Media Marketing”.

I am aware that this list could be ten times longer. Did I miss any of the “big stories” in SEO, in your opinion? Let me know!

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“There’s no two ways about it – SEO is hot again”, writes Rand Fishkin, CEO of the Seattle based SEO company SEOmoz, in his latest blog post. He observes that not only his firm has received a higher than normal volume of requests for consulting, but also various job sections for SEO professionals are thriving.

The employment trend chart by job search engine Simply Hired shows a 147% increase in SEO jobs in the last one and a half years alone:

  

Seo trends

Seo jobs

Fishkin lists 8 reasons why Search Engine Optimization is becoming more attractive to companies in a down market:

1. The Web Outperforms Other Sales Channel
2. It’s the Right Time to Re-Tool
3. Paid Search Drives Interest in SEO
4. SEO is Losing its Stigma
5. Marketing Departments are in a Brainstorming Cycle
6. Search Traffic Will Be Relatively Unscathed by the Market
7. Web Budgets are Being Re-Assessed
8. Someone Finally Looked at the Web Analytics

While I never would dare to compare my one man consultancy with a well-known SEO agency like SEOmoz, I personally can confirm that there is an increased interest in SEO. Although, as Search Engine Watch summarized recently in a great post, “the SEO process still requires an introduction at the onset of any presentation.”

Indeed, the majority of companies still seems to have a lack of knowledge when it comes to SEO. They either want you to be the miracle worker (”Can you help me to rank no. 1 in Google for keyword XY in one week?”), or prefer a paid search campaign only. As Rand explains perfectly in his post, SEO being discovered because company delivers more bang for the buck in times of marketing budget cuts.

Additionally, Forrester’s Kim Le Quoc and Jaap Favier stated in their report titled“How to Stimulate Consumer to Buy Online”:

“Creating preference with online buyers starts with search engine optimization (SEO). As search increases in complexity, marketing leaders need to move their teams toward advanced search marketing programs.”

These are my personal 4 tips when talking to a potential client:

• Consider SEO, because it doesn’t require a huge investment (unless you’re working with a top-tier agency that charges an excessive amount of money);
• Have an audit performed of your site to see where your site;
• Implement a simple rewrite of your URL structure. Often times, it can be enough to move your site into a position to be indexed by the search engines;
• Check to make sure that your navigation and pages are properly built with text links and easy to understand text. This can really help improve your site’s accessibility to search engines.

Do you have other suggestions?

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. (Theodore Rosevelt)

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I wish you a relaxing day, a wonderful gathering with family and friends – and a delicious culinary feast.

In honor of this day, many search engines and websites in the search industry got ‘dressed up’. Here is a little collection of Thanksgiving logos:

Ask.com:

Live.com:

Google:

Yahoo:

Dogpile:

AOL.com:

Friendfeed:

Cre8asite Forums:

Search Engine Roundtable:

Plus: Check out Search Insider’s great post “10 Reasons Search Marketers Should Be Greatful”. It’s a must-read!

I think most people in the industry agree that search engine optimization is both art and science. Although the SEO professionals have to adapt their techniques constantly due to the algorithm updates and changes of the big search engines, the many of the ‘core wisdoms’ in SEO remained the same over the last couple of years.

If your work in the SEO industry or are an SEO client, a webmaster or just web geek who is interested to learn how much he knows about Search Engine Optimization, check out my 8 favorite website to test your SEO knowledge:

SEOmoz Expert Quiz

SEOmoz Expert Quiz is the best online destination for testing your knowledge in search engine optimization, in my opinion. It includes 75 questions with a wide range of topics. You be awarded with a badge at the end. Depending on your final score, you’ll be an “SEO Novice” or “SEO Master”. Highly recommended.

SEO Test by SEMPO

The SEMPO SEO test is a good online quiz with some tricky questions. Although I expected that the official organization of Search Marketing professionals in the United States would have offered a more sophisticated test with a wider range of topics, it still give you a good idea where you stand with your SEO knowledge – especially, if you consider to enroll in one of the SEO or SEM online courses offered by the SEMPO institute. This online test has room for improvement with its 20 questions, but is still worth checking out.

Knowledge Tests By SEOconsultants.com

The Knowledge Tests by SEOconsultants offer 5 sets of questions for five different knowledge domains: “General”, “Google Guidelines”, HTTP Status Code”, “Internet History” and “Search Engine Trivia”. A good mix or simple and challenging questions. Answers come with useful explanations.

SEO & SEM Quiz by Vertical Leap

The SEO & SEM Quiz by the UK base search marketing company Vertical Leap is short and sweet – and requires some good insider knowledge about the search marketing industry. The 25 questions include some fun stuff, like “‘MSN Dude’ is a member of which forum?”. You’ll receive your score at the end, but unfortunately no explanation which the right answers are.

SEO Quiz by About.com

The SEO Quiz by About.com is a great online test which is embedded in the ‘web search’ section of About.com. Every question comes with a link list of topic related resources and related articles. This is a phantasitc quiz to test and expand your knowledge at the same time.

SEO Quiz by Webconfs.com

Webconfs.com, infamous portal for SEO tools and webmaster utilities, offers a good SEO Quiz with 10 questions. Despite its very generic design, the search engine optimization test includes some tricky questions and well-written, comprehensible explanations for the answers.

SEO Cartoon Quiz

The SEO Cartoon Quiz by Tel Aviv based internet marketing company AIMS is probably the most entertaining SEO test you’ll find on the world wide web. In the 15 ‘questions’, you have to guess what the cartoons represent. You don’t really test your own SEO knowledge – but it’s a lot of fun!

Needless to say that you need to take this tests with a grain of salt. Due to the fact-pace nature of the industry, SEO knowledge remains something fluid.

Did you find additional SEO online tests I should add to this list? Let me know!

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Duane Forrester, who runs the in-house SEO program for the MSN properties in Canada, the US and The Americas gave some great SEO advice in a post on Search Engine Land:

• Rankings are NOT metrics
• SEO should be baked in, not spread on top
• SEO is a game of inches, not miles—there’s no ONE thing that will make you a hero
• Usability trumps SEO—the user’s experience should always be the # 1 focus

A new whitepaper by search marketing firm iProspect shows that 62% of search users click on links found on the first page of search results.

Overall, 90% of search users will click on links found in the first three pages of search results. The findings show the increased importance of first page placement, along with the value of being found in the Top 20 and Top 30.

Other findings:

• 41% of respondents would either alter or abandon the keywords used in their queries if they could not find results on the first page.
• 82% of the time, respondents would alter search queries by adding descriptive words, most often resulting in a successful search.

Pretty impressive results. This definitely show how important it is to rank in the first 20 SERPs of the major search engines.

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