Read this or you will miss out

MSGraph has posted a link to one of the most important documents ever to hit the SEO world (in my opinion). Read this document (which is a patent application by Google) and be prepared to say OMG, WTF, and every other exclamation of amazement you can dream up. I don’t want to spoil this for anyone, so all I will say is this… Want proof that the sandbox exists? Want an explanation of it directly from Google? Read it NOW.

Google releases 2004 annual report

Google released its annual report. It reads very similar to the report filed before its IPO. It is long, but it is worth at least skimming over. What strikes me most about it (as the pre-IPO report did as well) is how much of it focuses on the myriad ways Google could fail. Have you noticed that the bulk of the report details all of the possible things that could happen to cause Google to shrivel up and die? Ok, I don’t normally read annual reports, so maybe all of them have the same tone of pending doom and gloom. But geez, after reading this, I could never feel comfortable investing in such a risky proposition. (Not that I ever invest in anything, mind you).

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Syssense – An Adsense Taskbar Revenue Checker

If you are an Adsense publisher, and would like to see your earnings without having to log into the site, there is now a sweet little tool that resides in your taskbar called Syssense. It keeps your current Google AdSense information in the Windows system tray, and you can have it check at various intervals (from every minute if you ae an Adsense obsessive) to every 5 hours. You can choose to have it display a tray tooltip which includes any of the following information: date, page impressions, clicks, clickthrough rate, effective CPM, your earnings, predicted earnings, and last updated. The tool is free. You can get it at http://www.singerscreations.com/AboutSysSense.asp.

Google buying Urchin

Scary thought of the day… Google is buying Urchin, a major web analytics software product, and this worries me. Not only do I envision Big Brother looking at my web stats, but I can visualize Google being able to make ranking decisions based on those stats. If your site sees a lot of visitors leave after 3 seconds of looking at the home page, will Google decide to rank your site lower? Of course, I have no idea what Google will actually use Urchin for, but the possibilities of what they COULD use it for is what scares me. Paranoid? Maybe, but I like to think ahead to what may be…and the maybes in this case are not pretty. Google, keep your fingers out of my pies, okay?

C Class Backlink Analyzer Tool

WeBuildPages has created another nice tool, which analyzes backlinks by C-class. It takes about three minutes to run, but it gives a nice backlinks report, which includes, number of unique domain names, number of unique IP addresses, number of unique C classes, the ratio of unique domain names to number of backlinks, ratio of unique IP addresses to number of backlinks, and ratio of unique C classes to number of backlinks. Use the tool at www.webuildpages.com/cclass/index.php.

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Happy Easter from SEO Scoop!

May the Easter bunny bring you great rankings in all the search engines (especially Google)!

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Sites that defy gravity

Egol, moderator at SEOChat, gave me some homework to do – post on Sites That Defy Gravity. These are sites that for no apparent reason, do not drop to the bottom of the rankings, even though from all appearances, they should not be ranking well for their terms – but they are. My personal belief is that these sites have at least one ultra-powerful backlink (perhaps more), that is as yet undiscovered when one is evaluating the reasons. I know when I evaluate a site’s ranking, I rarely spend the time it would take to look at every known backlink. Instead, I glance through the list of backlinks, randomly pick some that I think might be having an effect, and look at the pages where the backlink appears. Somewhere, in the known or unknown backlinks, is probably a source that Google considers to be a mega-vote for the site. That mega-vote keeps the site in the SERPs even if we are unaware of it.

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Seeing the history of PR updates

Someone has posted a daily log of PR changes to several sites. This log is interesting only in the fact that you can see, at a glance, the periods when PR changes have taken place. Notice that in some instances, the PR update is not across the board, which we see evidence of from time to time on forums, where someone posts that PR is updating for them, but no one else sees an update. Scan through the the log here and look for the red blocks, which indicate a change in PageRank. This log will not change in your life in any way, but it is simply a nice visual that I thought might be interesting especially to SEO newbies who have not seen a lot of PR updates yet.

DigitalPoint Keyword Tracker now tracks the Big Three

Shawn from DigitalPoint rocks! He has added the ability to track keyword rankings and backlinks for both MSN and Yahoo! to his already famous FREE DigitalPoint Keyword and Backlink Tracker. The perfect SEO tool has just exceeded perfection! If you are already using the tool (you are, right?), then login and click on Edit Preferences. From there, you can grab the PHP script that you need to upload to any PHP-enabled server. Put the url where you’ve got the script into your preferences, and voila, you are ready to track! Well, ok, not quite ready. Now, you need to go add the keywords and urls into the system. Hey, a bit of work on your part, and you’ve got the coolest tool in the SEO world working for you every day! Free! Shawn, my hat is off to you! Cheers!

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Google Algorithms (s, as in plural)

For a couple of months now, Google has been using several different algorighms across its datacenters. I have seen up to 5, but most often, it was running 2 or 3. In the last few days, it seems to have settled into 2 algos, with one having taken the lead spot in most datacenters. I have seen this lead-spot-taking several times in the last two months, with another algo reclaiming the lead a few days later, so that may happen again soon. But the question remains, Why is Google using different algorithms? Is it just a test, to see which is better? And if so, why is this test going on and on and on? (Maybe it’s in BETA! LOL). Will one algo finally stick? Or is this the new Google? Constantly running several algos so that the SERPs are never the same from one moment to the next? To me, it is yet another sign of a broken, or at least confused Google. But not being privy to the reasons behind it, there may be some explanation that makes it a brilliant move. (Note sarcasm here). Of course, some say it is designed to confuse and thwart SEOs. It is effectively doing that, but somehow I doubt that is its purpose. I believe that is just an unintentional side effect of what is either a test, or something gone badly wrong. Nothing we can do but watch and wait, to see how this all shakes out.

Sandboxed site pokes head out of sand

It has been nearly a year since I started a particular site (11 months). I spent enormous amounts of time on the site, both on on-page and off-page optimization. This site has received backlinks from almost every site listed in the top 20 for its keyword phrase, as well as links from tons of other related sites. Nearly all of its backlinks are related, in fact. Yet, the site remained relegated to the beyond 1000 mark in the SERPs. Until this week. This week, it has been popping up on different datacenters on page 6 of the serps. Ranking at 60 wont pay any bills, but it is a heck of a lot better than the outer stratosphere of rankings. Of course, even these rankings might disappear again any day now, but there is a glimmer of hope that this site is emerging from the sand. Sometimes, it seems as if it really is all about the aging factor. I will report any significant changes in its status as it happens.

Yahoo! buying Flickr and IAC buying Ask Jeeves

So, the search game rolls on with yet more upcoming acquisitions taking place. IAC, owner of properties such as Expedia and Match.com, is close to an agreement to buy Ask Jeeves for $2 Billion. The deal is not yet finalized and may still go south, but an announcement may come within hours, according to the New York Times.

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First SEO test results

A month ago, I began testing seo techniques, and the first test was to see if simply adding content to a site that I had previously ignored would cause any change in rankings. Result: No changes in rank. I am not surprised by the result, but it is always nice to verify one’s thoughts. As I explained in the previous post, I will be testing only on-page factors, so now I will move on to the next test. This time, I will be changing the content to make better use of Heading tags (H1, H2, etc.) and just generally overhauling the text. A month from now, I will report on the results.

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