Search Engine News

Jennifer Laycock

Can You Force the Conversation? Should You?

I've written my fair share of articles and posts lately blasting away against social media. That's why I thought it was a good idea to throw one out there that actually SUPPORTS the idea of social media. After all, as...

Jennifer Laycock

Google Maps Merges More Closely with Google Search Results

Maybe you've noticed that search terms that are related to local businesses are now triggering a new, expanded OneBox result at Google. If so, then you won't be surprised to hear that Google has announced a closer integration of Google...

Jennifer Laycock

Driving Traffic to a New Blog - Start Commenting!

A question that I often get when I teach about blogging is how to drive traffic to a brand new blog. Obviously search engines can come into play here, as can sending links to other bloggers asking them to consider...

Jennifer Laycock

Is Googlebombing a Miserable Failure?

For years and years now, I've used the "miserable failure" example as a way to show the extreme power of link text in my small business linking seminars. It looks like my explanation of "Googlebombing" may be on it's way...

Jennifer Laycock

Link Baiting Is Not Viral Marketing...So What Is It?

Link baiting and viral marketing often get intertwined. After all, both tend to produce lots of talk and links on the Internet. There's even a lot of overlap...link bait can go viral and a viral idea can serve as link...

Jennifer Laycock

Free Guide to Keyword Research

As much as we can say links or the title tag or whatever is the single most important thing in search engine marketing, the fact remains that none of those things matter unless you are targeting the right keywords. The...

Jennifer Laycock

Website Analysis: Will Search Engines Draw a Blank or Give You a Rank?

by Derek Fulford - One of the most common website analysis questions asked by search engine neophytes is, "Is my site optimized?", followed by, "How can I tell?" and, ultimately, "How can I tell if my competitor's site is optimized?"....

Jennifer Laycock

A Lesson in "Undetectable" Spam

I like to think that the search marketing industry has progressed far enough that there aren't very many SEO shops out there still trying to hawk their "undetectable" spam ware as a marketing strategy. That said, every now and then...

Jennifer Laycock

The Value of Pre-Qualifing PPC Visitors

Patricia Hurst has an excellent piece over at Search Engine Watch today that discusses the need to craft your paid search advertisements to "pre-qualify" your clicks. With the average cost PPC cost running about $2.77 for B2B and $1.36 for...

Jennifer Laycock

Social Media Backlash Continues

Sometimes it's good to know that you aren't the only dissenter in the crowd. While I've mentioned that Kim Krause Berg and Alice Seba aren't as enamored with social media marketing as some of the other names in the search...

Jennifer Laycock

Put a Search Box in Your Site Design

by Danielle Sahiner - Searching is one of the top activities for Internet users. It drives profits for the search engines as well as the marketers listed on the search results pages. A site search box on your company web...

Jennifer Laycock

Google Now Tracking AdWords Clicks in Personalized Search

Barry over at Search Engine Land reports that Google is now tracking sponsored search clicks as part of the Google Search History....

Jennifer Laycock

Not Everyone Loves Social Network Marketing

Sometimes when everyone in the room spends their lives focusing on the same topic you do, its hard to have perspective. That's why I try to keep my feed reader packed with great blogs that talk Internet Marketing but that...

Jennifer Laycock

The Dark Side of Social Media

I've written time and time (and time?) again about how over-zealous marketers are failing to grasp that what's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander. In other words, just because Digg (or de.licio.us or Reddit or whatever)...

Jennifer Laycock

Leveraging Your Own Link Power

Eric Ward has a good piece over at Search Engine Land that looks at the concept of "algorithmic trust" when it comes to links influencing search engine rankings. That's nothing new, you may say. True...we've long talked about how important...

Jennifer Laycock

Why Multi-Word Search Phrases Rule

Kevin Newcomb over at SEW wrote a post late last week that outlined how often searchers use keyword phrases of different lengths. I hadn't seen the latest data in awhile and wasn't surprised to find that two and three word...

Jennifer Laycock

Learning About Linkbaiting

Linkbaiting, creating good content...whatever you want to call it. The concept is here to stay and it's fast becoming an essential tool in any online marketers offerings. With that in mind, Nick Wilson has put together a pretty in-depth "Guide...

Jennifer Laycock

MIVA Media Offers In-line Content Ads

Hoping to capitalize on the millions of publishers that are looking for ways to monetize the content on their web sites, MIVA has joined the ranks of Google and Yahoo! as a company that offers syndicated contextual advertisements. MIVA is...

Jennifer Laycock

Are You Leaving Links Out of Your Email Marketing?

Some of you are. How do I know? Cause I'm a mom and we know everything. If you don't want to take my word for it, how about the Email Experience Council? They conducted a study of over 1000 B2B...

Jennifer Laycock

Some Tips on RSS Marketing

Excited about the potential of RSS feeds when it comes to marketing your site? That's great, but did you ever do anything more than simply adding an RSS feed? Didn't think so. (Don't feel bad, most people don't.) That's why...

Jennifer Laycock

Originality is the Key

Not so much a search or even online marketing related post, but there's a post over at LiveDev that makes an essential point. What's the point that it's making? Be original....

Jennifer Laycock

No Golden Triangle?

Most search marketers have become quite familiar with the concept of the "golden triangle" over the past couple of years. They recognize it as that magical area in the search results that users tend to concentrate their focus. It's long...

Jennifer Laycock

Microsoft Looking to Offer Free Analytics

It looks like MSN is aiming to join the ranks of Google in the "we'll give you free analytics in exchange for access to your data" team. Rumors started buzzing last week about a possible MSN analytics tool. The news...

Jennifer Laycock

The Fine Line Between Embracing and Enabling

Sounds like I'm about to post the story of an intervention with a friend, doesn't it? What I'm actually writing about is YouTube and the speculation over how things will iron out in regards to copyright issues over the next...

Jennifer Laycock

The Problem With Syndicating Paid Search Ads

Richard Ball over at the Apogee Weblog has an interesting post this week that looks into the relationship that Google AdWords has with partner sites. In it, he claims that Google is colluding with spammers by feeding junk traffic from...

Jennifer Laycock

Community Evangelists as Online Reputation Management

It's no secret that as consumer generated media continues to grow and search engines continue to index it, that your average joe consumer is going to have the chance to make a massive impact on big brands. Truth be told,...

Jennifer Laycock

What If You Turned the Tides and Googled Your Customers?

John Andrews offered up an interesting suggestion over at johnon.com yesterday. What if you went to the trouble to type your customer's names into a search engine in order to learn a little more about them? What would you learn?...

Jennifer Laycock

Link Building As Relationship Building - A Great Example

Regular readers here at Search Engine Guide know that I often equate good link building with relationship building. Since a link basically serves as an online recommendation of services, site owners have to be willing to stake their own reputation...

Jennifer Laycock

Behold, the Power of the Consumer

What happens when a lawyer and a juggler mess around one weekend and create a viral sensation that results in a 15% spike in sales for a brand of mint? Apparently, they surpass the most recognized ad agencies in the...

Jennifer Laycock

How to Maintain Rankings after a Redesign

by Scott Van Achte - If your site ranks very well in the search engines, or even has 1 or 2 key positions that you would not want to lose, it's an entirely different story. The following rules assume that...

Jennifer Laycock

Online Advertising Isn't Going Anywhere But Up

The Boston Globe features an Associated Press article today that explores the general direction of online advertising and marketing in the next five years. That direction is apparently up...and then some. While the IAB says that online advertising is on...

Jennifer Laycock

Measuring Search Engine Optimization Results

The great thing about search engine optimization is that it can provide great long-term results and positive ROI for a relatively small investment. The bad thing about search engine optimization is that many companies simply have no idea how to...

Jennifer Laycock

Great Tips For Optimizing Your Blog

Jennifer Slegg has put together an outstanding list of 25 tips for optimizing your blog for both readers and search engines. If you're already blogging as part of your business (or planning on starting) you simply must read through this...

Jennifer Laycock

An Example of Bad Link Building

Sometimes the best way to learn, is by example. That's why I love it when I spot something happening in the news that can be turned into an article idea, or when someone asks a great question at a seminar...

Jennifer Laycock

Top 10 Small Business Podcasts

Last year I had the pleasure of being a guest on Anita Campbell's excellent "Small Business Trends" radio show. In a show titled "Search Marketing is Not Voodoo", we talked about search marketing from the perspective of the small business...

Jennifer Laycock

Quick and Easy Updates for Yahoo Local Business Listings

Loren Baker has screen shots and details on the new "quick editing" feature for Yahoo Local business listings. The idea behind the offering is to allow local businesses (and their customers) to quickly and easily edit the information that appears...

Jennifer Laycock

A Fad is Not a Marketing Tactic

Just yesterday afternoon among conversation about private islands and pirate attacks, my friend Matt Bailey and I got into a conversation about the growing trend of fad marketing in the search world. Whether it's pay-per-blog programs, link baiting tactics or...

Jennifer Laycock

They're Talking About You...

Andy Beal points to a great article in The Globe and Mail that explores the reality of watching your reputation be shaped online by bloggers. For the everyday folks that aren't used to being picked apart by bloggers, discovering yourself...

Jennifer Laycock

Google: Is the Honeymoon Over?

I find it ironic that the same people that place things on pedestals are often the ones that knock those same pedestals over. It seems like this might be happening with Digg right now, but there's also talk again about...

Jennifer Laycock

Why Social Media May Not Be All It's Cracked Up To Be

You take a few days (or, umm, weeks) vacation to spend the holidays with your family and you come back to chaos. Well, maybe it's not quite that bad, but it is a story that I'm sorry I didn't hear...

Jennifer Laycock

What Does 2007 Hold For Small Business Advertisers?

With the dawn of the new year, I've seen quite a few articles and blog posts touting the continued growth of online advertising. There's no doubt that 2007 will be another year or growth and opportunity as more and more...