Search Engine News

Jennifer Laycock

Hey Jason, Search Results are Never "Done"

It wasn't but a few months ago that Jason Calacanis told us that search engine marketing was a bunch of hooey. (Actually, he wasn't nearly that nice.) In fact, he went so far as to tell us that search, as...

Jennifer Laycock

Your Brand is Never Bigger Than Your Product

Maybe you've heard it...maybe you've said it... "Oh, our brand is big enough, we don't need to worry about search engine optimization." Yeah...you're wrong. Matt Bailey thinks you're wrong too. Today, he takes a look at the need to balance...

Jennifer Laycock

Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should

Andy Beal asks us whether Twitter is Good or Evil today. I can't say that I much care either way...I'm not sure blip blogging (oh, I like that term...) really has any intentions for the world other than to give...

Jennifer Laycock

It Slices, It Dices, It Does Every Task in the Kitchen in 10 Seconds or Less!

I can't tell you how many times I've sat in a site clinic or a potential client meeting and listened to an ecommerce site owner try to get me to understand why they can't add any more content to their...

Jennifer Laycock

SEO Basics: When to Call for Help

I've had quite a few emails this week from companies that are looking to get into the search engine marketing (specifically search optimization) game and most of them are making a common, but sometimes major mistake. They're waiting until their...

Robert Clough

Top 500 Search Engine Keywords Of The Week - 2007-05-29

This week's list of the top 500 most frequently searched keywords....

Jennifer Laycock

Search Engines Playing 20 Questions

I keep harping on it over and over (and OVER) again, but the truth is that search engines really do want to judge your site the same way that a human being would. It's fairly easy to point out examples...

Jennifer Laycock

Googling for Baby Names? Old. News.

David Berkowitz writes a Search Insider column today that covers some old news. The idea of running a Google search before you name your baby. I mean sure, it's "new" news if you're the Boston Globe or the Wall Street...

Jennifer Laycock

Am I the Only One That Thinks Google is Getting Creepy?

Ok, I'm all for building a better search engine. I think that there's amazing potential to personalization in search, though I don't see anyone really doing it as well as I'd like yet. I even think there's room for search...

Jennifer Laycock

What if You Lost Your Domain?

Stop and think about it for a minute. What would happen to you, to your business, if you had to start from scratch with a new domain? All the link building, all the brand building, all of your credibility down...

Jennifer Laycock

Three Basic SEM Mistakes You Should Avoid

Matt Bailey has put up a great blog post this week that not only summarizes three common search marketing related mistakes made by big businesses, but also features a 48 slide Power Point Presentation that he delivered at the Direct...

Jennifer Laycock

It's Not High School Anymore - Stop Trying to be Just Like Everyone Else

One the credos that I harp on in my articles and while teaching seminars is "be creative." In fact, I've often pointed out that creativity and common sense are probably the two greatest equalizers on the Web. While I'm generally...

Robert Clough

Top 500 Search Engine Keywords Of The Week - 2007-05-22

This week's list of the top 500 most frequently searched keywords....

Jennifer Laycock

Control Your Title Tags in Blogger

It's no secret that about the single most important on-page factor in terms of search engine rankings is your Title Tag. After all, it's what humans often use to categorize your site, so why shouldn't search engines pay attention as...

Jennifer Laycock

Too Lazy for a Top Ten List?

It's no secret that "top x" lists are popular with bloggers. They're a good way to draw attention and to pull in links from other blogs. If you're anything like me though, you often find yourself with 9 good items...

Jennifer Laycock

On Fire, or Going Down in Flames?

I'm a big fan of Ask.com. They're sort of like the little engine that could. I like what they stand for, I love their people and I really want to see them succeed. At the same time, I sometimes find...

Jennifer Laycock

Latest Study Pegs Click Fraud at 10% to 15%

Information Week reports on new data from Fair Isaac Corp. that pegs click fraud rates at 10% to 15% of billed paid search clicks. If you remember though, that number doesn't exactly mesh with Google's claim that less than 2%...

Jennifer Laycock

The Long Tail is....PEOPLE!

The long tail is a theory that's been pretty well played and discussed in search circles over the past few years. From the keyword long tail to the linking long tail, people have analyzed it's impact on everything marketing related....

Jennifer Laycock

Riding the Ranking Roller Coaster

One of the challenges to those new to the world of search engine optimization is learning to to ride the ups and downs of search engine rankings without losing your stomach. Fluctuation is a natural part of search indexes and...

Jennifer Laycock

Sometimes Copying the Big Companies is a Good Idea...

While small businesses often hold an advantage over big business in terms of how quickly they can react to new online trends, there's no denying the fact that big business holds the advantage when it comes to the time and...

Robert Clough

Top 500 Search Engine Keywords Of The Week - 2007-05-15

This week's list of the top 500 most frequently searched keywords....

Jennifer Laycock

Buying Your Way to Good Reviews

It's nothing new really...showering people with gifts in the hopes that they'll mention you...but for mainstream journalists, it's a practice that's considered taboo. With journalists being bound to stringent ethics guidelines on what they can and cannot accept, television and...

Jennifer Laycock

A Collection of Great SEM Articles

Andy Beal has posted the five finalists in the Marketing Pilgrim SEM Scholarship finals. If you haven't already read them, it's certainly worth your time. I'm on the panel of judges and Andy will be announcing the winner before too...

Jennifer Laycock

Do the Google Shuffle

I've warned small business owners before about relying too heavily on any one source of traffic to keep their business afloat citing the fact that all it takes is one bad algorithm shift to destroy a Google-dependant site. While Google...

Jennifer Laycock

Is Your Business Success Worth 500 Words?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I'd ask if the potential marketing success of your small business is worth just 500? The team at Yahoo wants to know as well, and they're putting together quite a...

Jennifer Laycock

R.I.P. Search Engine Rankings?

Well over a year ago I wrote an article here on Search Engine Guide that talked about the need for both search marketers and clients to start looking beyond simple rankings and to place a heavy focus on increased traffic...

Jennifer Laycock

Forbes Writes on Search Marketing for Small Business

There's a good article over on Forbes this week that talks about small businesses and whether or not they should be outsourcing their search marketing or hiring a search marketing consultant. They cover the common concern of how much (or...

Jennifer Laycock

Recapping SEW Live: Columbus

You may have noticed a bit of a break in blogging here the last two days. That would be due to some time spent talking to a class of Internet marketing students at Ohio State and then heading on to...

Robert Clough

Top 500 Search Engine Keywords Of The Week - 2007-05-08

This week's list of the top 500 most frequently searched keywords....

Jennifer Laycock

Keeping Social Media Going

There are two primary complaints about the long-term viability of social media sites. The first is how to monetize them. The second is how to keep your best content producers from heading off to another site. After all, as goes...

Jennifer Laycock

Is Linkbaiting Making Directories Useless?

Now here's a debate that's probably a little bit overdue. Lyndon over at CornwallSEO.com asks if social media sites and link baiting tactics are going to spell the death of directories. The answer (in my mind) is no, but the...

Jennifer Laycock

Sure it Sends Traffic, but What Do the Visitors Do?

Three months after I found myself embroiled in a blogging firestorm with the National Pork Board on my hobby site, Matt Bailey has sat down and taken the time to put together an excellent article that explores the traffic, engagement...

Jennifer Laycock

Putting Together a Blogging Series

There's an excellent post on ProBlogger right now that talks about the challenges of writing a series for your blog. Having written quite a few series in my own career, I found the post to be full of honest, helpful...

Jennifer Laycock

When Social Media Sinks it's Own Ship...

Picture this. Your four year old and several of their little friends are having a play date. One of them finds a set of matches. They start to play with the matches and you notice. You immediately take the matches...

Robert Clough

Top 500 Search Engine Keywords Of The Week - 2007-05-01

This week's list of the top 500 most frequently searched keywords....

Jennifer Laycock

Are Search Engines the New News Boys?

If you've ever seen an old American movie, chances are good that at some point you saw the front page of a newspaper spinning toward the screen followed by a young boy shouting "EXTRA! EXTRA!" Newspapers are hardly sold that...