Here is the video (below it is the transcript and the link to Google’s Adwords Policy) Hi & welcome to this brief, In a Nutshell Video, on Website Usability. Today’s video is a demonstration of a Usability Issue So Bad, That it
Violates Google’s Adwords Policy Who am I? I am Greg Mate of Search Engine Academy Montreal. A Certified Master SEO Instructor, 2006; Internet Marketer & SEO Consultant, 2004; & Certified Usability Analyst, 2011, Please feel free to get in touch 1-514-426-4000 https://www.searchengineacademy.ca/ The Search Engine Academy is a Global Alliance of Certified SEO Instructors, providing hands on SEO workshop ...
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Although you would not know it from the login screen (see the image attached) Google has re-branded Google Webmaster Tools (GWMT) to a new name Google Search Console (GSC?) after 10 years. Google describes Google Search Console as a tool “to help make fantastic websites that our systems love showing in Google Search”. I have to wonder if Google is softening up over the years as it is talking warm and fuzzy words like “we sought to learn more about you [the users of GWMT]” and “to make sure that our product includes everyone who cares about Search, we’ve decided ...
Read more September 26 2013 – Google announced that the Hummingbird algorithm update has already been in the wild for a month. It affects 90% of all searches – there were over ONE TRILLION SEARCHES ON GOOGLE IN 2012 “The artificial intelligence dream is being built inside Google” they are trying to reach “a human level understanding of language” according to Amit Singhal of Google “understanding better what users expect from Google, what they are asking , and then fulfilling it via algorithms”. Here is the link to the BBC video hummingbird algorithm interview with Amit Singhal. Interestingly, unlike the previous Panda ...
Read more On Wed May 2, 2012 1:30 PM EST join John Alexander and myself with 2 more expert panelists for this special Q & A Link Building Webinar. Bring your most burning questions about effective link building, link reputation, link diversity and SEO. Your 3 panelists for this event are: Greg Mate of Search Engine Academy Montreal SEO, Quebec Steve Scott of Search Engine Academy Tampa, Florida. Nancy Wigal of Search Engine Academy Washington DC All seats are free but register early to reserve your spot. Enrollment is limited to the first 500 attendees. Registration closed… Happy tax deadline day Canada! ...
Read more Search Engine Academy locations Worldwide are pleased to be offering 2002 pricing, on our 5 Day SEO Mastery Workshop for the balance of 2014, saving you almost $500! You can see the upcoming Montreal class dates here http://seom.im/HFpXMp and the upcoming dates for our workshops and seminars here http://seom.im/1q0zhQK Cheers! Greg
Warrilow & CO listed the Entrepreneurs Top 3 Fears as: 1. Fear of not marketing effectively (38%) 2. Fear of never being able to retire (33%) 3. Fear that they are not staying abreast of new technology (20%) wrote Rick Spense for The Financial Post appearing in the Montreal Gazette today. Lets face it, its as fast a paced world as ever, and knowledge is king. Fear number 3 (behind on new technology) can effect Fear 1 (lack of marketing prowess) and of course both fears have an effect on Fear #2, the ability to retire, early or at all, ...
Read more AOL, owner of Netscape since 1999, has announced that it will “continue to release security patches for the current version of the browser, Netscape Navigator until February 1, 2008.” Troubles for Netscape began in 2000, when under market pressure, it released version 6.0 before it was properly debugged. For more details about this announcement visit the Netscape Blog http://blog.netscape.com/2007/12/28/end-of-support-for-netscape-web-browsers/ For a history of Netscape follow this link on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape Have a great day!
Why do Search Engines crave fresh content? Yahoo, Google and the likes want to give you what you are searching for, so you will return there for your next search. Then, who knows, maybe one day a week you will click on a sponsored ad and the SE will make some money. But how determined are they? The last time I checked, a blog post I made, was indexed by Google in 9 hours (by the time I checked). It was ranking in 21 hours – again by the time I thought to check. So how about you? The SEs ...
Read more According to the students – now graduates – of the Certified SEO Basic Essentials and Advanced SEO Workshops held in Oakville last month, big time. Barry and I had a great time with the students who really dug in and participated in the class and the group projects Joining us were John Alexander, co-founder of the Search Engine Academy, who presented the magic of keyword and behavior research, and Bob Gill www.i2bglobal.com who worked with us in the Advanced Workshop presenting SEO database workarounds and more technical topics. Check out the testimonials to see what our past students think of ...
Read more Just in! John Alexander, Search Engine Academy co-founder, will be joining SEO Expert Instructors Barry Byers & Greg Mate for 2 days of the Advanced 3-Day SEO Workshop November 14 & 15 2007 in Oakville (Toronto, Ontario). Nov 12-13 is the 2-Day SEO Basic Essentials Workshop. Nov 14-16 is the Advanced 3-Day SEO Workshop. The 5-Day All Inclusive SEO Course runs Nov 12-16. There is limited seating. The fast approaching registration deadline for these Search Engine Optimization Training Courses is 5pm Nov 2, 2007. These are interactive workshops – not seminars – one will learn a proven 6 step method ...
Read more Social bookmarking is a hot topic of late. Promotionworld has some basic definitions for the terminology along with the hotspots to….. well, be social. The idea of social bookmarking is appealing but is it worth the time? Just one of the topics we will be discussing at our Toronto SEO training course in November.
Stephan Spencer discusses several of Matt Cutt’s comments at WorldCamp 2007 including Google’s move towards viewing the underscore as a word separator. Here are several of Stephan’s highlights from Matt’s presentation. Matt claims that Google treats URLs with a query string the same as static URLs. Caveat: as long as there are no more than two or three parameters in the URL, that is! Put another way, you won’t take a hit in your Google rankings if you have a question mark in your URL; just don’t have more than two or three equals signs in the URL. Matt stated ...
Read more According to Hitwise, Google continued to dominate May 2007 percentage of US searches. Google 65.13% Yahoo 20.89% MSN 8.40% Ask 3.92%
A Search Engine Watch forum discusses the skills a full-time SEO should possess, including 5+ years of experience, keen knowledge of coding and a couple of successful sites as a reference. Fine skills to be sure but how about; nunchuk skills, bowhunting skills, computer skills…..Napolean would be disappointed.
Yahoo Inc. is about to start a new ad campaign using comedy, that will run on traditional and online media, according to NewFactor.com “Last year Yahoo outspent Google by 72%, $353 million in advertising vs. Google’s $205 million, according to TNS Media Intelligence.” Theresa Howard wrrote. Even after spending $98 million more in advertising “…Yahoo’s first-quarter ad revenue was $1.6 billion, less than half of Google’s $3.8 billion in the same period. Yahoo’s share of search requests in the quarter remained flat at about 28%, while Google’s rose slightly to 48%, according to Internet tracker ComScore.” So what does Yahoo ...
Read more In October Yahoo purchased 20% of the 4-year-old company, Right Media, for $40 million. Yesterday Terry Semel, Chairman and CEO of Yahoo Inc announced they have agreed to purchase the remaining 80% for another $680 million. Semel’s post Democracy and the online ad states “… I believe has the potential to dramatically enhance Internet advertising. We hope to revolutionize the way ads are bought and sold on the Internet and, in turn, drive more value for advertisers, publishers, and partners.” In One Giant Leap for the Exchange, and for Interactive Advertising Right Media Founder and CEO, Michael Walrath, claims “It’s ...
Read more Google up slightly in market share while Yahoo , MSN, ASK and AOL remain the same. Google: 48.1% Yahoo: 28.1% Microsoft Live: 10.5% Ask: 5.0% AOL: 4.9% Search engine land charts out the past 12 months for comparison.
Entrepreneur.com has an interesting article on local search and 15 ways to promote your site locally. Google AdWords Yahoo! Local Listings CitySearch Ask.com’s AskCity AOL’s CityGuide Craigslist MerchantCircle.com Dotster Local.com Froogle Local ReachLocal RegisterLocal TrueLocal YellowPages.com Web.com’s MyEzClicks program You can follow the links to review each of the sites.
Link building is an important part of SEO. Google has announced that they are providing valuable linking information to webmasters. Google’s webmaster central blog indicates that Google is now giving you the full phrase that people are using to link to your site. Log in to your web master tools and use the improved tool to make sure your inbound links are relevant to your site.
Computerworld published an article regarding some interesting comments from Matt Cutts. The article mentions Matt and some freely offered clues, “such as placing keywords in the title, headings and even the URL, and keeping related words close together.” Hint (LSI). Keywords in the title, description, headings and url are a standard practice. LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) is a fantastic tool and in many cases, if you are knowledgeable about your topic, you may find out that the LSI is already in place when the writing is complete.
A Google blog entry indicates that Google will make their user records anonymous after 18-24 months. Taking steps to protect the privacy of their users, Google intends to begin the process in the next few months. You can choose to have your records retained for personalized search.
I love this comment on Matt Cutts’ blog. Matt is talking about viral marketing and the tactics used by a website to spread the word. “The buzz built pretty organically. USB drives were left in bathrooms at conferences and messages were hidden in conference T-shirts. It’s much better to let people find you than to push too hard to get noticed. The links from the people-find-you approach are more organic than if someone spammed to get links to viral sites.” I added bold to the comment I am referring to. Think about it, Matt Cutts telling you it is better to let ...
Read more Matt Cutts’ blog indicates that Google is taking a serious look at search results within results. Search results can be infuriating when you click on a top results only to find yourselves once again looking at a results page. Yes, you may wind up on a camera vendor’s site if you searched for a camera but now the search begins again for the specific camera you are searching for. SearchEngineLand has an in depth analysis of Matt Cutts’ comments and the ramifications Google changes will have for organic and paid search.
If you are a new SEO, you may not yet have realised the amount of work involved in planning, implementing and maintaining an effective internet marketing campaign. I’ve often heard people say with every step it seems to lead to more work, more research. So in an attempt to make life a little easier for you, we are amassing resources to help lessen some of the workload on a page entitled Valuable SEO Internet Search Marketing Resources, Tips Plus Tools. One resource is a link is a Free Keyword Research Tool by WordTracker. Enter a keyword and this quick tool ...
Read more Superpages.com announced today that they are introducing a new ranking model for their pay for performance product. The new model will begin in April, 2007. Ads will be ranked by bid amount and wait for it…..relevance. Google, MSN have been using relevance for some time now and Yahoo! followed suit a month or so ago. Makes me wonder when Google will buy superpages.com. The biggest search engine around and one of the best sales forces in any industry would make for a formidable competitor. In Canada, yellowpages.ca supplies local business results for Google, Yahoo! and MSN. I wonder if Yahoo! or ...
Read more In my post February 21st post PPC Gone Bad, RCMP Hangs With Wrong Crowd l wrote about the potential for complications with contextual PPC ads. Not only can they be be tricky to manage, but also the click through ratio tends to be low. Enter Quigo Technologies Inc. Unlike Google AdWords and Yahoo! where advertisers have no idea and little control over which sites their PPC ads run on, Quigo not only gives advertisers a list of where their PPC ads will appear, but also the potential to buy PPC ads on specific Web sites or even on specific Web ...
Read more Canada is the fifth country in which AdCenter has been launched. They honed the product first in France and Singapore, followed by the U.S. and U.K. last year. Barry and I (along with 300? others) attended the launch at an event in Toronto this afternoon. I am just back to Montreal in time to squeak in this post before midnight. David Jakubowski, general manager, Microsoft AdCenter made the trip up from the US to speak – we happened to meet his dad (a nice guy) from Buffalo who was up for the launch and tonight’s hockey game Buffalo (6) vs. ...
Read more In our Yahoo! seminar on Tuesday, we discussed following the individual search engine guidelines. Here is a link to Yahoo! search quality guidelines that include: Original and unique content of genuine value Pages designed primarily for humans, with search engine considerations secondary Hyperlinks intended to help people find interesting, related content, when applicable Metadata (including title and description) that accurately describes the contents of a web page Good web design in general The guidelines also describe what not to do with a section on unwanted content.
At yesterday’s (very successful) SEO 101 Basics Seminars we delivered for some of Yahoo! Search Marketing Canada’s client’s (more on this in another post soon) Barry told of delicate situations that can arise if your PPC ad winds up on a page with negatively related content. The example he used was a Travel Agent’s PPC ad being on a page telling of a disaster. Well last night while waiting (and waiting) for the plane back to Montreal I read that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) found their recruitment PPC ad on the site of an allegedly notorious street gang ...
Read more A great article in The Australian , regarding the about to be released IBM report, Navigating The Media Devide, warns about the divide between new and old media. (Once you click on the link, you have to scroll down to read the article.) What does this have to do with SEO? Educating your staff on SEO and SEM before you start an in-house program makes all the difference. Make sure everyone is on board and motivated to see the project through to its success. Â
Matt McGee looks at Google’s local search algorithm. Here are his top ten tecniques. Use of Google’s Local Business Center (LBC) Availability/Trust of other business data A Business Web Site Listings in 2nd-tier Local Directories Listings in Vertical Directories References from other Web sites Reviews Proximity to location Location Prominence and User Query Use of other Google services Matt has done his homework. No time like the present to put the research into action.
SearhEngineNews reports that Google may be ready to shake things up again. “Google is going to consider the strength of your site based not only on the link you get and its link text, but also by the “votes” that link gets based on usage from Internet surfers (and it’ll be calculated uniquely to cut down on shenanigans).”
I have been following the Kelsey Group for years but mostly checking out their research on yellow pages advertising. Like the rest of us, they are now well into search.  Here is some interesting info they have provided for local search: Online maps, in combination with local search engines, have become very popular in recent years, giving people a way to discover local businesses and attractions, obtain driving directions and view satellite images of an area, among other things. Google competitors like Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask.com have made their mapping sites a high priority for development. Advertising revenue in local search ...
Read more In a Google blog entry in January, Google indicated that it would remove the linking value on NoFollow links. Now SearchEngineJournal gives us 13 reasons why NoFollow tags suck. Before trying any seo techniques, ask yourself if you are following the Vulcan theory of SEO. Is what I am about to do logical for the growth of my business or am I trying to manipulate the search engines? Frankly, if you are asking the question, you already know the answer, don’t you.
Search Engine Marketing Professionals’ (SEMPO) recent survey indicates that Google’s AdWords program is used by 96% of pay per click advertisers. Yahoo! Search Marketing is not far behind at 86%. Microsoft came in with a surprising 68% thanks to their new adCenter program. More info at Sempo’s website.
A Piper Jaffray & Co. report indicates that the average Cost Per Action (CPA) for search was $8.50, much lower than the CPA for the Yellow Pages advertising ($20), online display ads ($50) and direct mail ($70). Great statistical information you can use when discussing a complete marketing program with local clients.
We often talk about becoming an industry expert. This week, Jason Calacanis ripped into seo with several derogatory statements about the industry in general. Whether you agree or disagree, besides the wrath of the seo world, you can bet that his controversial remarks earned him dozens of links to his site . On the flip side, you have Danny Sullivan who responded to Jason’s remarks on his blog SearchEngineLand.com. If you have been in the seo business for more than 5 minutes, you know that Danny knows what he is talking about and tells it like it is. Two very different ...
Read more Outsell, Inc. has released a report that seems to indicate that we are reaching the end of an era: they project broadcast and print ad spending will decrease in 2007. Key findings of their survey of 1010 advertising professionals include: *Search marketing is the fastest growing online medium: advertisers plan to increase search engine advertising spend by 39% (though Outsell didn’t indicate whether this was SEO, PPC or both in its press release). *Print still holds the largest market share of ad spend (40%), but its slice of the pie is shrinking.   Â
We have been discussing personalization for a couple of years but now Google is stepping up the process. You can check out their blog for more details.
 Yahoo! released Yahoo! Pipes and it is an terrific tool especially for a non techie like me. Instead of receiving a dozen feeds on any topic, seo for example, you are able to set up a pipe that will aggregate all seo feeds into one feed. Very cool! Here is a quote from Yahoo! and a link for more information. “Pipes  is a hosted service that lets you remix feeds and create new data mashups in a visual programming environment. The name of the service pays tribute to Unix pipes, which let programmers do astonishingly clever things by making ...
Read more An Article on Informationweek.com by K.C.Jones indicates that Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, hopes to launch Search Wiki in a few months. The new search engine will be “built by the masses” and use a traditional ad revenue model.
MSN Adcenter labs provides some interesting and fun tools you can use in your search engine marketing program.
Scott Smith is providing valuable local search information this week with interviews of twenty industry leaders. A must read for you local search maniacs.
Google’s official webmaster blog now recommends using Google webmaster tools to view a much larger sample of links to your pages. You have to verify your own site but it is an easy process.
Yahoo! launched their new ranking model designed to improve user results through higher quality search ads. Top spots won’t go to the highest bidder any longer. A combination of click through rate and bid amount will determine positioning. Â
There are many ways for search engines to “find” your web site. Manual submission is a frequently used method, but considering the fact that over 90% of submissions to search engines is spam, why would you choose that route? Put on the search engine’s shoes for a moment. Wouldn’t you consider everything spam, and put the onus on the submitted sites to prove themselves as “white hat” before being indexed? However, if, as a search engine, you spider an authoratative site where you come across a link to a site that is unfamiliar to you, wouldn’t you give this site ...
Read more Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Wednesday, January 31 2007 Last night at a Yahoo! Canada event in Toronto, Yahoo! Search Marketing Canada announced (along with their new YSM – Panama – platform in Canada) that they are sponsoring two Search Engine Academy seminars. The 3 hour seminars – a morning and afternoon session – will be held in Toronto in mid February. Yahoo ! Canada announced their mission to help grow the Search landscape in Canada. One way they believe they can achieve this is through a highly educated clientele. Their announcement last night was a major step in that direction, ...
Read more I don’t know about you but whenever I hear the term link building, I envision a mysterious practice that only the top level SEOs can provide. The fact is that link building is simply a process that anyone can do. All you need is a plan that includes article marketing, directory submissions, press releases and fresh content for your site to get you started. Eric Ward is a link building specialist. Educate yourself by reading a few of Eric’s link building articles. For hands on learning, we will be educating our students on link building strategies in our next Toronto workshop, March ...
Read more Search Engine Academy workshops focus on search engine optimization(SEO) and include: Article Marketing Blog Marketing Paid Inclusion Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) Search Engine Marketing (SEM) A recent article on webpronews.com summarizes these and additional internet marketing options.
Need help getting started with pay per click advertising? Here are links to sign-up pages to the big 3 search engines. Google Adwords Yahoo! Search Marketing MSN