Category: Best Practices
SEO & iFrames: A Glimpse at What Search Engines See
Posted by teal on May 15, 2008 at 04:06 PM
As an SEO, under most conditions I would recommend that my clients NOT use iFrames to display text/content on their pages. Let's look at two scenarios in which iFrames are not beneficial.
Continue reading "SEO & iFrames: A Glimpse at What Search Engines See" »
Sports Illustrated's Vault Rekindles Ghosts of March Madness' Past
Posted by on March 19, 2008 at 08:13 AM
On Thursday, Sports Illustrated launches The Vault, a new section of SI.com that will contain a full archive of every article the magazine has ever published, in a fully-searchable database. Mining the archives is a great way for any publication that existed in the pre-Internet era to increase content, relevance and, therefore, search traffic.
Continue reading "Sports Illustrated's Vault Rekindles Ghosts of March Madness' Past" »
Power to the Plural?
Posted by nick on March 14, 2008 at 08:22 AM
When it comes time to choose which keywords you wish to target for your latest search engine optimization project, you may want to stop and consider how the use of plural verses singular terms will impact search traffic.
Continue reading "Power to the Plural?" »
Lessons from National Geographic - Make Your Website a Resource
Posted by on January 11, 2008 at 01:02 PM
This weekend The National Geographic Society will celebrate its 120th anniversary. We'll examine the many elements that have led to its longevity and how they can be translated to making a website a valuable resource as well.
Continue reading "Lessons from National Geographic - Make Your Website a Resource" »
Improving Internal Link Structure on E-Commerce Sites
Posted by teal on January 10, 2008 at 04:49 PM
Ever since I entered the SEO industry, it has become increasingly impossible for me to look at a website without analyzing - even on a top level - its optimization and structure.
Continue reading "Improving Internal Link Structure on E-Commerce Sites" »
Kick-Start the New Year with Site Usability Testing
Posted by tim on January 02, 2008 at 11:05 AM
As the calendar flips to 2008, here in the U.S. we're seeing the end to the holiday season. That means we are back to full speed ahead on all of our plans for the New Year as everyone gets back to the office, recharged and renewed after another festive time. The first part of the New Year though is also a time to look back on the holiday season online, especially for e-retailers. Given all the estimates and reports, 2007 was a huge season for retailers online. With the flurry of orders and all the holiday chaos settling down though,...
Continue reading "Kick-Start the New Year with Site Usability Testing" »
Down With Homepage Impostors!
Posted by on December 05, 2007 at 11:33 AM
The homepage is the most important page on your website. This is true for both search engines as well as users. So have you checked your site lately to make sure that all of your links home are really pointing to your homepage?
Continue reading "Down With Homepage Impostors!" »
Content is King
Posted by alex on November 15, 2007 at 04:54 PM
Being a writer, I was absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to work for Oneupweb and break into an up and coming industry while still getting to do one thing that I am passionate about: writing. However, my writing skills have been put to the test. Don't get me wrong I am always up for a challenge, and I knew that developing solid copy was part of the job description. I just didn’t know how important it actually was. I have learned that if you don’t have content on your site that displays relevancy, usability, and also targets the audience...
Continue reading "Content is King" »
Maintaining Your Current CMS & Search Engine Presence
Posted by steve on October 23, 2007 at 12:13 PM
Is your site currently utilizing a Content Management System? If so, please continue reading - maintaining your current search engine presence may depend on it.
Continue reading "Maintaining Your Current CMS & Search Engine Presence" »
CSE Optimization: 5 Steps for Success with Comparison Shoppers
Posted by adam on September 13, 2007 at 02:11 PM
Tips on how to attain success on the major Comparison Shopping Engines.
Continue reading "CSE Optimization: 5 Steps for Success with Comparison Shoppers" »
Broken Links - What's the Big Deal?
Posted by teal on August 16, 2007 at 04:41 PM
Broken links on a website are an indication that a site is not properly maintained and could be telling the engines, "we don't care about the user experience." Broken links can also jeopardize the important internal link popularity. Instead of demonstrating that this destination page is a great resource for insert important keyword here, you are instead sending users and crawlers to a page that no longer exists, exists on someone's desktop, or never did exist. So why are broken links more than just broken links? To help explain how broken links are harmful and why this is a fix...
Continue reading "Broken Links - What's the Big Deal?" »
A Simple but Critical HTTP Header Mistake
Posted by steve on June 26, 2007 at 11:06 AM
When it comes to setting HTTP charset parameters, such as the Content-Type field, it is usually fairly straightforward. When documents that are to be sent by a server to a user agent (i.e. - a browser) are of the type text, the HTTP header line will generally appear as follows: Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 What happens, though, when documents that are of type text have Content-Type mistakenly set to image/jpeg? Obstruction. First, this erroneous server setting can obstruct browsers from effectively loading site pages. When a browser is told that the data type is in the format of an image/jpeg, the...
Continue reading "A Simple but Critical HTTP Header Mistake" »
The Cost of Viewing Business
Posted by on June 25, 2007 at 11:38 AM
This text might be more appropriately posted as a comment to my colleague Sarah’s post, Unique Visits Aren’t Everything from June 19th, however I feel so strongly about the subject that I thought that we should revisit it. This time, however, let’s look at the right-hand side of the search results page. You guessed it, paid search advertising. I’ll start by saying that the days of considering your company’s website as nothing more than a billboard on a highway or a quarter page ad in the telephone directory are now, thankfully, behind us. Well, most of us. Truly savvy marketers...
Continue reading "The Cost of Viewing Business" »
Think Ahead - SEO & Site Redesign
Posted by teal on June 18, 2007 at 12:06 PM
Recently I've helped guide many clients through extensive website redesigns. I am thrilled to see that companies are paying attention to the importance of search engine optimization during the redesign process. But what exactly can you expect when hiring a company like Oneupweb to provide consultation through the redesign process? Is your SEO company going to shoot your design ideas out of the water? Are they going to tell you to go back to the drawing board and make a ton of extensive and often expensive changes? Is your SEO expert going to tell you to lose the new Flash...
Continue reading "Think Ahead - SEO & Site Redesign" »
Radical Corporate Transparency
Posted by on May 07, 2007 at 11:01 AM
For many companies today, the thought of dropping their carefully-crafted PR messages and talking directly to the consumer is terrifying. In the current corporate climate it's critical to cater to every customer's craven desire. User Comments Wait...what?! What a terrible introduction! I fell asleep twice just trying to make my way through that sentence. I'd like to see this rewritten. Posted by asianKitty1297 20 minutes ago @asianKitty1297: I agree! I think he should add a story or something the reader could relate to, instead of this dry, high-school-English-class-style opening. Michael, alliteration like that just makes you look like a...
Continue reading "Radical Corporate Transparency" »
Keep Site Content Alive - Archive It
Posted by steve on March 20, 2007 at 12:12 PM
More and more, we are seeing Google provide webmasters with information and resources to implement a variety of best practices on their sites. One such recommendation, which is no secret, is the importance of having unique, relevant content on your website. While a ton of webmasters are searching for different ways to boost the amount of content on their sites, there are some who actually reduce the amount of relevant content unsuspectingly, and unnecessarily. I want to take a minute to explain how this is a fairly common practice. Here is one such example: Bob has a real estate site....
Continue reading "Keep Site Content Alive - Archive It" »
EV SSL Certificates – The New Look of Internet Security
Posted by chip on January 10, 2007 at 11:18 AM
In an effort to increase internet security and to combat increasingly sophisticated phishing scams, the CA/Browser Forum, a group comprised of web browser creators and certification authorities, has created the Extended Verification SSL Certificate. What this new and improved security certificate is attempting to do is create a vetting process for obtaining a certificate that is more uniform and more rigorous than ever before. This is supposed to ensure that sites that have obtained an EV SSL Certificate are who they claim to be, secure and able to be trusted. To accompany this improved level of authentication on the back...
Continue reading "EV SSL Certificates – The New Look of Internet Security" »
Tigers World Series Tickets Hidden in Gmail?
Posted by duncan on October 17, 2006 at 08:55 AM
This weekend the Detroit Tigers will proudly take the field to play in the World Series for the first time since 1984! Since I caught myself day dreaming about actually going to a game, I decided I might as well do a few searches to see what World Series tickets are selling for. I always need to add a little twist to the way I do things. So I decided to use the ads Google furnishes to my Gmail account to find the tickets. I went into Gmail and composed a simple message to myself last night: My email's subject...
Continue reading "Tigers World Series Tickets Hidden in Gmail?" »
Local Search, You're Upsetting My Wife
Posted by keirsun on August 28, 2006 at 04:08 PM
Today is my wedding anniversary. Don't worry, I planned ahead this year - at this moment there's jewelry hidden in my basement, wrapped and everything. I just hope my 3 year old hasn't already found it and claimed it for her own. But it's a good thing I sometimes think ahead and I'll tell you why. I decided to search for an anniversary gift this year using local search. It seemed like the logical search choice since I prefer to buy locally. But that's when things started get ugly. My problem? Not knowing exactly what I wanted to buy my...
Continue reading "Local Search, You're Upsetting My Wife" »
Build and protect your corporate image(s) online
Posted by on August 02, 2006 at 03:49 PM
Right now, search Google Images for your company name. How many pages before you get a version of your logo? Are there any unflattering images being associated with your brands … or are your competitors’ images coming up ahead of yours?
Continue reading "Build and protect your corporate image(s) online" »
Soothe Purchase Paranoia with Smart Site Security
Posted by Christopher on June 26, 2006 at 11:42 AM
During a darker period in my life I held a Customer Service position in the call center of an antivirus software provider. While the benefits of my position were few (time spent in the bathroom was included in call metrics, analyzed by a Quality Assurance Group, and discussed during performance reviews - I'm serious) I was frequently exposed to the fragile psyche of the American computer user. The 90 to 120 calls I answered each day translated into a beautiful rainbow of neuroses that constitutes the mass mind of our nation's computer owners/operators. While I can produce no statistical data,...
Continue reading "Soothe Purchase Paranoia with Smart Site Security" »
Stay Visible to Customers with Friendly Favicons
Posted by keirsun on June 01, 2006 at 11:28 AM
Since most everyone needs a web browser to visit your website, wouldn't it be fantastic if you could place a visual link to your site right in the browser's toolbar? You can with a favicon.
Continue reading "Stay Visible to Customers with Friendly Favicons" »
Search for Search
Posted by tim on April 03, 2006 at 12:46 PM
More and more, our clients are telling us about the great deal their hosting company has (or their CMS company, or an outside vendor) on search engine optimization (SEO). Apparently, you can now use internal search servers to create pages that ‘regular’ search engines love to position in their natural results. GASP!!! REALLY???? Could this be the answer that’s eluded all of us for years now? Has the goose finally laid her golden egg and we can now bask in the warm glow of triumph? Ooo-da-lally, happy days are here at last! But wait. If you are very, very quiet,...
Continue reading "Search for Search" »
The Pitch…Just a bit Outside
Posted by tim on March 08, 2006 at 05:09 PM
The Cactus and Grapefruit leagues are up and swinging now and that’s got my head dancing with thoughts of spring; always one of my favorite times of the year, especially living in the North as we do. We start to think of the snow melting, the trees blossoming, the grass coming back. As much as I think of new beginnings though, I can’t help but get a little nostalgic around now too. Thinking of the anticipation and excitement Spring brought with it as a kid. Heck, even seeing baseball teams dust off their cleats and knock off the rust in...
Continue reading "The Pitch…Just a bit Outside" »
Viruses & Spyware Don't Taste Like Cookies
Posted by jak on February 28, 2006 at 10:10 AM
When I first started working with computers a little over ten years ago I had never heard about viruses. I could safely browse the internet without worrying about what might pop-up, or what the next site I visit may do to my computer. Today, viruses and spyware have made many internet users skeptical of websites that add something to their computer. While it's important to be aware of these additions, user fears can make tracking site customer behavior much more difficult. Webmasters want to track as much information about their customers' habits as possible without invading privacy. This can be...
Continue reading "Viruses & Spyware Don't Taste Like Cookies" »
The Disease of Arrogance
Posted by tim on February 09, 2006 at 08:35 AM
Sometimes I wonder if a company reaches a certain size and suddenly, almost like magic, they wake up one day and figure the normal boundaries of reality don't apply to them anymore. Events of late seem to suggest maybe this phenomenon is real. Big brands somehow figure that they don't have to follow the same published guidelines for operating on the web that other sites do, just because they are a household name. Never mind that computer programs, spiders, robots, or algorithms don't shop, or watch commercials, or get hung up in brands as a status symbol. The prevailing attitude...
Continue reading "The Disease of Arrogance" »
Communication at its Best/Worst
Posted by jak on January 24, 2006 at 04:17 PM
We’ve all played the old game of “telephone” in school. You remember, you sit in a circle and someone starts by whispering something into another person’s ear. By the time the message gets back around to the originator, “big fluffy bunny” has become “Bobby floats barges.” This not only happens on the colorful mats of room 101, it occurs every day in the business setting thanks to email messages and automated voicemail. In today’s high-tech, “send me that on my Blackberry” world, you would think that business would readily embrace some of the tools now available to cut through...
Continue reading "Communication at its Best/Worst" »
Cybercrime: Protecting Your Customers
Posted by steve on January 23, 2006 at 11:05 AM
Businesses small and large have a growing concern over cybercrime, and for good reason. An article posted by E-Commerce Times provides statistics proving that cybercrime is on the rise. The article states that, according to security firm Symantec, "during the first half of 2005, 74 percent of the top 50 malicious attacks contained code to steal account logons, passwords and other sensitive data, compared with 54 percent the previous six months." It goes on to say that both keystroke logging programs and the hijacking of online accounts are escalating as well. In fact, The Sans Institute points out that with...
Continue reading "Cybercrime: Protecting Your Customers" »
How the State of Michigan Can Teach You About Feedback
Posted by keirsun on January 12, 2006 at 02:46 PM
I am browsing a website that claims to be an important resource for the "World's Business Leaders" when I discover my quest for business enlightenment may soon reach Gilgamesh proportions. Nearly every site link I click lands me on a blank page with only the top-navigation bar present, or worse yet, produces a full-screen advertisement that leads me nowhere. Being the helpful person I aspire to be, I proceed to look for a friendly Feedback or Make a Comment link (hoping, of course, that it works) to alert the appropriate parties of the error, and make a comment or two...
Continue reading "How the State of Michigan Can Teach You About Feedback" »
Got a SSL Certificate? Show Me!
Posted by keirsun on December 21, 2005 at 01:42 PM
So you want me to buy something? Well, I'm already in the door and browsing down the aisles of your online store. You have some interesting products that are easy to find and your page design looks professional enough. And.. hello, what's this? Oh, I gotta have one of these. You even have the right color and size in stock, and if I buy now I get free shipping. How can I leave without it? Actually, I don't even care what it costs. It's perfect! Now all I have to do is give you my name, address, and credit card...
Continue reading "Got a SSL Certificate? Show Me!" »
In Search Engines, Web Standards and Semantics Rule
Posted by on December 05, 2005 at 12:54 PM
Over the past few years there has been a large underground movement to unleash web standards and semantics on the world by means of clean, well-formed markup.
Continue reading "In Search Engines, Web Standards and Semantics Rule" »
Long Term SEO Strategy or Just "Fool's Gold"
Posted by chip on November 04, 2005 at 03:25 PM
There is an old adage which says "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is". This holds true for many things in life, but it's especially true in search engine marketing and optimization. While I understand that the industry is very young and there is still a lack of awareness as to what SEO is and what the potential benefits of a sound SEO strategy are, there seems to be an alarming amount of information out there that treats the industry as a series of tricks and voodoo spells intended to fool the search engine algorithms. While...
Continue reading "Long Term SEO Strategy or Just "Fool's Gold"" »
Search and Ye Shall Find. Maybe.
Posted by on September 19, 2005 at 08:31 AM
Searching for blogs just got easier… At least that’s the reason ostensibly behind Google’s new blog search service. Us search geeks have been using Technorati to stay up to date on all things blog. But outside our ivory tower, the general public often finds blogs only through word of mouth or through traditional media outlets—or they just don’t find them. But that’s about to change. Or is it? That’s the central question for marketers to consider. Will Google’s entry into the blog game make blogs more accessible to the general public? If the answer is no, then there’s nothing more...
Continue reading "Search and Ye Shall Find. Maybe." »
All’s Not Well (Optimized) For E-Retailers
Posted by on September 12, 2005 at 03:47 PM
How well optimized are the top 100 websites of Internet Retailer Magazine’s Top 400 Guide? That’s the central question to Oneupweb’s second annual study, There’s Still Money on the Table: Internet Retailer Study 2005. The answer? Not well optimized at all. In fact, only 17 percent met Oneupweb’s “well-optimized” criteria—and that was a stretch. Frequent StraightUpSearch readers won’t be surprised by this new data. Oneupweb’s look into the Fortune 100’s optimization habits found very similar results. For some reason, corporate America is not buying into SEO / SEM on a large scale. To borrow a phrase from Malcolm Gladwell, it...
Continue reading "All’s Not Well (Optimized) For E-Retailers" »
Will Anyone Stand Up?
Posted by tim on June 06, 2005 at 09:33 AM
Clearly the PPC (Pay-Per-Click) strategy is here to stay. Over the past several years, the system has proven to be effective. Marketers are happy with the results they've seen thus far and continue to employ this in their overall marketing mix. Definitely not offering any breaking news with this insight. What is almost amazing though, is that the system is still shrouded in so much mystery and secrecy. PPC providers go out of their way to extoll the virtues of PPC; it's targeted, it's relevant, advertisers reach out to motivated traffic, be seen when customers are looking for you, and...
Continue reading "Will Anyone Stand Up?" »
But if We Brand it, Won't That Be Permanent? That's the Plan
Posted by tim on February 25, 2005 at 01:19 PM
Beating an established brand name in the search game is not an easy task. Why then, wouldn't you want to use your brand online if you have established it in more traditional channels? We hear from potential clients pretty regularly about some of the strategies they are putting together for SEO. They'll tell us what a great brand name they have and how well known they are. Music to our ears, really. Then they go on about the new microsites they are planning and that we'll need to help them gain position and traffic on those, but not once, anywhere,...
Continue reading "But if We Brand it, Won't That Be Permanent? That's the Plan" »
Proceed Carefullly
Posted by tim on January 05, 2005 at 11:15 AM
I'd like to offer a spot of advice to agencies for the new year. Ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. Search marketing is young and booming. So young in fact, it's still sorting itself out. New partnerships spring up seemingly every week. Old relationships change. Sometimes they're better, sometimes they're just ... different. Things change so much in fact, that what you see offered as a service on the website might be different from the service you sign up for. That's not to suggest the change is a bad thing. I think the overwhelming majority of companies out there,...
Continue reading "Proceed Carefullly" »
An Agency Bill of Rights
Posted by tim on November 16, 2004 at 01:02 PM
Originally a Social Customer Manifesto, it's also just a great way to do business, in any business.
Continue reading "An Agency Bill of Rights" »
Ethical SEO? How about just Effective
Posted by tim on October 14, 2004 at 03:19 PM
The discussion of ethical approaches to search marketing has long raged within the field. Of much more importance though is not whether methods are "ethical" but whether they produce lasting results.
Continue reading "Ethical SEO? How about just Effective" »
