Category: SEO Observations
SEO Haiku
Posted by samantha on February 25, 2008 at 09:33 AM
In the world of SEO, whether you're a Natural SEO Project Manager, a Paid Project Manager, or a Software Developer, creativity is a vital element. Today we present you with something a little creative and different: SEO Haiku.
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John Lennon, Dimebag Darrell, and SEO
Posted by on December 07, 2007 at 08:35 AM
In addition to being an SEO, I am also a musician. Because of this, December 8th carries a great deal of significance to me: it was the date that two of my biggest influences were slain. Both John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell Abbot (Pantera, Damageplan) not only created timeless music that helped define rock and roll, pushing it into uncharted territory, they did it with different, yet admirable approaches that I try to bring to SEO every day. John Lennon's Vision "The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It...
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No, SEO is Not Evil
Posted by on November 13, 2007 at 04:28 PM
It was a sunny late-fall Sunday, and it was off for dim sum with a friend of mine and his good friend. Shortly before our arrival, we got the call letting us know that two extras would be coming along. "Oh, man," my friend, who had met the additions previously, said. "These people... when you see them, you just know they’re boring." As a scruffy-bearded, hooded-sweatshirt wearing slacker, I’m in no position to judge anyone. But we arrived, and it was apparent - immediately - just how right my friend was. Right before my eyes, two scruffy-bearded, hooded-sweatshirt wearing slackers,...
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You Know Where You Can Stick Your Keywords?
Posted by alex on October 18, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Right out of college I took a job at a newspaper. I signed on with full anticipation of using my English writing degree and fine tuned writing skills to move to the editorial department. Instead, I moved into advertising. I immediately enjoyed creating ads for local businesses, and figuring out which section of the paper that specific company would fit into best. I worked at the paper a little over a year, but decided it was time to move on. I was hired at Oneupweb in September, the opportunity to write and learn gleaming in my near future. Needless to...
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Three Reasons Why Wikipedia Matters to SEO
Posted by on October 02, 2007 at 07:45 AM
Wikipedia. It's that elephant in the living room. Actually, it's more like that elephant perched at the top of the SERPs for just about any topic under the sun. The bane of existence for many an SEO, Wikipedia doesn't just take the number one spot, it digs a moat around that spot, too. And it's not likely to change soon. So what are you going to do about it? The way I see it, you have two choices: sit and grump about it, or join them. Here, then, are three ways to use Wikipedia to help you or your clients...
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Searching for Positions: The Fall TV Season is Here
Posted by samantha on September 26, 2007 at 04:52 PM
It's that time of year again – the fall TV season, which brings with it the return of our favorite TV shows, along with the appearance of some new ones. Actors, writers, producers and networks are all hoping that their shows will achieve success. I don't know about you, but I can certainly see some parallels with the fall TV season and the world of search. Let's embark on a journey to a parallel universe, where the fall TV lineup and search engine marketing share many similarities... The Importance of Positions & Ratings In the world of search and the...
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Notre Dame, Michigan State and Universal Search
Posted by maureen on September 21, 2007 at 11:27 AM
Hello. My name is Maureen and I married a Michigan State fan. I'm not quite sure how it happened. My family brought me up the way any good, Irish Catholic family living near South Bend, Indiana would - with bedtime stories of Knute Rockne, the Gipper and the four horsemen. Saturdays in the fall were reserved for family time, which was carried out in front of our television crying or cheering on Rocket Ismail, the Bettis and those lucky enough to be coached by the great Lou Holtz. Notre Dame was in our blood and, win or lose, we always...
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I Paid My Money and Now I Is A Certified Professional
Posted by on September 05, 2007 at 02:02 PM
What has my head spinning are the oversold SEO and SEM certification programs now being offered by various groups, gurus, training sites and trade organizations. For little more than $100 you can be certified as an SEO/SEM professional.
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Optimize for Google Universal - News Results
Posted by keirsun on August 06, 2007 at 04:21 PM
In an effort to liven up the dog days of summer, we're setting aside the remaining Mondays in August to talk about how to optimize your website for Google Universal. If you are unfamiliar with Google Universal, here's Google's very own explanation: With universal search, we've begun blending results from more than just the web in order to provide the most relevant and useful results possible. In addition to web pages, for instance, the search results may include video, news, images, maps, and books. Today's focus will be optimizing for News. Here's an example of Google News results appearing in...
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SEO Limits - Avoid Washing the Boss's Car
Posted by amy on July 30, 2007 at 11:15 AM
I am lucky enough to be starting my second week working at the one job everyone has applied for in their lives. The one you find and immediately start planning your life around and talking about it like you were already hired because that is the only end you want to imagine. Well, that job is my job now and here I am immersed in a sea of information relating to all things marketing. Now I face the eternal struggle for balance that every new person in the office faces in the first months and weeks of a new job;...
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School of Search Engine Marketing
Posted by luke on July 16, 2007 at 04:35 PM
The other day I found myself perusing the pages of my old marketing texts from college, looking for the word "internet". My search ended in Chapter 11, The Internet: The Ultimate Direct. My fingertips continued sifting through the content in search of anything related to search engine marketing. Below, you’ll find my profound discovery. Guidelines for Creating Banner Ads 1. Keep it short and simple. 2. Animate three times and then stop. 3. End with the logo or the name. The truth: If the implementation of SEM were as simple as following a list of guidelines, traditional marketing agencies could...
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Guaranteed Top 10 Rankings for Mondo the Love Hammer!
Posted by on July 02, 2007 at 09:20 AM
If you spend any amount of time cruising around the SEO corner of the 'net, you are bound to find an ad that promises guaranteed top 10 rankings in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. While it might seem like a tempting offer, let's take a closer look at why, as in life, SEO carries no guarantees. I recently found a woeful story of a real estate company that took the guaranteed top 10 rankings bait. The SEO firm they chose promised high rankings for 100 keyword terms. And after several months, this real estate company started piling up top 10 positions...
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A Strange Coincidence… SEO is Like Middle School!
Posted by on June 11, 2007 at 02:18 PM
During my first month at OneUpWeb, I've learned a lot about search engine optimization and I've noticed some striking similarities between SEO and adolescent social behavior: The first déjà vu I experienced was when I learned about the power of search engines. Based on a constellation of factors, search engines get to decide which web pages are worthy of the first page of results and which aren’t. One tool to measure status is Google's Page Rank. Those that continually make the cut over time are given a stamp of approval in the form of a high Page Rank score. In...
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Ask Me What My Favorite Search Engine Is
Posted by dave on June 05, 2007 at 03:57 PM
In the race to keep up with Google, Ask.com has just taken a major step away from the "follow the leader" mentality of most other engines, forging its own path through the search engine marketplace. Backed by a $100 million marketing budget from IAC Search & Media, Ask has embraced everything Web 2.0 and using its new "Morph" technology, has created a highly customizable user experience that helps to direct users to relevant content based on their search query. Dubbed Ask 3D, the new home page boasts an "apple-esque" design, and search results now display in a three-columned format (See...
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Google Conspiracy Theory
Posted by on April 30, 2007 at 01:43 PM
Okay so I’m a HUGE fan of The X-Files, (don’t judge!) and for Christmas my partner gave me the complete boxed set & motion picture – something that by now, I’m sure, he’s sorry he did. Albeit among the best television programming in not-so recent history, all of the quality time I’ve spent with agents Fox and Mulder lately has definitely fired up my inner conspiracy-theorist. This quest for the “real truth” creates an inevitable conundrum for me – balancing the principles of capitalism with skepticism. Lately I’ve been lying awake at night in a bleary-eyed daze pondering the true...
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HR World Meets the SEO World
Posted by anne on April 25, 2007 at 11:29 AM
Getting hired for your dream job is not as easy as one might think. We think we look good, we have the right feel, the right look but for some reason no one is hiring. It can be as difficult as trying to attract the right online audience and generate traffic to your website. With the light bulb on, I realized that there exists more similarities than one would expect between Human Resources and Search Engine Optimization. Basic principles are the same: a friendly site structure or resume outline and attractive content is vital. Let's review some rules for both...
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Being Thoughtful Can Also Be Good SEO
Posted by on March 27, 2007 at 09:47 AM
I recently took a trip to visit some friends and family, and was able to spend time with an uncle who has been involved with computers most of his life. He and I spent several hours talking about old and new technology, each telling our glory stories of programming and system implementation. To me, his stories were far more interesting. I heard stories of computers that took up three stories of a building, systems that required flipping toggle switches on and off to send the instructions required to boot, punch-cards, vacuum tubes, tapes, and assembly language. I had heard of...
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An SEO Lesson from Shoeless Joe Jackson?
Posted by teal on March 07, 2007 at 09:21 AM
It's been quite a week and I am going to have a little fun with this post, so bare with me. I saw an E! True Hollywood snippet on Gabby Hoffman the other day and I began to think of one of my favorite movies - Field of Dreams. I remember watching Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, and little Gabby Hoffman woo baseball heroes by building a baseball field in the middle of corn field, where the ghosts of the infamous "Eight Men Out" or "Black Sox" accused of throwing the 1919 World Series could come and relive...
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SEO's Bad Rap
Posted by on February 12, 2007 at 02:48 PM
From Jason Calcanis' ranting about how SEO is "bullsh-t" to members spewing vitriolic comments at digg.com to SEO is Not Rocket Science t-shirts, SEO really seems to be getting a bad rap lately. The problem is that search engine optimization - along with much of all online marketing - has become equated with spam. Spam in traditional advertising is nothing new. Junk mail. Telemarketers. Billboards. You name it, companies are always trying to shove themselves in our face, and humanity is forever resenting it and gobbling it all up at the same time. In the long run, as much as...
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An SEO Christmas
Posted by drew on December 22, 2006 at 01:26 PM
Instead of dealing with retail store lines and consumer goods fisticuffs, many people are opting for online shopping. CNN Money reported that online sales have risen 25% compared to last year, and even set a record with $667 million worth of sales in one day. It is also reported that ComScore is forecasting total sales to be $24.6 billion. 'Tis the season, apparently. Baaaaaah Humbug? Being in the optimization industry, I try to optimize everything I do. It makes almost anything seem smooth and easy. Taking optimization even further than simply shopping online, I bought one gift for my entire...
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Dedication or Waiting for Wii
Posted by on November 20, 2006 at 04:46 PM
This weekend a co-worker and I met outside the local Best Buy around 4:30 Saturday afternoon to set up his tent. You see, Saturday was Nintendo Wii launch eve, and we were determined to leave Sunday morning with one for each of us. It turns out that at 4:30 we were already as far back as number 17 in a quickly growing line....
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SEO Ho Ho
Posted by Christopher on November 13, 2006 at 05:10 PM
At around this time every year, I'm hit with the horrifying realization that Thanksgiving is next week. Not that big a deal, as it's a holiday I, in general, enjoy. I like eating. I, for the time being, have abandoned vegetarianism and the resultant turkey-eating-related guilt ebbs daily (prodded by knowledge that ranch turkeys, if left unattended in a rainstorm, will drown because they won't stop looking up with their beaks open). No big deal, except for the panic generated by the holiday's attendant imperative (in the dwindling but still audible voice of my conscience): "Christopher, Christopher, Christopher for the...
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SEO Strikes Back
Posted by dave on October 27, 2006 at 01:24 PM
Quick, everyone off the SEO boat! It's sinking, again. Oh wait. False alarm. As the latest to throw their hat into the "death of SEO ring" Did-it President David Pasternack, earlier this week, brought us his insightful article, Troubled times for SEO firms in which he explains the rudimentary tactics, skill set and processes for optimizing a web site. Profound and penetrating, Pasternack cuts right to heart of SEO with his compelling SEO isn't rocket science argument in which he likens those in the SEO industry to Sci-Fi convention groupies playing Star Wars. Don't get me wrong, I like Star...
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NFC North Website Showdown - Site Searching Google
Posted by duncan on September 13, 2006 at 11:37 AM
In my tenure at Oneupweb I have talked to nearly 3,000 different companies about their natural/organic search engine marketing situation. Some of the conversations bloomed and turned into multi year business engagements. Other conversations were a mere 5 minutes of hellos and thank yous. The latter group and I quickly established that we weren't a good fit at the time. In any case, during these thousands of calls I tried to assess what the company actually knew about search marketing and their current standings in the search engines. I have discovered that few of the folks that reach out to...
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Google Sub-Links?
Posted by drew on August 21, 2006 at 10:30 AM
Snippets, if you will. Google has been testing these additional site link snippets for about a year, in fact, almost exactly a year. In that time, many webmasters have questioned what the requirements are to get these link snippets on their #1 Google listing. Even when M. Cutts reported on his blog about them, a conspiracy theory ramble started about how to get these nifty elements added. Is it only for large sites? What about heavily trafficked sites? Both of these theories were proven wrong through other tests. What about PageRank numbers? Nope, try again. There was even a theory...
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Random Rants - Wikipedia Woes & Matt Cutts Videos
Posted by on August 18, 2006 at 01:30 PM
Wikipedia Copy Woes A few weeks ago, I was doing research on the term "Semantic Web" and came across this Wikipedia Definition. What caught my eye immediately was this block of text that appeared above the entry: "This article or section seems not to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry. Please improve the article or discuss proposed changes on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions." What are they trying to say - that it doesn't sound completely affected and full of academic jargon? Although I do respect how resourceful...
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Search Engine Optimism
Posted by Christopher on August 11, 2006 at 10:18 AM
I’m dating myself (I might as well—no one else will. HA HA HA!), but do any of you remember the time in which the Internet was borderline magical? When luminaries no less brilliant than Timothy Leary would get up on stages and predict a world in which he and a friend from Singapore could play tennis in real time without leaving their living rooms, all via the magic of the Internet and virtual reality? (I saw that on “Peace Day” at Michigan State; I was like, “dude, tennis?”) The dewy days of the mid to late 80s in which if...
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A Borat Premier & Searching for Borat
Posted by duncan on August 09, 2006 at 07:59 AM
"I have never heard you laugh that hard before," my wife of seven years said to me as we left a Traverse City Film Festival showing of the film Borat last Sunday, August 6, 2006 at two o'clock in the morning. She was right, and I couldn't remember laughing that hard either. At one point during the film I was laughing so hard I literally couldn't relax my torso enough to get my behind back down into my seat. I was holding on to the arms of my theatre chair for dear life as every piece of me spasmed with...
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Are Brand Name Retailers Ready for Online Shoppers?
Posted by teal on June 14, 2006 at 08:44 AM
Having worked at a J.Crew store awhile back and now working as a project manager at a reputable SEO firm, I want to shine some light on how heavily branded and well-recognized retail shopping sites can benefit from SEO. I know I have spent a fair amount of time (and money) shopping online, and usually, because of heavy advertising and branding, I choose a few recognizable retailers and go directly to their websites. But now I'm curious. I need a new suit for an upcoming meeting - so let's see if any of those well-known retailers know how to get...
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New Search Engine Marketing Magazine Just Misses Target
Posted by duncan on May 19, 2006 at 09:41 AM
May 2006 marked the arrival of the first issue of Search Marketing Standard. I pulled my copy from the snail mail box at my home in Traverse City last week. I was quick to start paging through the issue even while I walked up the steps and sidewalk back to my house. Dumping a stack of unwanted credit card offers and local coupon booklets on my kitchen table, I took the magazine to my reading chair to see what it had to offer. As I began to dig in I found that Search Marketing Standard is a new magazine devoted...
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Google Goes Hungry when IE Serves Up MSN
Part 2
Posted by steve on May 16, 2006 at 11:28 AM
Even though Google has a problem with Internet Explorer 7 serving up MSN Search as the default engine, the Department of Justice doesn't. The DOJ has concluded that Microsoft's inclusion of the MSN Search toolbar in IE 7 does not raise any antitrust issues and has approved implementation of it. What does this mean for search? Will Google's hold on the search engine market become threatened? It's certainly possible. Firefox, Safari and Opera all have built-in search boxes that default to Google, and currently a large number of Google searches come from people using these built-in toolbars. Now Microsoft is...
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Part 2" »
Are You Convinced?
Posted by on April 14, 2006 at 10:02 AM
I recently read an interesting Marketing Sherpa case study on a successful search engine marketing (SEM) project. Before the project manager was able to proceed, she had to formally pitch search engine marketing to the company management, as opposed to other advertising mediums of trade show booths or direct mail. Say that again? You heard me correctly; she actually had to convince her corporate associates that search engine marketing was a worthwhile endeavor. To me, the thought of even questioning the value of search engine marketing is a completely foreign concept. It's like questioning the value of food or exercise....
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What We Want and What We Get!
Posted by jak on March 30, 2006 at 03:59 PM
If you have been using computers and the Internet for a while, you have probably figured out what works and what doesn’t when it comes to searching for the things you want. Most of the younger generation understands the Internet fairly well. Unfortunately, most of the older generation still doesn’t quite grasp the concept. After years of working on computers for the older generation here in northern Michigan, I have found that even though they have used their computers for years, they still cannot find what they want. It should be easier for them to find information on what they...
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What is *Real* SEO?
Posted by on March 10, 2006 at 01:00 PM
About four years ago, I took a job with the marketing department of a certain unnamed online company. On my first day, I sat down next to my new manager's desk, eager to see how we were going to improve content of our clients' web sites. Unfortunately, instead of bothering to inspect any sites at all, we headed straight for a dismal piece of software that monitored... search engine submissions. "This is how it goes," he intoned as he waved his mouse around, pointing to a screen that displayed a dizzying array of random search engine names. How would we...
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Straight Up Site of Interest
Posted by keirsun on March 06, 2006 at 04:21 PM
While keeping in the daily loop of online marketing news, blogs and ideas, I come across a wide range of websites. Many of these sites offer products and/or services that expand upon forward-thinking internet technologies. Sometimes, a website piques a particular interest and I devote a bookmark to the site, intending to visit again for further exploration. This, of course, happens just about as often as I remember to rotate my tires. Therefore, this (weekly, biweekly, monthly?) Straight Up Site of Interest post aims to shine the spotlight on a few of these "sites of interest". Maybe you'll find the...
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Poor Positions Hurt in More Ways than One
Posted by keirsun on February 27, 2006 at 01:30 PM
While it may be a common after-lunch ritual to check your website positioning in Google for your company name, there's another online traffic source to keep an eye on - Web Browsers. Here's why: not everybody uses a search engine every time to find a company's website. It's just as easy to type a company name into your browser's address bar as it is an engine's search field. Now let's take into account that the majority of people on the Internet use Microsoft's Internet Explorer as their daily web browser. So if someone types your company name into IE's address...
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Flash and SEO Sitting in a Tree...
Posted by on February 01, 2006 at 03:04 PM
With the online Flash movement just about done with, we're left with a ton of visual enhancements that do little more than animate or entertain. We can all agree that some Flash files still have some place somewhere in some websites to convey some information about something — but wouldn't it be nice if that bit of animated binary could lend a hand in your SEO efforts? You know what I'm about to say: it can! The search engines are slowly growing their abilities to spider Flash files and extract the content. It's all a matter of setting up your...
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Engine Problems? Call a Professional
Posted by on January 31, 2006 at 01:53 PM
My trusty Jeep wouldn’t start on Sunday. So, being the son of a GM retiree that spent many years working on the line and teaching me at a young age which wrench to fetch, I was sure I had diagnosed the problem – it was the starter. However, since the Jeep is more difficult to work on than my old Chevy Nova (and my dad lives four hours away), it made sense to visit the mechanic. Sure, I wanted to do the repair work myself, but I simply don’t have the time, tools, and workspace I wish I had. Through...
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The Marathon of SEO
Posted by on January 23, 2006 at 12:52 PM
As a newcomer to the world of search engine optimization and marketing, I’ve thought about what aspects of my life have best prepared me for Oneupweb. I’d like to say it was some college class that I took or some past work experience. Never did I imagine long distance running, specifically the marathon, to encompass so many elements that I see in this industry and company. Marathoners and SEO teams are unique groups of people. They come from diverse backgrounds. They are motivated, hard-working and driven. Both groups are organized, meticulous and great at multi-tasking. A marathoner carefully lays out...
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